Normal Eating for Normal Weight: The Path to Freedom from Weight Obsession and Food Cravings
Normal Eating® is a uniquely effective step-by-step program to free people from compulsive urges and emotional eating. It’s not a quick fix, but it’s a real fix. You not only lose weight, you become a true normal eater. . . . More >>
Normal Eating for Normal Weight: The Path to Freedom from Weight Obsession and Food Cravings
Canter spends a lot of time disparaging other authors who have also written about intuitive eating–some of them pioneers in this school of thought whose books were first published in the 80s–which is disturbing. While the books of Geneen Roth or “Overcoming Overeating” or “Intuitive Eating” may not have been the ultimate catalysts to help her particular fans, those books and others like them have helped tens of thousands of other persons with food issues resolve them and learn to eat normally while maintaining a normal, healthy weight. The new tools that she adds to the mix of other intuitive eating practices that others established decades ago are genuinely helpful, but it’s curious that she focused on criticizing others’ books rather than simply drawing the distinction between her methods and others’. Perhaps she does this because she thinks she’ll sell more books.
Rating: 2 / 5
First of all, much of this is a blatant rip-off of Geneen Roth’s various books. The author argues that she differs from the Geneen Roth approach to treating compulsive overeating by providing tools to utilize in the heat of a binge, which are basically to figure out what’s triggering you and sit with the bad feelings until they pass or you give in and binge. Geneen Roth offers the same advice. The author also argues that she differs from Geneen Roth in that the focus is not on weight loss, but accepting yourself at any weight. This is all done in the fashion of Susie Orbach and Fat is a Feminist Issue. Geneen Roth does the exact same thing.
Here’s a summary of the book so you won’t waste your money if you’ve done any reading on binge eating:
Causes of binging:
1. Cultural messages that pressure girls to be thin, leading to dieting, resulting in reactive binging. My thoughts-Men binge too, although not as frequently as women, but they definitely do. Arguably they are not subject to the pressure to be thin. Also, a very small percentage of the population binges, yet we are all subject to the same cultural messages. What accounts for the different in those who binge and those who don’t?
2. Binging is used to fill a nameless hole or soothe emotions.
3. Binging is the result of an addictive personality.
4. Binging is the result of an unhappy life. My thoughts-Plenty of people with awesome lives binge.
5. People binge because they unconsciously want to be fat for various reasons. My thoughts-Not all who binge are fat. Many aren’t.
6. Lack of self care.
7. Food is used as a drug to escape life. My thoughts-The author disagrees with the disease model and states that food is not a drug, however later she states that people use food LIKE a drug, meaning a mind altering substance. That part was contradictory in my opinion. She uses the argument that food is not a drug to attack the AA/OA model of disease.
Treatment Suggestions:
1. Find your triggers, notice them. “I notice that I want to devour that gallon of ice cream. Ok, I also notice that I am feeling sad right now, which is causing me to want ice cream. Perhaps I should have a good cry instead. ” Eureka, that is supposed to stop the binge? It doesn’t work that way because, a) you either don’t care in the moment that you only want the ice cream because you’re sad, and b) because that is a rational process and when you are driven toward a binge you are not rational.
2. Eat according to body cues. We are compulsive overeaters BECAUSE we can’t do that!
3. “The solution to emotional eating is to learn to sit with your feelings. ” That’s all? Basically, just deal with it. hmm. . . .
4. Develop spirituality. If you have ever dealt with 12 step this is nothing new.
5. Discover your triggers. The AA book says that self-knowledge alone absolutely will not cure the problem.
All in all, I would say that there is nothing new in this book, which is disappointing because I was drawn in by the claim that it would address the failings of other approaches. It doesn’t.
Rating: 1 / 5
This is a great book for people who struggle with emotional and/or binge eating. I wish the book were longer and a bit more detailed; however, the author has a website on which she has posted a lot of great information.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is a great book for someone who is tired of dieting and ready to start reconnecting with what it’s like to just eat normally. Many women start dieting at puberty and are on and off diets for most of their adult lives. If you are someone who is sick of this cycle or has a problem with emotional eating, then this is a book is for you. It isn’t a quick fix, but rather a program that will probably take 1 to 2 years to get through. I have been following the program for a few months now and am almost completely over binge eating which I’ve struggled with for years. I can’t say I’ve lost weight yet, but I’ve made a lot of progress and am more at peace with myself. There is also an excellent online forum that can go along with the book. The author is part of the discussions on a daily basis and the participants provide a lot of online support as well. I highly recommend this book if you are ready to make this type of change in your life.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is an excellent book for people who are binge eaters, emotional eaters, or feel addicted to food. It has given me a freedom and sense of calm around food. I’m still new to the program, but have been very satisfied and looking forward to more normalcy around food. There is a great website that you can join for more support and answers to questions. Worth every penny!
Rating: 5 / 5