Evelyn Tribole

Dieting had made food the enemy. Dieting had made her feel guilty when she wasn’t eating diet-types of foods (even when she wasn’t officially dieting).

Feeling that you don’t deserve to eat, because you’re overweight.

Biologically, your body experiences the dieting process as a form of starvation. Your cells don’t know you are voluntarily restricting your food intake. Your body shifts into primal survival mode—metabolism slows down and food cravings escalate.

Alicia had been dieting since she was a child. Although she was not officially dieting, she retained (and expanded) a set of food rules with each diet that nearly paralyzed her ability to eat normally. We see this all the time, the hangover from dieting: avoiding certain foods at all costs, feeling out of control the moment a “sinful” food is eaten, feeling guilty when self-imposed food rules are broken (such as “Thou shalt not eat past 6 P.M.”), and so on.

The problem occurs however, when diligent eating (almost bordering on militant) affects a healthy relationship with food—and negatively impacts your body.

The Chaotic Unconscious Eater

a perpetual background anxiety at the kitchen table and every time you eat: Eater beware—you are only a bite away from a heart attack or obesity.

It is a personal process of honoring your health by paying attention to the messages of your body and meeting your physical and emotional needs. It is an inner journey of discovery that puts you front and center; you are the expert of your own body.

weight-loss industry. It’s the only business that produces a product that doesn’t work but is not blamed for this failure—the consumers blame themselves.

“Health should not be measured by a number on the scale or the size of your jeans”