10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet: Simple Strategies to Eat Right, Lose Weight & Reclaim Your Health

The author explains the situational, chemical and emotional contributors to overeating or poor eating. She recommends different strategies that fit the different triggers or causes. Read this book to get the right tool for your situation. Maybe it will be a food journal, healthy munchies, calorie tracking, ways to love veggies, but it definitely won't be a fad diet. Habit 1: Mindless Eating Invisible Calories Eating on Auto-Pilot: The Down-Side Nibbling Is OK Mindful Breakfasts Kick the Habit Choose a New Habit Mindful Eating Habit 2: Putting Other's Needs Ahead of Our Own Love 'n' Marriage: Together in Eating Babies and Weight Gain Mealtime Peer Pressure Dining Out Can Do Us In Kick the Habit Keep Your Diet in Perspective Habit 3: Not Being Honest Fessing Up Is Hard to Do Portion Distortion Kick the Habit How Much Exercise Is Enough? It's Within Your Grasp Habit 4: Skip the Broccoli, Eat the Fries Nothing Is Better for You than Produce How Much Are You Eating? Which Ones Are the Best? Produce to Avoid Kick the Habit Ya Gotta Love 'em Habit 5: Setting Off Without a Plan Kick the Habit Outside the Box Two "Must-Have" Habits Practice, Practice, Practice The Only Way to Get Better Is to Change Habit 6: Excuses, Excuses, Excuses You Can Change Kick the Habit Take Responsibility Habit 7: I'm Moody, Let's Eat! Food for Solace or Sustenance? Food and Mood Dieting = Weight Gain Kick the Habit Your Mood Is More than Just Diet Habit 8: Give Me the Quick Fix, Now! Tell Me Again Why Diets Don't Work Diet Myths Debunked Kick the Habit Commit to Health Habit 9: Drinking Away Our Waistlines Silent Calories Cola Calories Josephine Six Pack The Dark Side of Alcohol Kick the Habit Think Moderation Habit 10: The All-or-Nothing Approach to Dieting Why the All-or-Nothing Mentality Fails All-or-Nothing and Your Weight Self-Talk: The Inside-Your-Head Chatter Kick the Habit Give Yourself Some Slack

If you're looking for a gimmick, a quick fix, or a flashy fad diet, keep looking. 10 HABITS THAT MESS UP A WOMAN'S DIET is a book based on solid nutritional research and the author's interviews with people who have done a lot of thinking about women and weight. Elizabeth Somer, RD, has a funny and engaging style, but she's not afraid to serve you the facts straight up. The result is one of the smartest guides to nutrition for women that I've come across in years.

I'm not obese and not even really overweight, though I've gained plenty since college. I picked up this book because I've been frustrated by the fact that some women can take off 100, 60, or 30 pounds more successfully than I can take off ten or fifteen. (Also, I realized that unless something changed, I'd only keep on gaining and would someday need to lose fifty pounds, not just fifteen.) This book showed me why and shook me up in the best possible sense. Though I am immensely knowledgeable about food and exercise regularly, I have NINE of the ten bad habits the author discusses. What a revelation! With my increased self-awareness, I am now tackling these habits at a comfortable pace. Changing just one of these habits--my tendency not to plan what I'm going to eat--is clearly going to make a cataclysmic difference. I recommend this book to anyone and cannot believe my good fortune in stumbling upon it. Elizabeth Somer, if you're reading this, you should feel very proud of your achievement.

Ms. Somers' book is fun to read and a real eye-opener for all of us who sample our way through the grocery store but don't understand why we gain weight. I would highly recommend this book to everyone -- not just those who are trying to lose weight -- because it gives practical guidelines for healthy eating and feeling better. And for everyone who is following the latest fad diet, this is a book you definitely need to read. It is a common-sense approach to dieting, and the book is packed with fascinating tidbits of information and strategies for tailoring a diet that will work for you! And I love her sneaky little ideas for getting my family to eat better too.

The cover might suggest cliche but this gem is really substantive. I routinely recommend this book to clients who are struggling with their relationships with food. Without being too psychodynamic, Ms. Somer clearly suggests strategies for acknowledging our complex relationships with food...and how to make peace with those tricky thinking and behavior patterns. Very readable, realistic and practical. She knows her stuff!