Hi Everyone,

I went to the Emergency Room May 3^rd at 12:30 a.m. with stomach pains that wouldn’t stop. I had prayed and asked for help from the Healing Team, but the pain persisted. I asked my inner guidance and I felt a yes answer to go to the Emergency Room. I call the doctor so that the insurance would cover it and the nurse on-call on the phone asked if I could drive or did I need an ambulance. I felt I could make the 5 mile drive by myself.

They did some blood work and an Ultra-Sound and diagnosed me with pancreatitis. I do not drink alcohol (maybe 3 or 4 drinks a year) and my blood work looked good for my size. So they were stumped as to what caused it.

Well, I knew immediately what had caused it. I have been eating a very high fat diet for many years, probably most of my life. I just turned 60 and I weighed in at the hospital at 353 lbs. Yes, I was/am obese! They hooked me up with an IV and put me in the hospital for a couple of days. The doctor didn’t say much about my weight or a diet. All he said was that Sat. they would give me a low-fat lunch and see how I did on food. I did okay so he said I could go home.

Meanwhile, I talked to one of my nurses about wanting to lose this weight, so she got the Dietician to come see me. She was nice and explained a low-fat diet and what I could eat and what I couldn’t eat. She gave me a print out of some guidelines, that I will copy for everyone here.

I have dieted all my life. At some times I actually weighed 120 pounds and was very attractive (to the opposite sex). In fact I feel that that is one reason why I chose (unconsciously) to gain weight to become unattractive to the opposite sex. It seems that all my relationships seemed to be focused on sex. Even the few long-term (5 years was the longest) relationships never seemed to be very deep. I seemed to choose men who were not interested in what I was interested in (my spiritual path) therefore they were very superficial in my opinion.

Enough of the past and reasons for what I did to my body. I felt this was my Wake-up Call. With my obese weight it is very painful for me to stand or walk very far. And even that wasn’t enough to get me to stop the insane fatty diet that I was choosing. Because you see, I could sit down and the pain would go away and I could catch my breath, etc. But the pancreatitis pain did not go away. It stayed until I didn’t eat for about 42 hours and then ate only low-fat food.

It seems I need a kick in the butt to get me to actually choose Life. I had bronchitis twice in 2000 which finally got me to make the commitment to not smoke for the rest of my Life! When I made that commitment (Oct. 20, 2000) it was easy to quit. I did it as they say, cold-turkey, but felt no withdrawal symptoms. And I do not miss them at all, and only think about it when I tell people about it.

Well, this weight feels like the same thing! I have made a commitment to eat low-fat for Life. It is 10 days since I went in the hospital and I have lost 14 lbs so far. I have had fun finding things to eat that I like that are low fat.

In fact, I would like to dedicate this web page to that diet. I have a printout of what I ate for the first week. There are some things that are going to be difficult to do without. So I have decided not to do without some of those things—but to find a way to make them low-fat. For instance I love gravies and sauces. And there are some neat ways to make them low-fat. Cheese though, I will have to do without, unless someone can find some that is low-fat and still taste and melts good.

Mayonnaise is one of my favorite things too. And the Dietician told me that Hellmann’s Light with the blue top is just like real mayonnaise and she was right!

So please feel free to e-mail me if you have found anything that is good and low-fat. I will appreciate all your help. Thanks.

Love you, Pam