The Mindful Diet: How to Transform Your Relationship with Food for Lasting Weight Loss and Vibrant Health

“An essential, must-read guide” (Dr. Susan Albers, New York Times bestselling author of Eating Mindfully) from the renowned Duke Integrative Medicine center: the first book to combine health psychology with cutting-edge nutrition research to deliver an up-to-the-minute method for eating mindfully and breaking the yo-yo diet cycle.

It’s easy on occasion to eat too much, eat too quickly, eat for comfort, or choose junk food. But every year millions of Americans vow to lose weight and get healthy and aren’t able to overcome the largest roadblock to these changes—ingrained eating habits. Now two leading experts from Duke Integrative Medicine offer a new paradigm for eating and health—a step-by-step program that dismantles old patterns, provides new tools for making healthy choices, and fosters deep, internal motivation.

Grounded in scientific research, The Mindful Diet examines how what we eat and drink affects our body on a biochemical level, and how we can become aware of our own internal signals through the practice of mindfulness. Loaded with concrete meditation exercises, behavioral techniques, nutrition advice, and meal-planning charts, this book provides the tools to manage cravings, curb emotional overeating, and figure out when you are full. Instead of an all-or-nothing approach to eating, The Mindful Diet focuses on the many variables that drive our habits—including stress, unhappiness, and even unconscious beliefs—and provides a roadmap for sustainable change. “This is not an eat this, don’t eat that program; rather, it’s an attack on the negative thoughts and patterns that lead to diet failure” (Publishers Weekly). Lasting weight loss and healthy living begin in the mind: now you can learn how to re-program your body, make healthy choices, lose weight, and keep it off for life.

Ruth Wolever, PhD, is a clinical health psychologist, the Director of Research at Duke Integrative Medicine, an advisor to the Duke Diet and Fitness Center, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the Duke School of Medicine.

Beth Reardon, MS, RD, LDN, previously the Director of Integrative and Functional Nutrition at Duke Integrative Medicine and Senior Nutrition Advisor for Caring.com, currently has a private practice in the Boston area.