"The Self-Compassion Diet": Good for Your Waist and Good for Your Spirits

In The Self-Compassion Diet, psychotherapist Jean Fain explains how having compassion for yourself and getting in the habit of bestowing that compassion on yourself can heal not only a weary spirit, but can also help you whittle down your waist in the process.

Drawing on her own struggles

Using wisdom gleaned from her past struggles with her own weight, Fain sums up her two decades as a therapist who's specialized in eating issues by stating that "getting a handle on eating issues is a journey, not the jaunt American dieters are determined to make it."

And so Fain's book is chockfull of examples of how you can turn your inner critic around and bring into your mind a compassionate response when you've made a less-than-stellar food choice or reverted back to disordered eating. She also shares stories about how her clients over the years have used her techniques to lose tens, and sometimes hundreds, of pounds. 

The Self-Compassionate Diet contains many helpful tools, not only for turning around haphazard eating, but also for changing the ways you relate to food (if they're less than healthy). Among the many common-sense principles to come out of her practice is the realization that "to get to a healthy, sustainable weight, you've got no choice but to start where you are."

Meaty topics and suggestions

The book includes chapters on loving-kindness, weight-loss suggestions, principles of mindful eating, and how to set up a food log. She also addresses the importance of a supportive environment via building a community of friends, provides how-to's for guided visualizations and breathing practices, and suggests writing exercises that you can use to get clear on what the real issues might be concerning your weight or unhealthy eating habits.

Measuring the loving kindness you feel for yourself

Notably, the book also includes a "Compassion Taste Test," in which readers can get a feel for how much and how often they actually treat themselves with compassion. The author notes that the number of times we feel compassion toward ourselves during the day is crucial, since studies have shown that even a modest dose of self-compassion can help prevent the destructive self-criticism and negative feelings that can fuel overeating.

Affirmations and mindfulness

Fain believes that the weight-loss journey is extremely personal, and that there's no "best" route for everyone. To get to the heart of what is causing her clients' issues--including their weight challenges--Fain guides her patients in various mindfulness and meditation exercises. She also shares many prayers and affirmations with her clients that they've found helpful, phrases like "May I enjoy vitality and ease of well-being," and "May I be healthy and free from suffering." Even the Appendix includes many helpful resources and quizzes, as well as what Fain calls "power tools" to help you set and achieve realistic and reasonable weight-related goals.

I thoroughly appreciate Jean Fain's The Self-Compassion Diet, and believe it will be a useful tool not only for those working on attaining a healthy weight or building a loving relationship with food themselves, but also for those who work with clients who have weight- and food-related issues.

I'll close with one of her affirmations from the book, meant to help those who are beating themselves up over their current weight:

May I learn to accept myself as I am, at least in this moment.