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Deborah Kesten
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VIDEO: Wellness Coach Deborah Kesten - Obese Females, How Can They Reduce Their Shame?

Wellness Coach Deborah Kesten describes how women can reduce their shame about being obese.

Deborah Kesten:
It’s very interesting to me, the dynamic that goes on in America, especially with obesity and overweight, and what I mean by that is, there’s such an obsession in this culture about being thin. And I quote a wonderful teenager I met years ago whom I was counseling; she said, “I went on a diet for a month and I lost 30 days of my life.” And I think the big message in that is not only about dieting, but it’s about, regardless of one’s weight, it’s simply, simply, simply not who we are. It simply is not who we are, and I do understand, I have cousins who are obese, and that means your body-mass index is above 30. On the average that might mean 30 or more pounds overweight, to give you a general concept there what obesity might mean.

And, it’s so normal to be overweight in this country and to be judged by it in terms of what kind of person you are and how you look, that the whole culture, in my opinion, really would benefit by undergoing a shift. And I say that in terms of the culture and people start thinking in terms of valuing, valuing who we are and what we are eating in terms of real food, not food products, and valuing how you are living your life, and how you are eating, and how you are nourishing yourself with food, and how you are nourishing your family with food, and how you are nourishing your spouse. And it’s always on, very frequently on females to feed themselves and their children and their parents.

And it’s a huge responsibility, and so from my perspective, the key focus is let’s eat optimally, let’s eat fresh delicious food, let’s turn food into a nourishing social, ceremonial, central pleasure rather than focusing on weight, weight, weight, weight on ourselves and on other women especially.

About Deborah Kesten, M.P.H.:
Deborah Kesten, M.P.H., is an international nutrition and lifestyle researcher and educator, with a specialty in preventing and reversing obesity and heart disease. She was the nutritionist on Dr. Dean Ornish’s first clinical trial for reversing heart disease through lifestyle changes, and Director of Nutrition on similar research at cardiovascular clinics in Europe. More recently, she has created the pioneering Enlightened Diet, a “whole person” optimal eating and weight loss program, the results of which were published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing. With more than 200 published health articles, she is the award-winning author of The Enlightened Diet, Feeding the Body, Nourishing the Soul and The Healing Secrets of Food, a comprehensive, evidence-based nutrition program about the power of food to heal physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially.

Visit Deborah Kesten at her website

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