Dieting Dramas

This entry will be incredibly boring for most guys and for those lucky women who never have to worry about their weight, but for anyone else whose every struggled with what they eat, this might be of interest.
When I hit the age of about 21 or 22 my metabolism slowed down significantly, and I put on quite a bit of weight. Up until this point I had never had to worry about what I ate. I tried various diets, often losing weight, then putting it back on and then some when I returned to my normal eating habits. Furthermore I felt powerless by food, unable to resist cravings and trapped by lots of obsessing about what I was or wasn't eating or about to eat. It took up a lot of energy and left me quite unhappy, not to mention the unhappiness I felt because of the way I looked.
So, last October I stumbled across a book in a second hand bookstore called Eating Less by Gillian Riley. This book has completely changed my relationship to food. She considers overeating as a form of addiction, and outlines ways of dealing with it accordingly. The book has nothing to do with dieting, and a lot to do with self esteem. Ironically, you have to forget all about losing weight, as that is a sure way to fail. As backwards as it sounds, it has worked for me very well. I can honestly say since reading the book I have not binged once to extent that I did before. I no longer obsess over food and spend a lot less time and energy thinking about it. I find myself eating healthily with little effort. And I've lost 12kgs so far, but just as Gillian predicts, thats not what I value the most. Its the peace I've gained.