Refuse To Regain

Why Your Weight Loss Diet Isn't Working

by Barbara Berkeley, MD This blog is primarily designed for maintainers--- that small and exclusive group who have managed to lose weight and are stabilizing (or stable) at their new size. But comments to our site have also shown that many people who read us are still in the active weight loss phase. Because of this, I wanted to devote a full posting to a question I hear with great frequency: Why is my weight loss diet not causing me... Read more →

To Lynn: We are thinking of you today as we wish you a complete and speedy recovery from surgery. I know that there are a great many people out there who join me in sending you positive energy!! We all look forward to hearing your "voice" again soon. Love, Barbara Read more →

House Cleaning

By Lynn Haraldson-Bering Long-time readers of Refuse To Regain know about my Green House Philosophy in regard to weight maintenance. (If you’re new to our blog, welcome! You can click here to read about our Green House Philosophy.) I named this philosophy after my very green house. The varieties of green that bedeck the siding and porch weren’t my idea. It looked like this when we moved in, and other repairs and remodeling have taken precedence over painting the house... Read more →

Celebrating the Good Times

by Barbara Berkeley, MD It's the day after Father's Day and I'm in my office seeing patients. I'm halfway through the morning, but the damage is already clear: celebrating has taken its inevitable toll. Many of my regulars are up in weight because of what they ate yesterday. The day after Father's Day is generally bad news. But so is the day after Memorial Day, the day after the Fourth of July, the day after Mother's Day, and the day... Read more →

Black Box Warning

by Barbara Berkeley, MD As I read today's newspaper over my morning coffee, I was dismayed to see yet another article on the heretofore unknown hazards of a commonly used class of drugs. A large study of people taking medications called ARBs (which include the blood pressure drugs Cozaar, Atacand, and others) showed that ARBs are associated with an increased rate of cancers in general and lung cancer in particular. As I practice medicine, I find that people are becoming... Read more →

Released from Stone

by Barbara Berkeley, MD Our American preoccupation with weight loss is centered around pounds lost. We focus solely on the scale, an instrument which has the ability to reward or torture us. It is our inquisitor, our accuser and sometimes, the very measure of how we view ourselves as human beings. This approach to dieting fails because of its superficiality. What is weight loss? Why are we working at it? What do we really seek? These are questions that get... Read more →

Less Guilt Dear Maintainers

by Barbara Berkeley I am on a campaign to lessen the guilty feelings of dieters and weight maintainers. There must be some sort of hormonal "guilt" response that accrues with each fat cell we add. Over the years, the patients I've cared for are among the guiltiest group of people I know. What are they guilty about? I probably don't have to tell you. If you are reading this, you are only too familiar with the whole cycle. But just... Read more →

The Plank In My Eye

By Lynn Haraldson-Bering "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3 A 2-liter bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper fell over the plastic divider separating my groceries from the groceries belonging to the man next in line. The cashier grabbed it and scanned it before the man could set it straight, and I said, slightly panicked, “Oh no, no! That’s not mine! I... Read more →

The Sea Within Us: The Oil We've Spilled

by Barbara Berkeley All living things are the same. Life is complex, achingly beautiful, and enduringly mysterious. Sometimes it's hard not to be amazed by its toughness. Life goes on, stubbornly, even after disasters occur. But life, while incredibly durable in recovery, is fragile while it exists. That is because the conditions for life are so specific. All organisms have optimal environments and internal balances which cannot be breached without disaster. In the bloodstream of humans, a minor decrease or... Read more →