MEET THE "DIET SURVIVOR SISTERS"

We are clinical social workers and sisters who grew up in the Chicago area. In 2004 we published Beyond a Shadow of a Diet: The Therapists Guide to Treating Compulsive Eating.

After struggling in different ways with food and weight issues, each of us came to the conclusion that diets don’t work. While the details of our dieting histories are different, we, like virtually every dieter, believed that if we could only find the right diet, and if only we could muster more determination and willpower, we would be successful and everything else would be wonderful.

We came to understand, from our own experiences, that this was a myth. Diets do not work, and in fact, we realized, diets are physically and emotionally harmful. Separately, we each embarked on a path of attuned eating, where we began trusting our own internal cues to guide us in determining when to eat, what to eat and how much to eat. As we ended dieting, we each found great rewards as our bodies settled at their natural weight, and a newfound freedom as we learned to celebrate ourselves and our place in the world. Those experiences were energized by the non-diet movement of the 1980s, with the pioneering work of people like Susie Orbach, Jane Hirschmann, Carol Munter and Geneen Roth. As the years went on, increasing numbers of researchers, clinicians and activists joined in the cry that diets don’t work and are hazardous to your health.

Independently, we went on to receive Masters degrees in Social Work. Judith specialized in treating compulsive eating and Ellen in eating disorders. Combined, we have over 40 years of experience in the field of eating issues. Both from a personal and professional standpoint, we have been on the forefront of the non-diet movement, and have both the personal experience and clinical expertise to help you as you end diets, and become a diet survivor!

Judith is the director of the Chicago Center for Overcoming Overeating, Inc., an organization dedicated to ending the preoccupation with food and weight. She has worked in the area of eating problems and since 1986 and is a frequent speaker at workshops and conferences on the topics of compulsive eating and body image. She has a private practice in Skokie, IL, providing individual therapy and diet survivor groups.

Ellen has worked in the field of eating disorders since 1987 in both outpatient and residential settings. Her book Beyond Measure: A Memoir About Short Stature and Inner Growth will be published in 2006. In addition to writing full time, she speaks at conferences and serves as a consultant.