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“I [started out] among the skeptics who felt food addiction was a copout. But after meeting Prager and reading his book, my view has shifted.” — JENNIFER LaRUE HUGET, Eat, Drink and Be Healthy columnist, Washington Post
“A compelling description of the process of addiction.” — JOSEPH FRASCELLA, National Institute on Drug Abuse
— Buy it. // Visit the website —
Above: a contemporary photo; Below: the "before" picture.
I had a fat and troubled childhood that lasted almost 35 years, and my body reached 365 pounds. I could lose weight, but I always gained it back and more. Then, on the advice of others, I started accepting standard addiction treatment, and now I'm approaching 20 years in a normal-sized body. In that time, public acceptance of food addiction has barely moved, and insurance support for treatment has regressed.
Both of those need to change, and my story tells why. I'm no diet guru, and this isn't a diet book, but if I escaped more than a decade above 300 pounds, lots of others can find relief too.
It's a good read with a happy ending, and it could change your life.
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"Social stigma and isolation"
Another short interview: I ask questions of 10 words or less, and ask respondents to answer with the same brevity. The theme of the current series is people who are working in eating disorder recovery.
MARTY LERNER, 60, Davie, Fla.
Chief executive and clinical director, Milestones in Recovery
Where did you grow up? “Queens, New York. We moved to Florida at 9.”
What did you want to be when you grew up? “An airline pilot.”
Someone you admired in childhood, outside your family “John Kennedy”
Someone you admire today, outside your family “Nelson Mandela”
What is Milestones? “A residential program for people suffering with eating disorders and related issues.”
How did you get onto this path? “Personal experiences with treatment in a similar setting, with a similar problem.”
So you struggled with weight. What’s the worst thing about it? “Social stigma and isolation.”
What did you do before this? “School. My mother put me on the yellow bus at 5, I got off at 33.”
What don’t people understand? “That weight is a symptom and not an illness.”
A nugget of wisdom you’ve learned “That we’re responsible for all our actions, no matter how we feel.”
The biggest impediment to change “The human mind.”
The one thing you wish everyone would get right? “My perception of the world [laughs]."
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