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Runaway Eating - Book Review |
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Written by Jennifer Thompson
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 Mention eating disorders and what comes to mind? Teenaged girls
fighting to be the thinnest of them all? College girls binging and
purging? Those steroetypes still hold true, unfortunately, but there is
emerging a new group of women with disordered thoughts and actions when
it comes to eating: women in their 30's to 50's. According to authors
Bulik and Taylor, women from ages 35-60 are in the most stressful
period of their lives, and it is not surprising that many of them turn
to food to cope with life's stresses.
Runaway Eating
is designed to help women learn to deal with their obsession with
weight and food so that their disordered behaviors and thought patterns
don't rule their lives or turn into full-blown eating disorders. What
exactly is Runaway Eating? Bulik and Taylor define it as follows: "As a
rule of thumb, if you consistently use food or food-related behaviors
to deal with unpleasant feelings and you feel that these behaviors are out of control, you've entered the territory of Runaway Eating."
The authors lay out an 8-step program to help people regain control of
their eating thoughts and behaviors. The steps are:
- Eat on time and in time.
- Identify your triggers.
- Reroute your thinking.
- Transform your moods.
- Alleviate anxiety.
- Defuse depression.
- Manage your menopausal symptoms.
- Pare down your perfectionism.
The writing is warm and encouraging, and the steps are explained well
and are within reach of anyone who wants to rein in her out of control
eating, whether she's binging, purging, starving, overeating or any
combination of these behaviors. If you think you may have a full-blown
eating disorder, you need to speak with your doctor. If, however, you
find yourself in the realm of Runaway Eating, this book may very well get you back on the path towards a healthy relationship with food and exercise.
This review is available for reprint.
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