Food For Feelings

For many of us food has been a trusted friend, a comfort. When we feel lonely or afraid or sad, food is always there. We use it to mask our difficult feelings and to nurture ourselves. We can count on it. In the moment, it does not let us down. When we use food as a comfort, however, the result is usually discomfort. We feel disappointed in ourselves and beat ourselves up emotionally with negative messages. When we have binged and feel exhausted, we vow never to abuse food again. Of course, the next time difficult feelings arise, we do. We do this because we have learned that “food works” and we have reinforced that again and again over the years. So, food works in the short term but in the long term overeating reinforces our negative self-image, lowers our self-esteem level and confirms again that we are out of control. We cannot change this behavior and Tame our Chew until we learn healthy ways to cope with difficult feelings.

My new book, The Appetite Connection: Six Steps to Your Delicious Life and The Body You Long For will be coming out at the end of July. These six steps are clear and ever so effective! This is a book with real answers to your important questions and also urges you never to diet again!!! I will keep you posted as the release date draws near!. Meanwhile, join me on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Denise/139555252729875?ref=sgm#!/profile.php?id=1158957675 ) and post your questions...I love hearing from you! ...and Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/DocDenise ) to keep up withal the exciting things happening this summer!

The Diet Industry: Friend or Foe?

Dieting is an obsession in our culture and the diet industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise. We are bombarded with messages to be thin and to try fad diet products, diet pills, and wraps that promise to “melt off pounds” while we do nothing. There are liquids that promise to provide balanced nutrition and to help us drop pounds at the same time. There are diet wafers, soft drinks and candies that promise to satisfy our needs while our inches disappear. There is always a new scheme coming along – some kind of product linked to some kind of magical promise. We all know on some level that these do not work. The idea of a quick solution to such a painful problem is alluring, however, and difficult to pass up. Instead of staying with our reasoning selves, we slide into denial and we buy yet another gimmick in a desperate attempt to end our battle with weight once and for all. As many of us know through painful experience, this ends in failure and emotional eating and our self-esteem suffers yet another blow.

We are urged to color our hair, hide our wrinkles, and cram our bulges into tight clothing until we can barely breathe. We cannot pass a magazine rack without being assaulted by messages that our bodies are not okay. Virtually every issue of any magazine written for women, will contain some kind of article on how to become younger, more beautiful, more slender, more something. The message is clear. We are never all right just as we are.

As with any industry, the diet industry only continues to grow if their products remain in demand. Have you ever thought about that? If diet products really did work, the industry would put itself out of business. Why then are millions of women and men buying more and more diet products? If diet products work and we become thin using them, then why do we need more and more of them? Why do more and more weight loss groups and organizations form? Why? These are important questions to think about. The more informed you are, the more you will be able to steer clear of false promises. You will save money, but, more importantly, you will protect yourself from further disappointment and shame.