Who We Are

O, Oprah Magazine Article About Binge Eating
Tells Story of A Weigh Out Coaching Client’s
Recovery From Binge Eating Disorder
and Emotional Eating

Founder & Coach Ellen Shuman tells how
A Weigh Out got included in the
O Magazine article

A few months ago I received a call from Emily Yoffe, a reporter who was writing a story about binge eating disorder for O, The Oprah Magazine. The impetus for the story was a 2007 Harvard University and McLean Hospital Study (Hudson and Pope) about the widespread incidence of binge eating disorder. According to the study, binge eating disrupts the lives of 3.5% of US women and 2% of US men for an average of eight years…which means binge eating disorder impacts more people than anorexia and bulimia combined.

I’m still amazed by how many people struggle with emotional eating and binge eating issues! Since most of us feel so alone and so full of shame when we use emotional eating to stuff our feelings, I find it heartening to know that research is finally identifying the true numbers and validating binge eating as a legitimate disorder worthy of research and treatment (rather than simple advising those of us who struggle with emotional eating to, “…use more willpower, eat less, exercise more…”

The O reporter had gotten my name and A Weigh Out’s phone number from Mary Boggiano, Ph.D, a psychologist and researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who studies the neurochemistry underlying binge eating behavior. Boggiano is also included in the article. While most of her studies are done with rats, Dr. Boggiano and I have published research that explores “chaotic eating behaviors” in humans with Binge Eating Disorder (Behavioral Medicine, 28, 99-105) and we are about to begin a new study that I can’t talk about, quite yet…details to come. Mary knows we provide telephone coaching services to emotional eaters and binge eaters all over the world. She knew I’d have access to people with binge eating disorder.

The O reporter asked me if I could find an A Weigh Out client who would be willing to be profiled in the article on binge eating disorder. I’ve gotten numerous requests like this over the years and I always find it a bit uncomfortable to approach clients with this question. Having told my own recovery story on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1992, I know it takes soul searching and guts to go public with a problem that held so much shame in years past. (Also, I never want my coaching clients to feel pressure to go public, just because I’m asking.) So, as always, I told the reporter that I would think about her request. I said if someone came to mind, I would contact that person and give him or her the reporter’s name and number. Then I put this request out of my mind because I had a coaching client calling in ad I needed to get ready for the session.

The client calling in at 8:45am was Barb L. I did not mention to Barb the call from the reporter. About 15 minutes into the call Barb was telling me about the trip she and her husband had just taken, how she was not the least bit food-focused while on this cruise. NOT AT ALL FOOD-FOCUSED ON A CRUISE! As a matter of fact, she did not overeat and when she returned, people at work commented that she looked like she had lost weight….on a cruise! Barb talked about how great she felt about her recovery and she said she wished there were a way she could share her experience with others who were still caught up in the pain of binge eating and shame. No kidding! This is EXACTLY how I found someone willing to tell her story to The Oprah Magazine article on binge eating disorder. (You know what they say about “no accidents”…)

If you’d like to learn more about what worked for Barb, what helped her recover from emotional eating and a binge eating disorder, I highly recommend the free telephone seminar I teach. If you’d like to learn more about it, click here.

FREE 1-Hour Telephone Seminar
"Conquering Emotional Eating!"

Also, to read about A Weigh Out, my experiences, including my appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show (see below), continue reading…

A Weigh Out's Purpose

A WEIGH OUT offers a way out of the self-defeating cycle of binge eating and emotional eating...and shame.

Dedicated to people who are tired of feeling out-of control with food, our mission at A Weigh Out is to provide cutting edge services (at an appropriate level of service) to people who live anywhere in the world; through Individual Telephone Coaching, Live Telephone Seminars, and Therapy (therapy is conducted in person, in Greater Cincinnati only).

A WEIGH OUT is a new paradigm founded by Ellen Shuman and developed at Acoria* Eating Disorder Treatment, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our parent company is WellCentered. Inc.

Since 1993, we have specialized in working with people who have "emotional eating" issues. Our program goals include improved emotional, nutritonal, physical, and spiritual health for emotional overeaters …and greater peace of mind for anyone who has struggled with a love/hate relationship with his or her body and with food.

Within this new framework, some people will choose to lose weight…while others will choose to live a life as full and healthy as possible... at whatever size is natural for their particular body. ("Choose" being the operative word here, rather than always feeling "bad" and "out-of control"!)

Ellen Shuman

I'm Ellen Shuman, director of A Weigh Out Life Coaching Programs and Acoria Eating Disorder Treatment. I bring to these efforts much passion and many resources; professional and personal. In addition to my Directorship and fulltime work as a trained Life Coach. I am the Co-Chair of the International Academy for Eating Disorders Special Interest Group on "Health at Every Size". I am actively involved in this new paradigm as both a researcher and a practitioner. Along with nueropsychologist Mary Boggiano, Ph.D, and the University of Cincinnati, we have published in the field of Binge Eating Disorder, in peer reviewed journals. We currently have a study underway with the psychology department at the University of Albany, Drew Anderson, Ph.D., and Deb Burgard, Ph.D.

