As a model, Chastity Garner was exposed to all the tricks of the fashion trade. When a knee injury ended her modeling career, Chastity began her own fashion consulting business, helping plus-size women learn how to shop and feel comfortable in their clothes and bodies. 

In The Curvy Girl's Guide To Style, Chastity shares the same tips, tricks, and fashion advice that she imparts on her clientele. 

Awesome endorsements from the world of fashion and plus-size modeling:

"Today's woman should always dress and see herself looking radiant. "The Curvy Girl's Guide to Style" gives you what you need to get there."
- Yuliya Raquel, Designer & Founder, IGIGI

"As full figured women we've been conditioned for so long into thinking that being stylish was such an unrealistic idea. It's time to undo the damage. Ladies are going to love this book, you can throw this book in your handbag and head to the boutiques."
- Fluvia Lacerda, Model

"This book is so cute. Curvy ladies are going to learn a lot about perfecting their personal style when they read it."
- Jasmine Elder, Designer & Founder, Jibri

From an early age, our culture tells us that losing weight and dieting are the keys to having it all. Whether it’s better health, a better body, or a better lover, we all learn that dieting will get us what we want faster than anything else.

Though we all want this to be true, if you’re like most dieters, then you know that dieting does not equal happiness. Not only that, dieting can result in lots of unintended effects, like weight gain, disordered eating, and low self esteem, just to name a few.

But there is a way out. 

In this breakthrough book, Golda Poretsky, HHC and More of Me to Love Mental Wellness Expert shows you why diets don’t work and how you can break free from dieting patterns that are holding you back from happiness.

When you read Stop Dieting Now!, you will come away with breakthrough insights and practical actions that you can take immediately to change your relationship with food and your body.

Here are just a few things that you will learn from this book:
* Why you can’t stick to diets (hint: it’s not about willpower).
* Simple techniques for letting go of food-related guilt and shame.
* Why you always seem to gain back the weight you lose from dieting.
* How old diet rules and habits can negatively interfere with your food choices, long after you stop dieting.
* How to avoid passing on dieting behaviors to your kids.
* The dangers behind “weighting” to be thinner before you make changes in your life.
* Real tools that support you in making peace with your body.
* And so much more . . .

Feed Me: Writers Dish About Food, Eating, Weight, and Body Image

Includes Essays by: Diana Abu-Jaber, Jane E. Brody, Amity Gaige, Joyce Maynard, Laurie Notaro, Whitney Otto, and others. Edited by Harriet Brown.

From the Book Cover

In our appearance-obsessed society, eating is about much more than hunger and sustenance. Food inspires pleasure and anxiety, shame and obsession. We are constantly judged on how we look, so we’ve come to judge ourselves (and others) on what and how we eat.

These evocative essays, from some of the most talented and popular writers working today, tackle this universal subject with humor, longing, and compassion. 

- Joyce Maynard writes about learning to make pie with her complex but adored mother. 
- Caroline Leavitt’s chilling piece describes the overlap between power and eating. 
- Ophira Edut explains how an outspoken “body outlaw” wound up on Jenny Craig. 
- Diana Abu-Jaber writes about abandoning her Bedouin customs for America’s silverware and table manners–and missing the physical, hands-on connection with food.

Exploring the bonds between appetite and remorse, hunger and longing, satisfaction and desire, this anthology is for every woman who’s ever felt guilty about eating dessert, or gushed over a friend’s weight loss, or wished she had a different body. 

From the Readers

"FEED ME! is a terrific collection of essays looking at thoughts and feelings about food and eating from a number of perspectives. They run the gamut from joyful to miserable, with all kinds of interesting stuff in between. Kate Harding contributes one of my favorites, that manages to come across as both cranky and charming. Any reader is bound to find plenty of food for thought!"
- A Mother in Washington, D.C.

From the Book Cover

The bad news: there probably isn’t a thin person inside you waiting to get out. But there just might be a happy, confident, awesome fat person in there – and this book will help you find her.

