Oprah: Says She’ll Never Diet Again
In March I wrote a blog post about Oprah’s interview with Geneen Roth. And just last week, she had Ms. Roth on her show. Unfortunately I missed the show but have been thinking a lot about her vow to never diet again. And several questions came to mind:
* How many billions of dollars will the dieting industry lose now that Oprah has hopped off the band wagon?
* How many women will decide that they are tired of going on/off diets?
* If not dieting, what will Oprah have time to think about instead?
* What will happen to Bob Green, her nutritionist?
* She may not be dieting, but is she dealing with her emotional/compulsive need to eat?
* How do we define dieting and are all diets bad?
* What’s the difference between dieting vs. embracing a healthy/balanced lifestyle?
* Does giving up on dieting mean total self-indulgence?
One of my colleagues noted that Oprah is heavier now that she has decided to “stop dieting.” I will just say that there is a big difference between ending a diet and actually dealing with the underlying issues of emotional eating. Oprah may be feeling less emotional stress now that she doesn’t have the stress of dieting in her life, but she will likely continue to gain weight if she isn’t dealing with the triggers which encourage her to reach for food.
I fully believe that Oprah, along with anyone else who can identify with her emotional connection to food, can work through this emotionally painful stuff, learn to cope without food, and begin to embrace a much physically and emotionally healthy way of living.
And most of us will be interested to watch her along the way. Let’s hope that she is on to something permanent this time.