Still Hungry

Singer, Carnie Wilson, recently appeared on 'Oprah', regarding the transformation from her weight loss surgery several years ago. The show's topic revolved around the addictions that weight loss surgery patients take on after they've lost all the weight. By reducing their stomachs to approximately the size of a walnut, the addict's druge of choice (in their case, it's food) is taken away from them and replaced with something else (alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping and sex). The point of the topic is that although the surgery cures the symptoms of food addiction, it in no way deals with the addiction itself, which takes form in other ways. In Carnie's case, she began drinking heavily for a few years. Having put herself out in the public eye as the poster child for weight loss surgery became so stressful that she turned to drinking as a coping mechanism. Eventually, her husband Rob told her to get into rehab so they can begin to start a family. Three weeks after Carnie stopped drinking she became pregnant with her daughter. The moral of the story is that weight-loss surgery patients need ongoing treatment to learn better and healthier coping skills. Losing all that weight in such a short period of time must be a very heady experience, but add an addictive personality to that experience and you have a dangerous situation. Luckily Carnie is sober for two years now and is happily raising her daughter with her husband, Rob. You can read more about her experiences in her two books, "Gut Feelings" and "I'm Still Hungry".