Patricia Leavy on Her Highly-Anticipated Novel, Film

Patricia Leavy, Ph.D. is an independent sociologist and best-selling author. She has published over 25 books, earning critical and commercial success in both nonfiction and fiction, with over one million copies in equivalent sales. Her work has been translated into numerous languages. She is also the creator and editor for eight book series with Oxford […]

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 […]

The Days After Thanksgiving: Thankful Reflections

Joanna Poppink, day after Thanksgiving in Hotel Bel Air gardens. Photo by Delilah Hirshland After the joy, stress, sorrow and clean up is passed you may feel motivated to move ahead toward the upcoming holidays with a pang. Thanksgiving comes and goes so quickly. What was all that activity and emotion about? Your Thanksgiving may […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

True Grit and “Normal” Eating

When I say “true grit,” I’m not referring to the movie of the same name. I’m talking about a quality that is essential to success which many dysregulated eaters need to cultivate. Although I haven’t read the book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth, I did read about it in an […]

Making Meaning of Lack of Success

Dysregulated eaters often feel like failures because they haven’t lost weight, kept it off, stopped bingeing/overeating/mindless eating, quit obsessing about the number on the scale, or have yet to establish “normal” eating patterns. They feel like failures and tell themselves that they’ll never succeed, and this focus reduces the likelihood of moving forward and increases […]

Next Page »