Help! I’m gaining weight & bingeing again

I got several emails this week from women who feel utterly discouraged. They’ve been doing lots of powerful healing work, and while they see shifts in how they’re relating to themselves – they’re kinder and more aware of the feelings under the food – they’re frustrated that these shifts are not carrying over to shifts [...]

Support group for overeaters with compassionate approach

Hundreds of you have emailed me with this question:  Is abstinence from food addiction, sugar addiction or binge eating possible without weighing, measuring, shaming, controlling, blaming, judging, or “shoulding” all over yourself? Can a compassionate approach heal? And if so, where can I find a support group that offers this? In my deepest heart of [...]

One cause of night bingeing

Many of us who overeat find that once we start eating, we can’t stop. This is particularly poignant and problematic at the end of the day. We may be able to consciously manage our food intake at breakfast and lunch, and even make it through the afternoon without bingeing. But once dinnertime and evening hits, [...]

The link between “wavy” boundaries and overeating

How to release inner tension without food Overeating is often triggered by a build up of anxiety, inner stress, and tension. Chronic anxiety and tension feels tight, hot, and pressured in our bodies – like we’re going to scream, hit something or explode. It’s super uncomfortable, which is why we try to move out of [...]

Why will power is not the answer

Will power is not the answer to lose weight, to finally stick to your food plan, to stop overeating, to tame the bingeing, or to eat less sugar. Neither is control, rigidity, or even fear based abstinence. I tried them all. For a few years, I was sugar free and at a low, stable weight [...]

Trusting your goodness

The outer journey of healing from food and weight suffering means changing how we care for our bodies or how we eat. The inner journey of healing means changing how we see ourselves. This is because how we see ourselves – the beliefs we hold about our goodness – affects every aspect of our lives:  [...]

The #1 need to create health

Safety is the single, most important, most crucial ingredient for healing, whether it’s healing the body, overeating, food addiction, sugar addiction, weight loss, or any painful food pattern. According to developmental psychologist Dr. Gordon Neufeld, the brain can only do one of two things:  protect you or grow. In order to grow – to heal, [...]

5 reasons why you overeat

There are five primary reasons why we turn to food – either in emotional eating, overeating, or binge eating. In each case, we’re eating to meet a need – and not because we’re deficient, a slug with no will power, or a flawed, terrible being. No matter how we’re using food, we heal by turning [...]

What do you do when you’re resistant to helping yourself?

One of the most frustrating aspects of healing food “stuff” is how we get stuck in resistance. We recognize something that would help us – for example, eating less sugar – and yet as soon as we recognize the benefit of acting in this way we immediately feel this sense of, “I don’t want to [...]

How Identifying Your Cravings Can Help You Not Eat

Taking control of emotional eating and overeating is usually a process. Figuring out what to do instead of emotional eating can be tricky, in part because food is so darn easy to turn to and it is so widely available. If you want to make lasting changes with your eating habits or your weight, it’s [...]