Patricia Leavy on her Ground-Breaking Novel Spark

We sat down with Dr. Leavy to learn all about her new novel, Spark.  Here’s the interview! Patricia Leavy, Ph.D. is an independent sociologist and best-selling author. She has published twenty-six books, earning critical and commercial success in both nonfiction and fiction, a rare feat by any author. Her work has been translated into numerous […]

Staying Sane #RealDeal Style

With all that is happening around us politically, socially and environmentally, we need some serious strategies for staying sane, #RealDeal style. Below is a Top 5 list … but we’d love you to add your additions in the comments. In solidarity, Robyn Hussa Farrell, Editor #RealDeal Top 5 Pics for Staying Sane this Summer #1.  […]

Phenomenal Women: A Portrait Gallery of Role Models by Robyn Hussa Farrell

In celebration of the 10th year of this empowerment blog site, #RealDeal Editor, Robyn Hussa Farrell, shares this “gallery of role models” and fierce women leaders. Each of the below paintings were created while reflecting on the abundance of women role models in my life.  In honor and celebration of each of them, I wanted […]

It’s Okay to Have Conflicting Thoughts on How You Want to Eat

It’s not uncommon to have mixed feelings or thoughts. I’ve written about this dynamic related to eating and body image in Starting Monday and in The Food and Feelings Workbook. How can we not have them? I lie in bed many mornings thinking about how I both do and don’t want to arise and begin […]

Conversations with Patricia Leavy Part 3: Social Justice

Patricia Leavy, Ph.D. is an independent sociologist and best-selling author. She has published twenty-four books, earning critical and commercial success in both nonfiction and fiction, a rare feat by any author. Her work has been translated into numerous languages. She is also the creator and editor for seven book series with Oxford University Press and […]

What If You Never Lose the Weight?

A topic that has cropped up with clients recently is the question of what to do if they keep trying to eat more healthfully, exercise and take better care of their bodies and still don’t lose weight. Clients dance around this question and I suspect I do too at times. They want reassurance that if […]

Identity Is How YOU Define Yourself

I’ve just spent the better part of an hour unsuccessfully digging through reading material trying to identify where I read (within the last week!) that “biography is not identity.” I had to wait to carve out time to blog about this subject and, in the interim, forgot where I found these four words which leapt […]

Are You Often Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop?

Do you ever feel as if things are going swimmingly in your life—even as you’re waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop? If you frequently feel this paradoxical tug of simultaneous joy and fear, let me explain this dynamic and what you can do about it, the goal being that you lose the fear […]

NEDAWalk in Spartanburg!

Join us for the first-ever National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) NEDA Walk in Spartanburg! Working in collaboration with Spartanburg County School District Six Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg School District 7 YMCA of Greater Spartanburg, NEDAWalks educate affected individuals and their families, while raising vital funds in the fight against eating disorders. Register here: www.nedawalk.org/spartanburg2017

Hyperarousal and Dissociation in Dysregulated Eating

Many dysregulated eaters bounce back and forth between two states: wildly emotional or detached and unfeeling. Both are a product of traumatic experiences and can lead to mindless, emotional and binge eating. By understanding why this happens to your mind/body, you will be better able to recognize these states, cope with them more effectively, and […]

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