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Summary
Summary
There is life beyond your eating disorder--and you deserve to enjoy every minute of it.
Johanna S. Kandel, founder and executive director of The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, struggled with her eating disorder for ten years before finally getting help. Now fully recovered, Kandel knows firsthand how difficult the healing process can be. Through her work with The Alliance--leading support groups, speaking nationwide and collaborating with professionals in the field--she's developed a set of practical tools to address the everyday challenges of recovery.
Author Notes
In 2000 Johanna S. Kandel founded The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eating-disorder prevention that provides essential resources for those struggling with an eating disorder. An active member of The Eating Disorders Coalition and National Eating Disorders Association, Kandel speaks frequently nationwide, and has appeared on NBC Nightly News and The Today Show, among others. Visit her at www.EatingDisorderInfo.org.
Reviews (2)
Booklist Review
Kandel, founder and director of The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, brings her own successful recovery from anorexia and bulimia to this readable text whose message is that full recovery is possible. Noting that no recovery is perfect, the author, who stresses that she is not a health professional, seeks to free others from identifying with the disorder and risking becoming it. Kandel seeks to empower readers by sharing her own past how her youthful perfectionism and aspirations to become a ballerina fueled her need to control and numb her emotions, which stoked her disorder as well as the stories of others. She also offers practical advice, using boxed and large-type inserts to emphasize main points: My eating disorder gave me carte blanche not to have to do things that scared me: I didn't have to feel . . . Basically, it protected me . . . from life. With a list of resources, Kandel's experience and accessible self-help approach should help many find and remain on the path to wellness.--Scott, Whitney Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
As happens with many mental difficulties, eating-disorder victims are often told, "Just eat more. Get over it." Of course, it isn't that easy. Kandel, founder and executive director of the Alliance for Eating Disorders and a member of the Eating Disorders Coalition and National Eating Disorders Association, struggled under the yoke of her own condition for a decade. So she comes to the subject with firsthand experience and great understanding and, as a former victim, here offers a metaphoric hand to hold. Intended for use in addition to medical, nutritional, and psychological treatment, this book explains why some people are susceptible to eating disorders and offers coping mechanisms for the various types of hurdles encountered on the road to recovery. VERDICT Readers with any sort of obsessive-compulsive behaviors may find these suggestions useful, but the book will be especially good for those suffering from anorexia and bulimia. Highly recommended.-Susan B. Hagloch, formerly with Tuscarawas Cty. P.L., New Philadelphia, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
I'm not a psychiatrist; I'm not a psychologist or a therapist or a nutritionist or a doctor of any kind. But I have been an anorexic, an exercise bulimic and a binge eater, and if either you or someone you love is struggling with an eating disorder, I can honestly say that I know what you're going through-- maybe not the day-to-day details, but certainly the physical and emotional landscape of your struggle. Perhaps one of the most important and startling things I learned both during my ten-year battle with an eating disorder and during my recovery is just how much ignorance, misinformation, fear and stigma are still attached to eating disorders even in the midst of the so-called information age. The entire time I was struggling and during my recovery process, I never knew anyone who had successfully recovered from an eating disorder. Truthfully, I didn't know if recovery was even possible. All I knew was that I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, so I decided to seek help. As I began my own journey to recovery, I vowed to myself that if I were given a second chance at life, I would do everything in my power to dispel some of that darkness and bring eating disorders awareness and information into the light. I strongly believe that no one should have to struggle with or recover from an eating disorder alone. Eighteen years ago, when I first began to develop my eating disorder, I had no idea how many people had the same terrible disease. I honestly believed I was one of the very few. But here are the facts: according to the Eating Disorders Coalition, today, in the United States alone, approximately 10 million women and 1 million men are struggling with anorexia or bulimia, and 25 million people are battling binge eating disorder. Eating disorders do not discriminate; they affect men and women, young and old, and people of all economic levels. You need to know that anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate--estimated to be up to 20 percent--of any psychiatric illness. And only one in ten people with an eating disorder receives any kind of treatment. Those figures make me sad and are, quite simply, unacceptable. As I began to recover and find my strength, I kept the promise I had made to myself all those years ago, and in late 2000 I founded the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness in my hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida. The Alliance is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent eating disorders and promote positive body image by advancing education and increasing awareness. To this end we do community outreach through talks at schools, we provide educational programs about eating disorders to therapists and other health-care professionals, we lead support groups for people in recovery and we do whatever we can to convince government officials that eating disorders ought to be a health-care priority. For specific information about the Alliance, see page 215. I believe we are fulfilling that mission with each person we are able to reach and inform that he or she is not alone and that