Originally Posted by rochemist

What opened my heart was the "AA Big Book Chapter to the Agnostic" where I was free to make the Power greater than myself of my understanding. What did I have to lose, my own thinking had gotten me nowhere. More than that I really could evaluate my past experiences with spirituality and religion to what I needed. In program the saying "Take what you need and leave the rest" was a very freeing concept for me.

Originally Posted by rochemist

I got a new piece of OA literature last night, a book called Abstinence. You know it just is too simple Refrain from compulsive overeating, now writing it and doing the footwork are 2 different things, but this book makes the idea of a lifetime abstinence seem more real to me than it did before.

Originally Posted by elizabecca

The Abstinence book is one of the first pieces of literature I bought from the OA website. It is good, isn't it?

Originally Posted by KatSLP

Isn't Abstinence a great book? The Wednesday f2f morning meetings that I sometimes go to read from that (and the OA book).

Originally Posted by rochemist

I will recommend a book (not an OA authorized read) The First Bite by Kay Shephard. This is a guide to complete recovery from food addiction.

Originally Posted by chops

my friend suggested a book called "there's more to life than this" by jeanette wright that talks about behaviors that take away our energy, this fascination with food planning is really common and is also in the book. i just ordered it, hopefully it will help me. it's on amazon.com - there are a lot of positive reviews about the book on amazon if u are curious.

Originally Posted by Rowan Baily

I was told once by a woman, she wrote a book that you can get online, it is a very short book called "count it as a vegetable and move on" It is all about the guilt that is linked to binge eating or eating off plan. She suffers from this so her approach is very realistic.

Originally Posted by Grin + Share it

One book that has really helped me is " the Quest for Peace,Love and a 24" Waist" by Deborah Low. She is a lady that has been there. She has several simple exercises that make you think about the behavoir behind the food issues.

Originally Posted by antidiet

I am a self-diagnosed binge/compulsive eater. I have had a eating disorder since I was a child. No one ever called it that; so it was labeled a "willpower" issue. I started hating myself, everyday berating myself for being weak-willed, for failing another diet.

Then, in May 2002, I picked up some diet books from the library. I had got up to a whopping 250 pounds (I am only 5' 2") and I was very depressed. One of the books was "Losing It" by Laura Fraser. She opened my eyes. This was no "diet" book. Laura Fraser is a journalist that did an expose on the diet industry and society's role in women's self image. I couldn't believe what I was reading, she started right out by saying that diets do not work, if anything, they are the root cause to all eating disorders, not the solution.

I did some additional reading into this "anti-diet" thinking, and it has changed my life. I have been working to give myself permission to have what I want to eat, when I want, and to stop when I am full (with the approval to eat more if I am hungry later). It is like I had to tell myself the obvious; the stuff that thin people take for granted. I am re-discovering my relationship with food. I still have a lot of work to do, but the obssessions and cravings are SO much better.

Originally Posted by Kylie68

I learned about a book called, "When You Eat at The Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair" by Geneen Roth. I am by no means recovered, but I am on my way to discovering ME and that is the real battle inside anyone with an eating disorder. Please check out the book online or at your local bookstore

Originally Posted by roundwoman

There is also an excellent book called: "Self Esteem Comes in All Sizes"
by Carol A Johnson

The book is written very intelligently and is about how we can feel good no matter what we look like. We can choose to lose weight or not. We can do it for our health issues and for reasons of health more than anything. It helps us to focus on what's the most important things. There are also people overweight who choose to be larger and are healthy and strong through exercise according to the book. There's much more but it is a fantastic book written by a woman who overcame much.

Originally Posted by Freedom&Light

I had an "A-HA" moment! I was reading When Food is Love by Geneen Roth (I know, y'all are all surprised ), and she tells the story about this little 8 year old girl whose mother put her on a diet. The girl (we'll call her Sally)gained 14 pounds on this diet. Sally's mother was distraught and went to see a therapist. The therapist asks the mom what Sally's favorite food is. Mom answers "M&Ms." The therapist tells Sally's mom to go and buy enough M&Ms to fill up a pillowcase and give it to Sally. When Sally eats them all, mom is to fill them up.

Sally is shocked by the pillowcase and takes it everywhere with her. For eight days, Sally carried around the pillowcase, eating M&Ms. Sally's mom was totally ticked off, wondering how this was supposed to help her kiddo. She calls the therapist, livid.

The therapist tells her that when Sally believes- truly believes- that she can eat whatever she wanted and her mom wasn't going to take away her M&Ms, she would slowly "relax and begin eating from stomach hunger."

And she did. Sally ended up losing six pounds.

I love this story, because I've been doing this to myself! I've been telling myself that white bread is bad, peanut butter is bad, vanilla coke is bad, cereal is bad....all of these things that I really like. So, by these restrictions, I have been creating my own desire to binge.

I went shopping the other day. I bought all of the things I listed above. I'm still "carrying around my pillowcase," but I'm beginning to realize that I don't need that second bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch because I'm just not that hungry.
I love this book!

Originally Posted by ShihtzuX2

Freedom and Light: I've been reading the same Geneen Roth book and I think it's great. I've read her books before but my head is in a place right now where I understood it differently or something. I'm still a little nervous about stocking my kitchen (Binge Monster's been too "hungry" lately).

And now the big news: Well, I've registered for one of Geneen Roth's workshops in September! I'm really excited. The title of it has something to do with "the search for true nourishment" -- as opposed to the searching I keep doing in boxes, wrappers and bags.

It'll be a weekend workshop at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, at this fabulous looking resort. I'm taking a week's vacation and I'm hoping the DH will come with me as a 6-year-anniversary getaway.