Nostalgia: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.

I like to watch movies on the weekends.  This is my way of relaxing and placing my mind at rest before the frenetic pace of the weekdays takes over.  Last weekend I found myself watching two very old movies that were based around summer camps.  The first was a very funny movie, “Meatballs” with Bill Murray and the second was “Indian Summer” with Bill Paxton, Diane Lane and an ensemble of known stars.  Some of my most memorable summers were spent at sleep away summer camps and the nostalgic sensations brought on by watching these movies was robust.  First kiss…first underage drinking…lots of “firsts”, hence the nostalgia. 

Now abruptly ending Posner’s nostalgia ride, what does this have to do with weight control?   Here goes:  We do remember (fondly) past times when we were younger when we could eat lots more food, drink lots more beer/booze, not have to exercise and our weights would remain right where we wanted.  Nostalgia also brings us to reaching for the “comfort” foods that our parents and grandparents nurtured us with.  

Perhaps eating these derailing foods makes us feel good, partly because of the nostalgic feelings brought on by the act, taste and sensation of eating these foods.  This is similar to my personal example of watching a movie about a bunch of 17 year at camp and the shenanigans they were up to making me, for 2 hours, feel like I was 17 again.

Try very hard during your weight control journey to not allow nostalgic feelings to negatively impact on your weight control efforts.  Watch a movie instead!

And enjoy a very sweet song from Meatballs, played when the kids were canoeing across the lake after their overnight.