What the Diet Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know

I’ve seen too many women spend years dieting, spending hundreds (more like thousands) of dollars on weight-loss programs and diets.  And having self-esteem issues because they just ‘can’t follow the diet.’

Well, you might not like hearing this, but…

The multibillion dollar diet industry thrives on your failure.   They need you to keep coming back to them for business.  The diet and weight-loss industry is built on repeat business.  It would be a very short-lived business if we all succeeded the first time.

And let’s face it, if they could really show you how to lose weight AND keep it off — you wouldn’t have to keep purchasing their products, attend their meetings, and buying their special foods.

And some of the “big name” diet and weight-loss organizations are owned by food companies ….(makes you think, huh?).

Americans alone spend over $55 billion (yup, Billion!) dollars a YEAR on weight-loss products.  And as a nation we keep getting heavier and heavier.  I think the ‘industry’ is doing something right — to put money in their pocket.

And let’s face it — diets don’t work.  There are different statistics out there, some even saying that 95% of all people on a diet gain the weight back within a few years.  I can tell you from my own personal experience this has been true for me.

In addition, diets do NOT teach you how to trust yourself.  The basic message of a diet is:  if you trusted yourself, you would start eating at one end of your kitchen and chew all the way across the U.S.  (okay, I’m exaggerating, but you get the idea).  But basically they tell you that if you trusted yourself  you’d never stop eating.  So, you need to trust them and their ‘rules.’  And do what they say, as opposed to learning to listen to yourself.

Another thing that is that weight-loss should not be the goal.  It should be the by-product of learning how to listen to your body for when it’s hungry, what is needs, and what it wants.  In other words –a healthy relationship with food, weight and your body.   Because when you lose weight….you don’t lose the reasons WHY you turned to food in the first place.

Let me repeat that:  when you lose the weight, you don’t lose the reasons why you turned to food in the first place.

For these reasons, and many others, is why I started Eat Without Guilt in the first place.  I struggled for so long, yo-yo dieting, feeling like a failure, that I had no willpower, that I just couldn’t follow the “rules”, and that if I could ONLY just lose weight I would be happy, joyful, peaceful and content.  Losing weight would make me not only happier, but a better person.  Boy was I wrong.

I want to help as many people as I can break free of the diet and overeating cycle and live a healthier, more satisfying life.  And to set you free so you can continue it on your own.  And to learn how to support YOURSELF.

And that’s just one of the reasons why I created an Intuitive Eating Success Class – to set you free and give you the tools to continue it on your own…for life.  Without having to pay me over and over again.  I’d love nothing more to have you in my course, and then see you continue on your own without my help (I’m not kidding!).

You see (especially women) we are so good at supporting everyone around us that we tend to put ourselves at the bottom of the list. We are constantly under pressure, overwhelmed and have many demands at both home and at work. We expect ourselves to be superwomen….and everyone else does too.  So for many, this translates into having an unhealthy relationship with food. The only way we know to give ourselves a break or a ‘treat’ is to eat something.

I want women (and men) to get back on the path to returning to your own natural instinct to eat when you are hungry and stop when you feel comfortably full or satisfied. So you never have to spend a dime on weight loss products again.  Ever.

My intuitive eating course, and my eat without guilt philosophy, is not a diet or plan.  Instead, it’s about  regaining the pleasure and enjoyment of eating without guilt and punishment.  About learning how to listen to yourself and your body.  How to discover if you’re really hungry, what you’re hungry for, and to bring complete awareness to what you are eating.  How to begin creating lasting peace with food.

About how to uncover your automatic response to emotions – and how to steer it away from food (because so many of us turn to food for emotional reasons, not physical ones.  Or we’ve been dieting or overeating for so many years that we no longer ‘know’ the difference between to two).

It’s about helping you respect your body and do what’s right for YOU (not what the newest ”study” or weight-loss guru says).

That’s what I’m all about.  Helping people get back to learning how to trust themselves again. And be really comfortable around food.  And not dieting and feeding the diet industry.  But to learn how to feed ourselves, our body and soul, and treating ourselves with kindness….NOW, not when we lose the ‘weight.’

So, what are your thoughts?  Do you agree, do you think I’m being too negative (about the diet industry)?  What has been your experience with diets?  I’d love to hear your thoughts — and yes, even if you don’t agree with what I say.  That’s the main reason for this post!  To start a discussion…

(for information about the upcoming Intuitive Eating Success class, just click here)

Have Your Pizza and Eat It Too

The other evening I went out to dinner with my husband when something really struck me that I wanted to share with you…

I looked over at the next table and saw a young girl who had a piece of pizza on the plate in front of her.  I saw the mother trying to coax her to eat, but the girl was just too interested in looking around, saying hi to other people in the restaurant, and she even got up to check out flowers in the restaurant.

Then she went back to her seat, started talking to her brother, and then finally (after about 5 minutes) she took her first bite of pizza.

And then it hit me — that’s what Intuitive Eating (also called mindful eating) is all about.  About getting back to that place where *life* is more interesting and fulfilling that food isn’t so important anymore.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love food and I really enjoy eating.  And when I sit down to eat most of the time I’m hungry.

But in our culture, we are so attuned to food being used as a solution to our issues, to food being used as a recreation, to food being used as a social tool, that we have seemingly forgotten that foods primary purpose –is  to nourish our bodies. AND that eating can be (and should be!) physically pleasurable.

But for so many, food often plays other roles and seems to have taken precedence over many other things in our life.

But food shouldn’t be a substitute for pleasure in life.…it should be a part of it.  And just like this young girl at the Italian restaurant — she was so interested in other things that the food was no longer so important.

You see, intuitive or mindful eating gets you back in touch with your actual needs, and gives us permission to once again experience the pure pleasure of eating.   It’s a common sense, hunger-based approach to eating, where you are encouraged (and learn HOW) to eat when and only when your body tells you it is hungry.  But for many of us, dieting has made a sort of ‘disconnect’ in those signals.

When someone is disconnected to her internal cues of hunger or fullness, it is easier to be trigged by external triggers to eat — such as emotions, stress, being tired, because the clocks says it’s 12 noon, opportunity, and/or perceived ‘rules’ of eating.

If someone has rigid rules for so-called healthy eating, she is more likely to succumb to overeating, as a consequence of breaking the well-meaning rules.

With intuitive eating, instead of focusing on dieting, you’ll to focus your attention to what you love.  Because if you love your LIFE, you’ll want to take care of your body.

So aim to be like the girl I saw in the restaurant — where food is a part of life and life’s pleasure, but it doesn’t control you or your day.  No matter what your way of eating, you can apply an intuitive approach to it–it’s about a way of living and relating to food, not about a food plan.

And for those of you who would like to learn further, and get back to that place where food is just food, where you don’t eat with your emotions but instead with your stomach and inner guidance — I have a new class that will get you there.  It’s an 8-week course that will change the way you think about food, help you break free of the dieting and overeating cycle, and take back control of your weight and your life.  And it’s starting at the end of this month.

All the details are here, if you want check it out:

http://www.IntuitiveEatingSuccess.com

The course is definitely not a diet or eating plan, but instead a way of experiencing life which allows you to be present and aware so that you are able to listen to your body and choose food based on nourishment and self-care.

I’m so passionate about this and feel the message is an important one for any woman who wants to handle her relationship with food, her weight, and her life in a healthy way, and to become truly whole. If that is you, you will not be disappointed, I promise.

The Magic Answer to Your Weight Struggle is Closer Than You Think