Most diets are based on the concept of deprivation, in one form or the other. And as we know, they are rarely successful. We deny ourselves everything from chocolate to pizza to pasta in the hopes we’ll beat our own internal system. Yet it is estimated that 95% of people who lose weight gain it [...]

Culturally, we are all taught to believe that bad moods = comfort foods. Whether it’s the lonely woman home at night eating a pint of ice cream or the overworked binger who scoffs down a pizza after a stressful day, we believe negative states of mind encourage pig-outs. But is this necessarily true? When Brian [...]

Most of us realize our desire for a particular food can mask an unmet emotional need. Perhaps we need a good cry or a hug and instead we find ourselves opening the refrigerator, as if that chocolate milk will suffice. How can we tell the difference between emotionally based hunger and genuine hunger? In the [...]

Deprivation diets don’t work. Adjustment diets do. Adjustment diets are based on making slight alterations to your food intake and lifestyle that may take a little longer to but last over the long haul, since you’re not fighting against your own physiology and psychology. So let’s explore the idea of an adjustment – one you [...]

40 adults were invited to watch a videotape and give some feedback when it was over. They were also given a complimentary bag of M&M s to eat while reviewing the video. Half were given a one-pound bag, the other half were given a half-pound bag. After the program, the researchers “weighed in” the results: [...]

The New Year naturally gets us thinking about how we want things to be different. We think about what didn’t go so well in the last year and how we want to have new experiences in the New Year. The problem is, just wanting things to be different rarely changes anything. In order to achieve [...]

I was listening to holiday music and a song from Handel’s Messiah started playing. It filled me with such sweet feelings of love and warmth. My dad, who died 15 years ago of cancer, always played the entire Messiah on Christmas Day. It was playing in the background of everything we did…opening presents, setting the [...]

Sugar is everywhere, especially during the holidays. Everyone is baking goodies loaded with sugar, and candy and cookies of all different shapes and colored sprinkles abound. It seems that avoiding sugar at holiday time is impossible, but is it? Here are some quick, simple suggestions for sidestepping the sugar trap this season. De-food de holiday [...]

Holidays are typically stressful everyone. Even if you boycotted the holidays, you’d still have to contend with the traffic, crowds and endless tracks of holiday music playing everywhere! While many of us enjoy and look forward to the holidays, it doesn’t make them much easier. Time with family, as loving as they might be, can [...]

It seems strange that so many people feel depressed during the holidays, when it’s a time is a time when we’re supposed to feel joyful. The experience of feeling down during the holidays is real for so many, however. So what can you do to avoid the “ holiday blues ” this coming season? If [...]