The End of Diets: Healing Emotional Hunger (Paperback)

~ Dilia de la Altagracia (Author) "It is essential to realize and embrace the paradox that while no one can go through your journey for you, you are not alone..." (more)
Key Phrases: center emotional issues, overeating behavior, sensation center, Weight Watchers, Oxygen Cocktail, Girl Scouts (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For most Americans weight = quality of life. We all have a compelling desire:
a) To feel vital and energetic
b) To feel attractive and desirable
c) To be able to participate in whatever activities we want
d) To feel secure that our physical profile is healthy

Yet despite the fact that 52 million Americans are on a diet, they invest $40 billion/year in diet products, and run up a $110 billion annual tab in health related costs, 2 out of 3 Americans are considered overweight. The End of Diets offers:

#1 An analysis of why, for an emotional eater, traditional weight loss approaches, such as exercise, diets, external motivation, and will power, are conclusively ineffective. This analysis explains why only 3% of anyone that attempts a traditional weight loss approach is successful in keeping the weight off long-term.

#2 – A thorough explanation of how an emotional eater uses food to deal with the ups and downs of life.

#3 – Insight into how emotions are process in the body.

#4 – An explanation of the top emotions that lead to overeating.

#5 – Explanations of how emotional eaters must first learn to be with their emotions instead of eating through them, before they can be successful in losing weight permanently.

#6 – Useful tools for emotional eaters to stop using food to cope with the ups and downs of life:
a) Understand how food is used as a repression mechanism to avoid our emotions
b) How to develop the body awareness to recognize the emotional hunger
c) Recognize the body sensations behind the emotional hunger.
d) Learn how to be with the feeling until they dissipate and stop manifesting as emotional hunger.
#7 – A long-term plan to be successful in loosing the weight once and for all.

About the Author

Dilia De La Altagracia’s life is a profile of the American Dream. She was born in Dominican Republic, and when she was 13, her family immigrated to the United States. She went on to study Math and Physics at Rutgers University. Her career in the software industry took her from a system analyst to teaching programming courses at the college level, to project management, and finally to a career as a sought-after crisis project repair consultant. After 20 years in the computer business, she had achieved her career dream: the title of Director of Software managing a $50M international project in Buenos Aires where she oversaw a team of 40 bilingual professionals. Financially, she had everything: house, cars and a six-figure income.

Because of her weight Dilia lived in an agonizing world of not being socially acceptable. Despite above average intelligence, career and financial success, juxtaposed against this successful backdrop there was the other emotional world of self-loathing. She went on popular diets, purchased exercise equipment, joined health clubs and hired personal trainers. With each new attempt she experienced some weight loss, but like many dieters, she seemed to gain the weight within months of achieving her short-term success. Her book, "The End of Diets: Healing Emotional Hunger" is not only an insight into the world of an emotional eater, a profile most ‘normal’ people seldom get to see. More importantly, the book is an examination by a world -lass professional analyst of why an emotional eater cannot be successful with the traditional methods and what tools are available to end the emotional eating and finally be successful in long term weight loss.

Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Applied Insight, Inc. (November 2003)
• ISBN-10: 0974409200
• ISBN-13: 978-0974409207
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #258,980 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the last 'Diet' book you will need, August 7, 2005

By	Lisa H "Lisa H" (Oregon) - See all my reviews

Finally I have found the answers I have been searching for. I feel as if I have read every book on dieting and not dieting and most of them will tell you what to eat, what not to eat or that you are eating for all the wrong reasons. OK, great, I know that...so HOW DO I STOP? This book guides you through the process of recognizing the emotions that lead to overeating and guides you through the process of sitting with the emotions instead of eating through them. The author is so right on with the thought process and behaviors of emotional eaters (such as describing how we may come home and we are tired and instead of getting rest, we have a need to reconnect or unwind and tend to start eating at that point...I certainly can relate to that!), yet she takes it to the next level and beyond by giving tools to deal with feelings and emotions that don't involve food for coping. She doesn't suggest eating celery or lettuce or 15 gallons of water. This is not about temporary distractions, but permanent healing. I have a circle of friends that have recently purchased this book and we can't wait to have everyone go through it and start a discussion group!

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on emotional eating, January 16, 2005

By	Len (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

I can't believe that I spent over 30 years trying to find the right eating program when eating was never the real problem.

Dilia de la Altagracia really teaches you to get to the why of the problem and to be with your emotions until your hunger subsides.

If you eat out of control, binge eat or just can't stop eating when things go wrong, you should be reading this book.

Len
Denver, Colorado

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Storm of Fresh Air, February 8, 2004

By	Rashke, Host of KOSI FM-101 After Dark Radio Show (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

I receive 30 books per week, sometimes more, from authors that want to be on my radio show. I give each book 5 minutes and if I don't resonate with it, forget it! Life is too short to read more hype. I have to tell you, this book, The End of Diets: Healing Emotional Hunger was a storm of fresh air. After all the psychobabble, after all the 'what to eat, what not to eat, white-knuckle will-power' - frankly all of the stuff that we finally know doesn't work - this book is truly insightful, different, and powerful stuff about how to get to know ourselves and profoundly understand the correlation between our feelings and our overeating behavior."