Have you noticed that no matter what we eat, how much we weigh or exercise, that feeling of lack, emptiness, the unquenchable thirst for more, eventually takes over? The Buddha observed that the source of suffering comes from craving and the mismanagement of desire. He also observed how to satisfy physical and emotional feelings of hunger and lack that are part of the human condition.
Ronna Kabatznick is a social psychologist who has been practicing meditation since 1985. She spent nearly two years on a Vipassana meditation retreat under the guidance of two of Thailand's greatest Forest Masters. She is the author of The Zen of Eating: Ancient Answers to Modern Weight Problems and a board member of The Center for Mindful Eating, a web-based organization designed to help educate professionals about Mindful Eating. An assistant clinical professor in the department of psychiatry at UCSF, her Berkeley-based private practice focuses on helping people with depression, weight and relationship issues.