Eat Soup, Lose Weight, Gain Control

Emotional eating happens. When we feel bad, some of us head for the kitchen to console ourselves with cookies, ice cream, cheesecake, chocolate, and lots of other goodies that really are not good for us. Alas, while this may lift our mood quickly, afterwards we tend to feel even worse. And the pounds stay with us. We feel even more depressed just looking in the mirror.

Breaking the Feel Bad/Eat Bad Cycle

Over the last year, I’ve been in a group of 12 women who are encouraging each other to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. One of the first things that became obvious to me was the clear connection between our weight and feeling good about ourselves. As the pounds came off, we talked more about wanting to feel better and look better. As we felt better about ourselves, we could keep the commitment to our health. There was a definite positive feedback cycle!

Most of us have now shed over 20 pounds each and bought new clothes and feeling more energy! We know that having that commitment to health is central. Yet frankly, we floundered trying to figure out how to lose that poundage in a healthy, safe way that does not leave us feeling irritable, deprived, or depleted. We shared emails and tips about diets and alternative health products until we found something that really worked.

See Immediate Success

Then I came across a soup diet from Dr. Priscilla Slagle in one of her free alternative medicine newsletters. As a soup and vegetable lover, this was a welcome delight! The reason this approach really helped is that I saw immediate success in just one week. The soup itself is called the Sacred Heart Basic Fat Burning Soup (from a hospital program of the same name), and the complete diet can be found here.

I followed her instructions to alternate up to two weeks on the soup diet with two weeks on until I lost all the weight I wanted. The soup has very little protein, so it cannot be used long-term. I also took nutritional supplements since, as with any diet (including my normal one), it is not always balanced. Dr. Slagle suggests taking a good Multivitamin Mineral, at least 1000 mg Vitamin C, Essential Fatty Acids, such as MAX-EPA, or Flax Seed Oil & a good multi-amino-acid product such as Aminoplex--5 with breakfast and dinner.

Feeling Lighter and Lighter

The thing that is so great is that I could eat as much of this soup as I wanted to! I did not have to starve myself. The wonderful thing is that the more of it you eat, the more weight you will lose. It has been a real boost to feel my clothes getting too big for me and to feel lighter in more ways than one! Natural treatment for health conditions, including being overweight, has helped me regain control of life.

Does Your Friend Have “the Blues”?

Chances are you know at least one person who is suffering from the blues. Maybe it's a friend or a colleague, or even a member of your family who says she or he feels down or miserable often. It could be undiagnosed depression. Think about this person for a minute: In addition to feeling sad, what else do you notice about them? Do any of these other symptoms of depression show up? How many of these characterize him or her?

She or he is restless and fidgety.

She or he complains about being exhausted much of the time.

She or he is no longer as productive as before.

She or he expresses a lot of regrets about the past.

She or he shows a lack of hope about the future.

She or he is often focused on bodily symptoms.

If you answered yes to more than two or three of these, consider the possibility that your friend has depression or is headed for one--and needs help. The thing that makes depression so difficult is that the depressed person often does not realize it. Their thinking is not as clear. Even if they agree they have a problem, they doubt that they can be helped. They feel hopeless! Telling someone to “buck up” or "just smile" is not going to work and can even be counterproductive.

Why Depressed People Need Friends

This is why friends can be so important to helping get a depressed person back on a positive track. Unfortunately, as you can see from the checklist, the behaviors and attitudes of a depressed friend often turn off those around them. It is easy for us to "forget" to spend time with someone who is down all the time. They start making us feel negative about life!

One of the biggest favors you can ever do a friend who seems to be slipping into depression, or who may already be in a depression, is to sit down with him or her and share you concerns. You can express your affection and offer to help your friend get the help she needs.

Give Your Friend Hope

You could start by helping your friend take a look at just how depressed she is. There are simply on-line tests for identifying depression, for example the Zung Self Rating Depression Scale The range of scores will give a good if there is depression, and if so how severe.

You can also offer your friend information on a natural, drug-free treatment that can put and end to those symptoms. This treatment is based on the most up-to-date scientific discoveries about mood and depression. It’s a drug-free treatment of depression using a program of nutritional supplements, and it is clearly described in “The Way Up from Down” by Dr. Priscilla Slagle.

“The Way Up from Down”

Dr. Slagle has generously offers a FREE book on the natural treatment for depression. The Way Up from Down, at her website. You could easily send your friend that link as well as the one to the related newsletter, clearly one of the best free alternative health newsletters around.

Then take some extra time with your friend to discuss it and let him or her know you care, and that hope is alive! It could be one of the best things you ever do for your friend! You might even learn a few things that will help you feel better if the blues ever comes your way!