Last year I learned about No Diet Day, which is today, Tuesday, May 6^th. This day has actually been around since 1992. You can learn more about its origin here: http://www.largesse.net/INDD/origin.html.

No Diet Day is a day I am very excited about because it celebrates the philosophy of Intuitive Eating. It’s not about eating everything you want or “cheating” on your diet. It’s about giving up dieting, eating foods you love, accepting yourself as you are right now, and living your life now, instead of waiting until you reach a certain size or weight.

In honor of No Diet Day, I am offering a special price on either or both of two special reports: The Truth About Burning Body Fat, and The 5 Steps to Breaking Free from Diet Prison. You can order one or get both for an even bigger discount - see below.

Here is some fun information on how to celebrate No Diet Day!

International No Diet Day, May 6, 2008

Top Ten Ways to Enjoy International No Diet Day

• Eat a new food or food type you’ve been denying yourself.
• Eat at least three meals and two snacks today.
• Give away clothes you’ve been waiting to be thin enough to wear.
• Don’t compare your body to anyone else’s. Remind yourself that you are unique.
• Pay someone a compliment based on something other than weight-related qualities.
• Send a friend a cookie-gram.
• Wear bright colors. Be seen.
• Notice how much young children enjoy their food, guilt-free.
• Do something you’ve been putting off until you’re ‘thin’ enough to do it.
• Make a top ten list about what you love about your body.

(Source: Largesse, the Network for Size Esteem)

Please let me know how you are celebrating! I would love to hear your stories and share them on my blog or in my newsletter! Email me at Gillian@healthieroutcomes.com.

No Diet Day Special!

Get your choice of reports for $5.99 each (regularly $9.97), OR get both for $9.99! See below for links to purchase via Paypal. If you would like to purchase another way, please contact me. After purchase, I will send your report(s) via email. Offer good through May 27, 2008.

Special Report: The Truth About Burning Body Fat

So, you want to burn body fat? You are not alone. But you are also probably confused about how to really do it, right?

As a fitness professional, I would love to tell my clients, “Take this pill and you will burn all the fat you want”, I can’t. It just doesn’t work that way. Let’s face it - if it was this easy everyone would be doing it, we would all be thin, and the diet industry would be out of business.

After years of working in the weight loss and fitness fields, doing my own research and continuing education, I have come across myth after myth about burning body fat. My hope for you is that after reading this report, you will know how to exercise and change your lifestyle to get the best results possible - without spending a lot of money or spending hours a day to do it.

In this special 18-page report, your most pressing fat-burning questions will be answered including:

• What intensity of exercise burns fat best?
• How do you burn fat while you sleep?
• What is the best time of day to exercise?
• What is the best time to eat before and/or after exercise?
• Should I take those “belly-fat” pills to lose fat?

Learn the truth and dispel the myths about burning body fat. You deserve to be educated on the truth - not what the diet and exercise industries would like you to believe. You will come away from this report enlightened and ready to take action to once and for all reach your health and fitness goals.

“Thank you for this excellent report, Gillian. The content is fabulous, the advice well-researched and trustworthy…and it looks great, too. I was really impressed with the depth of your knowledge. I’m certainly not an expert, but I have read quite widely on healthy living and exercise and I learned several completely new things from this report. I was also intrigued to read that many of the things that I’d read or been told, but that would just never work for me (like exercising first thing in the morning without eating) were actually not true - what a relief!

Essential reading for anyone who wants to know what really works when it comes to shifting bodyfat. “

Louisa Bird, Alton, UK, Marketing Coach, WomensMarketingForum.com

There is a lot of confusion about how we lose body fat. Gillian’s “The Truth About Burning Body Fat” explores many of the commonly held myths in easy-to-understand language and tells us what we really need to know about losing body fat. Her topic on the myth about losing more body fat whilst exercising at lower intensity versus exercising at higher intensities is particularly illuminating.

Jennie Bayliss
Life and Business Coach, www.reddandelion.co.uk

Grab this report for only $5.99 now! (Regular price $9.97)

Special Report: The 5 Steps to Breaking Out of Diet Prison

Learn the Secrets All Thin People Know And Start Losing Weight - Without Counting One Single Calorie, Carb, or Fat Gram - Today!

Yes! It is possible to lose weight - and maintain it - without dieting. Think of all the “naturally” thin people you know. They eat whatever they want. And they might eat a lot of it! But they never seem to gain an ounce.

Unfair genetics? Nope. They know the secret to staying thin.

And now you can know it, too.

