Product Description

A revised and updated edition of the longstanding guide that has helped thousands struggling with emotional eating disorders.

Based on the techniques used successfully by Beyond Hunger, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people overcome emotional eating disorders, It’s Not About Food gives readers the practical advice and inspirational push they need to take care of their bodies, minds, and hearts and put an end to the roller coaster of dieting and binging.

This new edition includes updated statistics, a new section on the challenges of obesity, and a range of new personal accounts from eating disorder survivors and advice from the authors’ recent Beyond Hunger workshops.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75752 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-02
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From School Library Journal
YA-The authors' philosophy is that extra weight is an emotional as well as a physical issue, and that it can be handled, in part, by learning to distinguish between emotional and physical hunger. The book's supportive, empathetic tone is evidenced in such key messages as: "You are not using food because you lack control, and are undisciplined, or are flawed, but because it is the only way you can take care of yourself for now." Techniques to use to listen to the body, learning to respect and express feelings, using visualization to enlarge spiritual understanding, setting limits, and trusting the process to take you to a new and better place are all discussed. This intelligently presented book will find readers in any library and has great merit as an alternative to the usual recipe and diet books.
Catherine Charvat, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
“An important part of the growing movement to return women’s bodies to their rightful owners.”
—Naomi Wolf

About the Author
Carol Emery Normandi, M.S., MFCC, has a private practice in marriage, family, and child counseling and specializes in eating disorders, self-esteem, and body image. Laurelee Roark, M.S., CCHT, has facilitated support groups, led workshops, and lectured about eating disorders for more than twenty years.

Customer Reviews

"It's not about Food" is all about self love
Reading the book "It's not about Food" has deepened my awareness about how mean I can be to myself and use my body and the way I choose to eat as a target for self-abuse. This book gently, yet effectively shines light upon America's cultural obsession with food and weight. It explains the reasons why obsessing, dieting, binging, purging and weighing ourselves constantly are ways learned to take care of ourselves when we know of no other way. Drawing from their own experiences with food and weight obsession, Laurelee Roark and Carol Emery Normandi bring wisdom and understanding to their work. We learn from Carol and Laurelee that this recovery is a journey to know our very soul. They emphasize the process of healing disordered eating and body image through learning to be with yourself, your feelings and whatever is happening in you life and taking care of yourself around it, rather than a goal of weight loss.

We learn that we can listen to and trust our bodies and ourselves by the "radical" act of legalizing all foods and allowing ourselves to eat when we are hungry, eat what feels good to us, and stop when we have had enough. This book is written with sensitivity and solid support for those who suffer with this painful issue. It is a book to read over again when a boost in self love is over due.

Must-read for those struggling with food-related addictions
After years of struggling with food addictions, diets, and bingeing, I am very grateful that I found this book. Along with Overcoming Overeating and When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies(both by Munter and Hirschman), this is the most important book I have read. I highly recommend it to anyone struggling with a food addition or body-thought disorder.

This book is powerful
If you are a woman who has ever suffered or is suffering from an eating disorder, this book will change your life. It honestly touched me during a time when nothing much did. I discovered new depths to myself, and saw how strong and magical we can be