One of my recurrent fantasies has been to have daily contact with my clients, book readers, message board members, and blog audience, and I’m excited to share with you that I’ve finally found a way to do it. I’ve created a confidential, free Facebook-only app called APPetite which will keep a virtual me near you every minute of every day. Well, perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but APPetite will place my ideas, suggestions and advice within easy reach whenever you want them.

APPetite is the first Facebook application to help you create a positive relationship with food through a private Facebook journal and scheduled coaching prompts. There are three components to APPetite. First, in-the-moment advice is emailed to you daily via Facebook to keep you motivated and get you over the food bumps in your day. After completing a confidential profile about your eating habits, challenges and goals, you will receive a daily prompt (a tip, suggestion, piece of advice, question, or point for reflection) that will help you make wise decisions involving your most vulnerable food challenges. For example, if mindless afternoon snacking is a habit you want to break, then that’s when you’ll receive your prompt. Or perhaps you want to change your pattern of overeating at dinner or failing to eat breakfast. You decide when you want to be alerted by an email, and you’ll have my advice via prompt at your fingertips.

Another component of APPetite is a journal with pre-selected questions for you to write about—on emotions, stressful situations, body image, appetite cues, and a host of other areas that will help you become a “normal” eater. Just jot down your thoughts in your personal Facebook journal in response to a prompt or any old time you feel the need to think via writing. Your previous journal entries will be available for you to browse through whenever you want to reread them to assess patterns and progress. A third component of APPetite is links to resources such as my books, message board, and blogs so you’ll always be connected to me and to people like you who are putting their best efforts into creating a positive relationship with food without dieting and deprivation.

If you like APPetite and find it valuable, please tell your friends, colleagues, and family about it. It really is like no other app—no calorie calculators, no food or activity logs, no diet tips. Just the wisdom I’ve tried to pass on to you about mindful eating, focusing on food and not weight, taking extremely good care of yourself, cultivating self-compassion, and creating balance in your life. Click here to register for  "APP-etite on Facebook"