What do you think?
Rate this book
The Diet Survivor's Handbook: 60 Lessons in Eating, Acceptance and Self-Care
The best non-diet book for those looking to embrace a positive and satisfying relationship with food. This empowering guide, crafted by experts in the fields of nutrition, psychology, and self-development, offers a refreshing approach to breaking free from the dieting cycle and cultivating a healthy relationship with food and body. In this comprehensive handbook, you'll uncover sixty practical and insightful lessons that will help you embrace your unique body and nurture it with compassion. Say goodbye to restrictive diets and hello to a sustainable lifestyle centered around nourishment and self-love. Each lesson is strategically designed to guide you through the challenges of diet culture, emotional eating, and body image struggles, empowering you to reclaim your autonomy over your health and well-being. Whether you're a long-time dieter seeking liberation or someone looking to develop a healthier relationship with food, this handbook is your indispensable companion on the path to healing, growth, and self-discovery. Join the movement towards body positivity, mental well-being, and nourishment!
304 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2006
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 31, 2011
First off, the personal reaction to this is at the bottom.
The authors both come from the field of Social Work, and a majority of that experience is specifically with eating disorders of all kinds. They address the conclusions coming through the news media from the medical community - they often make connections the average person can't make (i.e. some examples where researchers have released statements saying their work was misrepresented, and the media chose to minimize those statements; some examples where studies are funded by diet and drug industry leaders and the information is heavily biased; etc.). There are thorough investigations of assumptions people make about diet and exercise. They present evidence to the contrary.
Then they present a series of exercises that are designed to put you back in touch with how you respond to your hunger - your natural eating instincts - and your habits of relying on food to address emotions. They ask you to suspend criticism of yourself and take a leap of faith. My first thought was, "I don't think a yay twinkies!!! approach is going to work..." but they say early on that this isn't that. The exercises progress to becoming aware of the messages overt and subliminal all around you about bodies, food and weight. (I see a LOT of fat-hate out there, I never noticed it before.) They present a series of exercises designed to help you break the tie between your emotions and eating. They present a series of exercises designed to help you differentiate between control (which they argue will break under stress) and choice (you can opt for healthier things, if that's satisfying).
Personal reaction:
I'll gloss over my most personal level of interaction with this book to say that, since 4th Grade, when my mom (well intentioned, mis-informed, doing her best) put me on a very restrictive diet. It's been a rough road ever since. I've never formally dealt with it, but chances are pretty good I'm one of those borderline cases of eating disorders. So.... when I saw this book, I felt like picking it up and at least reading it through. I'm working through the 60 lessons. They're difficult, but they make sense for me. Enough of the personal.
The authors both come from the field of Social Work, and a majority of that experience is specifically with eating disorders of all kinds. They address the conclusions coming through the news media from the medical community - they often make connections the average person can't make (i.e. some examples where researchers have released statements saying their work was misrepresented, and the media chose to minimize those statements; some examples where studies are funded by diet and drug industry leaders and the information is heavily biased; etc.). There are thorough investigations of assumptions people make about diet and exercise. They present evidence to the contrary.
Then they present a series of exercises that are designed to put you back in touch with how you respond to your hunger - your natural eating instincts - and your habits of relying on food to address emotions. They ask you to suspend criticism of yourself and take a leap of faith. My first thought was, "I don't think a yay twinkies!!! approach is going to work..." but they say early on that this isn't that. The exercises progress to becoming aware of the messages overt and subliminal all around you about bodies, food and weight. (I see a LOT of fat-hate out there, I never noticed it before.) They present a series of exercises designed to help you break the tie between your emotions and eating. They present a series of exercises designed to help you differentiate between control (which they argue will break under stress) and choice (you can opt for healthier things, if that's satisfying).
Personal reaction:
I'll gloss over my most personal level of interaction with this book to say that, since 4th Grade, when my mom (well intentioned, mis-informed, doing her best) put me on a very restrictive diet. It's been a rough road ever since. I've never formally dealt with it, but chances are pretty good I'm one of those borderline cases of eating disorders. So.... when I saw this book, I felt like picking it up and at least reading it through. I'm working through the 60 lessons. They're difficult, but they make sense for me. Enough of the personal.
May 2, 2021
I loved this book, it's written in such a compassionate way that encourages compassion to oneself too. It cares about me as a diet survivor in a way I've never felt before. If you're sick of diets not working then envelop yourself in this warm hug of a book and change your life for the better.
August 25, 2021
Just what I needed to hear. Thank you.
It’s a scary journey AND one I’m confident will be worth it. I wish I had read this book as a teenager and I hope to empower others with the knowledge I now have. Can’t wait to see where this’ll take me.
It’s a scary journey AND one I’m confident will be worth it. I wish I had read this book as a teenager and I hope to empower others with the knowledge I now have. Can’t wait to see where this’ll take me.
March 8, 2025
I have to keep reminding myself that this was written in '07 because it's such an advanced understanding of the evils of diet culture. An awareness we are still struggling to raise in society nearly two decades later.
