SUSAN ESTRICH

...on smart women dieting stupid 306k WAV audio file 969k QuickTime movie ...on the obsession with being thin 459k WAV audio file 1.4Mb QuickTime movie

BIBLIO-FILE

Susan Estrich is better known as a feminist and legal expert than a diet diva. She has written several books on law, including "Real Rape" (Harvard University Press, 1988) and "Getting Away with Murder: How Politics is Destroying the Criminal Justice System" (Harvard University Press, 1997). Her columns appear in USA Today, among other publications.

Estrich's latest book Making the Case for Yourself

Dieting tips from Estrich

1. Make a contract with yourself: Treat it like a work project 2. Cross-examine yourself: Turn eating into a decision, not just habit 3. Have sex: Feel good about your body and yourself

Activist Susan Estrich turns her book smarts to dieting

January 31, 1998
Web posted at: 12:15 p.m. EDT (1215 GMT)

(CNN) -- So the holidays are well past, and that New Year's resolution to lose weight may have fallen by the wayside ... again.

Amid the bevy of diet books intended to help comes one from an unlikely source -- Susan Estrich, a legal expert, Democratic political activist and syndicated columnist. It's called "Making the Case for Yourself: A Diet Book for Smart Women" (Putnam, 1997). And it's based on personal experience.

CNN's Daryn Kagan recently spoke with Estrich about her foray into the world of dieting advice. Here are some excerpts of their conversation:

KAGAN: Susan, I got to say with all due respect, you're a really smart lady -- law professor, author, legal commentator -- what do you know about writing a diet book?

ESTRICH: Thirty years worth of failure is what I know, dear, and I spent 30 years dieting, failing, reading books about dieting and acting like a teenager to be honest. I mean, I think like a lot of smart women; I was smart and competent and controlled in all the other areas of my life, and then I'd turn around and I would diet like a teenager. And when I finally lost the weight, I decided I was going to apply the same skills that had helped me in other areas to dieting, and that's what this book is about.

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KAGAN: ... You tell readers to make a contract with yourself.

ESTRICH: Dieting, like anything else we do, particularly those of us who are busy, is about making a commitment. It's about deciding that this isn't just sort of important, and then it ends up coming last at the end of the day. It's a real commitment. You make it a top priority. You treat it like you would your most important project at work, and that helps you succeed.

KAGAN: And then you also talk about cross-examining yourself. What -- you have to justify that cookie you want to eat in the middle of the night?

ESTRICH: ... Most of us who have weight problems all our lives, we don't make a conscious decision to stand in front of the refrigerator and eat a half a gallon of ice cream out of the carton. ... You do it unconsciously. Your hand reaches; you start eating. You don't even know what you're doing. After all, if you thought about it, you wouldn't do it.

So the idea here is that any diet will work if you stick to it. But to stick to it, you have to turn eating into a decision, and you have to go after all that unconscious eating and remind yourself that you really don't want that glob of fat and cream masquerading as a devilish donut.

KAGAN: And speaking of going for it, Susan, I notice in your book you say, "have sex."

ESTRICH: Have sex, have sex, feel good about your body, feel good about your yourself. I got a little bit of flack, dear -- you know, "What kind of feminist are you, writing a diet book, telling women to be thin? Aren't you just playing into men's notions?"

Well, I got to say that I feel better, I do better at everything, because I feel good about myself. And my husband has been one of the great beneficiaries of my diet.

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