Weight Loss for Food Lovers: Understanding our minds and why we sabotage our weight loss

by George Blair-West

This ground-breaking book explains in fascinating but simple terms why most dieters fail at, or actually sabotage, their weight loss plans. Three key reasons 1) A deep love of food; 2) Rebelling against excessive deprivation; 3) There are benefits to being overweight. The question is not What to eat? Overweight people know what they should eat! The real questions are the 'Whys': Why don't we eat what we should? Why do we eat what we shouldn't? Why do we sabotage our healthy eating plans? It's not that people fail diets, it's that diets fail people. And parents are failing their children - one of the greatest gifts we can give them is the habit of healthy eating so that as adults this comes naturally. Dr Blair-West is a Life Fellow of the Obesity Prevention & Treatment Society and was invited to present at the International Congress on Obesity. Trained as a Medical Doctor and as a Psychiatrist, he is uniquely qualified to help you end the 'go on a diet, lose weight, then gain it all back again plus more' cycle. This is not another 'diet book' - there are no menus, calorie charts or exercise programs - but it is a book you must read before you try to lose weight again. By calling on the latest research, Dr Blair-West's clinical experience, the 'French Paradox' and even Zen mindfulness, he will share the secrets of keeping the weight off.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

An award-winning author, Dr George Blair-West is a medical doctor specialising in psychiatry who, for over 25 years, has worked in couple therapy and treating severe trauma. His early academic work into suicide and depression resulted in his honorary admission to The New York Academy of Sciences.

George is a sought-after speaker and educator, delivering talks and workshops on his work as an existential psychotherapist i.e. on building happiness and life satisfaction through finding meaning and purpose in life (“The Way of the Quest”) and building nurturing relationships ("How To Make the Biggest Decision of Your Life").

He is the author of five books, most recently "The Girl in the Green Dress" which he wrote with Jeni Haynes (who has multiple personality disorder) explaining how the mind copes with overwhelming trauma. His talk on TED.com (4 million + views) on preventing divorce is to be followed in 2023 with a 2nd TEDx talk on how the promises of romantic love increase divorce rates.

The father of two adult children, he lives in Brisbane with his wife, Penny, a clinical psychologist.

Reviews

[Gemma Cribb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok so this book is a little self indulgent, in a way that only a psychiatrist knows how!, however Dr Blair West is so charming and genuine it can easily be forgiven. Seems to have a good summary of the research behind weight loss which helps break the diet-industries brain washing. HOWEVER, if you digest this book hook line and sinker you will actually find yourself on an eating plan that looks suspiciously like one of the unsustainable, unintuitive fad diets that this book condemns. Be careful. Remember your own body is the only source of information you can truly rely on in this area. In the end, you will only have success if you do what works for you.

[Zee Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite interesting. Actually it is my first weight loss book that put psychology on the table. At the end of the day, it all comes to getting back control of your own mind. (You don't even need to change your behaviour, just be aware of what you are doing is a lot more than just a start)
The most fascinating part must be the description of how to eat a lemon meringue pie in Chapter 8 – Mindfulness and Savoring. It's food porn. Then probably "porn" is the way to make the most out of everything. And the side effect? You don't even care about weight any more.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

very valuable read, not only for weight loss purposes. I found interesting advice on dealing with kids with unhealthy (and for parents often annoying) attitude of so called fussy eater - children.
Highly recommend to everyone.

[John Boyages · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given this book by a publicist who I was looking at to help me launch my book, Breast Cancer: Taking Control in the UK. I also spoke to George about books in the UK. He also asked me to endorse a book on breast cancer that one of his colleagues was writing. It is well written but not easy to read through quickly. He looks at food and diets more as an issue of the mind as a practicing psychiatrist. We obviously all know this but there are some real pearls in this book with regard to how to categorise books into (1) high-sacrifice fattening foods, (2) low sacrifice fattening foods and (3) healthy foods. He takes a pragmatic view to not totally stop type (1) foods (e.g chocolate) but just reduce the amount etc.