Archive for November, 2009

THE BEST HOLIDAY GIFT: NO WEIGHT GAIN!

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Given the time of year, I’m reprinting an article here that appeared in The Diet Coach’s Letter last holiday season.  It’s still timely! I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving.

The average American will gain some weight over the holiday season. While we may hate this fact, consider the even worse news: most people don’t lose it after January 1. If your weight has crept up over the years, then, it may not be your age that’s at fault . Just living through these weeks, year after year, can do the trick. So, not gaining weight during the holiday season is truly its own worthy goal.

In order to not gain, we may need all those tips the magazines bulge with this time of year. Beyond that, we may need to rethink the season in some basic ways. For any six-week stretch focused on eating, drinking, increasing time demands, and decreasing routine is bound to cause trouble. But just because it’s holiday time, you don’t have to automatically abandon your better habits. You may instead have to learn to enter these times with your highest goals kept at the top of your list. Don’t simply assume you’ve got to jump in and let the holiday tide sweep you along. Try to think instead of how to enjoy the parts of the season worth enjoying, while still emerging in January feeling good about yourself. (more…)

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THE EAT SANELY COURSE

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

I’m so happy to launch EatSanely, my new website, course, and blog. I’ve been working toward this project in various ways for years–as a psychologist, eating disorders specialist, and person who’s very fired up about the food craziness surrounding us.

To start with, let me restate here my working definition of “sane eating”: In short, this is eating in a way that maintains a healthy-enough weight, for good, without constant worry or guilt. In other words, without short-term or extreme diets cause frustration and regain. This doesn’t mean one way of eating fits all. It also doesn’t mean that this is easy, or that it happens all at once. Given the world we live in, though, it does mean that we each have to find some way of reaching that sane eating path—because our food world isn’t going to change overnight. Finding your own path to sanity can take trial and error, and time and attention, given that we live in a world of fast food, fake food, 300,000 diet books, and 1,400 calorie hamburgers. I believe there’s a way for each of us, though. And that’s what this work, and this forum, is about.

In this weekly blog, I’ll talk about sane eating “building blocks”—change strategies, coping skills, and “food for thought” that might help in paving a sane path. Also, as I comb the media daily for the helpful and the ridiculous, I’ll often comment on what strikes me there.

I hope you’ll join me in this exploration. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts, your ideas, your questions, your successes and frustrations. Let me know what you think!

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