Over the years I’ve made many observations of thin people, overweight people and the entire “diet culture” that we have here in America. It seems that overweight people never reach their goals of becoming thin, and that many thin people eventually become overweight. The diet industry and the medical care providers profit greatly from this problem. What about the rest of us? I personally don’t believe that the diet industry is trying to do Americans a disservice. There are many people who lose weight permanently through dieting, but they have to continue doing what made them thin for the rest of their lives. Most of us can’t imagine being on a permanent diet or extreme exercise program (although I do feel that consistent exercise is needed to maximize your long term health). That’s why the diet industry is so huge – it’s one big merry-go-round. People finish one diet, gain back all the weight they lost (and then some), and jump onto the next diet fad. We are all searching for the diet that will give us permanent weight loss. There’s only one problem with that – it doesn’t exist! There are only permanent diets! It only makes sense that if you lost weight on a low fat, low carbohydrate or low calorie diet, that you are going to have to continue similar eating patterns on the “maintenance” phase of each of these diets. That means permanent deprivation. I don’t know about you, but the phrase “permanent deprivation” is not a big motivator for me. And, looking around at our ever-fattening population, it seems that a lot of people feel the same way I do. So where does that leave all of us that want to lose weight, but can’t? I thought maybe the best place to start on my quest for permanent weight loss was with observing people who are naturally thin. You know who I’m talking about – the people you love to hate! We all know people who don’t pay attention to what they eat, but never to seem to gain any weight. Welcome to my world! One fat Dad living with 4 naturally thin people. How could this have happened? Well, I made some observations that I’d like to share with you. One evening while I obsessed over the meaning of life at the dinner table, which is the sort of thing that overweight people obsess about while they’re waiting to start their next diet, I looked around at my dining companions. Across from me was my wife, who weighs the same now as the day I met her 22 years ago. To my right was my son (a bottomless pit when it comes to food), the owner of a true six pack for abs. Beside him was my oldest daughter, who’d never been on a diet (nor, needed to be on one) and was heading off for college. Across from these two was my youngest daughter who’d lost ten pounds earlier in life, and had never had a weight issue since. The question I asked myself was, “What made me different from all four of my dining companions?” It seemed very strange that one fat person lived with these four individuals. Why, why, why was I so different? I decided to watch them eat. My wife put the amount she wanted to eat on her dinner plate and didn’t really have seconds. My daughters had seconds of what they liked, my son ate as much of everything as was humanly possible, and I did the same thing as my son except he seemed to be enjoying his food. I ate well past the point of hunger, well past the point of nourishing my body, well past the point of enjoying what I ate. Studying the difference between the members of my family and myself, would ultimately lead me to discovering the “secret” to permanent weight loss. I can’t put my entire book in this article, but I can share what I think is the most important thing you can do to eat more naturally: Slow Down! Enjoy your food and the entire dining experience. Our fast food mentality has lead us to simply shove food into our mouths without experiencing the pleasure of eating. Food is supposed to taste good and a meal is something to be enjoyed. Constant dieting has screwed us up so bad mentally and physically, that we do many things that make no sense. We eat bland, tasteless food that we don’t want, but it’s “on our diet plan.” We spend countless hours in the gym because we know we have to exercise to get and stay thin (most of the natural eaters I know don’t exercise). And, we turn mealtime into a meaningless experience – we don’t truly enjoy the food we’re eating. We either feel guilty because it tastes good and we think we shouldn’t be eating it, or it’s so tasteless that we’re fantasizing about the “non-diet” foods we like. Is this really any way to live? And, is it really making us thinner in the long run? I think not. This article is provided by Paul Clark of finallyfitandthin.com. Portions of this article were from the book, “Naturally Thin.” Copyright © 2005 by Paul Clark. All rights reserved Worldwide. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. Paul Clark of http://www.finallyfitandthin.com is the author of the book, "Naturally Thin." This book is based on his failures at dieting and his subsequent observations of people who were "naturally" thin. It is also based on his experiences while helping his daughter to lose weight naturally.