I am SO EXCITED to share this with all of you!

For a long time, I’ve only had two options for you.  You could either take advantage of the free offerings on my site, the blog, the podcast and teleclasses, or you could become my client and work with me one on one.

And while I positively love providing both of those options, I’ve been dying to offer a program that would allow my clients to connect with and support one another, all the while getting support from me.  In other words, I’ve wanted to create a group program that would be accessible to more women and would allow for all of us to build a community of like-minded women who are dedicated to empowering one another and breaking the chains of body hatred for good.

I wanted to create a group program that would support you in healing from the pain and isolation of body hatred and food issues.  I wanted to create a community of women who were really committed to supporting themselves and one another in feeling great in their bodies and moving about their lives as the radiant and empowered women that they were born to be.

For over a year, I’ve been working on creating the curriculum for a program that would give its members the tools to really love their bodies, heal from food issues, and more.  And it is finally ready!

So without further ado, I would like to introduce you to The Empress Club.

The symbol of the Empress (in tarot decks and elsewhere) is usually depicted as a beautiful, powerful, plus sized woman.  She is an image representing abundance, power, Mother Earth, divine knowledge, sensuality, and much much more.

Because of this, the Empress is a fitting symbol of a group coaching program designed to support powerful plus-sized women in attaining their desires.

If you are ready to own your beauty, own your body, and own your health, then you are ready for the Empress Club.

Register here, or just keep reading…

Let me tell you a little bit about what you get as an Empress Club Member.  You will:

• Learn powerful tools to IMMEDIATELY change the way you relate to your body
• Get my unique process for healing from long held emotional eating patterns
• Get support from other women who know your struggles and will support you in moving forward
• Own your beauty like you never have before
• How to understand what cravings really mean and give your body the nutrition it needs
• Receive Health At Every Size based counseling — scientifically proven to positively influence health indicators more than diet programs
• Set healthy boundaries based upon your needs and desires
• Build your business or career by networking with other Empresses
• And so much more!

Now, you’re probably wondering how all of this works.  As in, “What exactly do I get as an Empress Club member?”  So here’s a breakdown of all that you get to participate in as an Empress Club member.

First, there are the calls.  You will get 12 food and body image group coaching sessions in a teleclass form.  Each session will be 60-90 minutes long. These classes will be in a workshop style, with a mixture of teaching and Q&A. These are calls where you’ll learn tools to support you in transforming your food and body image issues.  And, you’ll get my personal, in-depth coaching on your specific questions.  And you’ll learn a lot from the questions and successes of your peers!

Then, there’s membership in the exclusive Empress Club community site. You’ll be granted access to your own members-only protected site where you can get your questions answered by me and my team, share knowledge and inspiration with other members, and access the downloadable audios and other program resources. This is the place to share your experiences, get support, post pictures, network, and so much more!

Plus, we have the bonus Live Event, which I call the Empress Club Coronation.  This is a 2-day, private event, where you get your chance to meet the amazing women that you’ve connected with in the Empress Club in person.

Day 1 is a plus size shopping event, where we’ll head to Brooklyn to visit Re/Dress NYC and Lee Lee’s Valise — two wonderful stores dedicated to fabulous plus-size clothes.  There, trained stylists will help you create fantastic looks that look great on you.  Day 2 is our spa day, where you get to pamper yourself at Spa Castle, an amazing, multi-level spa.  We’ll talk body love as we relax and chat in jacuzzis, saunas and whirlpools.  Please note: Attendance at the Empress Club Coronation isn’t required, and no new material will be covered.  However, it is my personal wish that everyone be able to attend.

Plus, because I love my clients and love to over deliver, we’ll have some additional start up and follow up calls so that we can all connect and digest all that we learn.

Plus, now through September 7th September 30th, I’m offering a crazy amazing deal on this program.  So if you’re ready to sign up, or just want to learn more, just click the button below.  You’ll be taken to a link where you’ll get even more info about the program, and get the opportunity to sign up at this really low early bird rate!

I can’t wait for you to join me, Empress!

xoxo,
Golda
Body Love Coach
www.bodylovewellness.com

by Golda Poretsky, H.H.C.
www.bodylovewellness.com

Listen to the podcast of this post here:

To give you a little taste of Stop Dieting Now: 25 Reasons To Stop, 25 Ways To Heal, I’ve excerpted Reason #5: Diet Foods Are Full Of Chemicals & Tip #5: The Real Nutrition Facts for your viewing pleasure!

Reason #5: Diet Foods Are Full Of Chemicals

Many diets support the use of non-nutritional, highly chemicalized foods like fake fats and fake sugars. These chemicalized foods negatively affect body chemistry, cause low-level under-nourishment, and often encourage overeating when the dieter gets the signal that s/he is not getting nourishment.

