Overweight now impacts 74.1% of American adults, and researchers have shown that physiological stress is the root cause of why overweight and overeating are so challenging to change. For example, Janet Tomiyana, PhD, wrote in her review of stress and obesity that "the evidence shows that a vicious cycle may be at play, whereby stress begets obesity,which begets stress, and so on. This positive feedback loop may be one reason why obesity rates remain high in the United States."

Dietitians are fully prepared to support patients in developing plans for eating and lifestyle, and the missing link for dietitians is a biological skills method of switching off stress. EBT offers a set of tools for dietitians to use to switch off physiological stress rapidly and over time, promote lasting changes in health, eating, and weight. With 12 studies conducted with dietitian providers supporting its effectiveness and all tools grounded in the latest sciences of neurophysiology and neuroplasticity, this method is equipped to enhance the success of dietitians in turning around the epidemic of overweight in America.

Dr. Laurel Mellin is a nutritionist, health psychologist, and internationally-recognized authority on obesity, disordered eating and stress eating. In addition, three EBT Master Trainers who have 10 to 15 years of experience applying EBT in a broad range of facilities and programs will present their experiences integrating EBT into their practices, including Deanne Hamilton, RD, MS, CDE, CSOWM, Robin Anderson, RD, and Eve Lowry, RD.

Dr. Mellin is the founder of Emotional Brain Training (EBT) and Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in nutrition from San Francisco State University and a PhD in health psychology and behavioral medicine from Northcentral University. Mellin is a New York Times bestselling author and researcher with more than 40 years as a registered dietitian. Her organization certifies nutritionists in EBT.

Since the pandemic, stress overload has impacted all Americans. By completing this certification, you will be able to think differently about eating and weight, and understand the impact of stress circuitry, with a range of ways that you can empower people to change their nutritional practices and weight. You will have an overarching system to draw upon that can be applied immediately with a technique that takes 1 to 3 minutes.

Whether you are treating a person with diabetes, pain, disordered eating, obesity, body image disparagement, situational stress overload, mindless eating or sugar addiction, you will have both a simple, science-based way to explain to them why they feel the way they do, and tools that can help them overcome these problems. The method was developed initially to treat childhood obesity and family overweight, and although it has been adapted to treat obesity and stress eating in adults, as well as the range of stress-induced problems, the tools have maintained their simplicity. Use our EBT app to guide your coaching, and between sessions, your patients can use it, too. They can switch off the stress that promotes overeating and weight gain and attain a level of balance and connection that makes it easier to eat healthy, lose weight, and maintain a healthy body size.

Dietitians and other health professionals who complete the training can request immediate access to audiotapes of patients learning the EBT tools. This way of learning the EBT personally (so you can teach from your own experiences) and professionally has been highly rated by dietitians, and you will have access to that "clinical session bank" for stress eating and obesity at no additional charge.

As an Certified EBT Coach, you will be part of the EBT professional community of health professionals who are addressing the stress pandemic and training patients in the tools to overcome common stress-induced health problems ranging from obesity, stress eating, and diabetes to community health promotion, emotional and behavioral health issues and chronic disease. Our provider community is warm, supportive, and collaborative in continuing to use neuroscientific skills to improve the health of our nation.