On March 26, U.S. News & World Report published an article, written by Anna Medaris Miller, titled "Is Food Stress Making You Fat?" It was a well-researched piece which quoted not only me but also Julie L. Pike, a psychologist in Durham, North Carolina, and Dr. Tiffany Lowe-Payne, an obesity specialist also located in North Carolina. The article's main points are that stress is actually counterproductive to efforts to lose weight. As Miller writes, "The more you worry about

One of the most deep-seated illusions in all of Western culture is the belief that we can and should control our behavior by using "will power". I can't hope to overthrow an idea as deeply entrenched as this one in this short piece, but I can sketch another system that is much better for solving personal problems. If what we were already doing was working, I'd have no reason to be writing. But it isn't working; our problems aren't getting solved. We need a whole new menta

My article "Can Anxiety Make You Fat?", which was posted on Beliefnet.com and Zestnow.com, answered the question with a resounding "Yes." The major culprit here is cortisol, a hormone that is produced when the body is under stress. One of the things that cortisol does is "preferentially direct body fat to the abdominal region" (i.e., create belly fat), as Dallas and Melissa Hartwig state in their 2012 book It Starts with Food. But something even scarier is happening here:

On Saturday, February 24, I was interviewed for the Weekend Edition of What's Cookin' Today, by Mike Horn and Matt Bissontz of CRN Digital Radio Network. We talked about the following: losing weight while falling in love; why willpower is an inefficient way to accomplish anything; why serenity, awareness, and mindfulness are so helpful; and what tools might promote a serene and happy outlook. Here's the interview! #mindfulness #anxiety #love #stress #awareness #serenity #me

Check out my article on anxiety, the unwelcome hormones it produces in the body, and how these (especially a hormone called cortisol) lead to fat formation. Find the article on Simply Woman, The Three Tomatoes, Alina Bradford, and Pittsburgh Better Times. #anxiety #mindfulness #addiction #hormones #cortisol #dopamine #stress #stressresponse #metabolicsyndrome #abdominalfat #narcotics #foodcravings