What's Your Responsibility with the Cost of Obesity?

I don’t want to play the blame game, but I do want to point out the fact that if health care is standardized in the US, our tax dollars will be going to pay the high medical cost of obesity: diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, etc. What is your responsibility? What is mine?

We each will have an individual responsibility to get in better shape so we’re not taxing the nation. One person’s weight problem will become everyone’s weight problem, because we all will be footing the bill together with our tax dollars hard at work paying for prescription medications and diabetes machines. That gives a new spin to the phrase “you are what you eat”. We will all be what everyone else eats.

It doesn’t help to point the finger at the fast food industry and say they combine salt, fat, and sugars in a way that hooks our brains and gives us urges we can’t control. Because then we’re still overweight and blaming something outside ourselves that we “can’t control”, so we don’t have to point the finger inward and think about our personal responsibility to ourselves and everyone else.

What’s the solution then? What can we do about the millions of people that are hooked to eating when we need a boost, comfort, or just something to take us away from our troubles or boredom? We all can’t be on the Biggest Loser and besides, we’re not all interested in being publicly showcased and humiliated. Paying for surgery to get a band stapled onto our stomachs is costly and not guaranteed. Thousands of people gain the weight back within three years of having the operation because they were still hooked to food.

I don’t want to come off as a critic, because I’m not. I want to be your biggest supporter if you have an eating and weight problem. But I want to point out the problem first because most people with eating problems keep their eyes closed, eat what they please, and live in denial. Even if taxing others doesn’t worry you, what about your own life? You’ve got yourself to worry about. Eating problems won’t go away on their own and I’m sure you are suffering for it, even if you don’t like thinking about it. Are you happy with how your body looks and feels? Can you get around as easily as you’d like? Does eating leave you feeling energized or stuffed and tired? Do you deal with guilt?

I want to help you because I know what it’s like to have an eating problem. I struggled with overeating and even bulimia, gained 30 pounds, lost self-respect and self-control, and dove into despair. What saved me was learning how to retrain my thinking around food, so urges did not control me anymore. I changed my relationship with food and believe everyone else can do the same. It just takes desire, lots of grit and determination, and a simple tool.

This summer I published a book called Stop Overeating Today! with 33 self-help strategies that teach overeating sufferers how I overcame my eating problem and how they can too. The tips are go-at-your-own-pace and encourage the reader to start slowly so retention is possible. This go-to guide is thorough, covering all aspects of overeating: emotional eating, eating at restaurants, eating at home, food shopping and preparation, eating for comfort, overcoming guilt, and more. It puts power back into your hands so you no longer can say, “I have no control.”

So, you can close your eyes and wish your eating problem and weight problem would disappear, or you can empower yourself with a guilt-free guide and start making small sustainable changes. It’s up to you. If you don’t, it’s up to all of us to foot the bill.

Yes, You Can Start Today

Here is a review of my book Stop Overeating Today! by Dr. Lisa Ann Homic, DC. She did a fantastic job characterizing what makes the book unique:

Yes, you can start today. Don't wait anymore. Make the decision and walk your new path with Camile Packer McConnell's easy to use book. As a busy business coach, she realized her clients were very easily addicted to "stress eating." She also shared her own need to "retrain my thoughts and actions." Eating is associated with many societal rituals that are positive as well as negative. This book will help the reader navigate through overwhelming days with smart strategies.

I like this book because it is portable. It can be easily tucked into a purse or briefcase for a quick pep talk any time of the day. There is space for journaling and jotting down triumphs. People don't start new things when it appears to be complicated and scary. There is no need to procrastinate because Ms. McConnell tells the reader to start slowly.

There are 33 straightforward tips to follow in the book. Her first tip: "Don't start running at 60 MPH," is the perfect beginning. She recommends starting with one doable tip and work on it for three days. The changes should be very gradual so retention becomes second nature. Her comfortable program was designed to be pressure free so negative self-talk is avoided.

The tips are sensible and she understands how it feels to be in tricky situations such as eating with friends and when comfort foods are calling. This book will teach the reader how give up the old language of overeating and translate what the body is really requesting for energy and health.

We love food but food can't love back. Stop Overeating Today helps the reader to enjoy food for sustenance only so genuine fulfillment can be discovered elsewhere through companionship and personal purpose.

The book is available for purchase at Amazon.com and Ms. McConnell's website.

The Secret to Stop Overeating with Self-Psychology

When I was struggling with chronic overeating and bulimia in high school and college, sometimes it felt like I would never be able to stop. I felt like there was a huge weight over me and I couldn’t break free from it. I was embarrassed about my lack of control and worried about how others would perceive me if they knew. If I were to describe how I felt, my story would go something like this: “I have this huge weakness around food and when I’m stressed, anxious, angry, or even excited, I lose control and eat way too much. I’ve tried changing and eating like a normal person, but I keep going back to overeating patterns, no matter what. I’m stuck.”

