Yale Study

Yale study proves best way to change eating habits is to focus on 3 goals (no more!) at a time. Read 3 FREE strategies: http://bit.ly/d7BF9y

I'm Joining Ellen Degeneres on Her Quit Sugar Campaign

I gave up sugar in '05 for health reasons & here I go again! Sugar is an easy emotional/physical pick-me-up & there are better alternatives that won’t send me crashing & craving. I have a tiring schedule, a demanding baby & my own business.

My tip is from my book, Stop Overeating Today. Visualize It: If you crave sugar, try this exercise. Let's say ice cream is calling your name. Don’t you deserve something special? Ask yourself: What else can I do besides eating sugar that will be just as rewarding? Hmm...Relaxing in bed with a good book! Visualize it as if you were watching yourself. With crystal clear detail, picture standing up & walking away from the freezer. Visualize taking each step towards your bedroom, pulling your book from under your bed, flopping down onto your comforter, & opening up to the page you left off on. Imagine how good it feels to lose yourself in the book & relax. Now that you have a plan, you just need to fulfill it, like a programmed robot. This strategy works because once you’ve visualized it, your brain believes it’s possible & you feel motivated & empowered to make it a reality.

How it's going for me? I'm addicted to sugar so the first couple weeks are detox. I stopped buying sugary treats at the store, even for my hubby (sorry honey!) When he buys ice cream, he hides it in the back of the freezer so I won't notice. Sometimes I feel like pulling my hair out, but as soon as I can go ten days, usually I'm craving free.

Stop Overeating By Thinking in the Third Person

In the last 10 years, I have done a 360 from being a teenager with an eating disorder (yo yo-ed between anorexia, bulimia, & overeating, ranging from size 0 to size 12) to being author of Stop Overeating Today! & life coach, a healthy & happy size 4. My book has 33 stop overeating strategies that are quick & simple to explain & put into practice. Perhaps the most relevant strategy is how to stop emotional eating. Here it is:

Think in the Third Person: Next time you feel like going for that extra portion of food & you’re already full, try this out-of-body exercise. Say out loud if you can, or in your head if you're in public, what thoughts you are having in the third person, like you're describing what your friend is thinking. For example: "She feels like a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream. She thinks sugar will give her energy to push past being tired, even though it’s late & she needs rest. She wants to reward herself & thinks all that sugar & those calories are the solution, even though it will give her a sugar high & send her crashing." The more you talk about yourself as if you were a friend, the easier it is to see that your thinking is irrational & not going to deliver the results you want. Then it’s easier to break free from the emotion that tells you that you must eat now!

I have more simple & smart strategies to share. I’m a great guest because I have ample public speaking experience & I connect easily with people.

Get more advice - Get the book - www.stopovereatingtips.com

Visualize Thin and Healthy

Do you need weight loss motivation, especially when you feel like overeating or not exercising? One of the most powerful weight loss tools is tapping into the power of visualization. Anyone can start practicing visualization today. It is easy to learn and has fantastic results.

To begin, create a simple goal in your mind, such as going on a walk outside for exercise. Now, answer a couple questions. When would you like to go on this walk? After work? In ten minutes? Visualize yourself getting everything ready so you can go. Will you need to change your clothes and put on your running shoes? Do you need to fill up your water bottle? In your mind's eye, see yourself going through these motions with crystal clarity, as though it were actually happening. Now, decide where you will go on your walk. Will it be around your neighborhood? If so, imagine and picture the route you will take and the sights you will see, as the sounds you will hear, and how good it will feel to be using your muscles and accomplishing your goal. Now that you have everything mapped out in your head and you have visualized with crystal clarity how you can accomplish your goal, all you need to do is get going. Visualizing helps clear your mind of obstacles that may stand in your way when you are not clear about what your goal is and exactly how you will accomplish it. It gives you a sense of empowerment and motivation and is a weight loss tool you can utilize on a daily basis.

Get the book or get more advice: http://www.stopovereatingtips.com

Babies Are Smarter than Adults

I've got a 9 month old and I love watching her try new foods. She is so decisive about what she likes and doesn't like. When she's trying something she doesn't care for, she makes the funniest faces of disgust and disinterest.

Just like she is decisive when she hates a new food, she is just as decisive when she is full. Sometimes I can't tell if she stops eating just because she is distracted and preoccupied with some new stimulus. So I try to feed her more, especially at night, to ensure I can get a full night's sleep by filling her up. But when she has had enough, she will purse her lips together and move her head away from me and then shout if she really wants to make her point clear, which she often does.

There is no justifying. No inner dialog in a baby's head, "it tastes so good, just one more bite." There is no emotional eating or self-medicating, "I've had such a hard day, eating this will make me feel better." Food is just fuel for her. That's it. It's not her friend or an enemy she punishes herself with by overeating when she's upset with herself. It just is.

How can adults undo all of their justifying, their emotional eating and self-medicating? How can they relinquish their relationship with friend as their friend, enemy, or sometimes both?

