Be kind to yourself and lose weight? That’s what this diet book says

For anyone who spent 2010 worrying about his or her weight, the economy or egg recalls, it’s time to look within. Introspection can mean a healthier you -- not a more narcissistic you.

That’s the message featured in a new weight loss book called “The Self-Compassion Diet.” This Allentown Morning Call story features a Q&A with author and Harvard psychotherapist Jean Fain. She tells the paper: “What I’m saying is when you treat yourself with self-compassion, when you treat yourself like a friend or a loved one with love and kindness, you’re more apt to eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full; rest when you’re tired and move when you feel energized; and when you do that, you lose weight naturally.”

Looking inward also can be an anxiety buster. As this Los Angeles Times story explains: “Mindfulness therapy encourages patients to focus on their breathing and their body, to notice but not judge their thoughts and to generally live in the moment. It may sound a bit squishy and New Agey to some, but [professor Stefan] Hofmann and other experts say mindfulness has something that discredited theories of the past never had: solid evidence that it can help.”

So it’s OK for life to be all about you -- up to a point.