I’ve been asked why I wrote my book Mind Over Fat Matters: Conquering Psychological Barriers to Weight Management. I spent over 30 years studying and treating eating disorders. I saw many women and men completely recover from eating disorders and go on to be “normal eating individuals.” I didn’t want to write another diet book but rather a book that would help stop the madness of endless failures of modern day dieting.
Why My Methods Work with the Average Person
In our day and age, it’s not just people with diagnosable eating disorders who are:
- preoccupied with weight, size, and appearance
- have unrealistic body images
- have mistaken ideas about what is the best way to be fit
- and are obsessed with dieting.
Since my methods have been successful with the extremes of eating disorders, I realized these methods could work for the average person struggling with weight.
The Brain’s Involvement in Dieting
As a psychologist, I know how the human mind thinks and I understand that the typical diets that people are expected to follow are incompatible with the way people think. This leads to failure time after time. I wanted to help people realize that their failures at dieting are not their fault, but rather the fault of the methods they are using – methods that are being resisted by their brain. I also wanted to show how easy it can be to use approaches to manage weight that will not be resisted by the brain. Effectively, the brain can be an ally and help people finally succeed.
A Fast Read
My second goal was to write a book which would be concise – that would explain complicated concepts in simple ways. I wanted to write a book that someone could read in a day but that would contain all the information needed to successfully manage weight for a lifetime. From the feedback I’m getting, it looks like I accomplished my goal.
The Book Details
In short, my book contains:
- Simple, easy-to-read language
- Step-by-step instructions
- Short chapters which can be read in just minutes
- Explanation of why dieting attempts usually fail
- Description of the psychological barriers that keep people from succeeding with dieting
- Instructions on how to get past psychological barriers
- Discussions about physiology, nutrition, and exercise that are easy to understand and fun to learn
- Chapters about common problems such as eating out, drinking, trying on clothes, weighing in, dealing with portion size, and compulsive eating
- Discussions about eating disorders helping the reader determine if they are suffering from such a disorder.
- Step-by-step instructions on how to get rid of compulsive eating and become a “normal eating person”
Mind Over Fat Matters: Conquering Psychological Barriers to Weight Management is definitely not another diet book but a book for those who want to finally be free of the prison of endless dieting and struggling with weight and also want to be fit and healthy.
