In this week's edition of HealthWorld's ongoing interview with Kat James, author of the acclaimed new book, The Truth About Beauty, we ask Kat to share a few of the strategically transforming beverage and food upgrades featured in the book, on her Total Transformation® Cruise and in her upcoming appearance on TBS, November 29th (11am EST, 11am PST, 10am Central, 9am Mountain).

A self-proclaimed "informed layman," James' rare personal perspective on self-transformation and real (as opposed to merely apparent) victory over an eating disorder has given her insight into compulsive self-sabotage — and freedom from it — beyond what most doctors and nutritionists can grasp. As someone who actually transformed herself beyond recognition (beyond dropping ten dresses, she reversed a serious liver disorder, chronic eczema and myriad other problems, in addition to banishing a twelve-year eating disorder) she has faithfully translated her principles, and the copious medical references that now support it, into a book and a cruise experience that are as exciting to experience as they are physically rewarding. (To see pictures of Kat's transformation, click here).

HealthWorld: Kat, in our previous interview questions you've explained everything from the concept of "denatured lifestyles" to the biochemical and emotional issues that drive our self-sabotage and vices - even when we know what is best for us. But specifically, where does one begin, if they want to pursue your "process of shedding" the physical burdens that have been keeping them stuck and preventing their own vitality and radiance from emerging?

Kat James: At the beginning of The Truth About Beauty, the very first chapters start the reader's process of shedding not only their mindset - by peeling away any of the remaining myths that go against our most self-affirming instincts - but the shrouds of disinformation that keep us on the "merry-go-round" of problem-causing solutions. But changing our heads is only the first step to transforming our lives and our reflections.

Many think of transformation as a spiritual awakening, a career milestone or a rite of passage. But what may transform us the most is how we treat ourselves materially -day in and day out - when no one (and often, not even us) is paying attention. Transformation is in the details. While we are thinking about our relationships, our business meetings or social obligations, we are often unwittingly (or intentionally, in the case of compulsive self-sabotage) engaging our bodies in actions that our bodies perceive as an out and out assault. This could be a beverage we are drinking, a harsh or toxic product we are slathering or spraying on every day, a drug we take, the water we are showering in, or even the air we are breathing.

Everyone is different, with different things challenging them materially. That is why my book takes readers through a "Dawn-to-Dusk Self-Inventory and Self-Evaluation" which is perhaps the most brutally revealing and objective look at how your body perceives your quality of life, and of course this has nothing to do with how much money you make, how many gadgets you own or even how much you spent at the cosmetics counter. After taking the Self-Inventory and the Self-Evaluation and pinpointing possible acts of self-sabotage, one can narrow down what to address first by identifying the easiest things to change, and then, the changes that will have the biggest payoffs, because they are habits we engage in most frequently. Habits or actions that have been based on poor information - which I call acts of unwitting self-sabotage- are the easiest habits to change. Only new information is needed, and readers will get that in the book. Auto-pilot habits engaged in most frequently every day will have the greatest short and long-term physical payoffs, once they are reprogrammed.