Sounds too good to be true? I thought so, too, when I first heard about this proven method. I had fallen victim to the diet industry’s lies and broken promises, just like so many people do.

• When you eat something you’ve been told is bad, do you feel guilty and ashamed?
• Do you wonder what’s wrong with you? You know what you need to do - Why can’t you just be “good”?
• Have you ever felt disgusted with your eating and then consoled yourself with another package of donuts?
• Have you been on diet after diet … and weigh more now than when you started?
• Are you starting your diet on Monday - for the fifteenth time?

If you answered “Yes,” to any of these questions, then you’re in dieting prison. And I aim to break you out!

In this 20-page report you will:

• Understand why diets fail and actually cause you to gain weight so you can escape from dieting prison.
• Learn how to listen to your body, so you can eat normally and reach your body’s natural weight.
• Reject the lies and false promises that keep you chasing diet after diet, so you can eat like naturally thin people do.
• Learn how to avoid those sneaky “lifestyle” programs that suck you back into dieting prison.
• Discover the secrets to eating all the foods you love without the fear of gaining weight.
• Embark on the path to freedom from food obsession, restriction, deprivation, emotional overeating, and constant misery.

If you’re ready to learn the 5 steps to losing weight without dieting…

If you’re ready to become one of the naturally thin people who can eat whatever she wants…

If you’re ready to start loving your body…

Then grab this report for only $5.99 now! (Regular price $9.97)

Get both reports for just $9.99!

Technorati Tags: no diet day, intuitive eating, emotional eating, self acceptance, stop dieting

Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest! I really enjoyed reading all the entries. I left the judging to the members of the Intuitive Eating Support Group and the results are in!

By the way, I have decided to extend the $50 discount on my April Am I Hungry? workshop that starts on Tuesday April 1st. Go to www.BreakOutofDietPrison.com for details and to sign up.

Here are the winning entries:

First Place (Wins a registration in the upcoming Am I Hungry workshop): I want to stop dieting because I’m tired of hating my body, tired of hating MYSELF, tired of hating other women who I think are thinner than me, tired of feeling “better than” women who I think are bigger than me, tired of counting calories, tired of obsessing over the size of my butt, tired of deciding whether or not I will have a good day based on how well I think my clothes are fitting when I put them on in the morning. I am tired of hating myself for eating more than I think I “should” and tired of waking in the middle of the night feeling hungry. I’m so, so very tired of exercising until I’m hurting and gasping for breath. I’m tired of forcing myself to workout and hating every minute of it. Whatever happened to that child that was me who used to spend hours playing kick the can, swinging as high as the swing set would go and playing simon says with friends and never, ever thought of it as exercise but as fun? I’m tired of having a closet overstuffed with clothes ranging from size 8 to size 16…all of which I cannot get rid of because my chronic dieting means I will probably cycle through them all in the span of a year or two. I want to stop dieting because I’m sick to death of commiserating about my latest diet and ever expanding or shrinking body with my friends and co-workers; in short I’m tired of being so self-obsessed and yet so full of self-hatred. I’m tired of hiding food from my fiance, eating in secret and making excuses when he finds the food wrappers and remnants of my latest binge. I’m tired of spending seemingly every waking moment worrying about what I “can” eat next or when it will be time to eat next or if my jeans are too tight or if people have noticed I’ve lost or gained weight in the last month. I’m tired of worrying about what people must be thinking of me when I clean my plate or choose to eat a hamburger and fries instead of a salad with grilled chicken. I’m tired of feeling like I’m living in a grey colored world void of joy and hope. I’m tired of living in this self-imposed prison. In short I’m tired of the feelings, behaviors and results 23 years of dieting has brought to me. After all these years of living on a roller coaster of emotions directly related to how well I was sticking to my latest diet and what size jeans I could fit into, I’m quite frankly exhausted. I read a very wise quote many years ago….while it made sense at the time……..it has finally sunk in for me. The quote went something like this: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. I’ve been living an insane life long enough and I’m finally ready to get off the roller coaster and try something different because quite frankly I’m too tired to do anything else!

Second Place (Wins my “Four Weeks to a New You” audio program and guide): I need to get off the merry-go-round… I have dieted my way to over 300 lbs. I have serious health issues due to my weight ( asthma, hypertension, arthritis, heart issues ), yet I can’t seem to stop. I am afraid to stop fearing I might gain even more weight. I eat in preperation for my next diet to begin. My mother had food issues … tho she never weighed over 125 lbs. To her I was eating when I shouldn’t or not eating when I should be… I was and still am in a losing battle.

