The Emotional Eating Workbook: A Proven-Effective, Step-by-Step Guide to End Your Battle with Food and Satisfy Your Soul

216 Pages·2016·28.05 MB·English

by  Carolyn Coker Ross

“The Emotional Eating Workbook is a delightful, informative, and passionate tour of the
underpinnings of emotional eating. It is filled with timely and effective tools designed to
end one’s battle with food. As a reader- friendly text, it will serve as an important work in
the treatment of emotional eating.”
— Ralph E. Carson, RD, PhD, consultant for the Pine Grove Women’s
Center at Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in
Hattiesburg, MS, and board member of The International Association
of Eating Disorders Professionals
“The Emotional Eating Workbook nourishes body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Carolyn
Ross’s inspired and accessible program enhances mindful awareness, which leads to more
natural, authentic, and skillful choices. If emotional eating is a problem for you, this book
holds the keys to a breakthrough.”
— Joan Borysenko, PhD, author of The PlantPlus Diet Solution and
Minding the Body, Mending the Mind
“With compassion, wisdom, and creativity, Carolyn Ross’s The Emotional Eating Workbook
can open a pathway to healing for individuals struggling with the complex issue of emo-
tional eating. Ross’s approach looking at the core issues will help readers discover the
underlying factors that drive their struggles with food. I highly recommend this valuable
workbook!”
—W endy Oliver- Pyatt, MD, FAED, CEDS, executive director of the
Oliver- Pyatt Centers, www.oliverpyattcenters.com

THE
Emotional
Eating
WORKBOOK
A Proven-Eff ective,
Step-by-Step Guide to
End Your Battle with Food
& Satisfy Your Soul
CAROLYN COKER ROSS, MD, MPH
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
Publisher’s Note
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the
understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assis-
tance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright © 2016 by Carolyn Coker Ross
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
5674 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
www.newharbinger.com
Cover design by Sara Christian
Acquired by Melissa Kirk
Edited by Gretel Hakanson
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file
Printed in the United States of America
18 17 16
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First printing
This book is dedicated to my sons Dutch and Sam and my granddaughter, Malia,
for their inspiration and support. Finally my son Noah has continued to be a source
of inspiration to me in all that I do both before and after his untimely death.

Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Part I: The Anchor Program’s Five Levels of Healing
1 L evel One: Stopping Surface Behaviors—Why Diets Don’t Work and
Why It’s Not About the Food 5
2 Level Two: Emerging from the Emotional Soup 15
3 Level Three: Embracing the Wisdom of the Body 39
4 Level Four: Creating New Core Beliefs 61
5 Level Five: Finding Soul Satisfaction 75
Part II: Healing Yourself: Your Journey to Soul Satisfaction
6 Learning the Joy of Eating Well 89
7 Learning to Move Your Body 105
8 Learning Skills for Stress Management 121
9 Learning to Nourish Your Spirit 139
10 Finding Your Anchor 159
11 The Seven- Week Guide to Soul Satisfaction 171
Conclusion 185
References 187

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my agent, Chris Tomasino, who spent a lot of time and effort in
the preparation of this book and continued to have faith in my writing and in the book
project for two years before it even went to the publisher. Thanks also to my hard-
working editors at New Harbinger, Jess Beebe and Melissa Kirk. I have had the pleasure
now of completing two books with them, and I know that all their hard work has taken my
writing to a better level.