Product Description

The best-selling author of Feeding the Hungry Heart explores her own feelings and women's feelings in general toward food as it relates to a longing for success in work, the conflicting desires about having a child, and the desire for a safe home. Reprint.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #153735 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04-01
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 266 pages

From Publishers Weekly
That some of us overeat in order to feed a spiritual rather than physical hunger isn't a new idea, but perhaps no one has chatted it up with as much panache as Roth (When Food Is Love). In her earnest new book, this popular workshop guru focuses on the ersatz bliss of overeating but also expands her vision to question "the meaning of success, thinness, friendships, and fulfillment." Drawing on much personal anecdote-her hair loss following illness; her ties to her best friend; her worries about another's health, etc.-she charms readers toward realizing that true happiness comes not from a sleek body, wealth or indeed any external attribute but from a sense of inner worth. There's nothing new in that idea either, but Roth presents it, as usual, in just the right mix of confession, sass and style.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
After 20 years of therapy and 13 years of "spiritual practice," diet guru Roth (When Food Is Love, Dutton, 1991) shares 243 pages of inspirational insights about self-esteem. "You are the feast," she concludes, having recounted at length her own tribulations brought on by an illness she will not name that caused her to lose her hair-a crowning blow. She was thus forced to reevaluate her own advice to those she had counseled about appearance and self-esteem. Roth continues to give lectures and workshops; to assist the reader, she offers her business address and telephone and FAX numbers at the end of the book. Though full of New Age platitudes, her work nonetheless has a following. For Roth's fans.
Cynthia Harrison, George Washington Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Roth speaks of issues that, chauvinism aside, only women can truly understand and identify with. In the past, her books were about food, weight, dieting, and the almost universal obsession that women have with their bodies and self-esteem. Now her canvas of introspection and discussion has expanded: eight chapters examine the nature of women's friendships, the craving to be famous, the longing for safety, and the search for a parallel life (or the perfect fantasy), among other topics. Based on intensely personal experiences, written with intensely emotional and intellectually probing prose, Roth's book pushes far beyond the issue of weight to ask what will make women happy. Her not-so-easy answers, divined from decades of therapy, of experiential beingness, of Buddhist practice, will speak to many. Barbara Jacobs

Customer Reviews

A must read for anyone who struggles with dieting!
Reading this book and exploring the issues addressed helped to lead me back to the time before I worried so much about my body. Geneen expertly uncovers our tendencies to use food as a substitute and a weapon for punishment. I feel more relaxed about myself and my weight than I have since junior high school! I am finally reaching my normal weight naturally and it is like a dream!

True nourishment
My first encounter with Geneen Roth's books was with this well-titled book, Appetites, which reflects upon but also goes well beyond her earlier focus on why women overeat and how to deal with their daily struggle. I was wary of a book of this genre, but enraptured by the insights Roth has evolved over a number of years, and with her often beautiful writing, as they emerge from her personal stories. A true friendship is virtually as valuable as true love, she relates, but true nourishment is ultimately deeply personal. Anyone who has at least partially overcome addiction's silent takeovers by evolving her own understanding of her misfocused longings will be inspired by Roth's personal yet widely relevant story.

An interesting commentary on women's relationships with food
This book is meaningful not only for women who have or are recovering from eating disorders, but for any woman who struggles with body image and our society's ideal of feminine beauty. (You may even want to give this book to the men in your life so they can better understand women's issues w/ food.) Food isn't the sole focus of this book--she discusses friendships, significant others, even her relationship with her cat. While Roth's writing is sincere and honest, she tends to lapse into cliched psychobabble and New Age-y talk. (I found the analogy of her cat's body image vis-a-vis her body image to be a bit of a leap.) Overall, this book is very well-written, and it stayed with me long after I read it. I recommended it to several friends, and for me that's the mark of a worthwhile read.