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Beyond a Shadow of a Diet: The Comprehensive Guide to Treating Binge Eating Disorder, Compulsive Eating, and Emotional Overeating
Beyond a Shadow of a Diet is the most comprehensive book available for professionals working with clients who struggle with Binge Eating Disorder, Compulsive Eating or Emotional Overeating. The authors present research revealing that food restrictions in the pursuit of weight loss actually trigger and sustain overeating. Next, they offer step-by-step guidelines to help clients end the diet mentality and learn an internally-based approach known as attuned eating. Divided into three sections-The Problem, The Treatment and The Solution-this engaging book contains chapters filled with compelling case examples, visualizations and other exercises so that therapists can deepen their knowledge and skills as they help clients gain freedom from preoccupation with food and weight.
In addition to addressing the symptoms, dynamics and treatment of eating problems, Beyond a Shadow of a Diet presents a holistic framework that goes well beyond the clinical setting. This invaluable resource includes topics such as the clinician's own attitudes toward dieting and weight; cultural, ethical and social justice issues; the neuroscience of mindfulness; weight stigma; and promoting wellness for children of all sizes. Drawing from the Health At Every Size paradigm-and the wealth of research examining the relationship between dieting, weight and health-Beyond a Shadow of a Diet offers both therapists and their clients a positive, evidence-based model to making peace with food, their bodies and themselves.
In addition to addressing the symptoms, dynamics and treatment of eating problems, Beyond a Shadow of a Diet presents a holistic framework that goes well beyond the clinical setting. This invaluable resource includes topics such as the clinician's own attitudes toward dieting and weight; cultural, ethical and social justice issues; the neuroscience of mindfulness; weight stigma; and promoting wellness for children of all sizes. Drawing from the Health At Every Size paradigm-and the wealth of research examining the relationship between dieting, weight and health-Beyond a Shadow of a Diet offers both therapists and their clients a positive, evidence-based model to making peace with food, their bodies and themselves.
354 pages, Paperback
Published May 21, 2014
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290 people want to read
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September 12, 2024review and revisit:
-actionable: eat when hungry, based on preference (make the match); stop when full
-The sooner I stop eating, the sooner I will feel hungry again, leading to the next meal.
-Other important takeaway: health is always multi-dimensional. My health is more than just my bf%. I can work on areas that I normally neglect that are just as important: meditation, relationships, humor, strength, and mobility.
-The distress surrounding food and body image is greater than the actual state of the excess bf.
-When you have negative body image thoughts/feelings: verbalize, apologize, and move on.
-Weight loss is a side effect of therapeutic work, not the primary goal.
-Solving the emotional reach for food is a process that takes time.
-Progress is not linear. Each time you revisit a particular issue, a deeper level of understanding can occur. Mistakes do not in any way undo the progress of attuned experiences.
-Compulsive eating interferes with your ability to discover what you are feeling. [I'm feeling uncertain about food but not physiologically hungry. I wonder what I might think about or feel right now if I didn't eat.]
-When you deal with the side of overeating that results from deprivation, then you will be ready to tackle the psychological causes. When you are able to stop scolding yourself as good or bad, then you can be compassionate and decrease your anxiety about overeating.
-The feeling itself is not what causes the overeating response. It is the inability to tolerate a particular feeling that prompts the activity in an attempt to provide relief.
-While overeating causes weight gain, it's not the worst way to manage emotions. Using alcohol, narcotics, etc. would be much more damaging.
-The goal of pausing is not to fight or control your urges. If you feel yourself using willpower to stop eating, then keep eating. If you feel content, then allow yourself to stop until hungry again.
-Keep collecting experiences in response to physiological hunger, making matches, and feeling satiated.
-Setbacks are a part of the process, not failures of willpower or character.
-It is natural to have trouble recognizing physiological signals at first. Over time, it will feel leas tolerable to push past fullness.
-how to respond to difficult situations: from [I'm out if control] to [I'm reaching for food right now without being physically hungry.
Something must be making me feel uncomfortable and this is how I'm used to calming myself. I look forward to the day when I no longer need to turn to food to resolve uncomfortable feelings.]
-eat when hungry based on preference; the more diligent you are in listening to yourself, the more effectively you will be able to fuel
-actionable: eat when hungry, based on preference (make the match); stop when full
-The sooner I stop eating, the sooner I will feel hungry again, leading to the next meal.
