Think Thin To Get Thin.(Judith Beck, psychologist and author of The Beck Diet Solution)(Interview)

Byline: Anne Underwood

At 5 feet 3 and 116 pounds, Judith Beck doesn't look like a threat to anyone. But America's junk-food peddlers should be afraid--very afraid--of this gentle, soft-spoken psychologist. Her new book, "The Beck Diet Solution," could help dieters swear off their Doritos once and for all. That's because it's perhaps the best diet book ever to focus on the psychology of permanent weight loss. In short, it doesn't tell you what foods to eat or avoid. Instead, it tells you how to stick to a healthy eating plan of your own choice--for good--by changing the way you talk to yourself when confronted with temptation, cravings and the inevitable dietary lapses. Beck spoke with NEWSWEEK's Anne Underwood. Excerpts:

UNDERWOOD: How did you develop this plan?

BECK: It's based on cognitive therapy, which my father, Dr. Aaron Beck, developed in the 1960s as a treatment for depression. Since then, CT has also been used for anxiety, substance abuse, insomnia and many other problems. It helps you recognize and change self-defeating thoughts and behaviors. I began using it for weight loss 20 years ago with several psychiatric patients who also wanted to lose weight. Using CT, I've lost 15 pounds myself and kept it off for more than 10 years.

Oscar Wilde once wrote, "I can resist everything except temptation." How do you learn?

On the first day, you write on a card a list of the reasons why you want to lose weight. Note how important each reason is to you. You will read that card twice a day for a very long time to rehearse these ideas. Later, when you're tempted by a chocolate-chip cookie, you can say, "I want that cookie, but I would rather lose weight and be healthier, feel better, wear a size 10"--whatever your reasons are.

You say never to eat standing up. Why not?