What to Do if the Diet Fails 147food addicts feel very uncomfortable, and they may carp at you for what is
really no more than a self-centered reason.
Also, there is a tendency to associate weight loss with ill health,
though the two are not always connected. Someone, I think rightly, said that
we should all weigh the same as we did at the age of twenty-one; few of us
do. The so-called ‘average weights,’ usually quoted from insurance company
statistics, include measurement of the obviously obese types. If the upper
heavyweights in each height range were excluded as obviously abnormal,
then the average weight would fall markedly: in other words, most of us
should ideally, weigh less than we do or less than the ‘average’ weights say
we should.
When you are ready to try a fast, the next chapter tells you all you
need to know. Eat a full diet for at least two weeks and stoke up with vitamin
and mineral supplements in preparation (provided these do not disagree
with you).
OTHER REASONS FOR FAILURE
There are other reasons why you may remain ill despite the diet. You may
well have food allergies, but there could also be other factors which are
denying you your recovery:
Other illnesses concurrent
Sometimes a medical diagnosis is missed: I regularly see patients with an
obvious goiter, or abnormal urine tests, anemia and other problems which
should have been detected by the family doctor but weren’t. If you think
this may be the case with yourself, you can go back to your GP and ask
about a more thorough check-up. He or she may feel this is unjustified:
many doctors view allergy patients as freaks, refusing, regardless of their
intelligence or reliability, to take them seriously. In that case you have no
option but to ask for a second opinion. It is your right, and your doctor
should not be offended by the request.
Chemical sensitivities
These may be to blame in your case, especially if you are well qualified as
an ‘allergy case’ according to the self-inventory. This is quite a complex
problem and is the subject of a book at least. It is often necessary to