I have a ” naturally thin ” 6 yr. old granddaughter who is the light of my life. She could care less about food because she knows it will be there whenever she gets hungry. I want to be like her… what freedom that would be.. to be hungry and eat and then go about living your life with out a single thought of food until you get hungry again. I want to be healthy to be with her a long, long time and have a healthy attitude about food.

I have tried many times and seem unable hold on to the concept. Someone talks about the diet they are on and there I go again on the merry -go -round. Am I a lost cause a loser ? Please help me end this struggle… help me feel normal for the first time in a long time.
Thank you for giving me an outlet for my feelings and for this wonderful opportunity.

Third Place (Wins my “Break Out of Diet Prison” audio and report): PLUMBER WANTED (as soon as possibel)

I am looking for a plumber to once and for all fix my “leak” (preferabally someone who strted their training at a very young age (say around, 20 )

must be ver expeirienced; someone who learned through trial and error only to learn that there is one way to do this right. (to many people already gave me their advice but none seems to really work)

caring person only who loves their job and understands how they are making a change that will last a lifetime. (How many more times can I possibly go through this before I kick the “bucket” {JUST JOKING ON THIS ONE}

responible; I need to know taht even if I am “not home” at the moment they will not leave me in the middle of the job. (It is so imortant to me to have somone at my side who realizes the ups and downs along the way.

and very reasonable priced. Although the work is definitely pricelesss they are affordable jut because they understand that even the not wealthy deserves to live in a body without any “leaks”

Please help me to live an healthier and happier life
Thank You
I sure hope it is you that gets the job done

Oh and one more thing ” Some one who will not care about small things like bad spelling and grammar.

Congratulations to all and I hope you are all inspired to stop dieting, start living your lives, and making peace with food and your bodies! Don’t forget to check out my next workshop starting April 1st: www.BreakOutofDietPrison.com.

New Am I Hungry? Teleworkshops starting in March and April!

Learn how you can get yours free!

I’m really excited to announce that I will be running two Am I Hungry? Teleworkshops very soon! And I thought I would have some fun with it and offer a Break Out of Diet Prison contest where one lucky person will be able to attend for free.

There is no registration necessary, although if you are serious about attending, I do recommend you sign up now as space is limited. Everyone who registers by February 28^th and submits a contest entry will receive $50 off. However, there is no obligation to register to enter the contest, and you will not be put on any other list, I wouldn’t do that to you! If you aren’t a newsletter subscriber and would like to be, see the sign up on the right side of this blog.

Here are the prizes:

1^st Prize: Free admission to the workshop of your choice. Includes teleworkshop, all materials and 30 minute coaching session. $390 value.

2^nd Prize: My “Four Weeks to a New You” teleseminar series. Includes all four weeks of teleclasses (4 – 60 minute audios) and the Four Weeks guide with notes and exercises to apply what you have learned. $79 value.

3^rd Prize: 5 Steps to Break Out of Diet Prison audio and report. $39 value.

Special! Just for entering! Anyone who enters the Break Out of Diet Prison contest will receive $50 off the price of the Am I Hungry? Teleworkshop.

Answer this question: Why do you want to stop dieting?

I want to know what has finally sent you over the edge that you just can’t fathom the thought of another diet. You don’t have to have stopped already, just have a desire. And if you have stopped already, let me know why you decided to stop.

There are no right or wrong answers, I just want to know your personal reason(s). Your answer can be serious, poignant, funny, a rant, anything that expresses your desire to end the insanity once and for all. And any length is fine, be as short or long as you like! Here are a few ideas to spark your creativity:

• What is the WORST diet you have ever been on?
• What is the most disgusting thing you ever had to eat on a diet?
• How many total pounds have you gained and lost in your dieting history?
• What foods do you dream about when you are dieting?
• Describe your relationship with your scale.
• What food(s) call your name while you’re on a diet?

These are just ideas, there are no rules (unlike diets).

There are three ways to enter:

1. Register for an Am I Hungry? Teleworkshop and write your entry in the comments box on the registration form. If you win, you will be refunded your registration fee. To do this, go to the Break Out of Diet Prison page, scroll to the bottom and click the link for the class you want to register for. You will be taken to the registration, receive $50 off, and be able to enter your answer when you fill out the form. All entries will be posted on this blog, so indicate if you would like your name left off your entry.

2. Post your entry as a comment here on this post. Be sure to include your name and email address so you can be contacted if you win.

