Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way and The Vein of Gold is an award winning journalist, writer, theologian and poet, who has written for most major national publications including The New York Times, LA Times, Rolling Stone, Chicago Tribune, and The Village Voice. She was also a contributing editor to American Film Magazine for many years. She has written television, films, plays and short stories and, though primarily a working artist, she is internationally known for her work on creativity.

Writing since the age of 18, Cameron has had an accomplished, distinguished, and extensive journalism career, and her credits include writing on the arts for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. At age 23, Cameron was already writing features and book criticism for the Washington Post and later covered arts as a special correspondent for The Chicago Tribune for several years.

She wrote for Rolling Stone and New York magazine, during their most influential years, and was cited in Time for her Watergate coverage in Rolling Stone. Hand-picked by legendary editor Jim Bellows, she wrote an OpEd column for the Los Angeles Times Herald Examiner. Cameron has been a frequent columnist and contributor to Vogue, Mademoiselle, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, Savvy, Cosmopolitan, and others, and has been a contributing editor for American Film magazine for more than a decade.

From the popular workshops on unlocking creativity and living from the creative center she has taught for two decades came her book THE ARTIST'S WAY (Tarcher/Putnam), which has become an international best-seller, published in a dozen languages with worldwide sales of over 1 million copies.

She has taught THE ARTIST'S WAY workshops to such places as the Smithsonian, The New York Times, Omega, Esalin, the Open Center, Interface, Wisdom House, and many others. As a result of her workshops and book, THE ARTIST'S WAY, creativity groups have formed across America, and throughout the world, from the jungles of Panama to the Outback of Australia.

Name: Julia Cameron

Birthday: 3/4/48

Location: New York, N.Y.

Website: http://www.theartistsway.com/ 

Diet Detective: Hello Julia, so glad you're able to do an interview, I know the readers are excited to hear what you have to say – especially about the spiritual side to dieting. Years ago, I interviewed you for my first book: Breaking the Pattern, and it was truly wonderful and insightful information. I guess my first question would be why and how would you write a diet book? It seems so contrary to the way you live your life—tell us about it please?  

Julia:  I wrote a diet book because I needed a diet book. I had gained 40 pounds due to some medication that I was prescribed. Every time I told the doctor "I can't bear the weight," he replied, "you do need to take the medicine." I finally was so desperate to have my "self" back that I prayed for a solution. That is when I realized I already had the tools that were necessary. I had been teaching creative unblocking for twenty-five years, and often the physical change in my students was startling. It was quite possible to write yourself right-sized.

Diet Detective: Do you believe that most people can write themselves to a better life? What is it about the writing that helps someone overcome adversity—what's the process?  

Julia:  Yes, I definitely believe that writing is a transformational tool. It puts the writer in touch with the ebb and flow of their own life. Somehow, putting it on the page in black and white allows people to see more clearly what they are up to. I believe that the term "enlightenment" is accurate on a number of levels. Three pages of longhand, morning writing effectively "lights up" the writer's life. Denial is no longer possible. Change is at hand.

Diet Detective:   Can you explain the relationship between creativity and eating to reveal a crucial equation: creativity can block overeating? 

Julia:  Using our creativity makes us more spiritually fit. We are more resilient than we know. When we take pen to paper instead of spoon to mouth, we are often rewarded by insights and intuitions. It is very difficult to behave self-destructively when we are monitoring our own behavior through Morning Pages and the Food Journal.

Diet Detective: In your book you suggest using journaling to examine a reader's relationship with food-and to ward off unhealthy overeating --- how will readers learn to treat food cravings as invitations to evaluate what they are truly craving in their emotional lives?   

Julia:  When we get current with ourselves through Morning Pages and get current about our eating through the use of the Food Journal, we often become aware of patterns that are self-destructive. We become more authentically honest with ourselves, and we start asking the question "What's eating me?" instead of "What can I eat?" I had a destructive pattern of nighttime eating. This pattern became crystal clear to me through using a food journal. I began to ask myself, "What am I trying to evade or avoid?" The truth is that I was lonely, and the Food Journal pointed the way toward greater self-knowledge and better self-care.

Diet Detective: Is it always something else we're craving? What about just being hungry and enjoying the food we're eating? Where does the enjoyment and pleasure of eating come into your concept?  

Julia:  Most diets are about deprivation-- "I can't have this, or this, or that." The Writing Diet asks you to undertake weight loss as an adventure. Most particularly, the Culinary Artist Date serves to focus on delight rather than deprivation. The Culinary Artist Date teaches us to enjoy and appreciate what we're eating. The Four Questions focus us on changing the content of our refrigerators for the better. 

Diet Detective: What if you're not the journaling type? Are there other ways to accomplish "The Writing Diet?" 

Julia:  No. The Writing Diet requires writing, but it is certainly not only for writers. I would suggest that everyone try writing, especially if they're "not the journaling type." Sometimes when we most strongly resist a tool, it is because it will give us the greatest payoff.

Diet Detective: If you could eat one unhealthy food (candy, cakes, etc..) whenever you wanted without gaining weight, what would it be?  

Julia:  Gingersnaps from Bunny's Bakery.

Diet Detective: What's your favorite breakfast?  

Julia:  One cup of fresh sliced strawberries and 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese with splenda and cinnamon. And lots of strong espresso with fat free half and half.

Diet Detective: Do you have time to do physical exercises (e.g., walking, bicycling, etc…)? What do you do?  

Julia:  I believe that everyone can make the time for exercise, and should. Although I resist every appointment, I have a personal trainer who I work out with three times a week. I am always glad I did the workout once it is over, and I find that my resistance centers on getting started. Additionally, I walk outside for at least 20 minutes every day.

Diet Detective: What's your favorite healthy ingredient? What's the one thing you'd suggest people keep in their kitchen if they want to cook healthy meals? 

Julia:  Bottled water, seltzer water, a water filter, tap water if it's good in your area-- whatever will make you want to drink water. I mix filtered water with a little unsweetened cranberry juice, and I drink lots of it.

Diet Detective: What do you consider the world's most perfect food? [Please be specific and try not to answer with a category but rather with a specific food item: for example, not "whole grain" but "raisin bran cereal"?] 

Julia:  Berries--blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries.

Diet Detective: Which person do you respect most, or who motivates you? And why? 

Julia:  I am a great admirer of writer Tim Farrington. His book, "The Monk Downstairs," inspired my new novel, "Mozart's Ghost." I take his books on book tour with me. I find them more satisfying than room service.

Diet Detective: What do you do to reduce stress/relax/center your mind? Do you participate in an organized relaxation activity such as yoga, meditation or tai chi?  

Julia:  What I do is Morning Pages. I have been doing them daily for twenty-five years. They keep me grounded, centered, focused and optimistic.

Diet Detective: What's your favorite health book and why?  

Julia:  I don't have one favorite book, but I like the realism and honesty of the South Beach Diet book, and I like the clarity of True Balance by Sonia Choquette.

Diet Detective: What's the most bodacious chance you've ever taken? 

Julia:  I wrote and directed a feature film, "God's Will," and I started writing music at age forty-five.

Diet Detective: What was your worst summer job?  

Julia:  My worst--and best-- summer job was schooling thoroughbred race horses into hunters.

Diet Detective:  What did you want to be at the age of 5? (as far as a career)? 

Julia:  I wanted to raise and train horses.

Thank you!!!!

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