The Agony of Obesity started out as a series of hand-out pages to educate her many patients who were struggling with obesity.
Dr. Giustini had personal experience with this subject, beginning when she was 12 years old and her family doctor put her on a 1,200 calorie per day diet. As an adult, she joined Weight Watchers twice, worked out in a gym many hours per week, and had a couple of stints on diet pills.
She was able to keep her weight in a pretty good place, until it crept up to 185 lbs. when she was married to her second husband. Too much pizza and chardonnay. Today, Dr. Giustini's weight is staying around 130 lbs., thanks to alkaline diet (Super Shakes Diet contains low-fat milk and 4 eggs per day) and group exercise classes at the YMCA.
The Agony of Obesity contains nutritional information, recommending the alkaline (plant-based) diet for health and a weight loss diet of 1,200 calories for women and 1,500 calories for men. She created The Super Shakes Plan, and her book also includes recipes for Super Soup and Stir Fry meals, which are easy ways to be on a weight-loss diet without going around hungry all the time, while also improving overall health.
Some chapters in the The Agony of Obesity book are "How Did You Get Fat?" and "Why Did You Get Fat?".
Turns out that everybody is different. For some people, eating their favorite foods makes them feel loved. Other people might like being fat because it makes them feel as if they are powerful and able to throw their weight around.
There are many stories in The Agony of Obesity about different patients' situations and the stressors that distracted them from being able to focus on taking charge of things in their lives.
Many of Dr. Giustini's patients were helped by Mind-Body Therapy, which is a method of care based on understanding the patients' subconscious negative feelings. (See: Feelings Buried Alive Never Die by Karol K. Truman)
For people to start on a weight loss program, they have to be READY, but that's not going to happen if they are living in Confusion, distracted by feelings connected to memories.
In The Agony of Obesity, many of the pages are directed to "you". Obesity can be lonely, and obese people may feel self-loathing because they are fat. Dr. Giustini put her name on every page, so that people would know that somebody cared enough to stand in their shoes and reach out to help them.
