Breaking Out of Food Jail »

Jean Antonello, R.N., B.S.N., an obesity, eating disorders, and co-dependence specialist, is the director of the Naturally Thin Training Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is the author of How to Become Naturally Thin by Eating More. She lives in St. Paul.

If you've tried every diet out there, if you've counted every gram of fat, every last calorie and every meal exchange, and you're still fighting the food wars, it's time for Breaking Out of Food Jail, a commonsense approach to food, eating, and appetites.

Jean Antonello's practical, step-by-step program pinpoints and eliminates the most common cause of eating problems -- the fear of overeating. That's right -- if you've tried everything and you're still battling your appetite, it's probably because you're not getting enough to eat at the right time. When you deprive your body of food for any reason -- and as you do on most diets -- your body goes into a famine state. Your hunger soars, along with cravings for fatty foods and sugars -- the foods your body can most quickly turn into stored fuel to protect you from starvation. If you're like most dieters, you eventually respond to those signals by bingeing. And then you go back to your restrictive eating and start the cycle all over again. Breaking Out of Food Jail will release you from this trap and show you:
-- How not eating enough results in cravings, overeating, disturbed eating behavior, and weight gain
-- How the "feast or famine" pattern undermines even the most conscientious eater
-- How to have a normal relationship with food -- including learning to eat whenever you're hungry and stopping when you are full
-- Why most eating problems are not psychological but physiological
-- How to prevent eating problems in children and young adults by teaching kids how to tune into their hunger and eat right

Filled with self-tests, affirmations, simple exercises, and the latest research on dieting, as well as Jean's list of "real foods" that should be in every refrigerator and pantry, Breaking Out of Food Jail will transform your relationship with food and your body and eliminate dieting from your life, once and for all.