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WHEN FOOD'S A FOE: How to Confront and Conquer Eating Disorders by Nancy J. Kolodny

WHEN FOOD'S A FOE: How to Confront and Conquer Eating Disorders

By

Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 1987
Publisher: Little, Brown

As Kolodny describes them, ""Anorexia and bulimia are abnormal behaviors that take on the characteristics of obsessions, compulsions, even addictions, and gain more and more control of their victims the longer they're allowed to persist."" Success in dealing with these frightening disorders, comes with hard work on the part of the victim and a professional--psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, nutritionist. It's hard to break the cycle alone. The book's urgent plea is to begin recovery by admitting the problem first to oneself and then to another; to that end, the author provides testimony from those who've been there (""dieting was like a demon pushing from inside me""), questionnaires, and other self-help exercises concerning body-image and self-esteem, including a script for ""coming out"" to family. There are also strong sections on how not to try to help teen-agers caught in struggles with food. Written for victims, their friends, parents, and professionals, the focus, perhaps, is too broad. Still, there is a lot of information here, and if a self-help book can ever help anyone reverse behavior, perhaps this deserves a chance. Appendixes list centers for referral in the US and Canada and gives nutritional information.