Let me tell you a story.

Many years ago I asked a patient, let's call her "Pamela", "Why did you keep on eating after you decided to stop?

She answered, "I ate because I was angry at my husband. I swore to myself not to do that again, but then,I felt so guilty about eating that I just said 'the hell with it', and then I went on to eat as much as I wanted. I'm helpless...or maybe powerless when it comes to food. I'm just not strong enough to do this right."

I was intrigued by her choice of words. "Why are you powerless?"

She had no answer.

"Why, after you swore to yourself to take charge of your eating, could you not follow through?"

Silence.

"Who has control in that moment when your hand moved toward the chocolate cake?"

Again, no answer.

These questions and these non-answers may be familiar to you and they certainly became very familiar to me as I worked over the years with people who had trouble with their weight.

From that intensive work, and the work with thousands of people online, I have discovered the answers to these questions and have unlocked the secret code of the real causes of overeating. You are probably aware of feeling helpless or powerless over your uncontrollable urge to eat. Although deeply agonizing, that feeling is really a cover up, and is caused by, a deeper experience of powerlessness. It is this deeper experience of powerlessness that is the true cause of your overeating. Whether you snack too much, eat the wrong foods, overdo junk food, binge or even feel you might be addicted to food, my research has proven that all of that overeating comes from feeling powerless in one or more of these five ways.

1. You feel powerless to learn how to deal with your self-doubts and self-criticism.
   
2. You feel powerless to learn how to get more satisfaction in your life and in your relationships.
   
3. You feel powerless to learn how to stay calm, safe and secure.
   
4. You feel powerless to learn to more easily assert your independence and individuality.
   
5. You feel powerless to learn how to fill yourself up when you feel empty inside.

You actually overeat when you feel powerless because the experience of is almost instantaneously transformed into the strong urge to eat. That transformation from powerlessness to the urge to overeat goes by so fast we can't even see it happening to us.

The program I developed, MASTERINGFood, captures that instant and plays it back to you in slow motion. Look at the list again; in each case, you feel "powerless to learn..." Using this slow motion playback, you will learn to recognize and overcome these five experiences of powerlessness.

Over the next several weeks, MASTERINGFood will help prove that you are NOT really powerless; that you are giving away the power you have to control yourself and your life. Once you master the powerlessness, your urge to eat will be controllable; you will reclaim the power in your relationship to food and increase your power in other areas of your life.

If increasing your personal power seems like a stretch, it's not, and here's why. Using food excessively and primarily to make yourself feel better, actually short-circuits your ability to learn and grow through your feelings. It cuts off the emotional growth you need to have the fulfilling life that you dream about. Once we bring the spotlight back to the real issues, and take the focus away from food and weight, you'll begin to see who you really are, what you really want, and how to get it.

What about my patient Pamela? Once I worked through with her what you will work through in MASTERINGFood, she described her new found power this way, "I am in control of my weight but what's truly amazing is that feel like I did when I first fell in love with my husband. Except now I'm in love with the new me, full of hopes and dreams and limitless possibilities. But most important with the self confidence and the tools to make my dreams come true. Thank you, Dr. Gould."

To get started on your new life, click here.