Do you know a diet book junkie?  That’s a person who seems always to read
the latest diet books while making no apparent changes with respect to
weight, activity, eating, or other behaviors.
They seem to get a kind of high from espousing the wonders of their latest
discovery — “Well, in Dr. Skinny’s book, How to Get Thin and Rich in 24
Hours, it says drinking eight glasses of water before lunch doubles fat
burning!”
Maybe this sounds like you.  You get excited every time you buy a new diet
book, believing that its contents are going to somehow change your weight
and your life.  You remain excited throughout the book – each page seems to
make so much sense!  It’s so exhilarating, you can’t put it down. Some of
these books even have beautiful color pictures of healthful recipes that
you know will be great to eat and definitely produce the weight loss you’ve
been hoping for.
But eventually you get to the end of the book.  What now?
“Hey, I heard there’s a new Rocky Mountain Oysters Diet book out!” That’s
the ticket, you think – another diet book.  But, is it?
Not all books about weight loss have useful and accurate information. Some
are based on ineffective fad diets and gimmicks.  Even if the book is full
of sensible and effective methods, however, that doesn’t mean it will help
you. Only you can do that.
Lifestyle changes aren’t magically absorbed simply by reading a book. And
if, like a diet book junkie, you jump from book to book, expecting magic to
strike, it’s no wonder that your eating and weight problems don’t change.
Ineffective methods never work, but effective methods only work when you
use them.  The books are simply tools; and like a hammer or screwdriver,
they won’t fix anything if all you do is look at them.
Here are some suggestions on how to kick the diet book habit and get more
positive change in your life with respect to health and weight management:
1.      Become more selective about what you read. This means becoming a
better consumer of dieting information. If a weight loss book doesn’t
promise amazingly fast weight loss, doesn’t suggest you have to buy certain
products endorsed by the author, makes good logical sense, and teaches a
program that you can follow for the rest of your life, it’s a good place to
start. Skip those that are based on fads, prescribe a rigid diet plan,
instruct you to avoid the foods you like most, and say you don’t need to
exercise.
2.      Take your time savoring what you read. Stop and think, make notes,
highlight key points, and consider how the book’s suggestions can be
incorporated into your life.
3.      Don’t jump to another book immediately. Finish the book you’re
reading, and put it into practice.  Go back through the book focusing on
what you’ve highlighted and the notes you’ve made.  Follow through with the
suggestions that you would like to incorporate into your life.
4.      Continue using what works for you, and set aside whatever doesn’t fit
your life. If you feel you need more information, the next step may be
another book but, then again, it may not.  It may be trying a class,
searching for health information online, joining a group that does
something active (like hiking), or seeing a therapist for emotional issues
that have been too difficult to solve on your own.
Reading is generally a good habit to have.  However, if you’re reading a
book with the intent of having it help you change something in your life
you have to go beyond just reading it.  You have to use it.
Kick the diet book habit in favor of taking constructive action, and you’ll
notice real changes starting to happen.  Your library of diet books may
stop growing, but who cares?  Your body and mind will be getting fitter.
Isn’t that what you wanted in the first place?

“Fat Americans” – that’s how we’re referred to in other countries.  Look at the facts:  Americans keep getting fatter; no other country comes out with more diets, diet programs and dieting aids; and the dieting industry is making tons of money. Does this sound right? Who is benefiting here? It doesn’t seem to be the consumers. If diets work, why are Americans continuing to get fatter each year? Why are our children fatter than ever before?

Perhaps it’s time for consumers to get smarter about choosing what or who they are going to believe when it comes to how to get lean and fit. What we’ve been doing is just not working folks. What the dieting industry is selling isn’t working. It’s time to stop depending on the dieting industry to tell us what we should do since we aren’t getting what you want from them.

This is the reason I wrote my book, Mind Over Fat Matters: Conquering Psychological Barriers to Weight Management. I want people to be smarter consumers. Yes, I do want people to be healthy, lean and fit, but I also want them to learn what works and doesn’t work. The first step, however, is to face up and admit to yourself, and to the dieting industry, that if it hasn’t worked after so many years, you are going to have to let go of it. Let go of attempts that haven’t ever worked. It’s time to find another way – maybe it won’t sound like the panaceas the dieting industry has been selling, but maybe if it sounds like the panaceas that the dieting industry is selling, that’s the indication that it’s not going to work.  The “Fat American” needs to be a thing of the past.

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.