Wednesday 10th March 2010 - Published by Kelly Jackson - Communications Executive
Expert author offers the advice we all want to read: Don’t Diet
Chuck away the scales: a fundamental shift in the way we think of food is necessary if we are to lose weight – and keep it off – a book by a Hertfordshire psychotherapist says.
Don’t Diet by Fran Hornsby is a self help book that takes the reader, step-by-step, through the central issues that influence our weight and attitude towards food.
And she is clear on one thing: focusing on food or weight issues does not work if you want to stop yo-yo dieting.
"I feel so passionate about wanting to change this belief that to solve obesity we must concentrate on food,” says the Kings Langley-based counsellor, who is an expert in dysfunctional eating patterns and weight management.
“We have to tackle weight from a different angle. There are millions of diets around yet obesity is on the increase.
“The relationship we have with food, how we think about it and how we eat it is merely an indication of how we, as people, relate to others and to our life choices.”
The author also runs a program called W8 4Life that uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to enable people to relate to their weight, understand it and then eventually let go of it.
Small, “closed” groups are taken through a four-step programme, which last between 16 and 20 weeks, that aims to crack the issues surrounding weight gain and unhealthy attitudes towards eating.
Fran said the programme focuses on the fun part of food, which allows participants to let go of their obsession with it.
“We have to stop thinking we have a sweet tooth or that we are chocoholics,” explains Fran, who has worked with more than 600 women with weight problems.
“We have to let go of the messages we have been given about cakes being treats and eating overwhelming amounts of them.
“To over-eat and to eat when we are not hungry is a type of self abuse.”
The answer to all weight problems