3. Email me at Gillian@HealthierOutcomes.com with your entry. All entries will be posted on this blog, so indicate if you would like your name left off your entry.

All entries must be in by midnight Pacific time on February 28, 2008. The winners will be announced no later than Monday, March 3^rd. Judging will be done by an impartial panel comprised of members of the Intuitive Eating Support Yahoo Group.

Remember, the deadline to save $50 off the course also expires on February 28, so be sure to register by then. If you are a winner, you will receive a refund on your registration fees.

All the details about the classes can be found at www.BreakOutofDietPrison.com

The dates of the teleworkshops are:

Thursdays, March 6 - April 24, 2008
5:30-7:00pm Pacific time
(6:30pm Mountain, 7:30pm Central, 8:30pm Eastern)

Tuesdays, April 1 - May 20, 2008
10:00-11:30am Pacific time
(11:00am Mountain, 12:00pm Central, 1:00pm Eastern)

If you miss a call, you will have access to a
recording so you can be prepared for the next week.

Thanks, and GOOD LUCK!

intuitive eating, non-diet, am i hungry, weight loss, eat what you love, end dieting

Technorati Tags: intuitive eating, non-diet, am i hungry, weight loss, eat what you love, end dieting

“I blew it this week, I’ll start again Monday!” Sound familiar? Women always make this promise after having blown yet another diet. After the binging, guilt and punishment pass, you plan your next diet, hoping for a different outcome. While the diet industry wants you to think you’re a failure and need a new diet or more “willpower”, this isn’t the truth.

Permanent weight loss and a healthy relationship with food come from learning how to eat intuitively. Infants know how to do this, so do “naturally” thin people. Watch a baby - she screams and demands food when she’s hungry, regardless of the time of day or if her mother is busy or tired. When she is full the bottle is refused or the food is thrown on the floor. She doesn’t have a need to clean her plate or eat everything so she can have dessert. By re-learning to eat intuitively, your body will return to its natural weight and you can maintain it without dieting, deprivation or excessive exercise.

So if we were born with this innate ability, why are so many people disconnected from it? Well, as a young child, you probably heard messages such as, “eat everything on your plate and you’ll get dessert”, or “you can’t be hungry, it’s not dinner time!” Maybe your grandmother was offended if you didn’t eat seconds. And you were probably forced to eat things you didn’t like in order to get a cookie or ice cream. As you got older, you learned about dieting from your friends at school. And the magazines you read told you how you should look and feel about yourself. As an adult, you are still inundated with these messages. It’s no wonder everyone is confused, feeling like a failure! There are four main reasons why we overeat:

The first is “diet deprivation backlash” – every time you go on a diet, you have certain “bad”-listed foods. Many are probably your favorites, such as chocolate, cookies, or cheese. The more you can’t have it, the more you crave it. For every diet you attempt, you can expect a binge to follow. When you eat intuitively you can eat the foods you love, when you’re hungry, without weight gain!

Emotional eating is the second reason. Eating for emotional reasons is a learned behavior, usually from childhood. By doing this, you are actually stuffing down your feelings with the food. This allows you to focus on feeling sick from overeating and you get to beat yourself up for doing it, thereby avoiding the original emotion and situation. It can be painful, but it’s better to feel the emotions and work through them. Some people who cannot lose weight are actually unconsciously making sure the weight stays on so they have something else to focus on (being overweight, feeling guilty) instead of their true emotions.

A third reason we overeat is a lack of truthful nutrition information. With all the diets and so-called nutrition “experts” telling you what, when and how to eat, it’s easy to be confused. When you learn intuitive eating your body will let you know when it’s hungry and what it wants. While high-protein diets are dangerous and the weight loss is not permanent, eating a small amount of protein every time you eat is a great strategy. If you eat nothing but carbohydrates, you will probably be hungry in an hour. Protein helps buffer carbohydrate in the stomach, slowing down digestion and keeping you satisfied and your blood sugar stable.

Finally, we overeat from getting too hungry. You have probably experienced this a few times – you forget to eat or keep putting it off until you are so hungry you are shaking, feeling dizzy, unable to concentrate and irritable. When you finally eat, you have no control over how much you are consuming. You keep eating, still shaking, thinking you are still hungry. This goes on until you finally feel the food in your stomach, after eating way beyond just satisfied. You may even feel sick to your stomach, and the guilt and shame will follow. Pay attention to your hunger and eat when you first feel it. This will prevent weight gain and the desire to go on yet another diet to punish yourself.

