The reasons we lose weight and keep it off are much more complex — and remarkable — than we've been led to believe.
Deborah Kesten, MPH
Nutrition Researcher • Founder, Whole Person Integrative Eating ®
Demystifying optimal eating
Hello! I’m Deborah Kesten, international nutrition researcher, author, and educator—specializing in how the food choices you make each day shape your health, weight, and well-being.
Since serving as Nutritionist on Dean Ornish, MD’s landmark clinical trial for reversing heart disease—then as Director of Nutrition on similar Lifestyle Medicine research in European cardiovascular clinics—I’ve seen more and more of us struggle with overeating, weight gain, and other diet-linked conditions—from heart disease and diabetes to depression, and more.
This concern led my husband, behavioral scientist Larry Scherwitz, PhD, and me to decades of research on overeating and overweight, with thousands of research participants.
What we discovered: replacing today’s new-normal overeating styles we identified with the physical, emotional, spiritual, and social “ingredients” of our Whole Person Integrative Eating (WPIE) program can lead to eating less and weighing less.
Without dieting.
What is Whole Person Integrative Eating?
Our research identified today’s 7 new-normal overeating styles—each strongly linked to overeating and being overweight or obese.
And their antidotes: the 7 pillars of Whole Person Integrative Eating.
In our original research with 5,256 people, those who replaced their overeating styles with the 7 pillars of WPIE ate less and weighed less. Without dieting.
It is an evidence-based path to eating well for life—sustainable, pleasurable, diet-free.
AN INVITATION
Getting Started…
Whether you want insights into your own relationship to food and eating, or you want to bring WPIE to the people you serve and work with, here are some options to get started.
Discover why you overeat
Take the What’s Your Overeating Style? Self-Assessment Quiz and identify your overeating styles.
Explore the complete program
Discover the science and practice of Whole Person Integrative Eating in the award-winning book: Whole Person Integrative Eating.
Bring WPIE to your clients and patients
Learn the knowledge, skills, and practical strategies to use WPIE with clients and patients—and yourself.
In the Media
Whole Person Integrative Eating® has been featured in research journals, magazines, and video and podcast interviews — reflecting growing interest in a comprehensive, science-based approach to eating well, weighing less, and enhancing health. Without dieting.
May you always be nourished,