In another life, prior to starting our eating disorder treatment programs in 1993, I was a journalist who concentrated heavily on health reporting. (My reporting on Binge Eating Disorder earned me the prestigious Clarion Award. Other journalism honors included a Peabody Award and numerous Emmy Awards.) I also share with visitors to this website and with people who take our free telephone seminar (and with my coaching clients), my own struggles with emotional overeating and a Binge Eating Disorder.

For most of my life, my weight fluctuated wildly, up and down. For many years, I just thought I had "a willpower problem". (Does that sound familiar to anyone?) It wasn't until I entered treatment at The Willough in Naples, Florida, that I began to learn the reasons why I overate…and I began to understand that weight was a symptom: not the problem. (My diagnosis when I entered treatment was "atypical" bulimia. That's because I binged, but I didn't purge. The truth is, the experts didn't yet have a name for the eating disorder that I had.)

Then They Named It
"Binge Eating Disorder"

In 1992 I was a special projects reporter at WCPO-TV, a network affiliate in Cincinnati. One day, as I was looking for story ideas, I happened upon a New York Times article about a new classification of eating disorder: "Binge Eating Disorder". I read the proposed diagnostic description. This was it! This was exactly what I had been struggling with most of my life. This very real problem was finally getting some recognition in the medical community. I wanted everyone to know that this was a legitimate eating disorder, not just "a willpower problem". So, I produced a series of news reports on the subject.

Why you can't stop eating: binge eating disorder

While I was working on my news series, "Why You Can't Stop Eating", I had a conversation with a former colleague of mine who then worked for The Oprah Winfrey Show. She mentioned that Oprah was planning a show on a related subject: Women's relationships with food. Since WCPO was an "Oprah station", and since local news departments are always looking for cross promotion opportunities for sweeps months, my bosses decided to air my project the very same week as Oprah's show.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be on The Oprah Winfrey Show talking about my own eating disorder. Here's how that happened...One day before the series was to air, I got a call from my former colleague. She said, "Oprah is trying out a new format called, 'A Conversation With Oprah'. There won't be any audience…just Oprah and seven women talking about their relationship with food. Would you like to be one of the women?"

"You're kidding", I said. Then she asked, "Would you be willing to talk to the show's producer?" About thirty seconds later the producer called and talked about how important it was to "get this subject out of the shadows". I had said almost the exact same words to every person whom I had convinced to appear on camera in my television series. After some consideration, I said yes.

At Oprah's studio in Chicago, seven hand picked guests and Oprah sat down and talked for three hours about the struggles we've had with food and weight. (Three hours would be edited down to an hour-long show. Then Oprah would have us all back the following week when she featured Geneen Roth and her book, "When Food Is Love".)

As the taping began, all eight of us were amazed at the immediate comfort we felt with each other. We knew we were in a room full of women who "got it", who understood the pain. Even with my television background, I lost track of the fact that there were cameras rolling.

Thank You To Oprah Winfrey
and The Oprah Winfrey Show!

After Oprah

It turned out this subject touched many more people than I could have ever imagined. The phone calls and letters I received immediately following the airing of the two Oprah Shows and my news series were incredible …in both number and content! (The whole experience was incredible!) Frankly, I didn't know what to do with all the people who contacted me. They were looking for help.

I started doing free seminars on Binge Eating Disorder at a local hospital. But information about binge eating just wasn't enough. People wanted to know how to change the patterns that were keeping them stuck. They wanted real help. So, I sought out others who were interested in designing treatment options… And, before I knew it I was learning everything I needed to know about running a Treatment Center.

The Acoria Eating Disorder Treatment began operation in 1993. (*Acoria is a word Hippocrates coined to mean "moderation in eating".) Today, Acoria psychologists work with all eating issues, with a specialty in binge eating problems.

Toward the end of the 1990's, I discovered "Coaching", both personally and professionally. Citing my research background, eating disorder treatment program development experience, and my personal knowledge of what it's like to have a binge eating disorder, my own coach encouraged me to go through a coach training program. I loved the training and my coaching clients and was hooked. I have been coaching and loving the work, for almost a decade now. To date, I have coached people in the US, Canada, France, Great Britain, Australia, Israel, and Trinidad and Tobago. Regardless of the longitude and lattitude, the pain associated with binge eating and emotional eating knows no boundaries. Feeling out-of-control feels bad, in any language!

Talk about "Change your life TV". When I look back, I am so grateful I knew someone who worked for Oprah. I am so grateful Oprah Winfrey had the courage and willingness to so openly share her own struggles around emotional eating. If it were not for my experiences on her show, it is very possible Acoria and A WEIGH OUT would not exist today . I'm very grateful! I also no longer believe in accidents!

THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVED!!!

Now Let Us Share With You What We Have Learned...

FREE 1-Hour Telephone Seminar
"Conquering Emotional Eating!"

For more information call (513) 321-4242
or email A WEIGH OUT.

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