How do Italians eat pasta every day and not gain weight?

Why do they have the lowest obesity rate in Western Europe?

Why they don’t gain weight as easily as Americans do? 

In October, I was really fortunate to spend two weeks in northern Italy. I visited  Venice, Verona, Florence, and Tuscany, specifically the medieval walled hill towns of San Gimignano, Siena and Volterra. They were each wonderful in their own way. I had a fantastic time, and really loved it there. 

While I was there, I talked to a few American expats. One American woman in Florence told me, “I’ve been living here for a year and have lost 10 pounds without doing anything. I eat pasta every day. Plus I can eat dairy and gluten here with no digestive problems. Back in the States, I couldn’t tolerate those foods.”

I can’t tell you how many people have told me stories like this.  Americans who visited Italy told me that they drank wine with one or two meals a day, ate pasta, desserts, not to mention those breakfast croissants, and did not get the indigestion they normally got back home, and did not gain weight.

The Italians are known for their fantastic cuisine. Italy was the EAT in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love.  And for good reason. 

Have you ever wondered why Italian cuisine is so delicious? And how do they eat that carb-heavy diet filled with pasta, bread, croissants (see typical Italian breakfast to the right) and other delicious things, and not have the obesity problem that much of the rest of the world is experiencing? 

Italy has approximately half the obesity rate as the United States. 

Tune in below (or wherever you get your podcasts) and learn how you too can eat like an Italian.

If you’re ready to learn to eat in a sustainable way that is in tune with your body’s hunger and fullness signals, to end emotional and drop down to your healthy weight, sign up for my online Weight Loss for Foodies program.

In it, you’ll go beyond what I talk about in the podcast, and can download worksheets to practice what you’re learning and guided audio practices. The cost is less than half of the price of the coaching program. 

Learn more and sign up HERE.

How many times have you heard this saying?

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

So many people get stuck and have difficulty reaching their weight goals (and any other goal for that matter) because they get caught in a repetitive pattern of doing the same thing that doesn’t work, or that makes things worse,, over and over again.

Maybe you keep stopping at that bakery on your way to work, buying three pastries under the pretense that you’ll share them or save some for tomorrow, then eat them all. 

Maybe you binge on chips after dinner while watching TV every night. 

The Weight Loss for Foodies method is all about achieving permanent weight loss success by changing your habits and developing a peaceful relationship with food and eating. 

Some people can dive right in and do all of the things that I recommend.

But that doesn’t work for everyone. 

For many people, what works the best is to take baby steps  to break patterns of overeating or emotional eating that you keep repeating to your own detriment. 

Stay tuned to learn how you can get out of your rut and start making progress by taking baby steps to change your eating habits.

And stay tuned for a very important announcement  at the end–and it isn’t a sales pitch! 

Is exercising easier for you than managing your eating, but it isn’t producing the results you want? 

Do you exercise like crazy to make up for overeating? 

Do you hate exercise and avoid it like the plague? 

Unless you’re training for a half-marathon or something else intense, exercise alone isn’t going to get you to your weight goals. 

Are you surprised to hear that? While you can  lose some weight through exercise, it doesn’t make up for bad eating habits. 

It takes a lot less time to eat less than to exercise more!  

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t exercise. 

To be truly healthy, exercise is essential, regardless of how much you weigh. 

But if you expect it to make you thin, you likely will be disappointed. 

Tune in  and learn the role of exercise in weight loss, some benefits of exercise you may not know about, and how to fit it into a healthy lifestyle.

Weight Loss for Foodies is now available as an online, self-paced course without coaching. You’ll learn even more than what I discuss in the podcast, and can download worksheets to practice what you’re learning and guided audio practices. Learn more and sign up at my website, sharibroder.com

What’s the philosophy behind my approach to food, eating and weight?

Why did I feel called to become a coach despite being very happy with my fascinating practice as an arbitrator and mediator? 

You already know that there are thousands of diets out there. And by diets I mean regimens consisting of temporary approaches to changing how much and what you eat so that you can lose weight, usually as fast as possible. 

There are also lots of approaches that claim to be non-diet, or lifestyle approaches. Most of those are also really diets, like Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Paleo, Keto and Intermittent Fasting. 

So why am I so passionate about the Weight Loss for Foodies method? Why is it more effective than any of those options? Why can actually make you happier? Hint: it isn't because you'll lose weight.

Listen to learn the nine reasons why I feel like an anti-diet evangelist for this program.  

I’m going to be opening the doors to my Weight Loss for Foodies group program in early January, so if you want to be notified, make sure you click on the link below and get on the waitlist!

If you want to get started implementing my guidelines now, join Ditch the Diet Tribe, my free Facebook group, by requesting HERE.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanzaa, the New Year or any of the many celebrations this time of year.  You know there will be lots of food. ‘Tis the season for lots of food. 

Do you associate certain foods with this time of year? Maybe it’s the only time of year you eat potato latkes or roast turkey with stuffing and gravy or pumpkin pie.

Although the restrictive diet mind associates having an abundance of delicious, special food available for the holidays with overeating and feeling out of control around food, I can assure you don’t have to feel that way.  I actually enjoy the holidays even more since I stopped gorging myself every time! It’s so much easier to have fun when you don’t feel like the stuffed turkey!

Yes, I used to routinely eat too much during the holidays. I know how you feel.

I also know how you can change your mindset so that you don’t feel out of control and don’t overindulge. 

LISTEN to learn how to navigate Thanksgiving and other holidays and occasions in a healthy, even more enjoyable way. 

Download the Negative and Positive Food Beliefs Think Sheet from my website now!

What’s the difference between people who succeed at losing weight and keeping it off, and those who don’t? 

It isn’t giving up carbs or sugar.

It isn’t fasting, cleanses or detoxes.

It isn’t exercise.

It isn’t willpower.

It isn’t ANY diet. 

Most people who lose weight think they lack motivation. But that’s not it.

What the unsuccessful people really lack are the beliefs and the plan that will help them achieve their goal. 

Listen below  to learn how to come up with a plan to help you establish great new habits that will stick so you can lose the weight and keep it off.

Does that sound like a strange topic for a podcast?

Am I going to teach you how to transform from Clark Kent into Superman? 

From Peter Parker into Spiderman? 

Not THAT kind of identity change. 

It’s about working with your subconscious mind to  create your subconscious identity as a person who is naturally slim.  You don’t have to wait until you lose weight to view yourself and act like someone who is naturally slim. In fact, your chances of success will be much greater if you start being that person right now. 

You have to stop thinking of yourself as an overweight person who struggles to lose weight and develop an identity that will support your goals!

So listen to learn how to change your subconscious brain, which is where your current identity resides, into one that matches that naturally slim person deep inside you!

Do you ever think you want to end your battle with food and eating and your weight more than anything else in the world? But somehow you can’t stop yourself from overeating? 

Despite your best intentions, do you eat too much at dinner, then munch out in front of the TV all evening? 

Or decide that you’re only going to eat when you’re hungry, but when people bring food to share to work, you eat a bunch of junk because it’s there?

Are you tired of getting in your own way?  

It’s probably your subconscious mind at work. 

In this episode, you’ll learn  about the role of your subconscious mind and how it can work against your efforts at weight management and other things in life. But don’t despair!

Your brain is the most powerful tool you have, and you can learn how to use it to change your subconscious programming and consequently, change your results.  

LISTEN to learn how to mine your subconscious beliefs, notice what role they’ve been playing in your life, and what you can do to get the results you want.

Do you associate eating with hunger? Or do you eat for all kinds of other reasons? 

The reason we feel hunger is because that is our body’s way of telling us it needs fuel. If we eat when we’re hungry and stop when lightly full, our body gets the amount of food it needs to be a healthy weight. When we do that, we can eat the foods we love without dieting or deprivation and not gain weight

But most people don’t eat this way, and that has a lot to do with epidemic levels of overweight and obesity these days.  In our culture, we’re encouraged to eat when we aren't hungry and overeat by many sources, especially companies marketing their food products and family members. 

If you want to stop eating for those non-hunger reasons, and stop obsessing over your food choices, I’ve got a simple way to do that. 

There’s one question you need to ask yourself when you feel the urge to eat but aren’t hungry. 

Listen to learn what that question is and how to apply it to your life.

I never anticipated doing a podcast on this topic. 

My focus as a coach is on teaching foodies :

1. HOW to eat: in tune with your body’s hunger and fullness signals, consciously, savoring your food; and 
2. WHY you eat: when your body needs food, which is when you’re hungry, and not to avoid difficult emotions or dealing with our problems

I don’t tell you WHAT to eat. That’s because that’s your body’s job. When you listen to it, your body tells you what to eat. Plus most of you already know about nutrition and want to eat a primarily healthy diet. 

But a few listeners have asked how I plan my meals. Given that I want to help you develop a peaceful relationship with food and eating, eating well and enjoying your food is a big part of that. And decent meal planning can help.

So here it is! 

I try not to be one of those podcasters who spends the first 10 or 15 minutes of each episode talking about myself. You have better things to do with your time. But if you want to know how I plan my meals, you need to know something about my life. 

The reason for that is that how you plan meals is a personality thing.  We all have different levels of organization, so if what I do doesn’t sound like it can fit in your life, that’s fine.  

Listen below to learn how to plan your weekly meals so that you can eat and live deliciously, and save some cash in the process. 

Don’t forget to enter the Ultimate Weight Loss for Foodies Giveaway!

Do you ever think or say to others, “That’s just the way I am”?

Do you believe that you can’t change certain things about yourself or your life, even though it is holding you back? 

Do you believe that certain characteristics or habits are just part of your personality, and that you have no ability to change?

Are you afraid to try something new because  you might not be good at it?

If that describes you, the good news is that you’re absolutely wrong! Being wrong can sometimes be a good thing.

You see, “That’s just the way I am” is one of the biggest lies you can tell yourself. 

It’s merely an excuse to avoid doing something that you CAN do, but  find hard.

I want you to challenge that belief because it’s keeping you stuck in any number of ways, including being stuck in your old eating habits and at a weight that may not be healthy. 

Listen to learn about the two mindsets people how, which one results in more success and happiness, and how to get that mindset so that you can achieve your goals.

Carol Dweck, the author of the book Mindset, says, “Change can be tough, but I’ve never heard anyone say it wasn’t worth it.”

Have you ever thought about the tiny number of things over which we have actual control?

There are so many things in life that go on regardless of us “doing” anything to make them happen. Trees get leaves and plants grow. It rains. The leaves fall off. The earth turns on its axis. 

Our bodies do amazing things every minute of every day without us having to direct them. Our hearts beat. We breathe. We don’t have to think, “time to release some gastrin so I have enough acid in my stomach to digest my lunch!” 

Yet we waste a lot of energy trying to control the things that we can’t. Like our partner’s behavior, or what other people think and do. Then we allow our inability to control these things make us miserable.

The flip side is that we don’t take control over the things in our lives that are within our control! 

As a weight loss coach, I see how this seriously interferes with our ability to lose weight and keep it off.  It’s because instead of controlling something that is within our control--how we think--we keep trying to control things we can’t. 

Listen to learn the 6 questions to ask yourself to manage how you think. It’s not only the key to a happy life but is also the key to losing weight and keeping it off. 

If you’re really ready to kick the habit, check out my eCourse, 30 Days to End Emotional Eating Forever. You can find more information about it on my website and in the show notes.

Have you chosen to “sit out” doing the things you want to do until you’ve lost weight?

Skipped a big event or a day at the beach because you don’t look the way you think you should?

Why? What do you think will be different when you reach your weight goal?

When I ask my clients these questions, they say things like:

•  I’ll be happier.
•  I’ll be able to go to the beach.
•  I’ll be able to buy clothes I love.  
• I’ll have more self-confidence.  

Really? I wonder. I ask them questions like:

• Why can’t you be happier now?
• Why can’t you go to the beach now?                                          
• Why can’t you buy clothes you love now?  
• Why can’t you have more self-confidence now?

There really is no reason why you can’t have all of those things now, regardless of your current weight. 

Putting off living until you lose the weight is actually approaching it backwards.

Listen to learn how you can change your mindset and live your best life NOW to make losing weight easier.

In this episode, I’m talking about how we unknowingly do things that perpetuate this problem and what you can do to change that. 

I’m not blaming you. 

I think many people are unaware of how their behavior on social media and elsewhere contributes to or exacerbates a problem we didn’t create. 

The problem of viewing women as objects to admire for their appearance has persisted for a very long time.  In 1792, Mary Wollestonecraft wrote, “Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman’s scepter, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.” 

The problem of focusing on our appearance is in some ways worse than ever, now that we spend so much time on social media and are constantly comparing ourselves with others.

Not only is a lot of womens’ valuable time and energy spent trying to make our bodies look a certain way, it's hurting us psychologically AND physically. Think about the time you waste fretting about your appearance.

Think of how you could put that time to good use! 

Listen to learn what self-objectification is, how it harms both the women who objectify themselves and the ones who see their self-objectifying photos, and what you can do to stop or reduce it.   

To learn how to have a peaceful relationship with food and eating, check out the free resources on my website.

Are you spending so much time working in your job that it interferes with your ability to take proper care of yourself?

Do you mindlessly gobble down lunch at your desk?

Does regular exercise fall to the bottom of your “to do” list because it can’t compete with your overbooked work schedule? 

I get it. I’ve practiced law, a profession famous for overworking. In my four years in a high pressure firm, I became a compulsive overeater to deal with the stress, and I gained 40 pounds! 

You can definitely work too much, and it can have consequences for your health, including causing you to gain more weight.

Listen to learn how your employment may be contributing to weight gain and what you can do about it.

Do you feel stressed out often?

Although we hear a lot about stress in the media, many people overlook the effect that it has, not only on their overall health, but on their weight, too.  

Stress management is as important a part of becoming healthy and dropping those extra pounds as changing your eating habits is.

Maybe you’re thinking, whaaaat? How does sitting around meditating and not burning calories help me lose weight?  

Different stressful life experiences have different effects on us. Sometimes, stress can cause people to lose their appetite. Other times, it can trigger the urge to eat to soothe yourself and avoid those uncomfortable emotions.

Listen to learn why stress makes it easier to gain weight and harder to lose it, and what you can do to reduce the effects of stress in your life. And grab a copy of the Stress Reduction Resources Think Sheet, too!

It is more important to listen to your body and allow it’s messages to take the lead when it comes to when, what and how much you eat than it is to be at your goal weight.  

Does that surprise you? 

In our society, there isn’t much emphasis placed on listening to our bodies. The emphasis is on immediate gratification. That’s why obesity is at epidemic proportions.

One of the reasons why I believe in the primacy of listening to your body is that being at your goal weight doesn’t necessarily make you happy.  But when you inhabit your body and use its messages for guidance, you achieve happiness and balance in your life. 

Isn’t that the point?

If your body isn’t happy, you won’t be either. 

Listen to learn about your relationship with your body and why it should be your closest advisor regarding what it needs and what you need.  

If you want to learn how to listen to your body and eat consciously, grab my free 30 days of Conscious Eating Calendar at the link on my website.

Have you been assuming that the reason you can’t lose weight is because being overweight runs in your family? 

Is almost everyone in your family overweight? 

Do you believe that genetics are causing your weight problem?

Research on families and obesity has shown that children of overweight parents have a whopping 80 percent chance of being overweight themselves, but that genetics plays a very small part in that determination.  

What seems to matter most is your family environment.

So while you probably can’t blame your parents for giving you “bad genes,” they may have taught you bad eating habits. Or created an unfavorable eating culture. 

Family dynamics and home environment have a much larger effect on weight than genetics. MUCH larger. That doesn’t mean that you didn’t inherit genes that put you at a higher risk for obesity. Maybe you did, but it also doesn’t mean that being an unhealthy weight is your destiny.

You aren’t destined to have your mother’s body! You can overcome any genetic predisposition by changing your habits.

Listen to this week's episode to learn more. 

If you want to learn what you need to do to become a healthy weight in a sensible sustainable way, grab a copy of my 8 Secrets for Permanent Weight Loss at the link on my website.

You’re a foodie, and you really love food, right?  

But do you rush through your meals, or give yourself time to enjoy them?

One of the simplest steps you can take to improve your health and well being, and shed some extra weight is to slow down.

Yes, eating slowly improves your health. 

Eating fast is a habit. Like any habit, you can change it. Listen to learn the reasons why you should choose to become a slow eater, and how to become one!

For more tips on how to live and eat the naturally slim way, grab my free 8 Secrets for Permanent Weight Loss at the link under Free Resources on my website.

Is it hard for you to avoid overeating at parties? On vacations? Or other special events?

Are those the kinds of things that throw you off track, then you have trouble getting back on your weight loss path?

I have a very simple strategy for you to use so you can navigate any eating situation without overeating. 

Planning ahead and visualization.

There are a few different approaches to planning ahead, and not all of them are suitable for foodies. Some are overly rigid, and require you to ignore your body’s messages.

My approach doesn’t do that.

Listen below to learn how you can use planning ahead and visualization to have a peaceful relationship with food and eating while also navigating previously challenging situations with grace and finesse! 

For more strategies for eating what you love while shedding your extra weight, head over to my website, ShariBroder.com, and grab your copy of 8 Secrets for Permanent Weight Loss.

If you want to be healthy, then eating healthy is important. That’s not rocket science. 

And who doesn’t want to be healthy? 

But can you go overboard? Can healthy eating or so-called “clean eating” become an obsession that is actually unhealthy?

The answer is yes. You CAN take healthy eating to an extreme. 

There’s even a name for it: Orthorexia.

What is orthorexia and why is it important to recognize the symptoms?

Listen to learn more about this unhealthy obsession with eating “clean” and healthy food, and how, rather than making someone healthier, it can actually have the opposite effect.

Head over to my website, sharibroder.com, for lots of free resources (it’s one of the menus in the header and there’s a link in the show notes), including 8 Secrets for Permanent Weight Loss, a 30 Days of Conscious Eating Calendar, Podcast Think Sheets, and more!

Do you hate the way you look? 

Do you wonder how you could ever feel okay about your body? 

If you’re middle-aged or older, do you worry about your wrinkles and the effect gravity is having on your body?

In my opinion, women spend way too much of their time and energy focusing on that one small aspect of ourselves: our appearance. Almost all of us are guilty.

There is so much more to you than the way you look! 

Yes, I coach people about how to permanently lose weight, but I believe that having a healthy relationship with food and eating and being healthy are so much more important than the size of your body or what you look like. 

But sadly, throughout history, women’s appearance has been given way too much weight in determining our value. 

Despite the feminist movement, the situation is getting worse. According to Dr. Nancy Etcoff at Harvard Medical School, the latest research shows that low body image in women is a global issue of epidemic proportions. 

When we spend so much of our time and energy worrying about our appearance, we can’t spend it doing something really meaningful, productive, or that make a difference in your life and the lives of others. 

LISTEN to learn more about what it means to have a good body image, and why you don’t need to look like Jessica Alba to have one!

What’s the very best way to lose weight? 

There are tons of diets out there, each one clamoring for your attention and maybe your money. 

But do any of them work? 

When I say “work,” I mean they do more than just produce temporary weight loss.

Lots of diets, if someone stays on them long enough, will produce temporary weight loss.

So when I say “work,”  I mean that if you follow the program, you can not only lose weight, but actually keep it off without wasting a ton of your precious energy and mental real estate fretting about food and eating.

That means it must teach you how to eat in a sustainable way, and help you heal your relationship with food and eating. 

Listen to learn what characteristics are necessary in a weight loss program for it to be sustainable so that you drop the extra weight and don't gain it back.

I hope to see you at my free workshop, Make Peace with Food, Eat What You Love, and Drop the Weight for Good  on July 24th! You’ll get lots of useful tips you can start implementing now. Sign up at weightlossforfoodies.org 

This week, we’re comparing and contrasting the components of diets versus the Weight Loss for Foodies (WLFF) approach, which I also call attuned eating. 

Here is a brief comparison of some of the differences:

DIETS               WLFF

External rules    Internal wisdom

Rigid                 Flexible

Deprivation        Satisfaction

Guilt                  Pleasure

Fear                  Trust

Shame              Compassion

Judgment          Acceptance

Oppression        Freedom

In Control          In Charge

 Listen to this week’s podcast to learn the specifics.

Which approach sounds better to you? If you want to learn more, sign up for my free webinar about how to Make Peace with Food, Eat What You Love, and Drop the Weight for Good on July 24th by clicking here.

You’ve probably seen some of the ads that say things like this: 

• Lose 30 pounds in 30 days (or fewer days). 
• Boost your metabolism and lose weight while eating all the food you want!
• To lose weight permanently, all you have to do is take this pill. 
• This amazing coffee diet will boost your metabolism & melt the fat off you effortlessly!

Is this really true? Can you really lose 30 pounds in 30 days? 

Spoiler alert: Any promise of miraculous weight loss is not true. 

There is no magic way to lose weight. 

You cannot eat all the food you want whenever you want it and still lose weight. 

Any products promising unbelievably fast weight loss are a scam, and are very likely dangerous. 

Even if you did lose weight, you’d almost certainly gain it back after you stopped using the product. 

In this episode, we talk about: 

• whether there are “fat burners” that cause your body to burn fat faster
• why it’s hard to increase your metabolism
• whether there is anything you can do to speed it up 
• why dieting permanently slows down your metabolism

If you want to try a system that will not only work, but it will help you make peace with food and eating, which I personally think is even more instrumental in your future happiness  than losing weight, check out the free resources on my website, https://sharibroder.com/free-resources/ and keep listening to the Weight Loss for Foodies podcast.

Which is more important to you, losing weight or developing a healthy relationship with food and eating? 

For me, I resoundingly choose to have  a healthy relationship with food. 

If you chose losing weight, perhaps you believe that once you drop that extra weight, all of your problems will be solved and you’ll live happily ever after. Sorry, that’s a fairy tale. 

I’m not gonna lie. Losing a lot of weight feels great. But if you are still left with a dysfunctional relationship with food, a huge part of what you do every day will still be a struggle. Plus you’ll likely gain the weight back and all of your efforts will be for nothing.

You see, you can lose weight, and be at your goal weight and still be overly obsessed with food. You can still be anxious about it, and waste a lot of your time and energy on it.  That’s how diet-thin people live, and frankly, it sucks. It’s also totally unnecessary.

In today’s episode, I’ll discuss what a healthy relationship with food looks and feels like (SPOILER ALERT: it is totally awesome and so liberating!), and contrast it with a dysfunctional relationship with food. Then I’ll talk about how to have that healthy relationship while you are in the process of losing weight AND for the rest of your life.  

That’s what my clients tell me is the best part about the Weight Loss for Foodies approach. Food freedom!

If you want to develop a healthy relationship with food and eating, I can help! On July 24th, I’m doing a free webinar: How to Make Peace with Food, Eat What You Love AND Lose Weight! I hope you’ll join me. Head to my website and sign up to get notified!

Do you eat on autopilot?

Because it’s dinner time? Or lunch time?

Or because you like the food that’s available?

I used to eat for all kinds of reasons. 

Sometimes, I even chose to eat because I was hungry. 

But that usually wasn’t a consideration.

Basically, I ate without thinking about WHY I was eating.

What I didn’t realize was that the reason I was overweight and couldn’t lose it and keep it off, was because I wasn’t eating in response to my body’s need for food. You see, that’s exactly what your hunger is for: to tell you when your body needs fuel. 

There is a key question to ask yourself before your start eating that will change your entire relationship with food! And it isn’t “Am I hungry?” although you should always ask yourself that.

Listen to learn the key question and how it can set in motion the transformation you’ve been seeking.  

If you want to become a more conscious eater, which will help you enjoy food more, overeat less, and lose weight, grab a copy of my free 30 Days of Conscious Eating Calendar from the link in the show notes.

Are you someone who believes you can’t allow yourself to eat certain foods?

Can’t have them in the house or you’ll devour them immediately?

Can’t trust yourself around cookies? Chips? Chocolate?

I get it. I used to be that way before I ditched my lists of foods I “shouldn’t” eat. I always ended up eating those foods anyway. Don’t you?

Because I knew they were forbidden, I would wolf them down, like if I ate them fast without paying attention, I wasn’t really eating them.

It was so unsatisfying and sad because I had all of that food in my body, yet I barely tasted it, let alone enjoyed it. All I felt was uncomfortable afterwards. And maybe guilty and mad at myself for eating like a pig.

I no longer have “forbidden foods,” and I no longer overeat. I can have any of my previously forbidden foods in the house and even forget they’re there.

The good news is that you can too! You can change your relationship with food and eating so that you can eat the foods you love without overeating.

You can take the power back from those foods.

Listen to understand why you overeat the foods you forbid yourself from eating, and what you can do instead.

In this episode, there’s an exercise for eating chocolate, or any foods you love.  

Get a free copy of the Chocolate Exercise by clicking the link below.

Thanks to Susan Albers, PsyD, for the idea for this exercise.

It’s not your imagination.

If you are a woman under the age of 50, chances are that for a few days before your menstrual period, you get food cravings.

Your hunger increases.

Maybe you even feel like you can’t stop eating.

Then your period comes and the powerful appetite recedes.

Yup, it’s hormonal. It’s normal. It’s nothing to fret or be concerned about.

What’s going on that causes changes in hunger and cravings for women during their menstrual cycle?  

Should you be worried about this increased appetite and its effect on your weight management efforts?

How about those cravings for chocolate and other pleasure foods?

Listen to learn about how your hormones affect your appetite and energy during the different phases of your menstrual cycle, and how to approach this in a healthy way.

Women’s bodies change throughout our lives.

We go through puberty, pregnancy and childbirth, perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause.

Our bodies have a brilliant, miraculous system through which they continually adapt to our changing needs.

Despite how amazing our bodies are, too many of us hate ours. For some people, those feelings increase as we age.  

Do you hate the way your belly or butt or face looks?

Are those really your feelings, or are they the result of millions of messages you’ve heard throughout your lifetime with other people’s ideas about the way you’re supposed to look?

What changes occur to our bodies in midlife and beyond?

Which ones are normal and outside our control, and which ones aren’t?

Listen to learn all about these changes, and how you can age in a healthy way, including how to have a positive attitude about yourself.

How can you dump those idiotic messages that bombard us with impossible expectations, and learn to accept, appreciate, admire and love the body you have as it is right now?

Do you struggle with the urge to eat when you aren't hungry?

Urge Surfing is a way of being with those urges without acting on them or resisting them.

In last week’s episode, I introduced the practice of urge surfing. Managing those urges to eat is a key skill to have in your tool kit if you want to eat what you love and lose weight without dieting. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, make sure you do before listening to this one.

Urge surfing is a great way to allow you to choose behaviors that bring you towards what you really want in life, rather than indulging in fleeting immediate gratification.

This week’s episode is a guided urge surfing meditation. Download this episode and use it when you have the urge to eat but aren’t hungry.

Do this in a comfortable place where you can relax.

And don’t forget to grab the Think Sheet for this episode that will walk you through the urge surfing process.

Do you get the urge to eat out of habit? Like munching crunchy snacks while watching TV?

Or eating your kid’s leftovers when you aren’t hungry?

Or maybe you grab candy out of a candy bowl as you walk by.

If you’ve struggled with your weight, chances are that you’ve been indulging your urges to eat when you aren’t hungry.

And when you eat but aren’t hungry, your body stores that energy as fat. You keep gaining weight. Or you can't lose it.

I’m excited to introduce a great mindfulness tool that can help you deal with those urges!

It’s called “urge surfing.”

The great mindfulness teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn very wisely said, “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”

Life is full of waves, and learning how to surf them can help you manage your urges and lose the weight for good.

It’s not about resistance. If you’ve watched Star Trek, you know that “Resistance is Futile.” When it comes to urges, resistance is not only futile, but it can actually makes your urges worse.

Listen to learn about how urges work and how you can successfully surf them!

Does being “body positive” mean that you can’t want to change your body?

Does promoting a healthy, sane approach to food and eating, which may also involve weight loss, fly in the face of body positivity?

What really is body positivity anyway?

Your worth as a human being has absolutely ZERO to do with how much you weigh and what your body looks like.

Loving your body and appreciating all is does for you is something everyone must do if you want to be truly happy and confident, regardless of your size. If you go through life being dissatisfied with your body, or worse, hating it, either because you don’t meet other people’s standards or your own, you will suffer. That’s no way to live.

Loving and appreciating your body and wanting it to be healthier or lighter aren’t mutually exclusive.

There is also nothing wrong with trying to be your healthiest or losing weight to look the way YOU want to, rather than how someone else thinks you should look.

Listen to learn what body positivity means and the importance of accepting and appreciating your body before you can change it.

If you want to make peace with food and eating, and drop your extra weight, you need to stop believing the negative stories you’ve been telling yourself about food, eating and your weight.

We all have these painful stories. Stories that keep us stuck. Yet most of us don’t realize that they’re only stories. We treat them like they’re the truth.

What do I mean? Here are some stories people have shared with me:

I can’t stop eating while I’m cooking (or cleaning up after) dinner.

I can’t lose weight because I’ve tried and failed a million times.

If I let myself have cookies in the house, I’ll eat them all at once.

I’m addicted to . . . (whatever)

You can prevent these old stories from controlling your life now. It’s time to stop giving these stories power over you. You can’t change as long as you believe them.

LISTEN to learn the four steps to stop believing your painful stories so you can make positive changes and have the life and body that you deserve!

Every year, 45 million people in the United States alone start a new diet. They spend $33 billion on diet products. $33 billion down the drain because 95-97% of them will fail.

Meanwhile, the number of people who are overweight or obese is at an all-time high and continues to grow. That’s because almost everyone who tries to shed their extra weight approaches the process the wrong way.

Don’t despair! Permanent weight loss is possible! I’ve done it. My clients have done it.

But to succeed, you have to forget the model you’ve used for your whole life. Abandon it. What have you got to lose? It hasn’t worked, right?

Listen to learn the 8 things that may be tripping you up and what you can do to succeed.

“I had a hard day and deserve this,” or, 

“I’ve been so good all day.”

We talk about thoughts a lot in this podcast.

Some thoughts are happy and some aren’t. 

Some are helpful, and some aren’t. 

But the fact is that they’re just thoughts. 

And there are two things that thoughts aren’t:

1. Who we are. We aren’t our thoughts. We’re the observers of our thoughts. 
2. Always true. We tend to assume that our thoughts are true. 

Most of us fully buy into what our thoughts are telling us, and we let them run around our minds like a toddler with a knife. 

Do you let your thoughts direct your actions and choices without really questioning them?

If you have thoughts that seem to sabotage your efforts, stay tuned to learn how you can “defuse” those unhelpful thoughts and make choices that help you achieve your weight goals! 

By the way, it’s the fourth anniversary of this podcast! If you’ve been enjoying it, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.” ― Paulo Coelho

You think you want to shed some weight REALLY badly. You’ve tried many times.

But you haven’t succeeded. Or maybe you’ve lost weight only to regain it.

How many times have you thought these things:

“I’ll start again on Monday!”

“I just can’t lose weight!”

“It must be  my metabolism.”

“I just have no willpower.”

“I haven’t found the right diet yet.”

All of those thoughts are totally off base.

The reason you haven’t lost weight and kept it off is likely because:

1. You keep going on diets, and diets do not produce permanent weight loss
2. You haven’t fully committed to your goal.
3. You haven’t found your compelling reason for dropping the weight.

Listen to learn the steps you need to take to be fully committed to your effort to shed your extra weight.

If you’re ready to learn how to break your emotional eating habit--learning how to get your beastie brain to shut up and use your thinking brain to make decisions about what to eat, check out my eCourse, 30 Days to End Emotional Eating Forever.

LINKS:

Podcast Think Sheets: http://sharibroder.com/podcast-think-sheets/

30 Days to End Emotional Eating Forever: https://sharibroder.com/30-days-to-end-emotional-eating-forever/

Have you ever decided to lose weight because a big event was coming?

You’re getting married.

Your high school reunion is a few months away.

You’re going to the Caribbean or the beach and can’t avoid putting on a swimsuit.

You want to look your best, so you decide something like, “I need to lose 20 pounds--FAST!”

Then you start some kind of quick-fix diet. You know, like the ones you’ve tried a million times before that haven’t worked.

Maybe you think, “I’ll just cut out carbs for the next few months! I can do that!”

Or “I’ll do Whole 30!”

Losing weight for a big event is a lousy motivator, though, and that’s why it rarely works.

Why waste your time and energy losing weight temporarily, especially when yo-yo dieting is unhealthy?

Listen to learn the importance of motivation and commitment in your weight loss effort, and how to get motivated to succeed over the long term.

Years ago, there was a skit on Saturday Night Live called "Fernando's Hideaway." Fernando's motto was, "It's better to look good than to feel good."

It seems like that must be the motto of the many people going on diets like Keto and other unbalanced plans. Every week, I read something about the dangers of the most popular fad diets.

Every week, I read something about the dangers of the most popular fad diets. Following the recording of this podcast, the medical journal Lancet published a study that showed that 6 million people die each year from a diet that does not have adequate amounts of fruits and whole grains. Yet some popular fad diets require people to not eat ANY of those foods. 

Why would anyone choose to endanger their health, including increase their risk of heart attack, to lose weight?

Too many people are continuing to opt for what are being advertised as  “quick fixes” for weight loss. Maybe they don’t realize the dangers of certain fad diets.

In this episode, I’m talking about the health risks of fad diets for weight loss, including the dangers of several currently popular diets.

Listen to hear 10 very real dangers of yo-yo dieting, Keto, intermittent fasting and other diets.  

Changing your habits produces permanent weight loss with no health risks. If you haven’t downloaded my 8 Secrets for Permanent Weight Loss yet, you can grab a copy in the show notes on my website.

LINKS:

8 Secrets for Permanent Weight Loss   http://sharibroder.com/8-secrets-for-pe…nent-weight-loss/

Ditch the Diet Tribe http://bit.ly/DitchDietTribe

@IWeigh on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com

And while you’re there, follow @WeightLossforFoodies if you aren’t already!

When you look in the mirror, what do you think?

Does it ever sounds like this?

“I can’t wear that, I look so fat in it!”

“Look at those cottage cheese thighs!”

“Wow, where did all of those wrinkles and grey hairs comes from?”

“I used to look so great when I was 20! What happened?”

Except that at 20, you were just as critical of how you looked!

When it comes to passing judgment about our appearance, is there any bigger critic than ourselves?

It doesn’t have to be that way. While we can’t control what  other people think about how we look, and really should not care because that’s always about them, we CAN control how we think about our own appearance.

As women, the unfortunate thing is that we are raised in a society that values our appearance above everything else and wants us to be obsessed with it. We get a  message from a very young age that it is very important to be pretty and slim.

How much of your time do you spend obsessing about your weight and appearance? Have you set impossible standards for yourself?

Listen and learn why it is so important for you to stop grieving how your body doesn’t look the way you think it should, and why you must love yourself and appreciate your body the way it is right now. That doesn’t mean you can’t want to be healthier or slimmer, but you can make peace with your body while striving for whatever reasonable improvement may look like to you.

If you’re ready to make peace with food and end emotional eating, check out 30 Days to End Emotional Eating Forever. You can access it on my website!

LINKS: https://sharibroder.com/30-days-to-end-emotional-eating-forever/

Jameela Jamil’s i weigh     http://jameelajamil.co.uk/post/171287759245/i-weigh

You’re at a restaurant and there’s a buffet.  So many good things to eat!

You love food and there are unlimited quantities.  Are you worried that you’ll eat too much?

That used to be me.  My brain would think, “Free food! Lots of yummy stuff!” and I would eat too much just because it was there.  Then I’d feel gross. I’d be stuffed and uncomfortable. Usually gassy too.

Why do we do this to ourselves? I’ll explain that in this episode, and tell you about a much better way. Because you CAN go to buffets and enjoy them without overeating or experiencing food FOMO.

The problem is that first you have to shed your diet brain.

Listen to learn the difference between how people using the Weight Loss for Foodies Abundance Mindset approach parties and buffets and how different it is from the scarcity diet mindset that you’ve probably had . . . until now!  

I hope you’ll use these strategies and prove to yourself that you can go to any buffet or party and enjoy the food without overeating or gaining weight!

LINKS:

Episode 29 Wasting Food  http://sharibroder.com/ep-29-overeat-to-avoid-wasting-food/

Episode 13  Scarcity versus Abundance http://sharibroder.com/ep-13-avoiding-forbidden-foods-keeps-you-from-losing-weight/

This episode celebrates the end of the first and the start of the second year  of the Weight Loss for Foodies podcast by completing a review of the eight best ideas from the podcast during the past year.

In today’s episode, we’ll discuss four more super important ideas to implement if you want to become your healthy weight or stay there while living a wonderful,  fun life that doesn’t involve diets or senseless deprivation. Here they are:

• Learn how to manage your emotions instead of avoiding them by eating

• Discover other pleasures in life that don’t involve eating

• Question your beliefs

• Quiet your inner critic and love yourself as you are right now

I hope you find this review helpful. If you have ideas for podcast topics, send me an email at lifecoach@sharibroder.com.

Have a great week!

It’s the Weight Loss for Foodies podcast’s one year anniversary!

I started this podcast because I struggled with eating and my weight for most of my life. When I discovered how to lose weight and keep it off without dieting  (with the help of my weight coaches), and made peace with eating, I became passionate about spreading the word to anyone who was interested in learning.

I’ve heard back from many listeners who have jumped off the diet hamster wheel and learn to eat mindfully, stop emotional eating and lose weight.

To celebrate, I decided  to review the eight most important concepts that we covered during the past year. In the interest of keeping each episode relatively short, I’ll cover four concepts this week and four in Episode 57.

In this episode, I discuss:

• Stop dieting and cultivate an abundance mindset.
• Eat in accordance with the Hunger Scale                      
• Eat consciously and slowly, savoring every bite
• Eat the foods you really enjoy--no forbidden foods!

So celebrate with me, listen and keep up the good work!

Do you have some days when you feel hungry all day, no matter how much you eat? That might be because you haven’t been getting enough sleep.

What does the amount of sleep have to do with your weight? Lack of sleep is one of the most common risk factors for obesity.

Not sleeping enough can hinder your weight loss efforts. Research has linked insufficient sleep to weight gain.

People who normally sleep fewer than six hours per night are much more likely to be overweight. 

Women who are sleep-deprived are a third more likely to gain 33 pounds over the next 16 years than women who get seven hours of sleep per night. Thirty-three more pounds! And that’s based on amount of sleep alone.

Listen to learn how inadequate sleep can undermine your weight loss efforts in five ways, and what you can do to sleep better.

There isn’t much that incites fear in weight-conscious people like the bathroom scale!

Do you avoid the scale like the plague? Or do weigh yourself obsessively?

Have you moved the scale around your bathroom to see which location gives you the “best” weight?

Do you let the number on the scale mean a lot about you as a person? Does getting a “bad number” ruin your mood for the morning? The whole day?

The scale doesn’t know much about you. It has no idea how kind you are, how much love you give to others, how hard your work, or how strong your legs may be.

The scale knows nothing about you as a person or how the important people in your life feel about you. The scale doesn’t measure any of those meaningful things.

All the scale gives you is a number.

It is how you choose to think about this number that causes your distress.

The good news is that you can change how you think about that number.

You can dump the conditioned response of evaluating your life through the filter of pounds lost or gained. You and your life are so much more than that!

Listen to learn how the scale can be an important tool on your weight loss journey, and how you can use it without any drama.

You’re trying to lose weight. You’ve been down this road so many times before. Too many. But you aren’t ready to toss in the towel.

How many times have you started a restrictive diet with the hope that this will finally be the secret sauce you need to reach your goal?

I know, you’re all gung-ho at first. You stay on track for a few days or maybe even a week or two, or a month, but then your resolve wanes and suddenly you’re back to eating the way you did that caused you to gain weight in the first place.

You really want this to be the last time. You’d love to finally lose the weight and not have to worry about it anymore.

You’d like to put your time and energy into something besides dealing with your weight!

How do you stay motivated?

How do you get off what I call the diet hamster wheel for good?

Listen to hear 11 tips for how to stay motivated and reach that goal!

If you really want to stay on track and make this your final weight loss journey, join the Weight Loss for Foodies Group coaching program!

Isn’t it time you made peace with food, eating and your body, and lost the weight for good?

Do you want to experience the freedom of being able to eat the foods you love, and lose the weight for good? How about losing the desire to overeat? I didn't even think that was possible until it happened to me!

I keep the group small so I can give everyone the attention they need, so grab your spot now! Registration closes on February 28th.

Do you find yourself regularly having cravings for certain foods? 

The inability to manage cravings can be the downfall of the best efforts of many who want to lose weight. 

But why is it such a problem? And what can you do about it so you don’t routinely overeat and gain weight?

Before you judge yourself too harshly for having cravings, craving food and eating when you’re hungry is a normal human thing. 

The problem arises when you regularly have cravings for certain foods when you aren’t hungry, and let the urges be in the driver’s seat. 

Tune in to learn the three main causes of cravings AND four things you can do to reduce, manage or eliminate those cravings. 

Using these four strategies when you have a craving will help you establish positive eating habits that will allow you to enjoy the foods you love without overeating them. 

Check out the free resources on my website to inspire you to make those positive changes.

Have you ever really thought about why you want to lose weight?

I mean, seriously thought about it.

Maybe you think it is because you want to look better in clothes, feel sexier, find a great partner, or be healthier. There are many reasons why people THINK want to lose weight. I had those kinds of reasons, too.

I had no idea what would be the best reward of all. The reason why the people I work with are so happy. 

It wasn’t getting on the scale and seeing a number that was considerably smaller than the ones I’d seen for decades.

It wasn’t not having to buy queen-sized (how’s that for a euphemism?) or extra-large clothes anymore.

It wasn’t even lowering  my cholesterol and reducing my risk of heart attack, stroke or diabetes.

You see, the best thing wasn’t actually losing the weight, although that was pretty great.

You may be wondering “What the heck is she talking about?”

HINT: you don’t get this benefit if you lose weight by going on a diet. (Plus if you lose the weight on a diet, you have a 97% chance of gaining it all back!) 

LISTEN to learn what my clients and I agree is the best thing about losing weight using the Weight Loss for Foodies method.

___________________________

Are you ready to make peace with food, eating and your body, and lose the weight for good?

Join the Weight Loss for Foodies Group! It’s a three-month online live coaching program that can change your life and end your struggle with food and weight forever! Think about how great you’ll look when you pull out those summer clothes in a few months. It’s not that far away.

I keep the group small so I can give everyone the attention they need, so grab your spot now! It starts on March 7th. Sign up at: https://sharibroder.com/weight-loss-foodies-group/

There are certain foods that we love because they taste great, but they have little or no nutritional value.  I call them “joy” foods.

If you want them, eat them. In moderation.

Yes, you heard that right.

I am a proponent of not having any foods that are off-limits.

No forbidden foods, except for medical or ethical reasons like being vegetarian or vegan.

This scares some people. They think food has power over them. They think they can’t control themselves when they’re in the presence of foods they love.

One of the most difficult issues some of my clients face, especially those who have been dieting for years, is allowing themselves to eat whatever foods their bodies desire when they are physically hungry.  I hear things like:

• If I let myself eat French fries, I’ll have to eat the whole order! I won’t be able to stop!
• I can’t keep cookies in the house or I’ll eat them all at once!
• When I have chocolate in my home, it’s like it calls my name until I eat it all.

Here’s the thing. The only way to have control and feel at ease around any food is to allow yourself to eat them. It’s HOW you eat them that’s important.  

Are you missing the joy of the joy foods?

Listen to learn how to really enjoy joy foods, and how you can eat them without overeating them.

Learning to kick the emotional eating habit is essential for permanent, diet-free weight loss. SIGN UP for my new course: 30 Days to End Emotional Eating Forever! Click here to sign up and learn more!

Or LEVEL UP and get the entire course plus two 30-minute coaching sessions with me to zero-in on your emotional eating challenges. Questions? Email: lifecoach@sharibroder.com

When you put food on your plate, do you think about how much you need to be lightly full? Or do you just fill the plate?

Do you eat on autopilot, automatically finishing what’s on your plate, regardless of how full you feel?  

No doubt you’ve heard that two-thirds of the people in the United States are either overweight or obese. I know I’ve said it a few times in this podcast. And the reason for that is  . . . overeating.

We live in a culture of overeating.

Almost everyone I know overeats.

I overate for most of my life.

Most people don’t even realize they’re doing it. I know I didn’t. I thought I didn’t eat that much, compared to other people. Which was probably true. That’s because overeating is the norm.

I say this not to be judgmental. I want you to notice how much you’re eating so you can learn how to eat the right amount of food to be your healthy weight.

Listen to learn how you can buck the culture of overeating, and enjoy the foods you love while dropping down to your naturally healthy weight.

Are you an emotional eater? That’s the other reason most people are overweight. Join my new program to help you end that habit! It’s called 30 Days to End Emotional Eating Forever. Once you stop emotional eating, losing weight and keeping it off is so much easier! Learn more and sign up at the links in the show notes at sharibroder.com.