Jean-Philippe Zermati
Slimming without Dieting Publication date : March 1, 2002
Experience proves that the more we diet, the fatter we get. It could even be said that the current epidemic of obesity in developed countries is the direct result of slimming diets the ironic consequence of the popular dictum that one should eat a balanced diet.
In this book, Jean-Philippe Zermati shows us a how to become reconciled with food, as well as with our bodies and emotions. Above all, he tells us to forget all we ever knew about dieting. We are all, he argues, victims of a mental disorder known as cognitive restriction, which locks us into a state of permanent dieting: we live with an obsessive fear of putting on weight, we have completely upset the way we relate to food, we are constantly at war against food and against ourselves.
Yet all human beings have the physiological and psychological ability to enable them to adjust their food intake to the energy they burn, in order to maintain their weight at its point of equilibrium. These facts lead the author to three fundamental ideas:
1. We can maintain our weight at its point of equilibrium, without paying attention to what we eat and without exercising, simply by paying attention to our senses.
2. Weight is gained when this natural balance is upset.
3. We can lose the weight weve gained by recovering this natural balance and by learning to control our emotions.
Based on his own experience as a practising physician, and on his knowledge in the fields of neuro-science and psychology, the author shows us step by step, with the help of practical exercises, how to rediscover the feeling of satiety, contentment and pleasure, in order to lose those extra pounds and keep our weight at its point of equilibrium, without slimming diets.
Jean-Philippe Zermati is a nutritionist and psychotherapist. He is the vice president of GROS (Groupe de réflexion sur lobésité et le surpoids), a group which aims to develop an alternative to slimming diets in the fight against obesity.
In this book, Jean-Philippe Zermati shows us a how to become reconciled with food, as well as with our bodies and emotions. Above all, he tells us to forget all we ever knew about dieting. We are all, he argues, victims of a mental disorder known as cognitive restriction, which locks us into a state of permanent dieting: we live with an obsessive fear of putting on weight, we have completely upset the way we relate to food, we are constantly at war against food and against ourselves.
Yet all human beings have the physiological and psychological ability to enable them to adjust their food intake to the energy they burn, in order to maintain their weight at its point of equilibrium. These facts lead the author to three fundamental ideas:
1. We can maintain our weight at its point of equilibrium, without paying attention to what we eat and without exercising, simply by paying attention to our senses.
2. Weight is gained when this natural balance is upset.
3. We can lose the weight weve gained by recovering this natural balance and by learning to control our emotions.
Based on his own experience as a practising physician, and on his knowledge in the fields of neuro-science and psychology, the author shows us step by step, with the help of practical exercises, how to rediscover the feeling of satiety, contentment and pleasure, in order to lose those extra pounds and keep our weight at its point of equilibrium, without slimming diets.
Jean-Philippe Zermati is a nutritionist and psychotherapist. He is the vice president of GROS (Groupe de réflexion sur lobésité et le surpoids), a group which aims to develop an alternative to slimming diets in the fight against obesity.