"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Will I miss this?

One thing that some weight loss surgery patients do before surgery is have a food funeral.  The idea is that you are saying goodbye to the foods you love that you will no longer be able to eat.  Even some surgeons encourage you to go out and enjoy one last amazing meal.

I'm not sure if I will do a food funeral.  I understand the purpose, and I think in some ways that closure would be helpful.  I don't think that I would want to mess up my pre-op diet just to be able to eat those foods one more time.  What do those foods really mean to me?  Are they that important in my life?  There are plenty of arguments either way.  Some people stay strictly to their pre-op diets and lose some or a lot of weight before the surgery.  Others cheat on the diet and go all out with eating before surgery.  There is no right or wrong here.  We are all just trying to survive and then heal.

Since I have a number of months before my surgery can take place, I have really been examining a lot of my feelings and habits surrounding food.  I haven't changed very many of my habits yet, but I think this step is really important too.  I need to understand my own relationship with food.  I think that will be a key to success for me.

Eat time I've eaten at a restaurant or fast food lately, I have asked myself, "Is this something I can eat after surgery?  Is there anything on the menu I like that I can eat after surgery?  Will I honestly miss this food?  Is this food something I can live without?"  The answers have been interesting.  There is nothing I've eaten that I can't live without.  I may miss the foods a little, but my desire to have them does not outweigh my desire to be healthy.  I want to be healthy; I want to feel good.  There is nothing I have eaten that makes me question my decision to have weight loss surgery.

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