Bloggers Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby have lost count of how many diets they’ve been on. Between them, they’ve lost enough weight to make up a whole other person – a whole other fat person. But like almost all dieters, they always gained it back – so they finally decided it was time to activate Plan B. 

In Lessons from the Fat-o-Sphere/Screw Inner Beauty, they share how they came to quit starving themselves and like their fat bodies the way they are.

Marianne and Kate know that ‘fat’ doesn’t equal disgusting. Or lazy. Or undisciplined. Or stupid. Instead, it’s just the single most efficient description of bodies that aren’t, well, thin. So it’s time to reclaim both the word and the reality – to give up on what they call ‘The Fantasy of Being Thin’, and trade it in for ‘The Realistic Prospect of Being Happy with Who You Are’.

What the Readers Thought

"This book is funny, witty, engaging, and most of all educational. As the authors say, a lot of what the book is about seems like common sense, but it's so hard to start thinking that way about your body, especially for women. Whether you are are fat or not, whether you are a chronic dieter or not, this book is really fabulous for helping you let you of your self-hate and starting to accept yourself and your body for who and what they are. I hope it's a trend that catches on with more women in media."
- R.C. Gold from New Jersey

From the Book Cover:

A touching, tender and at times funny account of a woman's struggle for stature in a 4 foot 8.5 inch tall body, Beyond Measure speaks to the heart of soul-breaking attempts to fit an arbitrary and elusive cultural ideal of physical perfection. Being short isn't the problem, Ellen Frankel insists. Instead, the real difficulties lie in the social bias against short people.

Ellen shares the difficulties of living short in a world in which stereotypes are based on gender and size. She moves beyond her own experience into the political realm in revealing how pharmaceutical companies - with government backing - are expanding the market for human growth hormone treatment by reclassifying healthy short children as patients in 'need' of such injections in hopes of making them taller.

She shares the dilemma of being subjected to simultaneous messages that her physical body should be bigger - that is, taller, but not wider - while her expansive spiritual body should be smaller. As a result of too much attention on the external rather than the internal workings of the soul, Ellen flirts with eating disorders and unhealthy relationships with powerful males in an attempt to compensate for her feelings of not "measuring up." In the process, her real self slips farther away.

The path out of her dilemma lies in the shadow of the tallest mountain on Earth. It is through a spiritual pilgrimage to Nepal that Ellen discovers her own strength and spirit, and that we are all dwarfed by Everest and beyond measure.

"If you have ever measured your height or weight and felt good or bad about yourself as a result, you need this book. In its pages, Ellen Frankel makes an important contribution to human liberation by telling the most fabulous story that can be told, the story of a person coming fully into her own. This book is thought-provoking, heart-rending, and a genuine solace for people of all sizes."
- Marilyn Wann, author of FAT!SO?

A handsome stranger comes to the aid of a full-figured divorcee in Dangerous Curves - but what does he really want? 

A young woman learns the cost of trying to be someone - and some size - she's not in "Freedom." 

Bountiful women learn there may be more to their handsome new bosses than they suspected in "Misconceptions" and "Playboy." 

Dig into these and other juicy stories for a healthy serving of entertainment and a reminder that love comes in all sizes. 

Praise for Dangerous Curves Ahead

"This is one for all of us Plus Size gals to drool over....a fun read!"
- Suzanne Coleburn, The Belles and Beaux of Romance website

Hanna's mother and brother, who also live at Rockwell Place, are desperately afraid they're going to lose their home and allowance. Their constant nagging at Hanna to find someone to marry has driven her to challenge them.

"Start planning the wedding, Mother. And Will, you find the groom. And I'll get married on my 30th birthday!"

Feeling confident that her plan will never work, Hanna is dismayed when Will announces that Matt Corbett has agreed to marry her.

The Matt Corbett? The has-been rock star who was her teen-age idol? No way!

Matt Corbett can't believe the string of events that has led him to decide to marry a stranger. But he's determined to get back on his feet. And he's determined to make his former manager pay dearly for getting him in the financial ruin that he's in. Yes, he'll marry Hanna Rockwell so he'll have a place to live, just long enough to jump-start his country music career.

