By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

Why is it that some people can motivate themselves to commit a suicide bombing for some completely wrong-headed cause, but you can't motivate yourself to lose weight?

Why wait for someone to come along to brainwash you? Why not take control and brainwash yourself? Don't rely on the latest fad diet. Create your own plan to take responsibility for your own body. Take control and reprogram your subconscious mind.

Your subconscious mind is the realm of your core beliefs and the source of your instinctive reactions. It is nothing more than the accumulation of what you tell yourself every day (internal messages) and what others tell you (external messages). It is programmed by repeatedly feeding it essentially the same message over and over again. Every time you say "math class is boring" you are programming yourself for failure. Every time you say "I know I can learn Spanish" you are programming yourself for success. External messages such as "God is great" and "death to America" or "Tide clean" and "Ford tough" help program your subconscious mind.

A new second lieutenant had just started at the battalion headquarters at Fort Knox where I worked as a clerk. He had just gotten married. Every day he had something bad to say about his wife. "She burned the toast." A year later he got divorced. No surprise. He programmed himself for that divorce. Every day I tell myself how lucky I am to have such a wonderful wife. I have been happily married for forty years.

The first thing to do to program yourself for a suicide bombing, or for weight loss, is to surround yourself with propaganda. Yes, you need to subscribe to all those weight loss magazines. No, you should not be listening to all those "foodie" programs on the radio. What about all those friends of yours? Think of three possible groups of friends you could have: (1.) Friends who want you to commit terrorism; (2.) Friends who will support you no matter what you do; and (3.) Friends who will nag you to death if you don't lose some weight. Now if you are serious about losing weight, which group of friends do you want to associate with?

What about that food you are bringing home? Did you know that some of it is "illegal." Yes, it's the food that tastes really good. Forget ice cream, but maybe you could get away with some no-sugar-added fudge bars. They taste okay, but not good enough to cause you to break training between meals. For a between meal snack, those salty peanuts are just too addictive; how about some unsalted walnuts? Forget potato chips and cookies, they are totally "illegal." Remember, if it tastes too good, you don't want it in your house.

To lose weight avoid anything that contains a lot of sugar and salt. Sugar is sneaky since it comes disguised in so many forms like high-fructose corn syrup and the like. Processed foods tend to have too much sugar and salt. It is better to make meals from scratch. It is hard to find canned soup without lots of bad ingredients. It's much better to make your own soup. Same thing with salad dressing -- just mix some garlic or lemon juice with some olive oil to create a tasty salad dressing without sugar, salt or preservatives.

It is not necessary nor desirable to avoid salt altogether especially if you sweat a lot in hot weather. Even if you try, you will still almost certainly get more salt than you need. To avoid excess salt, you could look for low-sodium or no-sodium foods, but check with your doctor first. Since many foods don't have a reduced sodium version, it pays to check the milligrams of sodium on the label. For half a cup is it under 200 mg or under 50 mg for two tablespoons? When it comes to dodging the deadly bullet of sodium, there is no substitute for doing the math. Medical studies have reported that sodium could thicken and harden your arteries causing your blood pressure to rise which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. You can reprogram yourself by saying to yourself from time to time that "Sugar fills and salt kills." A small note card with that slogan on the bathroom mirror should do the trick.

The most critical part of programming yourself for weight loss is recording your weight on a calendar each morning when you arise. If you and your partner do this then you can support one another in your collective weight-loss effort. If you can start each day discussing your weight-loss strategy for the day with your partner, your chances of success are great. Plan ahead by making a light lunch to compensate for that big restaurant dinner you have scheduled. If you over-eat at lunch, plan to have just a cup of fruit for dinner.

If you will be attending a reception where you have no control over the food that will be available, decide in advance what type of food you will be willing to eat. Eat at home as much as possible, but if you do go out to eat, avoid those all-you-can-eat buffets which put your wealth strategy (get the most for your money) in direct conflict with your health strategy.

The most important thing to remember is this: You, and only you, decide what to put in your mouth. If you can't control what you put in your mouth, then you can't control anything. Before you try to gain control of anything else in your life, first gain control of your weight.

P.S. If you can do one thing for your children to ensure that they have a bright and successful future, teach each of them to gain control of their subconscious mind.

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Also see:

No-Eat-Day Diet: a good strategy or bad advice?

Kennedy's death reminds us that men in their 70s must be defensive players

Checking up on dental fraud

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