By Carly Pollack. Author advises to get off the diet roller coaster and begin self-healing for long-term change. 

There are millions of diets (or so it seems) geared to help people lose weight, and while some do work, numerous dieters struggle with keeping unwanted pounds off.

It’s a well-known topic to nutritional expert Carly Pollack, author of “Feed Your Soul: Nutritional Wisdom to Lose Weight Permanently and Live Fulfilled.” She lived the vicious cycle of yo-yo dieting until she realized her negative thoughts were the roadblocks in her life.

“If we are brave and vulnerable enough to look more deeply at what truly needs to be healed, we will have success eliminating our negative behaviors at their root,” Carly writes. “It is our minds that drive the eating bus. In fact, our thoughts drive every emotion we feel, and how we feel will dictate how we act. Unless we change the original thought/story, we will re-create the same painful pattern, a nightmarish, diet-induced ‘Groundhog Day.’”

The author advises to work with, not against your body.

“Body image and dieting are directly related. You can’t heal one without healing the other,” she writes. “Your body is a walking reflection of the inner work and fulfillment you create.”

Carly advocates eating fresh, real, unprocessed foods.

“This means a fresh cookie from the bakery wins out over a packaged one,” she writes. “It doesn’t always have to be ‘healthy,’ but it should be real.”

She notes that when people begin to shift their thoughts to feeling truly fulfilled with love and the adventures life has to offer, then they no longer need to eat mindlessly to fill themselves up physically. She writes: “Food becomes a part of the way you experience life, but it is in balance, as are the other pleasures of your life.”