But he hadn't counted on falling in love with her.

Praise for Wanted: One Groom

"Finally, realistic heroines!... I was delighted by the book, and had a hard time putting it down. Ms. Ballard paints her characters with a vivid brush - I even found myself daydreaming about Hanna! this book proves that all women are beautiful, not just what Hollywood considers beautiful."
- Rick Bentsen from Anaheim, CA

One party. One wild night in her entire life and Faith Carr winds up pregnant! What were the odds? And what were the odds of finding out that the handsome stranger who'd gotten her pregnant had only made love to her because of a stupid bet! And now he didn't want anything to do with her or the baby that was growing inside her.

Edward Brenner knew as soon as he saw Faith Carr that he would love her. But he also knew he had many obstacles to overcome. She'd been hurt. She'd been frightened and made to distrust all men. She was scared and vulnerable. And she was pregnant with his brother's child.

Tune into your body's expert guidance. Find the joy in movement. Eat what you want, when you want, choosing pleasurable foods that help you feel good. You too can feel great in your body right now - andHealth at Every Size will show you how.

Health at Every Size has been scientifically proven to boost health and self-esteem. The program was evaluated in a government-funded academic study, its data published in well-respected scientific journals. 

Health at Every Size is not a diet book. Read it and you will be convinced the best way to win the war against fat is to give up the fight.

Prince Siddhartha, raised behind palace walls and showered with every extravagance, abandoned his protected life to embark on a spiritual journey. He ultimately reached enlightenment and became known as the Buddha, which means "one who is awake." He then spent his life teaching that all have the potential to awaken...

Meet Syd Arthur! Living in the cloistered world of suburbia, Syd is a middle-aged Jewish woman who is potentially awake, but likes to start her day with a strong cup of coffee, just in case. Her daughter has just left for college and her diet is once again off track. While for most of her life she's been convinced that happiness can be attained by a magic number on the bathroom scale — or a really great shopping day at Bloomingdale's—she finds herself in the grocery store with an empty cart wondering if there just might be something more.

When East unexpectedly meets West, Syd embarks on a journey as a spiritual seeker. Soon she's in over her chakras as her search takes her from yoga studio to meditation hall to ashram gift store to the pages of Zensational catalogue. Her Mah Jongg group insists it's merely a midlife crisis. But nothing's going to stop Syd's journey toward Nirvana—not even the hottest sale at Nordstrom's. Follow Syd as she finds her bliss and discovers a richness that rivals a Godiva truffle, making for one delicious enlightenment.

From the Book

"What do you wear to the meditation center?" I had asked Montana. "I mean, when I go to temple, I usually wear a suit. Sometimes a pantsuit, but mostly a skirt and a blazer."

"Okay, you definitely don't need to wear a suit, Syd. Just wear something comfortable to sit in. And I promise you Om Guru is not about the clothes. No one cares what you wear. People there are concerned about the inner you, about your journey to realize and meet the Self."

I thought for a minute and then said, "So let me ask you it this way. When I meet my Self, should I meet her in country club casual or something more dressy?"

Praise for Syd Arthur

“Every once in a while you read a book that provides you with such a deep connection to the story’s heroine that you wish she would simply step out of the pages and become your best friend (think Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones, or Jennifer Weiner’s Cannie Shapiro). 

