Online Eat in Peace Group Starting in January

Residents of FL, NY, & CA: Join me for this intimate, online group beginning in January.

Constantly thinking about food. . . Counting calories, grams, macros, and the time before eating again. . Obsessing about food and wondering about food addiction. . . Anxious about sticking to diet rules and fighting off cravings. . . It’s all so preoccupying. . . and exhausting.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

It’s possible for folks to transform their relationship with food. To get off the diet roller coaster, end emotional eating, and finally eat in peace. To make food less of a focus in life - experiencing food as something that nourishes and brings pleasure - but that doesn’t take up prime real estate in the brain.

When people eat in peace, they can avoid passing down their food issues to their children. They can focus on what they value most. They can show up better in their relationships and for themselves.

Eat in Peace* is a six-session group that draws from DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), IE (Intuitive Eating), and HAES (Health at Every Size)Ⓡ. It encourages participants to explore their values and their relationship with food and with dieting; to learn about hunger, fullness, and satiety; to cope with their feelings without using food; to understand the real relationship between health and weight; to pursue joyful physical activity; and to consider, but stop stressing about, nutritional information and health. *This group is not intended to be a weight-loss intervention.

More info here. . .

We've Moved!

When I began writing this blog in 2006(!), all I really wanted to do was find the motivation to write a book. In 2014, the DEWHAED book was published, realizing that goal.

During this process, I published hundreds of posts, interacted with people around the globe (even meeting some of them in person), and continued to stand by my mission of helping women eat and live in peace.

Once the book was published, I thought I'd shut down this blog, as the job I'd set out to do was done. But every time I wanted to shut it down, I'd receive another blogging award, and I'd feel some sort of responsibility for continuing to churn out content.

But in the last couple of years, I started another blog, affiliated with my therapy practice (where we see clients in Miami and all over Florida, New York, and California online), and keeping up with two blogs has proved to be too challenging.

So, the time has come to say goodbye to the blog that wrote the book.

I invite you to follow me on the Gatewell Therapy Center blog, where I've already published a number of posts on eating and body issues. Here are some recent entries:

10 Benefits of Exercise that Having Nothing to Do with Weight

On Entering Eating Disorder Residential Treatment

Let the Kids Eat Sugar!

You can also follow me on social media for more eating/body image material that promotes recovery, Health at Every SizeⓇ, and living peacefully and authentically:

IG: @drstaceyny @gatewelltherapy
FB: @drstaceyrosenfeld @gatewelltherapycenter
Twitter: @drstaceyla

Thank you to all my readers for your interest, your engagement, and your support. I so appreciate you presence over these last 13 years.

Warmly,
Stacey

You can find Does Every Woman Have an Eating Disorder? Challenging Our Nation's Fixation with Food and Weight on Amazon (as a paperback and Kindle) and at BarnesandNoble.com. 

Noom: A Diet in Sheep's Clothing

By now, you've probably heard of Noom, the health and wellness company that's marketing itself as revolutionary.

Don't be fooled.

When you visit Noom's website, you complete a quick questionnaire that alerts you to "how much weight you'll lose for good." This is the first red flag. Most people know that intentional weight-loss efforts (i.e., diets) don't work and that any weight loss is usually regained (and then some). Noom, however, promises "lifelong" weight-loss. But here's the thing: Noom's only been around since 2008. At best, they have 10 years of data on their method. Promising lifelong weight-loss 10 years in is impossible (and unethical, but that's another can of worms).

Members pay $59/month for a "wellness program" that focuses on mental and behavioral change. Noom advertises "unique curricula" for:

• Healthy weight
• Hypertension prevention
• Diabetes prevention
• Hypertension management
• Diabetes management
• Comorbidity of hypertension and diabetes

It's one thing to take a behavioral health approach to treating and preventing chronic illness. But chronic health issues can be addressed without any changes in weight. Focusing on behaviors can lead to significant health improvement. Tracking, and trying to manipulate weight, interferes with this and often causes people to stop participating in the behavioral changes they want to make. Moreover, the concept of a "healthy weight" is misleading. People can be healthy across the weight spectrum. There are fat, healthy people and skinny, unhealthy people. Using weight as a marker for health misses the mark and can lead to dangerous health outcomes.

Noom promises "evidence based curricula" and "trained cognitive behavior coaches." Guess what? The evidence shows that intentional weight loss efforts don't work! And cognitive behavior coaches should be focused on doing no harm above all else. Attempts to manipulate weight, to focus on the "health issues" of "overweight" and "obesity" that Noom does, inevitably leads to harm.

Just because Noom encourages a focus on mindset doesn't mean it's not a run-of-the-mill diet. Any program, no matter how much it speaks of health and wellness, no matter how much it promotes mindfulness or psychological concepts, that sets weight-loss goals is, by definition, just a diet.

One of their blogs reads, "At Noom it’s our mission to help people everywhere live healthier, happier lives." But, dieting often backfires, leading to weight cycling (with significant health consequences), disordered eating (which can turn into eating disorders), and significant interference in one's own ability to regulate appetite, to recognize and trust hunger and fullness cues, and to work toward a healthy relationship with food.

Don't fall for the commercials, the focus on health/wellness, or the pretty packaging. Noom is just a diet, and diets don't work. They cause more harm then good, even if they advertise a focus on health and wellness, even if they focus on behavioral change, and even when they manipulate you into thinking they're not what they are. 

You can find Does Every Woman Have an Eating Disorder? Challenging Our Nation's Fixation with Food and Weight on Amazon (as a paperback and Kindle) and at BarnesandNoble.com.