As an example, back when I was counting points on Weight Watchers, I developed a horrific gastrointestinal problem the likes of which I had never experienced before. I was spending the day in pain, experiencing incredible bloating and ending up in the bathroom for hours. I was frightened of what might be happening to my body, so I made an appointment with a highly recommended internist. The earliest appointment I could get was a week away.

At some point during that week, I had an inkling that I should stop eating the delicious low-fat cheese product I had been eating regularly due to its low Weight Watchers Point status. I stopped eating the cheese (I was only having a few bites of it a day) and within three days my stomach felt normal again. I had similar experiences with diet foods—a popular ice cream bar and a diet brand name pretzel snack both caused rashes that, once I figured out the cause, disappeared within a few days. I’ve seen this pattern over and over again with my clients too.

Our bodies are not really designed to eat food made up mainly of chemicals. When we are able to connect with the wisdom of our bodies, we know what our bodies really crave—whole foods full of nutrients, vitamins and minerals (with the occasional piece of cake, of course!) Diet programs diminish our ability to make appropriate, real food choices.

Tip #5:  The Real Nutrition Facts

Think back to some of your recent diets. Were there any processed, chemicalized foods that you ate because they were “on your diet plan?” If you have any around, take a look at the ingredients list (not the calories/fats/carbs facts) and see if there is any real food in your diet food! Think about whether you would have eaten these foods if you weren’t on a diet. And, if you’re having gastrointestinal, skin or allergy issues that seemed to come from nowhere, try going off any highly processed diet foods for a few days and see if you notice a difference.

Want to get your copy of Stop Dieting Now: 25 Reasons To Stop, 25 Ways to Heal? Then just click here!

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Golda Poretsky, H.H.C. is a certified holistic health counselor who specializes in transforming your relationship with food and your body. Go to http://www.bodylovewellness.com/stay-in-touch/ to sign up for her newsletter and get your free download — Golda’s Top Ten Tips For Divine Dining!

© 2010 Golda Poretsky All rights reserved.

I’m pleased to announce that my book, Stop Dieting Now: 25 Reasons To Stop, 25 Ways To Heal is now available at online retailers in the US, Canada, and the UK!

From an early age, our culture tells us that losing weight and dieting is the key to having it all.  Whether it’s better health, a better body, or a better lover, we all learn that dieting will get us what we want faster than anything else.

Though we all want this to be true, if you’re like most dieters, then you know that dieting does not equal happiness.  Not only that, dieting can result in lots of unintended effects, like weight gain, disordered eating, and low self esteem, just to name a few.

But there is a way out.  In this breakthrough book, I show you why diets don’t work and how you can break free from dieting patterns that are holding you back from happiness.

When you read Stop Dieting Now!, you will come away with breakthrough insights and practical actions that you can take immediately to change your relationship with food and your body.  Here are just a few things that you will learn from this book:

• Why you can’t stick to diets (hint: it’s not about willpower).
• Simple techniques for letting go of food-related guilt and shame.
• Why you always seem to gain back the weight you lose from dieting.
• How old diet rules and habits can negatively interfere with your food choices, long after you stop dieting.
• How to avoid passing on dieting behaviors to your kids.
• The dangers behind “weighting” to be thinner before you make changes in your life.
• Real tools that support you in making peace with your body.
• And so much more . . .

Where to buy:

• Goodreads (If you’re a member, please mark it as to-read!)
• Amazon US
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon UK
• Barnes & Noble
• AbeBooks
• IndieBound

Let me know when you get it!

And stay tuned for info on my upcoming book signing at Re/Dress NYC!

Mega yum.

by Golda Poretsky, H.H.C.
www.bodylovewellness.com

Listen to the podcast of this post here:

Last week, I went to Re/Dress NYC (a plus size vintage clothing store here in New York City, a/k/a the happiest place on Earth) to finally use up my massive store credit.  I parked my car around the corner from the shop and noticed an Atomic Wings down the block.

Mmm, Atomic Wings.

I was clearly, clearly, quite hungry.  It was nearly 4PM, I hadn’t had lunch, and I was spacey from having just had acupuncture.  I knew I should eat something, but my brain was in shopping-induced override mode.  I just wanted to pick out some stuff, spend a little time with the Re/Dress shop gals, and get back to my apartment before the traffic got weird.

But my stomach had other plans.

As I tried on fabulous dress after fabulous dress in Re/Dress’s fabulously huge dressing rooms, I could hear my stomach growling.  In a moment of clothing indecision, I stepped out to chat with shopgirl extraordinaire, Bevin, who also had not eaten lunch.  She asked me, somewhat rhetorically, what she should have for lunch.  Almost before she could finish her sentence, I blurted, “Wings!”

But Bevin didn’t feel like getting wings.  She actually wanted a salad, so she got one.  And I, eventually, purchased my awesome Re/Dress clothes, put them in the trunk of my car, and hightailed it over to Atomic Wings.  Because that’s what I truly wanted.