recovery is possible. I know how difficult the recovery process can be, but I want you to know that it is possible to get better--and it's definitely worth it! We all trip and fall along the way. But recovery is not about the trips and falls; it is about what happens after you pick yourself up. It's about getting back on your feet, dusting yourself off and moving forward, because that is how we learn. Realistically, neither life nor recovery is ever going to be a fairy tale, but we do have the power to create our own version of a real happily-ever-after. Give yourself permission to imagine your life beyond your eating disorder. You will get to be present in every moment; you will get to feel; you will get to laugh. You deserve the freedom to live every aspect of your life. Eating disorders can be very strong--mine spent years telling me all the things I couldn't, shouldn't or wasn't good enough to do. That negative voice isn't going to go away overnight, but there are many tools available to you as you recover to make that voice smaller and softer, and you need to gather and use every one you possibly can. This book is one of the tools you can use to free yourself from your eating disorder once and for all. As you read it, I hope the voice you hear in your head will be healthy, supportive and powerful enough to drown out whatever doubts you may still have about your ability to recover. I've gathered the tools that I offer here through many years of working with eating disorder practitioners, in support groups, walking next to people on their journeys to recovery and by becoming aware of what has helped others. And I hope that these tools will be as useful to you as they have been to me and to so many others. I'm sure some tools will be more useful to you than others, and that's okay. I wouldn't expect it to be any other way. The idea is simply to be willing to try, and if one thing doesn't work, try something else. Just don't stop trying. As you read on, you will come upon the stories of many different people from many different walks of life who have recovered from eating disorders, and you will come to see that they have followed many different paths. And just as there is no right or wrong way to recover, there is no right or wrong way to use this book. You might read it from cover to cover, or you might choose to read a few chapters and ponder them for a while. You might even decide not to begin at the beginning but to pick a chapter that looks interesting and read that first. Whatever works for you is the right way. Lao Tzu, the sixth-century BC Chinese philosopher and father of Taoism, said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Taking that first step toward recovery is really hard, and I admire you so much for taking this first step. You have come so far just by picking up this book. I know that together we can keep moving forward so that you, too, are able to create a new reality for yourself. Excerpted from Life Beyond Your Eating Disorder: Reclaim Yourself, Regain Your Health, Recover for Good by Johanna S. Kandel All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.Table of Contents
Foreword | p. xv |
Preface: My Mission | p. 1 |
Chapter 1 Food Fight | p. 7 |
Profile in Recovery: Allison's Story | p. 31 |
Chapter 2 Give Up the Guilt and Reclaim Your Power | p. 35 |
Genetics-At Least Part of the Answer | p. 36 |
Make That Information Work for You | p. 40 |
Nobody's Perfect-Not Even You | p. 41 |
Change Doesn't Come Easy | p. 46 |
Chapter 3 Learn to Use All the Crayons in Your Box | p. 49 |
How Many Crayons Are in Your Box? | p. 50 |
Getting Comfortable Takes Practice | p. 55 |
Put In Your Application for Recovery | p. 58 |
Sinkies and Floaties-What Pulls You Down and What Gets You Through? | p. 60 |
Don't Fall for the Bait and Switch | p. 62 |
Chapter 4 Kicking Off the Other Shoe | p. 63 |
No, the Sky Isn't Purple | p. 66 |
Knocking Down the Wall | p. 68 |
Don't Start Out as a Downer | p. 70 |
And the Real Secret Is | p. 73 |
Profile in Recovery: Jasmine's Story | p. 75 |
Chapter 5 From Recovering to Recovered-It's a Process | p. 81 |
How Long Can You Be Recovering? | p. 82 |
Each Moment Is a New Opportunity | p. 84 |
Why Does It Have to Be So Hard? | p. 88 |
Nothing Is Written in Indelible Ink | p. 90 |
Remember-You're Still You | p. 92 |
To Build an Army, You Will Need to Recruit Some Soldiers | p. 94 |
Your Recovery Affects Others, Too | p. 97 |
Keep Track of Your Mile Markers So You'll Know When You've Arrived | p. 98 |
Chapter 6 Beware of Fake Security Blankets | p. 103 |
Sometimes a Security Blanket Might Not Be a Blanket at All | p. 109 |
The Danger of Trading One Addiction for Another | p. 111 |
Never Put All Your Marbles in One Jar | p. 113 |
Another Way of Looking at It: Diversification of Assets | p. 114 |
Let Go of the Old to Grab Hold of the New You | p. 116 |
Profile in Recovery: Jamie's Story | p. 117 |
Chapter 7 Getting to the Heart of the Artichoke | p. 123 |
Are You Willing? | p. 124 |
Try Out New and Better Tools | p. 126 |
Start with the Outer Leaves | p. 126 |
Getting to the Core | p. 131 |
Chapter 8 Laila, Rosie, the Incredible Hulk and Other Powerful Healthy Voices | p. 137 |
Name Your Voice | p. 141 |
Change Your Focus to Change Your Mind | p. 143 |
Sometimes It's Hard to Do It Alone | p. 143 |
Becoming Self-Considerate: Let Your Healthy Voice Take Care of You | p. 144 |
Profile in Recovery: Molly's Story | p. 148 |
Chapter 9 Talking Back to Ignorance | p. 155 |
People Aren't Mean; They're Just Ignorant | p. 157 |
We Live in a World Full of Ignorant Messages | p. 159 |
Sometimes They're Just Worried or Trying to Help | p. 161 |
Listen with Your Healthy Ears | p. 162 |
Chapter 10 Bridezilla Meets Brideorexia and Other Triggering Occasions | p. 169 |
The Madness Begins | p. 171 |
Going for the Gown | p. 172 |
Messages from the Bridal Industry and Others | p. 176 |
Bridezilla or Brideorexia? | p. 177 |
Stay Focused and Just Say No | p. 179 |
Whatever the Occasion, Keep Your Eye on the Prize | p. 180 |
Afterword: re(Define) (Real)ity TM | p. 183 |
I Define What's Real | p. 184 |
Recovery Means Steering Your Own Course | p. 186 |
Me 101 | p. 186 |
Accept the Gift That Is Offered | p. 188 |
What I Wish for You | p. 190 |
Getting Help | p. 193 |
Index | p. 205 |
Acknowledgments | p. 211 |
About the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness | p. 215 |
About the Author | p. 219 |