Food for many has become a battleground; it exists in a way beyond nourishment into fulfillment. Sometimes we actively eat to satiate something other than hunger. We eat to feel better, to forget, to be in control, to relax and let go. The list goes on. It is when we for anything other than hunger that we have created this struggle, this battle with food. It is a habit formed to help ourselves to deal with something bigger, more “powerful”, than we can cope with. So we resort to food as a way to put it off. Food is not the problem; it is not bigger than what it is. It is what we have allocated to eating; it is the power we have given it in our lives.

Food exists simply to nourish our bodies; it is when we replace that by emotions and thoughts that we lose the simplicity of it. Have you ever found yourself eating simply to eat?

Regular yoga practice is associated with mindful eating, and people who eat mindfully are less likely to be obese, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The study was prompted by initial findings reported four years ago by Alan Kristal, Dr.P.H., and colleagues, who found that regular yoga practice may help prevent middle-age spread in normal-weight people and may promote weight loss in those who are overweight. At the time, the researchers suspected that the weight-loss effect had more to do with increased body awareness, specifically a sensitivity to hunger and satiety than the physical activity of yoga practice itself.

Dr. Siegal’s Direct Nutritionals, LLC, worldwide distributor of the venerable Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET(R) hunger-busting cookies and shake mixes and the operator of web site CookieDiet.com (http://www.CookieDiet.com), today announced that it is featured in the cover story of the current issue of People magazine. The story (http://tinyurl.com/ay7rt6) profiles six men and women who have lost half their weight, a total of nearly 1,000 pounds.

Among the newly-svelte participants is Josie Raper of Phoenix, Arizona, who went from 240 to just 119 lbs. by using Dr. Siegal’s COOKIE DIET(R) foods to control her hunger and help her stick to a reduced-calorie diet.