Your Weight Is in Your Mind:

Losing weight and controlling your weight is not about diets, but rather it is about understanding your mental states: “Your weight is between your ears.”That is the message preached by Martin Schiff, M.D., a retired bariatric physician who now devotes his time, resources, and expertise to exposing what he calls the inaccurate, misleading theories and notions concerning weight control and weight loss.When 86-year-old Dr. Schiff began his medical practice as a general practitioner in 1952, he put patients on diets, he says. But after reading, studying, and treating patients, he came to understand that it was really all about the patient’s “experiences and events, emotions, feelings, attitudes, power, will, mental programming and conditioning, your total being, and the states of your mind.”Dr. Schiff now consults from his home in Pacific Palisades since his 2005 retirement from his active practice of bariatrics, the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity. He invites interested persons to telephone him at 310.454.5710.“Your mind is your pilot,” he says. “It directs you to steer a forward, accurate weight-controlled and weight loss course. It shows you how to reach and maintain your desired weight. It empowers, regulates, and improves your total being. … Eliminate negative habits. Develop positive, enlightened thoughts and improved behavioral patterns. This will help you achieve permanent weight loss.”On a more nuts-and-bolts level, Dr. Schiff advises: “Avoid sugar, fried foods, white flour, cakes, cookies, and junk food. Avoid ‘diets,’ which really don’t involve you controlling you. Dine on lean meats, fish, chicken, low-fat and low-calorie cheeses. Proteins like these are desirable. They are the source of life and the primary ingredient of good health. Also fresh and freshly frozen fruits and vegetables are vital. Think before and while eating. Chew slowly and savor the taste; therefore your desire for extra food will decrease. Eat, think, and stay slim.”The doctor says he treated people from various studios during his practice, but he is now urging Hollywood to add an “O” rating (for Obesity) to those movies that contain scenes of overeating, gorging, food-play, and general disregard for unhealthy eating practices. Dr. Schiff gives an overall bird’s-eye view of his weight loss and weight control methodology by using the letters of his last name as an acronym: Success is achieved by avoiding sugar and white flour; eliminate cakes, cookies, candy, and junk food.Conscientiously learning and doing makes all things better.Health is what I’m achieving when I think and eat correctly; I dine on lean meats, fish, chicken, low-fat cheeses, fruits and vegetables, fresh or freshly frozen.I enjoy exercising my body and mind; I imagine how I am going to be when I shape up both physically and mentally.Finding the right foods, eating small amounts, gradually decreasing food intake, and improving the quality of thought enhances my enjoyment of life.Finally, I understand this entire S-C-H-I-F-F approach; I will use and apply this Martin Schiff program and plan forever – weight control is hunger, mind, and thought control.