23 Chapter 3 – The sleeping dragon of rebellion Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we diet. Title of a paper by Urbszat, Herman, & Polivy When it became evident that I had a cholesterol problem, as well as being overweight, I realized that whatever solution I came up with had to work for me for the rest of my life. A solution for just a few months was just not going to cut it. Being a particularly lazy psychiatrist I really did not want to put in more work than was needed to make a difference – especially if I had to do it for the rest of my life. Equally, the prospect of giving up some of my favorite foods forever was too much to bear. Deep down I knew that if I had to sacrifice too much I’ d rather stay overweight and enjoy a shorter life – such was my love of food. So, being acutely aware of the need to‘ begin as you wish to continue’( as we discussed in Chapter 1) I spent a long time thinking about how to lose weight before I started. One day, while I was still thinking, I was out to lunch with my old friend Flat Food Larry. He told me he was on this new French diet( well the diet was not new but his awareness of it was). He explained that on this diet as long as he did not combine rich carbohydrates with fatty foods, he would lose weight and, this was the kicker, he could eat as much as he liked while he did so. In my most patronizing medical tone, I explained to him in the nicest possible way that he was a total idiot and a calorie was just a calorie; it didn’ t care how it was eaten. Well over the next few months he lost 15 kilograms( 33 pounds) and I had to eat crow. In fact, crow almost became my staple diet when I saw him after that because I went on the same diet and also lost weight.