This ia  picture of one serving of food from my new cooking video,
Roasted Chicken Thighs
which is located at DietHobby, under RECIPES,  Mealtime.

This is my most recent "Ask Grandma" video,
which was made for my DietHobby, youtube channel,
however I'm also featuring it here, because
depression is very relevant in matters of 
weight-loss and weight-maintenance. 

Being fat tends to feel depressing. 
Feeling depressed encourages us to make
bad diet and exercise choices,
even though better eating choices,
and exercise can help to raise depressed feelings.

We can't make ourselves happy every minute,
but there are things we can do to manage depression.

A book I talked about recently, 

"The Power of Habit" (2012) by Charles Duhigg, says:

"This is how willpower becomes a habit;
by choosing a certain behavior ahead of time,
and then following that routine when an inflection point arrives."

I was unfamiliar with that term, so I looked it up.
An inflection is defined as a deviation from a straight or normal course;
a variation that deviates from the standard or norm.
So an Inflection Point is when a change in one's normal situation takes place.

This book's statement confirms what I have previously learned:
that in matters of weight control, It's important to plan ahead;
to visualize a way to handle potential problem situations:
and then, when problems arise,
to follow through with the visualized plan
despite the existence of those difficulties.

However, before reading the above-quoted statement,
I had not considered my previous knowledge
to be a part of the habit building function.

Recently I've been reading several books about
Willpower and Habit, and thinking about those concepts
as they relate to weight-loss and maintenance of weight-loss. 

Information about Habit formation is now a major field of research
in neurology and psychology departments at manyuniversitities and
medical centers, as well as inside corporate labs. 

Computers have greatly increased the ability to analyze data,
and the push to understand how daily habits influence our decisions
is now one of the hottest topics in clinical research. 

Most of us are hardly aware that our habit patterns exist,
but a study from Duke University estimated that habits,
rather than conscious decision-making, shapes 45 percent
of the choices we make every day, and recent discoveries
have begun changing the thinking about dieting, as well as
treatments for anxiety, depression, and addictions. 

Although Habits can be ignored, changed, or replaced,
once the loop in our brains is established, and a habit emerges,
the brain stops fully participating in decision-making. 
So unless one deliberately fights a habit 
- which means finding new cues and rewards -
the old pattern will unfold automatically. 

The book on habit that I'm currently reading is:
"The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" (2/28/2012)
by Charles Duhigg.

This morning I posted a new Diet Wisdom video,
What is Food?  
which is located at DietHobby, under DIET WISDOM,  Basics.

Recently I've been thinking about the concepts of Personal Worth,
and or feelings of Worthlessness as they apply to me and to my own
endeavors with food, weight-loss, and maintenance of weight-loss.

I'm rather fond of the psychological concepts of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT),
and also of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT).

One of the concepts of REBT, is that
...if intrinsic value exists at all...
we get it because we CHOOSE, we DECIDE to have it. 
It exists because of our own definition.
We are "good" or "deserving" because we THINK we are,
and not because anyone awards us this kind of "inherent value". 

When persons can call themselves "worthwhile" just because they decide to do so,
they will tend to lose their desparate need for the approval of others. 
If we reduce our need for the esteem of others, 
we will find it easier to stop rating ourselves as persons,
and will come to value ourselves simply because we are alive. 

A philosophy of "worth" and "worthlessness" leads to disturbed feelings
of guilt, shame, and self-loathing, and we'll be better off with the concept
that we are not "worthwhile" because of our effectiveness,
or "worthless" because of our ineffectiveness. We merely EXIST. 

Self-acceptance means fully accepting oneself,
one's existence, and one's right to live and to be as happy as one can be,
--- no matter WHAT traits one has, or what acts one does. 

Self-acceptance doesn't mean self-esteem, self-confidence, self-respect,
or self-regard, because all of these terms imply that one accepts onself
BECAUSE one does something well, or BECAUSE other people like one. 
Unconditional self-acceptance means that you accept yourself
because you are alive and have DECIDED to accept yourself. 

Unconditional self-acceptance makes several minimal assumptions 
about people's intrinsic worth or value. These are:

• You exist
  
  
• By continuing to exist, you can probably achieve more pleasure than pain,
  thus making it desirable for you to keep living.
  
  
• You can help reduce your pain and increase your pleasure.

• You decide that you will try to live and make your life as pleasurable 
  and as unpainful as you can make it...  You can choose to strive for achievement
  and approval, but not to prove your greatness as a person, but only because
  you PREFER to achieve and to be loved. 

For those interested in learning more about these concepts, 
I recommend reading "A Guide To Rational Living" (1997) &"
"The Art & Science of Rational Eating" (1992) by Albert Ellis, PH.D.