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In This Issue:
Featured Wellness Message: Struggling with food?
Recommended Resource: Webinar: Getting Back to Your Roots
My Psychology Today Article: Do All Diets Lead to Losing Control With Food?
My Featured Post: Weight Loss Drugs: Are they a magic bullet or an emerging danger?
Struggling with food?
Hello Friends!
I absolutely LOVE working with individuals and families who are taking space for growth, self-reflection, and healing. And, I am always trying to reach even more people and offer support that goes beyond the therapy room.
That's why I'm grateful for you and this intentional living community.
More and more I am hearing from people who can't access therapy because of limited time, finances, or insurance benefits. Many clinicians have full practices, a variety of medications are on backorder, and healthcare providers have long wait times.
Even the most determined among us, find such shortages frustrating and conflicting health messages confusing.
Now, as the long days of summer start to fade and the bustle of fall draws near, millions of people will reassess their goals, including how to exert greater control over their eating. My worry is that many will seek out a quick fix, start a rigid diet, or attempt to maintain one.
If you're interested in this topic, please join me next week for a 30-minute webinar conversation about 1) the powerful motivators that can inspire eating changes, 2) the type of habit to target, depending on your goals, and 3) what does it mean to have freedom with food? (see details below)
Dieting presents psychological and physiological risks. Even when diets are "successful" in the short term, diets usually fail over time, leading to shame and self-blame. However, the reality is that our bodies are wired to counteract caloric deficits. Read this next sentence carefully because it partly explains why dieting has such a high "failure" rate.
Weight loss can diets lead to increases in the "hunger hormone" ghrelin and levels of the “fullness hormone” leptin go down.
While these hormonal responses from the body are attempting to protect you from starvation, your metabolic rate may also decrease significantly, especially if you limit calories for a long time. Such biological changes, in the aftermath of dieting, may make it very difficult to rely on body cues alone to reassert positive control with food.
Does this sounds familiar? If so, there is one simple act you can take right now to positively influence your own health.
Say no to diets.
That alone is an important step. You can stop there and know you've taken a positive step for your health. In this month's Psychology Today and website blog posts, I explore some of the challenges presented by popular new weight loss medications, and the relationship between dieting and out-of-control eating.
But, you might also wonder…
Is it possible to make sustainable changes to your eating, considering that dietary changes are rarely maintained after 12 months?
Is there evidence-backed eating guidance that focuses on restoring the mind-body connection after-a-diet or after-a-medication disruption?
Do non-diet approaches work?
The short answer is, yes to all of the above.
That’s why I created a digital course to support anyone who is ready to overcome emotional eating, binge eating, and mindless eating problems, but doesn't know where or how to start.
It's finally ready! And, it is just for you.
No two people will go about it the same way.
I've spent the past year intentionally choosing what to include, and putting it all together.
I know you’re busy, so I want to make the path accessible and simple.
If you are struggling with food, don't settle for suffering and shame. And, don't give up. How to Overcome Emotional Eating and Find Freedom with Food is a 7-lesson course designed to kick off a process that is transformative, supportive, and personal.
Weekly lessons are grounded in the science of your natural wiring and offer steps to cultivate habits that work with (not against) your body, brain, gut, and spirit.
“While people used to believe that the brain became fixed after a certain age, newer research has revealed that the brain never stops changing in response to learning.” –Chen et al (2020)
Change is possible –and it's possible for you.
Course Highlights
Emotional Awareness: Understand how emotions -and trauma -can interfere with intentional eating, appetite awareness and digestion. Then, begin to work with your body’s natural biological processes.
New Eating Practices: Practice eating with a gentle plan that meets your body’s energy needs and scheduling realities.
Building Resilience: Develop strategies that leverage powerful, innate human motivators, build emotional tolerance, reduce the impact of negative thoughts, and navigate life's challenges without turning to food as a way to cope.
Creating Healthy Habits: Gain knowledge about how neuroplasticity works as a path to creating sustainable, healthy eating habits.
Make it Personal: Start your self-paced journey to overcome eating problems and find freedom with food through learning, self-reflection, and practice.
Course Format
Designed with convenience and flexibility. Access all 7 lessons and a bonus lesson from an app on your phone or login from your computer. Go at your own pace.
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Eating is one of the most natural things we humans do. I want it to be natural again for you too.
As a valued member of this community, you'll receive more information in the coming weeks. If you are struggling with food but know this course is not for you, try something else. Promise yourself that you won't give up on reaching your eating goals without dieting.
After all, living intentionally is a value not an all-or-nothing approach –at our best, we keep our intentions in mind and move toward them.
Wishing you a healthy, safe and connected end of summer!
Xoxo Dr Gia
P.S. If you have an eating disorder, please speak with a licensed professional about the best plan for your healing. While this course may go along with therapy, it is not a substitute for it.
“Every day brings a choice: To practice stress or to practice peace.” – Joan Borysenko
Webinar: Getting Back to Your Roots
Webinar Details:
NAME: Getting Back to Your Roots: Let Go of Fear and Rediscover the Joy of Natural Eating
DATE: September 7th
TIME: 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST
LINK: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pDXqG_n0T-i1m4IRVDsGzg​
Do All Diets Lead to Losing Control With Food?
Feel like you always end up losing control of your eating once you start a diet? If so, you are not alone.
There is a strong link between restrictive eating habits—or diets—and binge eating. While dieting may sound from the outside like a simple and straightforward solution to weight frustrations, it can have significant, negative, and unseen side effects on your mental health and behaviors.
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Weight Loss Drugs: Are they a magic bullet or an emerging danger?
Thinking about jumping on the weight-loss drug trend?
Maybe you are tempted by what you have heard – promises of being successful in your pursuit of weight loss or reducing mental obsessions about food. However, it is worth considering some of the emerging reports of risks.
And please, use an abundance of caution if you have a history of an eating disorder.
New forms of weight-loss drugs are making waves across news media, the internet and celebrity culture, and are slowly seeping into society at large. You probably know one or more people who are taking them.
As medications like these become more popular, pay attention to the impact such drugs may have on the general population as well as the particular risks they pose for individuals with current or historical eating disorders.
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