Ellen Frankel’s Syd Arthur joins their leagues with her warm sense of humor, acute eye for social nuance, and infinitely relatable search for meaning in her life. Buy a few copies—I guarantee you’ll want to share ‘Syd’ with the readers in your life!” 
- Wendy Shanker, author of Are You My Guru? How Medicine, Meditation & Madonna Saved My Life

"Syd Arthur's journey toward enlightenment is a laugh-out-loud adventure full of wit and wisdom. This book will touch your spirit and funny bone, awaken your senses, and nourish your soul."
- Joan Borysenko, author of the New York Times bestseller Minding the Body, Mending the Mind

"A tour de force! This remarkable novel is full of humor, Buddhist wisdom, and Yiddishkeit. Art awakens us to new ways of seeing and being, and this novel is like an alarm clock."
- Lama Surya Das, author of the New York Times bestseller Awakening the Buddha Within

"...a truly touching book with great spiritual insights to carry you long after the last page has been turned."
- Rabbi Baruch HaLevi, Congregation Shirat Hayam, Swampscott, Massachusetts

"For those who came away from EAT PRAY LOVE with indigestion and an itch for something more substantial than a fluffernutter, I prescribe SYD ARTHUR. This too is the story of a woman who loves food, has all the accoutrements of a completely pampered American life and embarks on a quest for self-knowledge and nirvana....The protagonist Syd Arthur's funny, touching, and completely credible quest has more chutzpah and panache and less self-importance than EPL and others of the memoir/novel/spiritual quest genre. Frankel does a great job weaving philosophy into the action of the book. One comes away feeling the story is grounded in reality....all in all this is a very satisfying read."
- Karen Blomain, author of A Trick of Light & The Season of Lost Children

Written and performed by Marcia Kimmell, Deah Schwartz and Anne Wilford, LEFTOVERS enjoyed a run on Off-Broadway in New York, appeared in the Peoples’ Theater Festival, the National Women’s Theater Festival, and received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA). 

The stage performance ran for several years on the West Coast in small black-box theaters, as well as more niche performances for women’s groups, eating disorders groups, colleges and universities.

Every performance brought an outpouring of emotion – laughter, tears, and some shocking moments of self-recognition. The outspoken truth, told with humor, truly reached people, brought personal issues to the surface and stimulated audience discussion. 

Several years after the final live show, the cast reunited to do a revival of the performance for the DVD which is now available for sale!

The DVD is great for viewing by:
- Individuals looking to better understand themselves
- Groups hoping to stimulate discussion on the topics of eating disorders, body image and addictions
- General audiences interested in a humorous and poignant theater piece

Order your copy of LEFTOVERS today!

Keep your friends, family, community or patients engaged with this unique multi-media, multi-modality approach. 

Each session incorporates a scene from “LEFTOVERS: The Ups and Downs of a Compulsive Eater,” paired with a set of exercises designed to encourage insight and healing.

Who should use LEFTOVERS?

- Therapists and facilitators treating patients with eating disorders. 
- Hospitals and clinics with programs on women’s health and addiction. 
- Educators training therapists and other healthcare professionals. 
- Community centers hoping to deal with complex issues related to women's bodies
- Friends and families who are tired of dieting and hurting from body dissatisfaction and who want to learn to heal together
- Anyone looking for effective content to stimulate discussion on food addiction, body image, and eating disorders.

How will I use the LEFTOVERS materials?

Help those in your Leftovers Group make real breakthroughs and achieve real change in their lives. You’ll be encouraging participants to examine attitudes and patterns of behavior related to food and body image using a variety of creative arts therapies (art, drama, music, writing, movement, recreation, etc.) — all while working toward the goal of self-acceptance at any size.

You get 16 sessions you can use immediately — run as a full course, or incorporate the most relevant topics into your current practice. Either way, the prep work is done — simply gather the materials listed and you’re ready to go!

Here’s what’s included:

1. A DVD of “LEFTOVERS: The Ups and Downs of a Compulsive Eater.”

2. A complete facilitator binder, including a step-by-step outline and list of materials for each session, copies of all worksheets and homework assignments, tips for facilitators and helpful information on using expressive arts techniques and group process.

- A CD with PDFs of all worksheets is also available!

3. Five sets of participant materials, including worksheets for in-session and homework exercises.

- Additional sets of participant materials are also available and can be ordered separately in groups of five.