-Other important takeaway: health is always multi-dimensional. My health is more than just my bf%. I can work on areas that I normally neglect that are just as important: meditation, relationships, humor, strength, and mobility.
-The distress surrounding food and body image is greater than the actual state of the excess bf.
-When you have negative body image thoughts/feelings: verbalize, apologize, and move on.
-Weight loss is a side effect of therapeutic work, not the primary goal.
-Solving the emotional reach for food is a process that takes time.
-Progress is not linear. Each time you revisit a particular issue, a deeper level of understanding can occur. Mistakes do not in any way undo the progress of attuned experiences.
-Compulsive eating interferes with your ability to discover what you are feeling. [I'm feeling uncertain about food but not physiologically hungry. I wonder what I might think about or feel right now if I didn't eat.]
-When you deal with the side of overeating that results from deprivation, then you will be ready to tackle the psychological causes. When you are able to stop scolding yourself as good or bad, then you can be compassionate and decrease your anxiety about overeating.
-The feeling itself is not what causes the overeating response. It is the inability to tolerate a particular feeling that prompts the activity in an attempt to provide relief.
-While overeating causes weight gain, it's not the worst way to manage emotions. Using alcohol, narcotics, etc. would be much more damaging.
-The goal of pausing is not to fight or control your urges. If you feel yourself using willpower to stop eating, then keep eating. If you feel content, then allow yourself to stop until hungry again.
-Keep collecting experiences in response to physiological hunger, making matches, and feeling satiated.
-Setbacks are a part of the process, not failures of willpower or character.
-It is natural to have trouble recognizing physiological signals at first. Over time, it will feel leas tolerable to push past fullness.
-how to respond to difficult situations: from [I'm out if control] to [I'm reaching for food right now without being physically hungry.
Something must be making me feel uncomfortable and this is how I'm used to calming myself. I look forward to the day when I no longer need to turn to food to resolve uncomfortable feelings.]
-eat when hungry based on preference; the more diligent you are in listening to yourself, the more effectively you will be able to fuel
February 18, 2019
Beyond a Shadow of A Diet is an incredibly well written book by two clinical social workers that helps therapists understand the connection between eating disorders, disordered eating, and diet culture.
The writers do an excellent job of educating therapists that dieting is not a solution to binge and compulsive eating, but rather the cause. It is the treatment team’s job to help patients return to attuned (aka intuitive) eating in order to help patients heal their relationship with food.
The book contains a lot of excellent evidence as to why diets don’t work and are actually harmful.
It also encourages therapists to examine their own biases about food and bodies and how that might affect the service they provide to folks with eating disorders.
They sum up their approach nicely by explaining “this approach is based on research validating the fact that diets do not work, that people naturally come in different shapes and sizes, and that the Health at Every Size paradigm, along with the attuned eating model, gives clients a means to attain optional health and develop a healthy relationship with food”.
Of note, in their chapter on social justice, they mention that Michigan is the only state with legislation making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of height and weight, and there are only 6 cities in the US where this discrimination is also illegal: San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Washington DC. Madison Wisconsin, Urban, IL and Binghamptom, NY. I was both dismayed that the numbers are so low and overjoyed that Madison is included as that is where I live!
The writers do an excellent job of educating therapists that dieting is not a solution to binge and compulsive eating, but rather the cause. It is the treatment team’s job to help patients return to attuned (aka intuitive) eating in order to help patients heal their relationship with food.
The book contains a lot of excellent evidence as to why diets don’t work and are actually harmful.
It also encourages therapists to examine their own biases about food and bodies and how that might affect the service they provide to folks with eating disorders.
They sum up their approach nicely by explaining “this approach is based on research validating the fact that diets do not work, that people naturally come in different shapes and sizes, and that the Health at Every Size paradigm, along with the attuned eating model, gives clients a means to attain optional health and develop a healthy relationship with food”.
Of note, in their chapter on social justice, they mention that Michigan is the only state with legislation making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of height and weight, and there are only 6 cities in the US where this discrimination is also illegal: San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Washington DC. Madison Wisconsin, Urban, IL and Binghamptom, NY. I was both dismayed that the numbers are so low and overjoyed that Madison is included as that is where I live!
August 19, 2016
This book took me forever to finish through no fault of its own. Terrific, comprehensive resource for the Health at Every Size approach to treating BED. Highly recommend for fellow practitioners and anyone interested in learning more.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews