An Introduction

Dr. John H. Sklare

What motivates one to eat is a very complex and confusing matter. Eating involves many thoughts and behaviors, some of which are conscious and some of which are unconscious. Successful weight management, however, requires a basic understanding of the difference between "physical hunger" and "emotional hunger". I talk to doctors and other weight loss professionals everyday and I'm telling you that this basic and critical point is consistently overlooked or ignored by most programs available today. The most common type of emotional eating is stress eating. Our in-house research, on over 50,000 Inner Diet respondents, indicates that 77% of overweight people have a serious problem with stress eating. That's an incredible number. That's almost 8 out of every 10 people. If you are one of those people, and you don't address the issue of stress eating, you are not likely to succeed at weight control. Identifying emotional eating is the key to healthier eating and long term weight management.

The first step involved in changing eating behavior, however, involves the process of discovery. Psychologists refer to this process as "awareness". Awareness creates knowledge and knowledge creates power. I developed The Inner Diet Personal Assessment System to assist you in the development of a more powerful self. The Inner Diet is a mind/body awareness tool that will help you work smarter not harder at weight management. I designed this program to provide you with the knowledge and the tools that you need to both change and control your eating. Let's begin this journey then, by examining the psychology of emotional eating. In other words, most people know what they should do to eat healthier and manage their weight but they just don't seem to do it. If this sounds like you, move over you have a lot of company. So, exactly what are the thoughts and behaviors that contribute to your eating patterns. My survey's reveal that the vast majority of people believe that successful weight management is primarily a "mental" challenge. In other words, most people believe that you have to change the way you think about food and eating to be successful. I couldn't agree more. My research, as well as my experience in private practice, tells me that this is absolutely true.

The Inner Diet is dedicated to providing you with what is missing from almost all weight management programs today. I know, as well as you, that effective and lasting weight management must address the body and the mind. Just think about it, the physical act of eating always follows the mental decision to eat. There is no great mystery here about which comes first. You always decide to eat prior to the actual eating. Eating is a choice! The tricky part about this "decision to eat", however, is that it is not always a conscious decision. Achieving successful weight control involves more than just exercising your body and monitoring everything that you eat. It must also involve an awareness and understanding of why you eat. After all, you don't want to just lose weight, you want to lose it and keep it off! Following a responsible and sound exercise and nutritional program will safely and effectively reduce your weight and improve the health and fitness of your body. The Inner Diet, however, is focused on improving the health and fitness of your mind. It does this by making you more aware and mindful of why you eat. A healthy and fit body combined with a healthy and fit mind results in a healthy and fit lifestyle. I don't want you to diet, I want you to live it!

A complete and effective weight management program must address and actively involve the two major fundamental elements of your life. Those two elements are: the tangible or physical part of you (your body); and the intangible or psychological part of you (your mind). To address only the physical part of you, while ignoring the thinking part of you as almost all weight management programs presently do, leaves the job undone. Perhaps an example would help!

Imagine that you have just purchased a new car. Let's further imagine that this new car is the first manual automobile that you have ever owned and operating a stick shift and clutch is now part of your everyday driving experience. Having never had to shift a car before you find yourself constantly grinding the gears and popping the clutch as you struggle with learning how to properly drive this new vehicle. After a few months your car begins to make some very unpleasant sounds and eventually refuses to move from gear to gear. After having your car towed to your friendly neighborhood repair shop, the mechanic informs you that your car needs to have the clutch as well as all of the gears replaced. He tells you that, because you didn't know how to shift the car correctly, they have been damaged beyond repair. So you tell him to make the repairs and to call you when the car is ready.

After the car is repaired what do you think would happen if you were to continue to drive that car in exactly the same way that you did prior to the repairs. The answer seems very obvious, doesn't it? Unless someone teaches you the correct way to shift that car, you will undoubtedly end up in the repair shop again with the exact same problem! In other words, unless you get a little "driver education" you will experience the exact same problem over and over again.

Now the reason for this story is to make this very important point. This same principle holds true in weight control. I mentioned earlier that there are two major parts to an individual, the physical and the psychological. As a matter of fact, the relationship between the physical and the psychological are very much like the relationship between a car and its driver. That is, imagine the physical part of you (your body) as the car and the psychological part of you (your mind) as the driver of that car. Your mind is the driver of your body. Losing weight and working on your body (the car) is a very important part of weight management. Eating healthier food and engaging in exercise are critical to success. However, unless you give a little "drivers education" to the psychological or thinking part of yourself (the driver), you will most likely repeat those old thoughts and behaviors and end up in the repair shop again and again. This is commonly referred to as "yo-yo dieting".

