Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat with Diabetes: A Mindful Eating Program for Thriving with Prediabetes or Diabetes

Physician May and dietician Fletcher (Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat) tailor their mindful method of healthy eating and weight maintenance for people overwhelmed by managing diabetes and pre-diabetes. Their self-monitoring system pivots on a series of questions and practices that help determine what the body needs for optimal nourishment, when it needs fuel, and how much food must be consumed to function well and not gain weight. Relieving stress and feelings of guilt and failure is key to the plan; they focus on reprogramming negative thoughts and language (i.e., being “flexible” rather than “rigid”; “learning” from mistakes rather than “failing”), encouraging exploration, and trusting the body’s wisdom. They include many tips for creating easy, stress-free routines to develop instinctive eating and promote daily physical activity. Diabetics who believe they must restrict certain foods may be surprised that May and Fletcher favor an “all-foods-fit” approach based on the USDA’s “My Plate” program. To derail a tendency to overeat, they offer tips like putting down the fork between bites. (June)