And let me tell you, eating those wings was so incredibly satisfying.  I sat there by myself, chilled out, looked out the window, used way too many napkins, took my time, savored every bite, breathed, enjoyed. When I left, I felt just the right level of full.  To be honest, the new dresses and honey mustard wings combination is rather satisfying all around.

Which brings me to my point.  What if there had been a blip on the time-space continuum and my old, dieting self had talked with Bevin about lunch?  Probably, the minute she mentioned salad, I would have felt really guilty.  I probably would have counted up the Weight Watcher’s points or calories value of the wings, decided the wings weren’t on my plan, and gotten a salad after I finished shopping.

What’s so bad about that, you might ask?

Punishment of Tantalus, Gioacchino Assereto (1600 - 1649)

Well, because I didn’t freaking want the salad.  I wanted the wings.  And I probably would have gotten the salad and not felt satisfied.  I probably would have gotten home, felt sort of annoyed, and would have started looking for some low calorie, highly processed thing that I was “allowed” to eat, all the while feeling extremely frustrated at my choices. Later that night, I would dream that my apartment had turned into an Atomic Wings joint where the wings were just out of reach, as if I were Tantalus.*

And beyond that, I would have had the message hammered into my brain, once again, that I couldn’t have what I wanted to have.  I would get the message again that other people were allowed to have the things that I wanted, but that I wasn’t because I’m me, a horrendously temporary size 14/16 who could almost pass for “normal” and had to watch every morsel of food if she wanted to stay that way.

This is just one of the 87 million reasons why dieting is so dangerous.  It reinforces the message that you can never have what you want.  Once that message becomes truth to you, it naturally seeps into other areas of your life, from relationships to career and beyond.

So the next time you find yourself torn between what you want to eat and what you “should” eat, experiment with eating what you want to eat.  My only request is that you try to savor it and affirm to yourself that you are willing to give yourself what you want. See what effect this has on your food choices and your enjoyment of what you eat.

*I really did have dreams like this when I was dieting.

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Only 3 days until my next FREE teleclass – How To Heal From Emotional Eating.   Click to register!

Golda Poretsky, H.H.C. is a certified holistic health counselor who specializes in transforming your relationship with food and your body. Go to http://www.bodylovewellness.com/stay-in-touch/ to sign up for her newsletter and get your free download — Golda’s Top Ten Tips For Divine Dining!

(c) 2010 Golda Poretsky. All rights reserved.

by Golda Poretsky, H.H.C.
www.bodylovewellness.com

Listen to the podcast of this post here:

This week, a juicy little quickie from the Body Love Wellness archives…

Oh, fun. It almost sounds like a four letter word! How often do we put off fun because of obligations? How often do we put off fun because it seems embarrassing to have fun when everyone else seems so miserable, serious and dour?

Do you find yourself feeling grumpy, unproductive or overly productive, and/or envious of those people that seem to have fun?

Like most things, I have an unpopular opinion about fun.  I’ve found that many of us are truly starving for fun.  In fact, I’ve found that as my clients start to distinguish between emotional hunger and physical hunger, fun becomes more important as a way to feed their emotional hunger.

If you think I’m wrong, let’s try something together. Take a moment to think of the last time you had fun. Picture it in your mind’s eye. Feel that moment in your body. How do you feel now? Energized? Lighter? Ready for more?

Since I love practical tips, here are 10 fun things to try. Make a commitment to try at least one this week!

1) Send a cheeky text message to a friend or lover.
2) Play with your dog (or someone else’s dog).
3) Turn on some music and have a dance break wherever you are.
4) Call a funny friend.
5) Have lunch in the park and people watch.
6) Wink at a cute guy or gal while stopped at a light.
7) Buy fresh flowers for your home or office and give one to a stranger on the street.
8) Put on a fake tattoo.
9) Drive with the windows down and sing your favorite song with gusto.
10) Dress up a little more than you normally would, either at the office or at home.

What did you notice about these fun tips? They’re fun, right? And easier and less time consuming than you thought, I bet?

Perhaps you noticed something else, too: that fun is really just an attitude. It takes a little extra sassiness to send a cheeky text message and hand a flower to a stranger or to take a dance break wherever you are. It takes you saying, “Here I am world! I’m having fun and I’m so happy about it!” It takes you not listening to naysayers who insist that work and obligation should be the focus of your life. Work and obligations have their place too, but fun must be a priority if you want to feel alive.

So whenever you’re feeling inexplicable grumpy, wan, dreary etc., etc., take a moment to have fun wherever you are. You will be so glad that you did!

Let me know which one you tried this week in the comment section below!

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Golda Poretsky, H.H.C. is a certified holistic health counselor who specializes in transforming your relationship with food and your body. Go to http://www.bodylovewellness.com/stay-in-touch/ to sign up for her newsletter and get your free download — Golda’s Top Ten Tips For Divine Dining!