Dieting is not about you, it is about meeting other people’s goals, ideals, and values.  Diets typically value external information like calories, meal plans, and specific foods, over your own internal cues (hunger and fullness, likes and dislikes). Diets and expensive weight loss gimmicks promise a future outcome such as a new life, more love,...Read More

When professionals drop the weight loss requirement and shift the counseling to engage in health promoting behaviors such as eating when hungry, eating nutrient rich foods, eating satisfying amounts, and moving the body in a regular, consistent, and enjoyable way, the conflict between health and the Thin Ideal vanish. Many professionals are not sure why...Read More

“Why do bad things happen when clients try to lose weight?” is the second most asked question in the world; the first is “What can I do to prevent this?” What you can do to help is to really understand why bad things happen when a person tries to intentionally lose weight. Dieting is a...Read More

While on a recent online seminar, a participant asked, “Is there a handout I can give providers explaining how encouraging children to diet causes harm?” This question, and many more like it, have promoted me to dive into the research to learn the truth – What is the harm for children when they diet? Dieting...Read More

In examining the logic, you can see there is a false belief in the statement, “If I was ______, then I would be ______.” Like some sort of twisted MAD LIB’s game, clients fill in the missing word pairs something like this: Thin: Happy Smaller: Beautiful Dieting: Healthy In Control: Cured These “If/Then” statements are...Read More

As mentioned, disordered eating isn’t a single behavior or an individual problem but a pattern of thinking and decisions leading to self-harm. At the onset, these thoughts and behaviors appear harmless, and are often praised by society as being “good” or “strong” or even “disciplined” regarding food and eating choices. This truth is clearly described...Read More

Normal eating, Fiona Willard, RD explains, is characterized by flexibility, enjoyment, and satisfaction. This is vastly different than disordered eating – a generic term used to describe appearance driven eating beliefs and behaviors utilized to cope but not promoting or supporting physical health. Disordered eating choices are often patterns or ritual behaviors which typically lead...Read More

You have already learned that transitions, the point where a person moves from one project or event to another are often times of mindless eating. This is because there are many pulls which can distract a person from being present – such as habits, condition-ing, and emotions. In this post we are going to explore...Read More

Transitions are often times of mindless eating. There are many pulls which can distract a person from being present – such as habits, conditioning, and emotions. In the last post, you learned mindfulness provides your client with both an awareness and an opportunity to associate a new behavior with a transition. In this post, we...Read More

Transitions are the places mindless eating happens for many people, myself included. The ‘call of the cookie’ seems loudest in the lull before a project begins or after its completion. Transitions are places where the mind leaves the present moment, naturally, to consider a future task or to reflect on a past event. This transition...Read More