DEAR DESPERATE STUDENT

Note: My response to the letter published in this blog yesterday


Dear Kiki


How great to hear from you after 30 years!

I am so sorry that you write from pain and not happiness.

My bet is that there is still a happy woman somewhere buried within the agony.

Yes, I will do everything in my power to help you find that woman once more.

You must realize that my entire work these days is helping others achieve their life purpose of becoming a personal coach.

That, along with my writing and other activities, takes up my days here in San Diego.

However, I hardly can turn down the compelling and well written, I may add, request of a former student who wants to return to the classroom once again.

As with Honors English, thirty years ago, I have rules.

If you follow them, I can help you.

If you don't, I can't and won't.

I have a 30 day program to help you begin your quest.

From what I have read, you have never been educated to eat right.

For the next 14 days, I will be reviewing what you eat now and how you can substitute foods that are good for you and that you enjoy.

I will write about portion control, my "last bite" theory, visualization, the liquids you should be drinking, and how the simple act of walking can help you once again take control of your life.

I will suggest a reading list of no more than 3 books which you will read and internalize as you complete my 30 day program and graduate on to a lifestyle where eating is no longer a diet, but a lifestyle.

I will teach you to think about food in a way that has never occurred to you before.

Kiki, together, we can do this.

Just like 30 years ago, I will be your mentor.

But you must become the "A" student once again.

This time we are goal is not college.

This time our goal is helping you discover that beautiful woman looking to escape from the prison she now sits.

Kiki, your enclosed pictures tell me you are still a beautiful woman.

Let's take this journey together.

Are you ready?

I can't promise you this will be easy.

Great pursuits never are.

But I can promise you a rewarding journey, if you set your mind to this goal.

And now our journey begins............


Today, Kiki is around 140 pounds, remarried and a very content woman. She will never buy "diet" foods again and she laughs when people ask her what was the name of her diet.

As Kiki writes, her answer is that she connected with a former teacher who taught her another lesson about life.

Kiki gives me too much credit.

Kiki simply learned a better way to eat.

And if you have the time, I can teach it to you.