Judith Matz, lcsw
THERAPIST • AUTHOR • SPEAKER • CONSULTANT
Still battling with food?Stop fighting. Make peace.
COUNSELING
Judith has a Private Practice via telehealth for Illinois residents where she offers counseling to help her clients make peace with food and their bodies, and to explore any emotional issues that interfere with living a fuller and more satisfying life. Because her training as a therapist includes the treatment of a wide range of problems, including anxiety, depression, relationship, self-esteem and career issues, she can integrate your work on eating and weight issues with other concerns that you bring to counseling.
Judith’s approach to helping you make peace with food is known as attuned or intuitive eating. Unlike dieting where you try to follow someone else’s plan or rules about food, attuned eating teaches you to use your own internal signals of hunger and fullness to guide your eating. After years of turning to food for all sorts of reason that often have nothing to do with physical hunger, learning to listen to and trust your own body takes practice and support. You will develop new skills to determine when, what and how much to eat, and learn new ways of coping with emotions that may cause you to turn to food. This approach to eating is both sustainable and life changing!
The first step is to set up an initial consultation where Judith can learn about:
- Your current concerns with eating, weight and body image
- Your history with dieting, bingeing, weight, and other relevant issues
- Any other issues or concerns that you would like to explore in counseling
Your first meeting is also an opportunity for Judith to explain more about how she can help you solve the eating and weight issues that bring you to her office. Together you will decide if her approach is a good match for you.
Individual counseling sessions are 50 minutes and usually take place weekly. You will focus on the process of ending overeating and weight concerns, as well as other topics that are important to you.
For more information – and to get started – contact Judith at 847-267-1200 or judith@judithmatz.com
Does this describe you?
- You have been on at least one diet and regained the weight
- Eating and guilt go together
- Your mental energy is frequently taken up by thoughts of food and weight
- Eating has little or nothing to do with physical hunger
- The number on the scale determines whether you will have a “good” or “bad” day
- You believe that your life will be better when you become thinner
If you have been on at least one diet, lost and regained the weight, and are in the process of becoming aware that the failure is not your fault, you are a diet survivor!
It’s time to reclaim your life. Imagine:
- No longer spending your mental energy worrying about what you eat
- Feeling in charge of your eating
- Putting food in its proper place as a means of satiation and pleasure
- Being able to stop when you are satisfied
- Creating acceptance and practicing self-care
A Client’s Story:
“TODAY, I AM LIVING A VERY FULFILLING, SATISFYING, AND HAPPY LIFE WITHOUT THE BURDEN OF PREOCCUPATION WITH MY BODY AND WEIGHT…”
(please note the following “Your Voice” story was written in response to a national magazine’s request for an essay describing a book that changed your life.)
125. 116. 128. 133. 138. 148. 135. 142. 155. 165. 175…
6.4.2003 – the date the roller coaster ended.
I started my first diet at the age of 12 and spent the next 14 years of my life and endless amounts of energy dieting myself to obesity. With each new diet came dreams of a thinner and happier life filled with enriching experiences, inspiring relationships, and ultimate satisfaction. But inevitably, the end of each diet brought despair, hopelessness, feelings of worthlessness, body hatred, and ultimately, a few pounds more than before the diet started.
June 4, 2003 was the day that I first met Judith Matz, an author of the new book The Diet Survivor’s Handbook: 60 Lessons in Eating, Acceptance and Self-Care, and the day I got my life back. By the time I began working with Judith, I was so beat up from my years of dieting that the mere mention of food points, a food journal, or a nutrition label literally brought me to tears. I had tried everything – and I mean EVERYTHING! I was exhausted and worn down from staking my self-worth and self-esteem on my body size and appearance, only to be failed by every diet I tried. I knew I could NEVER face another diet again.
Through Judith, I came to realize that I had not failed in my years of dieting, but that my years of dieting had actually failed me. In fact, dieting itself was what had actually caused me to gain weight and to hate my body. With Judith’s help, I ventured down a path of learning to trust myself and my body, to eat intuitively and in tune with my body, and to appreciate my body – no matter its size and shape.
At first, I couldn’t even imagine what trusting my body and eating in tune with my body could possibly mean – it went against everything I had spent the last 14 years teaching myself. But, I came to realize that my body had its own way of letting me know when it was hungry and, that if I paid close attention, I could often tell which foods would best satisfy my hunger. The more I ate when I was hungry and the more I allowed myself to eat the foods that I was hungry for, an amazing thing happened – I began to eat less and less out of emotional need.
Perhaps the most important outcome, however, has been my new perspective on my body. Through Judith’s approach, I began to realize that the infinite amount of energy I was spending degrading my body in my own mind was incredibly detrimental to my own wellbeing. Every minute I spent thinking about how huge my stomach was or how gross I looked in the mirror was actually a minute that I could have spent doing something productive within myself or the world around me. I realized that I would never think about others the way I thought about myself, which seemed so unfair and destructive.
Today, through my work with Judith, I am eating much more in tune with my body’s needs. I eat when I am hungry, stop when I am satisfied, and eat a wide variety of foods, including those that were once off-limits during my diet days. I have learned to appreciate my body the way that it is and to find beauty in all body types. Ironically, because I am no longer depriving myself or spending so much time and energy hating my body, I have naturally stopped binging on food and my weight has stabilized. I may not be at my thinnest (I am also not at my heaviest), but most importantly, I appreciate and enjoy my body. It is amazing how many enriching experiences and inspiring relationships I have found by ending my preoccupation with food and my body and turning my attention to more productive aspects of my life.
The book The Diet Survivor’s Handbook: 60 Lessons in Eating, Acceptance and Self-Care and the approach articulated through the book have truly changed my life and allowed me to start living again. Though I began this approach long before the book was even written, it has had a profound impact on my life. Each chapter I read was like reading a chapter in my journey through dieting and ultimately through this approach. The book empathized with the pain I once felt and truly made me realize just how far I have come. Through this book, I realized that I am a diet survivor – I have made it, I have survived!
Today, I am living a very fulfilling, satisfying, and happy life without the burden of preoccupation with my body and weight – something I never thought I could do and something that never would have happened without the approach described in this book. I do not have words to express how amazing that feels.
