Customer Reviews

10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman’s Diet: Simple Strategies to Eat Right, Lose Weight, and Reclaim Your Health

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I'm not obese and not even really overweight, though I've gained plenty since college. I picked up this book because I've been frustrated by the fact that some women can take off 100, 60, or 30 pounds more successfully than I can take off ten or fifteen. (Also, I realized that unless something changed, I'd only keep on gaining and would someday need to lose fifty pounds, not just fifteen.) This book showed me why and shook me up in the best possible sense. Though I am immensely knowledgeable about food and exercise regularly, I have NINE of the ten bad habits the author discusses. What a revelation! With my increased self-awareness, I am now tackling these habits at a comfortable pace. Changing just one of these habits--my tendency not to plan what I'm going to eat--is clearly going to make a cataclysmic difference. I recommend this book to anyone and cannot believe my good fortune in stumbling upon it. Elizabeth Somer, if you're reading this, you should feel very proud of your achievement.

The author explains the situational, chemical and emotional contributors to overeating or poor eating. She recommends different strategies that fit the different triggers or causes. Read this book to get the right tool for your situation. Maybe it will be a food journal, healthy munchies, calorie tracking, ways to love veggies, but it definitely won't be a fad diet.

Habit 1: Mindless Eating
Invisible Calories
Eating on Auto-Pilot: The Down-Side
Nibbling Is OK
Mindful Breakfasts
Kick the Habit
Choose a New Habit
Mindful Eating
Habit 2: Putting Other's Needs Ahead of Our Own
Love 'n' Marriage: Together in Eating
Babies and Weight Gain
Mealtime Peer Pressure
Dining Out Can Do Us In
Kick the Habit
Keep Your Diet in Perspective
Habit 3: Not Being Honest
Fessing Up Is Hard to Do
Portion Distortion
Kick the Habit
How Much Exercise Is Enough?
It's Within Your Grasp
Habit 4: Skip the Broccoli, Eat the Fries
Nothing Is Better for You than Produce
How Much Are You Eating?
Which Ones Are the Best?
Produce to Avoid
Kick the Habit
Ya Gotta Love 'em
Habit 5: Setting Off Without a Plan
Kick the Habit
Outside the Box
Two "Must-Have" Habits
Practice, Practice, Practice
The Only Way to Get Better Is to Change
Habit 6: Excuses, Excuses, Excuses
You Can Change
Kick the Habit
Take Responsibility
Habit 7: I'm Moody, Let's Eat!
Food for Solace or Sustenance?
Food and Mood
Dieting = Weight Gain
Kick the Habit
Your Mood Is More than Just Diet
Habit 8: Give Me the Quick Fix, Now!
Tell Me Again Why Diets Don't Work
Diet Myths Debunked
Kick the Habit
Commit to Health
Habit 9: Drinking Away Our Waistlines
Silent Calories
Cola Calories
Josephine Six Pack
The Dark Side of Alcohol
Kick the Habit
Think Moderation
Habit 10: The All-or-Nothing Approach to Dieting
Why the All-or-Nothing Mentality Fails
All-or-Nothing and Your Weight
Self-Talk: The Inside-Your-Head Chatter
Kick the Habit
Give Yourself Some Slack

If you're looking for a gimmick, a quick fix, or a flashy fad diet, keep looking. 10 HABITS THAT MESS UP A WOMAN'S DIET is a book based on solid nutritional research and the author's interviews with people who have done a lot of thinking about women and weight.

Elizabeth Somer, RD, has a funny and engaging style, but she's not afraid to serve you the facts straight up. The result is one of the smartest guides to nutrition for women that I've come across in years.

Ms. Somers' book is fun to read and a real eye-opener for all of us who sample our way through the grocery store but don't understand why we gain weight. I would highly recommend this book to everyone -- not just those who are trying to lose weight -- because it gives practical guidelines for healthy eating and feeling better. And for everyone who is following the latest fad diet, this is a book you definitely need to read. It is a common-sense approach to dieting, and the book is packed with fascinating tidbits of information and strategies for tailoring a diet that will work for you! And I love her sneaky little ideas for getting my family to eat better too.

The cover might suggest cliche but this gem is really substantive. I routinely recommend this book to clients who are struggling with their relationships with food. Without being too psychodynamic, Ms. Somer clearly suggests strategies for acknowledging our complex relationships with food...and how to make peace with those tricky thinking and behavior patterns. Very readable, realistic and practical. She knows her stuff!

I love Elizabeth Somers' style: She demonstrates common pitfalls and offers strategies that are easy to read, understand and follow in everyday life. As a busy working mom, I found her ideas to be right on target, and easy to implement. When I'm reading her books, I feel like I'm actually having a conversation with her. I can't wait to read what she comes up with next!

Are you always trying to lose weight? This book is, unlike so many out there, truly helpful and factual. It's full of common sense and interesting ways to apply good weight loss ideas. A must for anyone who want to lose!

Elizabeth Somer has scored again, with direct, common-sense information, along with helpful tools and guidelines, to assist anyone who is serious about losing weight and keeping it off. She is a master at pointing out specific, self-controllable behaviors and the psychological and emotional triggers that can make or break the process of living a healthy lifestyle.


Ted Coleman, Ph.D.
Health Educator, President, and CEO

Intermountain Consulting Services
Salt Lake City, UT

Finally, a book about diet that isn't a diet! Instead, it's a compilation of all the information about losing weight and keeping it off through lifestyle changes. Easy to read, nicely presented, this book set me on a one-year plan to lose those last 10 pounds -- one habit at a time.

This book is a very straight forward look at our eating habits!! Full of great statiscal facts that I found interesting and informative. Am recommending it to others who want to improve their healthy food intake.