In my newly released book, Stop Overeating Today!, I discuss the power of self-image and how our thoughts about ourselves determine what kind of role that we play, either limiting or empowering us. Here’s an excerpt:

“Shakespeare said, ‘All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.’ Each moment of each day we can choose which role we will play. Our habits turn us into predictable characters. We expect to act certain ways because that is how we have done things in the past. That is the label we have given ourselves, that is the role we identify with, and that is how we see ourselves. Self-image is very powerful and can lead us to blindly play a role that is not in our best interest...”

Here’s an example of someone playing a role that limits him. After Joe experiences a series of unfortunate events one morning – he stubs his toe getting out of bed, there is a traffic jam on the way to work and he is 45 minutes late, he forgot to put on clean underwear – he thinks to himself, “I am having a really bad day!” He is convinced. Now he’s out to prove it. What role is he playing? The victim of a really bad day. He is out to find more examples to prove his theory that the world is out to get him. He discovers that the hum of the air conditioner is distracting and the guy who works at the cubicle across from him is breathing too loudly. See how he is playing a role, stuck as a character, and only he has the power to change his self-image?

Now, an example that relates to overeating. Shannon has been overeating for the past eight years and is unhappy with how she looks and how she treats her body. She deals with a lot of guilt and thinks, “I am a weak person.” That night at a dinner party, after eating a filling meal, she is offered delicious gooey brownies with a raspberry frosting for dessert. Her eyes pop out of her head and her mouth starts to water. She thinks, “Well, I don’t have the willpower to refuse. Here I go again.”

How can Shannon change her self-image and empower herself? Another excerpt from my book, Stop Overeating Today!, explains: “Choose a role that empowers you…If you find it difficult to start playing a more empowering role, come up with some adjectives to describe the type of role you’d like to play.” Shannon could choose strong, powerful, and healthy as her three adjectives.

Next, she needs to imagine herself as a strong, powerful, and healthy person and think about how such a person would react in front of the tantalizing brownies. She needs to visualize specifically what she will do instead of eating the brownies with crystal clarity, as though it’s already happened. On the other side of the room, Shannon sees three friends in the middle of what seems to be an interesting conversation. She sees herself standing up, leaving the table, and heading in their way to join them. After crafting her crystal clear visualization, she makes it happen, focusing so much on fulfilling her visualization that the brownies are no longer a temptation.

Phew! Now that you have a tactic for avoiding overeating in pressure situations, do you want to take it a step further? Grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down the role you have been playing around food that keeps you stuck in a cycle of overeating. Have you been feeling victimized, powerless, or depressed? After you identify your role, take that piece of paper and rip it up and throw it away. Don’t spend any more time dwelling on it.

Next, take out a fresh piece of paper and write down a phrase defining yourself with your new adjectives. For example, Shannon’s would say, “I used to feel weak, guilty, and out of control around food, but now I realize I am strong, powerful, and healthy enough make smart decisions.” Try it. What does your phrase look like? Every time you feel the urge to overeat, pull out that piece of paper and repeat your mantra. The more you practice this, the more natural sounding it will be and the easier it will be to follow. Before you know it, you are not just playing a new role, you have become a new person with healthier habits and a new sense of self-confidence.

(For more information about Stop Overeating Today!, visit www.stopovereatingtips.com)

Stop Overeating Today! Book Q & A

Q: What makes this book any different from the thousands of other books about weight loss and diets?

A: This book has nothing to do with diets. I'm not a big fan of them because, in my mind, to diet means to deprive. What makes this book different is that the tips are straightforward and easy to read and apply. You could pick it up and read anywhere for just 2 minutes and find something useful you can apply the next time you eat. The tips are easy to remember. The tone of the book is conversational and fun. I wrote the book as a peer, not as a doctor or a professional dietitian or psychologist. I actually used these tips to help me overcome my overeating problem. I know they work. These tips are not arbitrary. They are supported, tested, and proven.

Q: Why did you write this book?

A: After recovering from an eating disorder in 2001, I wanted to help people do the same. I was a mentor in a recovery support group and noticed that overeating was a common problem for a lot of girls. Later, I became a life coach and when I talked with people about eating issues, discovered they wanted ideas for ways to stop overeating. Since I have struggled with overeating in the past, I wanted to share strategies that worked for me.

Q: What is your favorite tip?

A: Tip #10, which talks about how to stop emotional eating by using a self-coaching method called "The Work of Byron Katie". I learned this method at Byron Katie's coaching school and discovered it works for any negative emotion: stress, anger, fear, hurt, you name it. You basically ask yourself a series of 4 questions, which help you start thinking rationally and to separate yourself from stressful emotions. After you can see yourself more objectively, you can make a healthier and less impulsive decision. It sounds like a long process, but you can successfully go through this self-coaching method in less than 10 seconds. To learn more visit http://www.thework.com.

Q: What additional products or services will you offer to complement the book?

A: Everyone who buys the book is offered a free 15 minute phone coaching session, to help them apply the tips in the book to them personally. If they find that beneficial, they are free to sign up for more phone coaching. My rates are currently $100/hr.

Q: How long did it take you to write the book?

A: I worked on it off and on for the last two years, and pretty consistently since September '08.

Q: When will be book be for sale?

A: That depends. If you buy it on my website it will be available in about 10 days. On Amazon it will be available in about 25 days. Can't wait!