Overcoming Compulsive Eating through Making Peace with Food & Your Body

The Conscious Eating, Conscious Living Approach:

Many of us struggle with food issues and are stuck in a pattern of habitual or emotional eating. We know that diets don’t work. We may even know why we eat compulsively, yet we can’t seem to break the cycle. Conscious Eating, Conscious Living; Making Peace with Food & your Body is a loving, holistic approach for anyone who would like to get off the diet/binge yo-yo , develop a healthier, more intuitive relationship with food and their bodies, and find their natural body weight without dieting. This psychoeducational and experiential program was developed by a psychotherapist and lifestyle coach to overcome her own cycle of dieting and binge eating.

Why diets don’t work:

Diets do work – temporarily. But statistics indicate that 95% of people regain the weight they have lost through dieting. I believe this is due to diets being restrictive and outer-dictated instead of inner-directed, and because diets don't deal with the emotional factors underlying eating issues. More importantly, diets confirm our belief that we are not OK as we are. If we focus our unhappiness on our bodily "flaws" - including our weight if it doesn't meet the current cultural standard - we may use dieting as a way to feel better about ourselves. Unfortunately we only feel good about ourselves when the numbers or the scale go down. When they don't, we are plunged into self-loathing.

A diet mentality says there are good and bad foods defined by their calories, fat, or sugar content. Therefore, we are "bad" if we've eaten any of these foods and we either berate ourselves for this slip of willpower or try to make up for it by exercising or restricting ourselves the next day. In this mindset the purpose of exercise is to lose weight. Period.

A conscious, intuitive relationship with food tells us that we deserve to enjoy eating without guilt. We eat exactly what we want, enjoy it fully, and stop when we are satisfied knowing that we can have it again whenever we want it. We exercise not primarily to lose weight but because it makes us feel better physically, emotionally and mentally.

"Conscious eating, conscious living” is about learning to live intentionally, from the inside out, with awareness and acceptance of our experiences and of ourselves. If we are overweight, excess weight will melt as a result of taking very good care of our bodies and our emotions.

Barbara L. Holtzman, MSW, LICSW, is a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and lifestyle coach in Providence and Wakefield RI. A former binge eater herself, she is author of Conscious Eating, Conscious Living; A Practical Guide to Making Peace with Food & Your Body.” She offers workshops and is a frequent speaker on college campuses, hospitals women’s expos, and wellness centers and has been featured on local radio and television and in newspaper and magazine articles.

Further information is available at www.consciouseatingconsciousliving.com . or by phone at (401) 789-0777 or barbaraholtzman@consciouseatinconsciousliving.com .

This release was published on openPR.