Yo-yo dieting, as I mentioned above, is the result of repeating old self-defeating, unhealthy thoughts and behaviors. It reminds me of the story about the man who goes to the doctor complaining of a sore arm. The doctor asks him what the problem seems to be and the gentleman explains that he feels a great deal of pain every time he raises his arm above his shoulder. The doctors reply, without a moments hesitation is, "Well then stop raising your arm". Even though this will eliminate the pain, it is not very helpful information. The reason that this is not very helpful is, it addresses the symptom only and ignores the problem completely. People trying to lose weight often find themselves in the same situation. They are told to "just eat less" or to "follow this or that diet" or given some other bit of simplistic advice. This advice, well intended as it may be, also speaks only to the symptom, which is overeating, and ignores the problem, which is why they are overeating. Until you learn what interferes with your ability to make healthy and responsible eating decisions, you are not likely to succeed at weight control. Understanding why you are overeating is the key to changing old, self-defeating eating habits, gaining control and ultimately eliminating yo-yo dieting. Remember, the physical act of eating always follows the mental decision to eat! The thought always preceeds the action!

To eliminate yo-yo dieting, you must first develop an awareness of why you overeat. In other words, what exactly are the issues that drive you to overeat? Why is it that you have been unable to stick to a healthy and responsible nutritional program? Why has this quest for a healthier and more fit body always left you feeling defeated and unhappy? The Inner Diet was developed to help you address these questions and finally put you on the road to healthier and more responsible eating. Consider the following questions:

• Have you ever lost weight only to regain that weight over time?
• Do you believe that changing the way you eat takes both "mental" and "physical" discipline?
• Do you believe that your emotions affect your eating decisions?
• Do you overeat as a reaction to stress?
• Do you believe that understanding "why" you overeat would increase your chances for success?
• Would you like to learn more about "why" you overeat?

If you're like most overweight people that I speak with, you probably answered yes to all of the above questions. If so, The Inner Diet may be exactly what you've been looking for. I understand the importance of preparing your body and your mind for healthier living. After all, psychologists have demonstrated time and time again that what we do and what we feel are a direct result of what we think. This is the cornerstone of mind/body medicine. Healthy and positive thinking, results in healthy and positive living. Identifying and addressing those emotional triggers causing you to overeat must be part of your program. If you are overweight, you are an emotional eater! As I mentioned earlier, I recently completed a study of over 50,000 overweight people and they all engaged in emotional eating to some degree. That's a huge sample! Researchers will tell you that the larger the sample the more confident you can be of the results. Failing to address emotional eating is the #1 reason that people fail at weight management.

If successful weight management simply involved eating less, everyone would be successful. The reality, however, is that weight control is much more mental than physical. As a matter of fact, you are probably nodding your head in agreement right now as you read this. We both know that this is true. Emotional eating must be addressed. The difficulty has always been, however, in finding a method of identifying and eliminating those underlying issues that are at the very heart of most weight control problems. The Inner Diet is the solution to that problem.

The Inner Diet is a personalized tool that addresses emotional eating. After completing the questionnaire, your answers are computer analyzed. The result is your own unique Inner Diet Personal Profile. This profile will do three things for you. First, it will specifically identify which of the six Inner Diet "emotional triggers" are causing you to overeat. Second, it will provide you with an explanation of your six scores. And finally, The Inner Diet Activity Book will provide you with specific instruction on how to effectively address those underlying issues. The Inner Diet, combined with healthy eating and exercise, will provide you with the best opportunity you have ever had for successful weight management. I designed this program so that it would strengthen your current program. In other words, if you are presently going to a doctor, a commercial weight loss clinic or just watching what you eat on your own, The Inner Diet will make what you are doing better. It is not a replacement for your current program, it's to be used in conjunction with a sound exercise and nutritional program. I have taken great care to make this program easy to understand and easy to use. I also promise you that this is just not another attempt to separate you from your money. I know that you have already spent more time and money than you care to remember trying to solve this problem. You have a right to be skeptical. The Inner Diet, however, is real help for real problems!

Remember the example earlier about the new car owner needing some "drivers ed." in order to avoid a return trip to the mechanic. Well The Inner Diet is your "drivers ed.". It will teach you how to be a more alert and aware "driver", make better eating decisions and care for your body more responsibly! It will also help you to avoid those repetitive, self-defeating behaviors that are at the very heart of yo-yo dieting and will enhance your potential for success by increasing your awareness of emotional eating. The Inner Diet will help you to work smarter not harder at weight management. As our motto clearly states:

"You Can't Change Your Weight... Until You Change Your Mind!"™