217 pg, paperback, '98

This book gives readers the tools and the understanding to break the destructive cycle of bingeing, dieting and self-starvation. Born in the authors' Beyond Hunger workshops, chapters cover letting go of judgment, becoming conscious, honoring the physical and emotional bodies, reclaiming the spiritual self, trusting in the process of change, and living in truth.

The exercises and meditations will help you determine the differences between what your body craves to eat, what your mind thinks you should eat, and what your emotions are driving you to eat. This non-diet approach goes beneath the symptoms of eating disorders and explores the cultural pressures women face, along with the physical, emotional and spiritual concerns that create the need to overeat or under-eat in the first place. The authors have discovered, through personal experience as well as working with many women, that for the individual with an eating disorder, every unfelt feeling, every unresolved problem, has a way of turning into overeating or controlling food. It’s not About Food will help you break that cycle by abandoning dieting forever and understanding that the probable reasons for your eating disorder lie much deeper than just what and how you eat everyday.  Well-written, with exercises and personal experiences interwoven throughout.

CONTENTS:

What’s It Really About? Life Beyond Hunger
Letting Go of Judgment
Becoming Conscious
Honoring the Physical Body
Embracing the Emotional Body
Reclaiming the Spiritual Self
Living Your Truth
Trusting Your Process
Receiving the Gifts
Most Commonly Asked Questions

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Carol Emery Normandi, MS, MFCC is a cofounder and former codirector of Beyond Hunger, Inc. She has a private practice in marriage, family, and child counseling ad specializes in eating disorders and related matters of self-esteem and body image.

Laurelee Roark, MA, CCHT is a cofounder and the director of Beyond Hunger, Inc. She has facilitated support groups, led workshops, and lectured about eating disorders for more than twelve years.

Beyond Hunger, Inc., is a nonprofit organization that provides support groups, workshops, and education for adults and adolescents struggling with compulsive eating and eating disorders.

REVIEWS:

“Women who read this book will be inspired to throw away their diets and scales and pick up on the nurturing, caring voice presented in these pages.”
— Jane R. Hirschmann and Carol H. Munter, authors of Overcoming Overeating and When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies