Archive for December, 2008

Announcing! The Complete Beck Diet for Life

Friday, December 26th, 2008

New Book: Following her New York Times bestselling Beck Diet Solution, Dr. Judith Beck has released the The Complete Beck Diet for Life.

Watch a Beck Diet for Life success story.

Attend a Beck Diet for Life Workshop in Philadelphia, 9/13/09

Okay, I confess. I’m excited. My latest diet book, The Complete Beck Diet for Life: The Five-Stage Program for Permanent Weight Loss, was just published this week – and many people are surprised. A common question I get is: “But in your first book, you just said to choose any well-balanced, nutritious diet. So why does this new book have a diet in it?”

Here’s the answer. I was wrong. I really thought that dieters would be able to choose an eating plan that was healthy, enjoyable, and sustainable for the long run. But from reading thousands of emails and online support group postings, I found that people were choosing diets that:

  • didn’t satiate their hunger
  • contained too low a level of calories
  • increased their cravings
  • outlawed certain favorite foods altogether
  • weren’t palatable enough
  • allowed them to skip breakfast
  • didn’t allow for snacks
  • couldn’t be sustained beyond a few weeks or months.

    • So I worked with a registered dietician to formalize a plan that I’ve been using with dieters for years. It’s a “choose a protein from this list and a fruit from this list,” kind of eating plan. It’s highly flexible and dieters learn how to modify it so they can stay on it for life and maintain their weight loss. (It also allows you to eat 150 or 200 calories of your favorite foods a day, so you can have a candy bar or chips or a glass of wine every single day.) The new book also contains an elaborated cognitive behavioral program to teach dieters how to diet, how to ease into changing their food intake, how to deal with psychological issues, how to handle cravings, hunger, and emotional eating, and how to motivate oneself daily for life. This time, the program is complete.

    Beck Diet for Life website: www.beckdietforlife.com

    See highlights from Dr. Beck’s book tour: Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston.

    Read Dr. Judith Beck’s diet blog in Psychology Today.

    Posted in Books, Dieting, Judith S. Beck, Schizophrenia, Suicide | No Comments »

    Obesity in New York City mentally ill, minority population: CBT part of effective intervention

    Friday, December 26th, 2008

    newstudy-graphic-66x60.jpgThe problems of obesity in New York’s inner-city Latino and African American populations led to a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene mandate. In response, an ongoing quality improvement study was conducted at the Metropolitan Hospital Center by Joanne Caring, M.D. The findings were reported in the October 2008 Psychiatric Services. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was part of the protocol, whose aim was to improve body mass index and increase exercise. Clients were taught to identify obstacles to healthy eating and develop interventions to change behavior. Coping skills and nutritional coaching were also used to promote behavioral change.

    The results were positive overall: in the initial 21 months, 67% of the clients lost weight and there was a fivefold increase in exercise session participation. Monitoring continues to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of the interventions.

    Study author: J. Caring

    Posted in BI Blog Info, Dieting | No Comments »

    Workplace CBT training: New study shows positive effects

    Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

    newstudy-graphic-66x60.jpgA new study in the January 2009 Personality and Individual Differences reported that cognitive behavioral training in the workplace was successful in changing attributional style, resulting in reduced turnover, increased productivity, and improvement in other measures of well-being. The program helped employees evaluate and change their work-related thoughts, especially how they attributed causes of successes and failures.

    The program design was based on the CBT manual by Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery (1979) and employed measures of psychological distress, self-esteem, and other variables. The protocol included 7 weekly sessions, a 6-week maintenance program, and a 3-month follow-up, to replicate the typical CBT course.

    The authors found a consistent improvement in all psychological variables measured, which persisted at the 3-month follow-up. Additionally, employee turnover was reduced and productivity increased.

    Study authors: J. G. Proudfoot, P. J. Corr, D. E. Guest, G. Dunn

    Posted in BI Blog Info, Workplace | No Comments »