4. Participant binders to store completed worksheets and other notes.


The LEFTOVERS Workbook/DVD set was developed by Education Through Therapeutic Arts (ETTA) founders Deah Schwartz Ed.D., CTRS, and Anne Wilford, M.A. MFT — each with 20+ years experience in therapy, education, and improvisational theatre. They developed this curriculum to help educators, therapists and facilitators break through old barriers with new, creative approaches in a simple, easy-to-run format that will keep both you and your participants engaged.

LET THE HEALING BEGIN! ORDER THE WORKBOOK/DVD SET NOW

Please note that this is NOT a weight loss program, and should not be presented as such.

Are you tired of conforming to wretched diets and brutal workouts? 

Abigail Avery was falsely convicted of the murder of her father and sent to prison when she was only eighteen years old. The supposedly good citizens of Leaky Springs, Mississippi were silent as an innocent young woman was orphaned, accused, swiftly tried and locked away. Her only clue in the travesty of justice is that a bunch of crooked "good ole boys"—headed by the judge who presided at her trial—keep pestering her to sell the family farm.

Jen believes fat girls like her don't find love--but at her best friend's wedding these beliefs are put to the test.

Middle-aged widow Tricia thought she had to be content living solo. Then she met Harry.

Bev ran away with the "bad boy" as a teenager, only to find out that fantasy and reality are vastly different. Twenty years later, can she recapture the love she threw away?

Lori has long fantasized about meeting sexy-voiced Dan, one of her clients at the answering service. Will she break the rules and find true love?

Karen has kissed a lot of frogs, but not yet met her prince. A chance encounter might change her life―if she's willing to throw caution to the wind.

Judy Bagshaw is a retired elementary schoolteacher and writer in Southern Ontario, Canada. Much of her work features plus-sized characters leading rich and active lives, just as she does.

A new weight-loss clinic in New York has an offer for you - give them $5000 and they'll make you as thin as a supermodel. You can eat whatever you want and you'll never gain an ounce. Tempted? Fledgling journalist Karen Sumner would be - if only she had $5000.

When Karen finally walks through the blue and gold doors of The Program, however, she's on the trail of the hottest story of her career. If she and her friends are right, The Program is doing something even worse than creating an army of unnaturally thin women.

Praise for The Program
 
"Brilliant! I recommend The Program to every woman who feels insecure about her body because she thinks she weighs too much. In fact, I recommend The Program to every woman! Charlie Lovett has managed to weave romance, intrigue, suspense and mystery into this story while clearly depicting the insecurities of women who don't like their bodies and how far they will go to become what they think (or society tells them) is the 'perfect woman."
- Pat Ballard, author of Dangerous Curves Ahead and 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are)

Ava came to FatLand after her lover died from bariatric surgery. She threw herself into work, believing she was immune from love. Then she saw a beautiful dancer and lost her heart again.

Alvin and Reevie thought that by living in FatLand they could give their children and each other a chance for a life free of sizeism and racism. They didn't count on their lovely twin daughters' curiousity and yearing for excitement and danger.

Joanne and Ed carved out what they thought was a peaceful existence. But their bright children are anything but happy in the well-appointed home and tranquil life their parents had created in FatLand.

Well-to-do, attractive and sophisticated, Dara and Sandor thought they could make the FatLand Board dabce to whatever tune they wished. But their way of life and beliefs are about to be tested more severely than either of them could have imagined.

Dreaming and determined, luscious Margaret fled to FatLand after her rich, powerful paramour married a thin woman he didn't care for. She made a deal with her devil so she could publish the top flight newspaper FatLand badly needed. But then the devil called in the cards.

Soon these FatLanders and the freedom fighters on the Other Side will face forces threatening the health and happiness of all.

Whether you are recently returning to exercise or recovering from an “illness, injury or surgery,” this workout will get you going safely and comfortably. It’s designed for anyone of any size, age or experience level.

This 9th book by Pat Ballard is a series of reflections about Pat's life, family, body images. It's inspirational and best of all, a FREE ebook.

Simply add this item to your cart to have the PDF emailed to you after completing your order.

Pat Ballard, the Queen of Rubenesque Romances, shares the Steps she created - and used - to heal the damage of years of dieting.