All these reasons lead us to overeat, keeping on the undesired weight. One of the problems with diets is that weight is a symptom of non-hunger eating. By addressing the symptom instead of the cause, the diet – binge – diet again cycle continues. The next time you consider a diet, try listening to your body first. You may be surprised at the wisdom it is ready to share with you!

A Letter to Those Who May Care at Weight Watchers:

Dear Marketing People:

Thank you for your devotion to the health, self-esteem and well-being of women and men of the world through your years of cramming your diet, excuse me, lifestyle change, down our throats (quite literally!). But I must congratulate you - you have outdone yourself this year. Yes, we have all been sitting on the edge of our seats (because God knows we are all too stupid to get off the couch and lose weight without you!) since January 1st to see what miracle Weight Watchers has come up with for all of us. We’ve done your programs in the past, many of us have even lost weight (by the way, we found it again, plus more), but we are such stupid, lazy people with no “willpower” that we need you again! Thank you for being there! We know it’s us, not the dieting industry that caused all this weight gain, we know we just need self-control and someone to tell us what and when and how much to eat.

But now, oh now you’ve really done it. You’re brilliant! You realize diets don’t work! I don’t think I’ve been hearing that for the last 20 years or so, no I appreciate the fact that Weight Watchers is keeping me informed. What’s more, because you say so in your commercials, you aren’t a diet! I’m so glad you respect us, your loyal followers all these years, and don’t want to INSULT us by feeding us lies, you aren’t a diet, you’re absolutely right.

I don’t think I can remember a Weight Watchers program that ever:

1. Told me WHAT to eat

2. Told me WHEN to eat

3. Told me HOW MUCH to eat

Never - because THAT WOULD BE A DIET!!!!!!

I can’t wait to see what you have planned for us this year - maybe a brand new points system? Or maybe this year I can eat all the vegetables I want because we all know they have no calories. I don’t think I ever gained an ounce eating whole bags of baby carrots in one sitting. Maybe we can have an extra-special jumpstart program with 800 calories a day. I’m so excited I may have to go binge, especially since I’ll be going on your diet, um, lifestyle change, very soon.

Oh, one other thing - thanks so much for helping us remember that losing weight is all about cutting calories and maybe a little exercise. It’s so clear to me that my emotional overeating I’ve engaged in since the age of 7 has nothing to do with my weight fluctuations. Again, it’s all about willpower and CONTROL, right? And if I can’t do that, then it must be a character flaw. Maybe I can go ask the doctor for a pill for that flaw right after I sign up for your program for the twentieth straight year. I can’t wait to go back to the meetings and see all my overweight buddies in the cattle line waited to be weighed! That’s my favorite part, especially when I gain weight, it’s so motivating to know I’ve been “bad” during the week. It really makes me want to shape up and and turn to my perfectionist mentality. That’s always served me well.

Thanks for all your wonderful support and work. I look forward to coming back year after year, every New Year’s to see what you have cooked up to help me lose all those holiday pounds. After all, the holidays only come once a year, right?

Your devoted fan,

Gillian Hood-Gabrielson

Healthier Outcomes

www.healthieroutcomes.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you seen the commercials yet? Weight Watchers claims they are not a diet, because diets don’t work. I refuse to even include a link to their site, you can check it out if you want. I’m not the only one having a fit about this new campaign. Most of the non-diet world is upset and disgusted by their blatant misrepresentation of what a diet is or isn’t. It also shows how worried diet companies are that the non-diet movement will finally take hold and no one will ever want to go on a diet again. Rest assured, it’s coming.

Here are just a few other resources to check out for more information on the non-diet approach and the reality of what dieting is and what is does:

Article by Dr. Michelle May about the reality of dieting: http://womenshealthandfitnesspodcastdirectory.com/wordpress/?p=102

Great blog post breaking down the Weight Watchers claims in detail: http://kateharding.net/2007/12/31/oh-mackereally/

Another great blog post: http://musingsofabusymom.blogspot.com/2008/01/ugh-all-of-these-weight-loss-ads-are.html

Blog post from Dr. Michelle May on her thoughts about the Weight Watchers campaign: http://consumed.freedomblogging.com/2008/01/03/weight-watchers-not-a-diet-what/

My free report all about intuitive eating: http://www.healthieroutcomes.com/newsletter.html

Technorati Tags: Weight Watchers, diet, diets don’t work, intuitive eating, weight loss, New Year’s resolutions, lifestyle change, non-diet, ending dieting