I bet you didn’t know that May 6th was International No Diet Day. Well it was, and its a day dedicated to raising awareness regarding the dangers of dieting and to celebrate body acceptance and body shape diversity. Despite the entrenchment of the diet mentality in our culture, research demonstrates that diets don’t work. Ninety-eight
We all eat for emotional reasons some of the time. Let's face it: food is convenient, pleasurable and exciting. It can also be comforting and soothing. And eating is a way to distract ourselves from dealing with the things we don't want to deal with, right? Generally, we're not bothered by a little emotional eating
I could tell when I entered the waiting room of my office that Samantha was having a bad day. She appeared depressed--she sat slumped in the chair and she was visibly upset. Her mascara was running and she looked like she had been crying. Unlike times when she was more upbeat, she was not distracting herself with her phone
Alright, let's be honest. You eat dinner most nights at a reasonable hour, but then, later in the evening, you find yourself heading to the freezer for your nightly ice cream fix, or to the pantry to raid the cookies and chocolate stash. Truthfully, you're not even hungry, but you feel a craving for something sweet and fatty. Nothing to be ashamed of--late
Shirley, a 37-year-old wife and mother, looks forward to her nightly binges.They are the only time she feels totally free and in control of her life. She resents the fact that her husband doesn’t earn more money and that she has to work full-time while raising their three-year old. She’d like to have another child before time runs out, but can’t
Most of us don't like to spend much time thinking about our losses and disappointments or painful childhood experiences.Yet, without much effort, they are brought to the forefront of our minds when something in our environment triggers thoughts of them. We see a happy couple and think "Oh, yeah, I had a loving relationship with
At a seminar I gave recently on emotional eating, Cyndie, an attractive, well-dressed woman in her late forties came up to me and shared: "Even though I'm obviously overweight, I don't think that I'm an emotional eater because I don't eat at all when I'm sad or depressed. In fact, I can't eat at those
It makes me crazy when I hear supposed weight loss experts preach that the road to weight loss begins and ends with calorie counting, daily weigh-ins and intense workout regimens. This kind of advice couldn't be farther from the truth and, in fact, it encourages us not to listen to the wisdom of our bodies. You were
