By Max Greenberg
E-mail Max Greenberg
About this blog: I developed a special interest in helping seniors with their challenges and transitions when my dad had a stroke and I helped him through all the various stages of downsizing, packing, moving and finding an assisted living communi...
(More)About this blog: I developed a special interest in helping seniors with their challenges and transitions when my dad had a stroke and I helped him through all the various stages of downsizing, packing, moving and finding an assisted living community. I live in Palo Alto with my wife and we have three grown children, one still in college. I have been in the Bay Area since 1977 (except for seven years in Newton MA — just missed all that snow too much.) I've worked in sales and marketing in retirement communities for seven years, and have hired and managed home care workers for family members, and have a pretty good idea of how aging in place, or shopping for and selecting the right retirement community works. I now run my own business, Palo Alto Senior Living, providing real estate and senior transition services. This blog is designed to share my experiences, insight and knowledge with seniors and their baby boomer kids and provide useful information to help develop a roadmap for smooth transitions or aging in place. I welcome readers to share their experiences, both good and not-so-good, in the hope that we all can benefit from each other.
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When my old doctor at PAMF 2 ½ years ago congratulated me for crossing over into the obese category it finally hit home. What the heck was I doing to myself? I actually exercised a fair amount, played full court basketball at the Y 3 or 4 times a week. But it was my relationship with food that was causing me to be 40 lbs overweight. I looked in the mirror and saw this chubby 58 yr old guy who was using food as sort of a pacifier. Except this kind of pacifier only lasts as long as it takes to bite, chew and swallow the next hunk of food. I was 5'11" and 216 lb.
Now I had tried fighting my "love affair" with food on my own. I had adopted my own version of a diet I just knew one day was going to start showing results. Unfortunately, that day never came. The diet consisted of not eating anything until about 1 or 2pm. Now you'd think going 7-8 hours without eating anything, after sleeping for 7-8 hours, would help you lose weight. And I'm sure it did. Every day I would lose about 2 lbs, until about 1 or 2 pm. Then I'd be so hungry I would eat anything I could get my hands on, and end up with a net weight gain of 1-2 lbs, when the day was done. Obviously, my diet plan was not working.
Someone suggested to me that I might be a compulsive over-eater. Boy, did that sound crazy. Compulsive over-eater? On second thought, remember that Lays potato chip commercial "Bet you can't eat just one." That ad campaign was based on a simple fact: there are enough people in this world you could market the addictive nature of a potato chip to for whom a Lays potato chip (deep fried, heavily salted, fat-laden, and oh so tasty) could not be resisted once you had just one. I certainly was in that target audience.
I'm happy to report that I was introduced to a program that has helped me tremendously. The first step was to admit that I was powerless over food and needed help. That got the ball rolling. Most folks feel it's just a matter of will power and that they should be able to get control over their over-eating by themselves. Most of us know what makes up a healthy diet. If it was that easy we wouldn't have the obesity problem we have raging all around us.
I'm not going to get all preachy about the program that helped me change my life. But if you want to know more please send me an email and I will be happy to share what I learned and what worked for me.
