If you’re struggling with weight problems or your relationship with food, toss out the diet plans and calorie counting and turn to The Zen of Eating: Ancient Answers to Modern Weight Problems by Ronna Kabatznick, Ph.D. Dr. Kabatznick shares the story of the Buddha’s enlightenment and how his insight and wisdom can be applied to modern day eating problems. She explores Buddha’s wisdom on the feeling of desire, how individuals attempt to quench it by grasping at pleasure, and how they strive to avoid and reject pain, and suffer as a result. Dr. Kabatznick shares her own experience with eating problems and those of others. She explores the “desire crisis” and provides recommendations for a mindfulness practice. Through The Zen of Eating, she recommends steps designed to help you release the attachment to a desire, and explores the process of letting go, including how to “let go and feel full.” Through The Zen of Eating, you’ll learn:

• The Four Noble Truths, how they nourish the heart, and help to satiate desire.
• How being generous and expressing gratitude relate to eating.
• What mindfulness is and why it is “one of the most important awareness practices.”
• About indulgence and restriction.
• About the “middle way,” how it compares to “a log floating down a river” and how this applies to eating.
• The difference between inevitable and optional suffering.
• The three types of desires and how they interrelate.
• The eight tenets of the Eightfold Path—“guidelines for ending emotional hunger”—and how following them can set you on the path toward fulfillment, peace, and, in turn, healthy eating.