Free Books and Stuff

So, I'm a little shocked by how few people are entering the giveaway. It's a free book. But then I guess that just shows you where my passion lies. I love books. I collect them. I have to have them. I even keep books I don't like very much just because it's a book. Regardless of my personal feelings for books I felt that perhaps I hadn't really explained myself well. So here I am going to give you a proper book review to express why I felt strongly enough to fork out my own money to purchase a book to give away.

Intuitive Eating was written by two registered dietitians who have been working with countless patients over the years. They start off by telling of how they would work with these patients to help them lose weight. They would set up meal plans and eventually the people would successfully lose weight, but inevitably after a few months to a few years these patients would call back having gained back all the weight and usually more. These people were dejected that they had failed and felt that they couldn't be trusted with food on their own. So they wanted to be put back on another plan and wanted to have their hands held through the whole process.

Both Tribole and Resch saw how these patients would come back feeling guilty and hating themselves over this whole event. Here is how they describe their patients who have been on diet after diet:

"...the harder you try to diet, the harder you fall--it really hurts not to succeed if you did everything right. The best description for this effect is given by John Foreyt, Ph.D., a noted expert in dieting psychology. He likened it to a Chinese finger puzzle (a hollow cylinder of straw into each end of which you insert an index finger). The harder you try to get out, the more pressure you exert, the more difficult it is to get out of the puzzle. Instead, you find yourself locked in tighter . . . trapped . . . frustrated."

So that was when these two decided that something was wrong with the way they were helping these people gain a healthy weight and gain health in general.

Something that amazed me about all these patients was that each one of them had these symptoms:
~ The mere contemplation of going on a diet brings on urges and cravings for "sinful" foods.
~ Upon ending a diet, going on a food binge and feeling guilty.
~ Having little trust in self with food.
~ Feeling that you don't deserve to eat.
~ Shortened dieting duration.
~ Last supper bingeing (when you eat everything you will "never eat again." I've been doing this one since I had my baby 9 months ago because I've felt like I need to go on a diet.).
~ Social withdrawal.
~ Sluggish metabolism.
~ Eating disorders.

So Tribole and Resch put their patients on a program to help them give up dieting forever. The plan is all about learning to eat when you are biologically hungry. Eating what you want and being totally satisfied and happy with your choices. Eating what makes your body feel good and energized. And then stopping when you are comfortably full. The steps include:

1. Reject the diet mentality.
2. Honor your hunger.
3. Make peace with food.
4. Challenge the food police.
5. Feel your fullness.
6. Discover the satisfaction factor.
7. Cope with your emotions without using food.
8. Respect your body.
9. Exercise--Feel the difference.
10. Honor your health--gentle nutrition.

On a personal note:
What I love so much about all of this is that it makes sense to me. I've yo-yo dieted for years. I struggled with an eating disorder. I've done all of that. The mere thought of going on another diet makes me cringe and yet the thought of staying overweight the rest of my life is too depressing to not go on another diet, but this gives me hope. This leads me to believe that if others can eat normal and maintain a normal, healthy weight, that perhaps I can too. I am still on the very first two steps. I am still struggling to give up the idea that I should never ever diet again, but I want to, so that is half the battle. Sometimes I fail to eat when I'm hungry because I'm busy. Other times I don't because I feel like if I'm hungry then maybe I'll lose weight. This is flawed thinking and I'm dealing with it. So it is going to take me a while, but I'm excited about the possibilities.

That is why I was so excited to share it with my readers. That is why I wanted you to get a chance to read this and to feel the hope that I feel. So, now that I've explained myself I hope that you will consider looking into this book if it sounds like something you can live with. Everyone is different. Different things work for different people. And people don't like to be told how they should approach weight loss if it means it won't be a fast fix, but here you have it. You can enter the giveaway here.

If you have left me a comment double check that you really are a follower on the side bar so that you can be included in the drawing. If you are a follower, but haven't left me a comment saying you want to be in the drawing, please do that too, right here. I would hate for you to be excluded when you wanted to be included.