Sound familiar? Five weeks after starting her weight-loss plan, Susan goes out to dinner to celebrate a friend's birthday. Everybody orders appetizers: nachos, fried cheese sticks and onion rings. Susan orders a salad. When the appetizers come, Susan tells herself that if she can't eat some of these foods, she'll go crazy just looking at them.

        So she decides to eat a few bites. After the few bites, her urge to continue eating grows stronger. She says she can't “stand it” anymore and decides to eat whatever she wants. Later, telling this story to a friend, Susan says she had no choice but to eat the appetizers instead of her salad.

        It is an interesting fact to note that while Susan's inner voice is telling her she can't stand the situation, Susan was indeed tolerating watching others eat.

        Susan was confusing not standing a situation with not liking the situation. We can literally stand most things because we have most likely been tolerating them for a long time. Tolerating something doesn't mean you have to like it. Some of us tolerate paying our taxes but it doesn't mean we like it..

        Does this mean we must be perfect in riding out food urges? Of course not. It does however suggest that we can learn to challenge ourselves and do a little more than we think we can.

        Reality dictates that you might be in a situation you don't like until you are able to change it. For example, until you lose the weight you want, you will have to be more disciplined about your food choices. You will find as you challenge yourself in these situations, you can stand and survive what you intensely dislike.

        Healthy Eating is provided by staff members at Jewish Hospital Weight Management Center (www.morethanadiet.com), Evendale.

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