Denise Lamothe has “issues” with food. When she was about 10, she went on a two-week liquid diet with her mother and sister. From there she struggled with anorexia, then bulimia, and finally obesity.
“I felt like I was in a jail because my mind was always occupied with food,” said Lamothe, a licensed psychologist and holistic health doctor.
By age 50, Lamothe had gotten her food-addiction under control. Now, she’s sharing her experiences to help others do the same.
Lamothe names the impulse to engage in self-harming behavior “the chew,” which provides her with the title of her new book “The Taming of the Chew: A Holistic Guide to Stopping Compulsive Eating” (Penguin, $14). Her premise is that people should try to understand the emotional causes underlying their particular chew–loneliness, insecurity, anger–and adapt accordingly. But the chew never goes away.
“You can’t annihilate that part of yourself, it’s your saboteur, and we all have it,” she said. “But you can … manage it.”
Lamothe approaches food-abusive behavior from several angles: Physical, emotional and social. She eschews scales, calorie-counting and dieting. Instead, her book gives practical tips on managing your mind-set, from positive messages to yoga to gardening.
Her approach is not a quick fix. But she offers this nugget: If you eat sweets, do it in the evening. Then brush your teeth and drink a glass of water to spur your metabolism.
“If you eat sugar in the morning, you’ll set yourself up to crave sugar and then binge your way through the day.”
