FEEDING THE HUNGRY HEART: The Experience of Compulsive Eating

by Geneen Roth ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1982

If commiseration were the primary ingredient in ending compulsive eating behavior, this collection of fatty reminiscences from Roth and some of her ""Breaking Free"" workshop participants would really serve a useful purpose. But as support for suffering sisters goes, it is one of the more touching examples. In her own case, Roth spices the pathos with humor: chocolate, she maintains, is not something you love, it's something you have an affair with. But she thinks eating compulsively is a substitute for feeding other hungers--""of regret and sorrow, of unspoken anger, unrealized dreams. . . ."" So she mentions the humiliation of being taunted at school, but she also lauds that moment when the beleaguered fight back: a boyfriend who puts her down for not being model-thin is told in no uncertain terms that she was born with a rounded shape and has come to think of her body as ""quite lovely and womanly."" Roth doesn't believe in diets per se: they're the other side of binging, she thinks, and equally miss the point. The first step is to recognize and feed the emotional hungers; then, presumably, compulsive eating will stop, A limited scope, but one which compulsive eaters may find supportive.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1982

ISBN: 0452270839

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1982

Categories: NONFICTION