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" DEAR E. JEAN: If I go off my diet, even the least bit, I say &amp;quot;to heck with it!&amp;quot; and devour the entire contents of my kitchen. After these horrible eating attacks, I vow to be very strict the next day, but I fall back into another bingeing episode. I hate this vicious cycle! When I&amp;#039;m not eating, all I can think about is food. I realize this is ridiculous because no one is hungry all the time. I&amp;#039;m not even that heavy. I just (always) need to lose 10 or 15 pounds. So how do I get my mind on track and stay with a good diet and exercise routine? \u2014Would Rather Binge on Life MY DEAREST BINGE: I&amp;#039;ve been through this dangerous craziness myself. And let me tell you: Yes, you can be hungry all the time. Don&amp;#039;t believe me? See &amp;quot;The Way of All Flesh...,&amp;quot; a Q&amp;amp;amp;A with New York Times writer Gina Kolata about her book Rethinking Thin in ELLE&amp;#039;s June issue. Depriving yourself of food can throw your body into starvation mode, and when you go hungry it becomes almost impossible not to &amp;quot;devour the entire contents of [your] kitchen.&amp;quot; According to Jules Hirsch, PhD, a professor emeritus at Rockefeller University who has spent decades researching obesity, your metabolism speeds up or slows down to keep your weight within a narrow range. So when you drastically cut calories, your metabolism idles and your appetite roars to life; and by &amp;quot;appetite&amp;quot; I don&amp;#039;t mean that dainty &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;d love a slice of Sara Lee.&amp;quot; I mean that sudden, savage, frantic, everything&amp;#039;s-going-to-hell lust to stuff a whole Carvel cake down your throat. So. Eat. Everything. The moment I told myself, &amp;quot;E. Jean, you dingbat, from now on, you can have whatever you want,&amp;quot; I started getting better. Now I eat all day long\u2014but, of course, Empress-of-Lilliput portions. However, I don&amp;#039;t keep H. Dazs, Betty Crocker Rich &amp;amp;amp; Creamy Frosting, peanut M&amp;amp;amp;Ms, or other stuff I lurve in the house. (Oh, I can eat M&amp;amp;amp;Ms anytime I want. It&amp;#039;s just that I must change clothes, find the car keys, get all the dogs in the backseat of the Prius, and drive to the store to buy the M&amp;amp;amp;Ms.) If a friend comes over bearing a large pizza with extra cheese and olives, of which I accidentally eat, say, seven slices, I exclaim, &amp;quot;Damn! That was good!&amp;quot; (In the old days, I would have locked myself in the Detestatron all night.) I do not own a scale, and I drink a glass of wine every evening. That&amp;#039;s it. Try it, and don&amp;#039;t worry about the 10 pounds just now. Simply enjoy! E-mail me in a week. We can do this together! Email your questions to e.jean@askejean.com  Related:Ask E. Jean: How Much Ozone Is Depleted When Your Husband Enjoys Sex With Your Best Friend?Ask E. Jean: What To Do When You Can&amp;#039;t Stop Thinking About Your ExAsk E. Jean: How Can I Get My Husband to Leave His Job? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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