Author’s New Book Highlights Hidden Weight Loss Method
by Anonymous

April 16, 2004--With over $30 billion spent annually on weight loss efforts, more than 60% of American adults are still overweight. Despite the latest low-carbohydrate movement sweeping the country, 98% of Americans who begin diets will regain the weight back within 5 years. This being the case, what are Americans missing in their weight loss efforts? Debbie Danowski, Ph.D., the author of a recently released book, “The Overeater’s Journal: Exercises for Heart, Mind, and Soul,” thinks she has the answer. Danowski, who once weighed over 300 pounds, used writing as part of her weight loss program and shares her techniques in her new book.

“I never imagined that writing could make such a difference in my weight loss efforts,” said Danowski, the author of two previous books about weight loss – “Why Can’t I Stop Eating?” (Hazelden 2000) and “Locked Up For Eating Too Much” (Hazelden 2002). “At first, I thought it was a waste of time but once I began writing, I started to realize how helpful it could be.”

Divided into three sections – physical, emotional, and spiritual – “The Overeater’s Journal” is designed to provide readers with over 180 journal entry writing prompts to provide awareness and insight to those struggling with weight loss issues. Drawing both on her personal experience and academic research as an assistant professor of English and Media Studies at Sacred Heart University, Danowski has at one time or another used all of the writing exercises in the book. Written at the request of her publisher to complement her best-selling first book, “Why Can’t I Stop Eating?,” “The Overeater’s Journal” is based on Danowski’s own weight loss efforts.

“I didn’t just get up one day and decide to make up some journal writing exercises,” Danowski said. “I know these work because I continue to use them regularly.”

According to Danowski, many professionals have regularly linked writing with healing. For example, M. White and D. Epston argue in their book “Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends” that the “written tradition” should be used regularly in therapy. They point out that it “provides for an expansion of the information that can be processed in our short-term memory at any one point in time.”

“People spend so much time worrying about what to eat that they fail to address the emotional issues of overeating,” Danowski said. “Of course, eating healthy is important but equally as important is looking at the reasons why a person overeats then filling that void with other things. If the emotional aspects of overeating are not examined, people almost always gain the weight back. I’ve even found this to be the case with those undergoing weight-loss surgery.”

According to Danowski, the most effective way to address the emotional issues of overeating is by using writing. As a patient at a food addiction treatment center more than 14 years ago, Danowski was forced to keep a daily journal.

“In the pages of my journal, I was free to explore my deepest, most humiliating experiences with food and eating. Most of these were insights that I had never even thought about until I wrote them down,” Danowski said. “Somehow the act of writing forced me to make sense of what I had kept hidden for so long. And by uncovering these things, I was able to deal with them and acknowledge my food addiction. This acknowledgement eventually led to a 175-pound weight loss and an entirely new way of life.”

Danowski, who still keeps a journal today, notes that writing helps her to remain honest about what she eats. According to Danowski, a person’s biggest obstacle is usually him or herself. From the time that someone first begins using food as more than a means of nourishment, addictive thinking does whatever it can to protect that person from being aware of how dangerous these actions are.

“One of the most effective ways of breaking through denial and working toward recovery is to write on a regular basis at around the same time each day,” she said. “If you set aside fifteen minutes each day at the same time, writing will become a habit just as brushing your teeth and/or showering are. By making writing a habit, you will take away any internal debate about overeating you may be having with yourself.”

Though Danowski notes that there is no magic cure where weight loss is concerned, she believes that writing comes close. “I continue to be amazed at how much writing helps me to feel ‘full’ in a way that I never imagined possible. And when I’m full, eating is usually the last thing on my mind which is what makes writing so amazing.”

To learn more about Danowski or “The Overeater’s Journal,” visit your bookstore or the author’s website – http://www.debbiedanowski.com.



This article courtesy of http://www.myweightlossprogram.net. You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.

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