Articles written by Howard Farkas

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About me - Howard Farkas

I am a health psychologist in private practice. I specialize in helping people who struggle with emotional eating and consequent weight and health problems. I am also very interested in the area of patient non-compliance and I'm working with other profesionals

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Health & Fitness > Diet Tips Understanding why diets fail: 1 of 40
Diets are guaranteed to fail when dieters believe that they must abstain completely from "bad" foods. If they eat any amount of those foods, it means they've lost control and have fallen off the proverbial wagon.Their thinking goes something like this: "If I already blew it, what difference does it make if I messed up a littl... More..
Health & Fitness > Diet & Weight Loss Easy ways to lose weight: 2 of 16
You have decided to make changes in your eating behavior in order to lose weight. How do you know what needs to be changed? You have to make an honest assessment of your current eating patterns. The first step in this process is to apply the five W's of journalism to your eating: What, When, Why, Where and Who. Here is a guid... More..
Health & Fitness > Diet & Weight Loss Ways to control food portions: 4 of 27
Inflated food portions is a major cause of the rise in obesity over the past 20 years. I believe there are a number of factors that have combined to distort our view of what a normal, healthy, and sufficient amount of food should look like.In my opinion, the greatest contribution to portion distortion comes from the trend in ... More..
Health & Fitness > Eating Disorders Dealing with emotional eating: 6 of 36
What is emotional binge eating and why do people engage in it? In my work as a health psychologist, I have worked with many people who struggle with this behavior. One theme that I hear consistently is that they do not feel a sense of pleasure from the experience. In fact, they typically report feeling physically and emotiona... More..
Sciences > Psychology Human behavior: The reasons we make decisions, both good and bad: 3 of 15
Why is it so difficult to struggle between the desire to act on a behavior and the desire to resist it? First, we have understand the concept of self-control.Self-control is often seen as the ability to keep certain temptations or cravings in check and not to act on them. According to this view, the pent-up desire to do whate... More..
Health & Fitness > Diet Tips Weightloss tips that make sense: 3 of 14
Waiting until you're hungry before deciding to eat is like waiting for the collection agency to call before paying your bills. It catches up with you in the end. So rule number one for losing weight is to never let yourself get hungry.This may seem counterintuitive when you're trying to lose weight, but getting too hungry lea... More..
Health & Fitness > Diet Tips The guide to staying motivated about weight loss: 6 of 20
Have you ever wished you were more serious about changing your diet five years ago? You think about how much better off you would be today without the extra weight that you would have lost.We have all felt regret over missed opportunities in life and daydream about how things could have been different if only we had a chance ... More..
Health & Fitness > Diet Tips Tips for regaining control of your sugar tooth: 6 of 17
We all occasionally eat simply for the pleasure of indulging. Whether it's a decadent dessert or our favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. But we have also had the experience of getting carried away and ending up feeling sick to our stomachs and angry for losing control. How do we know when we've reached that ideal po... More..
Health & Fitness > Healthy Living & Wellness Easy ways to incorporate healthy eating habits in your daily life: 3 of 7
How many times have you walked away from a meal feeling like you ate too much but barely paid attention to how it tasted? Your mind was on just about everything but the food. That's because people tend to associate satisfaction from a meal with the volume of food they've eaten. They're not satisfied until they're full.But sat... More..
Relationships & Family > Tips for Marital Happiness Changing your spouse's behavior: 20 of 41
The doctor told your husband that he has to lose weight, lower his cholesterol, and get more exercise. He agrees and makes a good initial effort, but he soon falls right back into old behavior patterns. You don't like to nag, but you truly care about his health, so you find yourself watching what he eats, and encouraging him... More..