Could it be that you’re overweight because your body is actually starving? Anti-diet activist and weight-loss guru Jon Gabriel says it’s possible.

Weighing in at more than 400 pounds, Gabriel decided to stop battling his own body and start listening to what it was trying to tell him. Why did he crave so many calories? Why was he so hungry, when his body was obviously substantial?

It turns out, his body did have something to say. Gabriel listened, lost more than 220 pounds, and decided to share his wisdom with others. In his groundbreaking book, The Gabriel Method, he explains how to determine your body’s actual needs—emotionally, physically and nutritionally. Don’t think about what you can’t eat, Gabriel advises. Don’t even count calories. Simply focus on feeding your body what it needs—your body will take care of the rest.

“Most of what I used to crave was not really food. It was nothing but sugar and artificial flavors,” explains Gabriel. “So, in actuality, one of the reasons I was hungry all the time was that I was starving for nutrients… even though I weighed more than 400 pounds and even though there were many days I ate more than 5,000 calories, I was, nonetheless, starving nutritionally.”

Through his own experience, Gabriel demonstrated that it’s not about how much you eat, but rather, how well you listen. The rest is a cakewalk.

To learn more about Jon Gabriel and The Gabriel Method, visit BeyondWord.com.