Some people may need to go into counseling or attend a local Overeaters Anonymous to identify how their relationship with food got so complex and how they can change it. There is also a self-help option that can help. Here is a free chapter from my book, Stop Overeating Today! that shows you the powerful relationship between our thoughts and what we eat, and how we can change our thoughts for the better. Enjoy!

Those who struggle with overeating feel more vulnerable than usual during the holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years festivities all center around friends, family, and food. With so many opportunities to overdo it, guilt is a common reaction. Anyone in recovery knows that guilt can be incredibly damaging, acting like a magnifying glass that exaggerates the negatives. Here is a strategy from my book, Stop Overeating Today! (available on Amazon), that teaches how to break free from the guilt cycle.

Take a Vacation from Your Guilt Trip

This tip applies best to all of you who battle regularly with overeating. You may feel that it is a battle you will never win and that you lack the willpower to change.

When I was recovering from my eating disorder, I found that beating myself up and feeling guilty was not an effective way to make a positive change.

I remember one particular Thanksgiving. I was determined to stop eating before I felt full. I wanted to treat Thanksgiving like it was any other meal and not an excuse for overindulgence. As careful as I tried to be, I slipped and ended up eating too much.

At first, I felt very disappointed in myself. I had made so much progress in the former two months, only to “relapse” again. It felt like a defeat. As I sat there marinating in self-loathing, a light bulb went on over my head. I needed to stop feeling terrible and put things into perspective. Had I made a mistake? Yes. Did I regret it? Yes. Did I want to put myself through more self-loathing? No. Did my mistake determine my future? No. Could I move on? Yes. You get the idea.

It’s like I had taken the magnifying glass off of my mistake and was able to see it as a one-time event, not as a pattern of never-ending mistakes. I was able to look back at all of the progress I had made, the hard work I had done, and how far I had come. So what if I messed up once? I could call it a learning experience and move on. No need to hit myself over the head again and again.

Chronic guilt is not an effective way to grow and change. It keeps you focused on the problem. When the focus is on your weaknesses and mistakes, it keeps you from visualizing how you can change and what you can do to solve your problem.
Guilt is consuming and saps your energy. Moreover, it keeps you from remembering what strengths you do have and what progress you have made. Guilt keeps you stuck in a cycle of helplessness. Even if you have taken one step back, take two steps forward and acknowledge you are moving in the right direction.

For more information on the book or to order Stop Overeating Today! visit www.stopovereatingtips.com

It's Time to Get Moving

I had a serious eye opener last week at the gym. I thought I had been pushing myself physically enough up to that point. I was exercising a few times a week and I was in good enough shape. I wasn't eating unhealthily. But what I realized, after a kick-butt hour long class of weight training and aerobics, that up to that point, I'd hit a plateau.

I had a baby 8 months ago, my first baby. I was amazed at how much my body could change in just 9 months. And then, of course, I was surprised at how hard it was to get my body back.

So needless to say, after that incredibly challenging class at the gym, I had some perspective about what kind of activity level I needed to get my old body back. I couldn't just go for a moderately challenging walk/jog. I needed to sweat bullets and be uncomfortable in order to get back in shape. I have started looking forward to faster paced walks with intervals of running. I have worked out harder than I have in the past year. As a result, my muscles are uncomfortably sore, but I am happy to see more tone and definition. No pain, no gain, and it's totally worth it.

What does this have to do with overeating? After that day at the gym, I kicked up my activity level a big notch. And I discovered that my eating habits followed suit and I started getting more focused and more committed to making healthier eating choices.

I started eating more vegetables, and eating less carbs. I spent more time preparing healthy meals, for example cutting up celery and making a spinach salad, instead of just eating on the run.

This brings more evidence that working out, especially in a class setting or with a personal trainer, where there is more challenge and accountability, leads to better eating choices and less careless indulgence. That is what I discussed in my book, Stop Overeating Today!, in one of the 33 tips. Now I have more personal conviction to back up that strategy.

BodyBugg - A faithful little companion

This morning I showed up to a BNI networking meeting with my book, Stop Overeating Today! in hand. I put it on the table and stuck out my hand to greet the guy sitting next to me. He took one look at my book, asked where I got it, and then thrust his hand up his sleeve to show me something. He said it was kind of a pain to take off, but he wanted to show me anyway.

"I've got a gorging problem." The way he said it was in a joking lighthearted way, so I snickered softly. "No, I'm serious," he went on. "I eat crap all day long!" Then he showed me what he had up his sleeve: "This little device tracks how many calories I eat, it's awesome. It charts it so you can see what you are eating and what it's doing to your body."

Pretty awesome. That's the Bodybugg. It just fits on your upper arm. Strap it on and you'll have a little wake up call, because we all know too well, little indulgences here and there really add up.

Besides showing me his nifty contraption, he also bought my book, Stop Overeating Today!. Sweet deal.

If you have any weight loss products that you absolutely love, let me know about them and I'll do a little shout out on my blog and on my social networks. It's all about spreading good ideas.