Even Goby fish do it.

Dieting, that is.

Why, you may ask? You’d think that dieting would be a death sentence for a tiny osteichthyes, no bigger than a bloated paper clip. But some goby fish see slimming down as survival.

Anyone who’s tried dieting has been lambasted with the concept of “willpower.” It’s a voice in your head that barks, “don’t eat this and that or you’ll get fat.” In the case of eating disorders, willpower also translates to willing yourself not to binge or purge or restrict.

That may sound like the right approach to healing. But if you think about willpower this way, healing is submitting to a punitive, parental force that tells you “don’t” when some other child-like part of you says "do." Maybe not such a good healing tactic.