The only thing that (I think) shows its age is that it entirely focuses on the experiences of cis women. We have the knowledge now to understand that diet and body image culture negatively affects men, women, trans, cis, and everyone else in different, more nuanced ways.
Still, it's a very illuminating read and a very good starting point for educating yourself on the subject. It also provides a bunch of recommendations for other books and resources to learn more. I'll be checking those out when I can. Overall, a very useful book to have and to keep for reference.
The only thing that (I think) shows its age is that it entirely focuses on the experiences of cis women. We have the knowledge now to understand that diet and body image culture negatively affects men, women, trans, cis, and everyone else in different, more nuanced ways.
Still, it's a very illuminating read and a very good starting point for educating yourself on the subject. It also provides a bunch of recommendations for other books and resources to learn more. I'll be checking those out when I can. Overall, a very useful book to have and to keep for reference.
May 9, 2019
If you've been a slave to diets as I was for many years, this is a very helpful, enlightening guide to stepping away from cultural messages and self-punishing, damaging diets. I recovered from extreme diets a long time ago but this book affirmed me in all my efforts to love myself the way I am while being mindful of what I eat and why I'm eating it. It's a process, but so much better than counterproductive, demoralizing dieting.
May 29, 2019
Not just for diet survivors but anyone who wants to stop making weight loss or control the main focus of their eating and believes we all need to quit with body talk ("Have you lost weight?" What kind of diet did you use?" "I'm intermittent fasting!" Etc.), this book delineates how to move away from weight-focused eating and move toward mindful eating. It turns out that weight is not as big of a health determinant as we thought. Highly recommend.
January 30, 2019
Amazing book on self acceptance and how to love yourself. Does a great job of exposing the diet industry and how we are trained to hate our bodies. Walked away with a greater sense of how to love myself and my body.
August 25, 2019
Made me think
As someone who has been on every diet known to man, this made me reevaluate how I've been living. I will never look at dieting the same way again. I'm not even sure I'll be able to go on another diet again after this. I am hoping not.
As someone who has been on every diet known to man, this made me reevaluate how I've been living. I will never look at dieting the same way again. I'm not even sure I'll be able to go on another diet again after this. I am hoping not.
April 30, 2021
Lots of useful information and thought-provoking ideas. The "activities" are less useful since we all know we're not actually going to do them.
June 25, 2026
又臭又长的一本书，针对diet culture写了60点，但大部分点本质上其实是一个东西。
现在世界上的大部分self help都很喜欢使用文字游戏把责任推卸给外界（本书作者把diet culture的出现完全归因于1）社会建构 2）基因 3）减肥产业），好像人作为人类就没有主观能动性了一样。毕竟看self help的受众人群大部分可能比较吃这套。
姑且举几个例子：
“When you cut back your food intake, your body slowed down the rate at which it burned calories, determined to make sure that what little you did consume was enough for survival.” (pp. 137-138)
典型代谢下降恐吓论，典型的分不清BMR与RMR。基础代谢下降和你挨饿不挨饿毫无关系，如果下降了，那只是因为你的肌肉量或者体脂肪掉了而已。静息代谢下降是真的，比如一个减重者可能不自觉减少很多小动作；但即使在极端的节食或大幅度减重后，代谢适应导致的“额外静息代谢下降”通常只有 50 到 150 大卡左右。
“Researchers estimate that between 40 to 80 percent of resting metabolic rate is inherited.”(pp. 139)
是的，这句话本身没错；但得出respect your genetic inheritance的结论未免有些可笑。要知道人类的所有行为特征都是可遗传的，无论是智商还是努力上限皆为如此。因此，何止是体型，就连你所找的工作和Educational Attainment，其基因解释度（遗传度）也肯定高于40%甚至远高于体型... 此外，遗传度高，绝对不代表“后天不能改变”。基因决定的是你在当前环境下的相对排名，而不是绝对上限。即使“能上什么大学”的遗传度是80%，如果国家扩招、或者你通过后天疯狂刷题，你依然能考上比你“基因预测”更好的大学。同样，即使你有肥胖基因，如果你主动控制热量，你基本不会BMI超过28（除非你双腿截肢）。
“Today, the average model weighs 23 percent less than the average woman.” (pp.159)
这句话是否真我暂且不提，但这句话暗示average woman是健康的，而平均（Average/Normal）在统计学上只是一个现状描述，它绝对不等于医学和生理学上的健康（Healthy/Optimal） 。Reference standards for body fat measures using GE dual energy x-ray absorptiometry in Caucasian adults这篇论文里女性的mean %BF in all age groups是38.6 ± 9.9%啊！平均BMI是26.4啊！
…类似的桥段还有很多。实在不想一一列举了。
不过有些点对于没有洞察力的人来说会比较helpful，执行起来还是有可行之处，比如作者写的“知道你真正想要吃什么”的一页：If you cannot immediately identify what you crave, narrow down your choices by asking: Hot or cold? Crunchy or mushy? Spicy or sweet? (pp. 56)
以上。
现在世界上的大部分self help都很喜欢使用文字游戏把责任推卸给外界（本书作者把diet culture的出现完全归因于1）社会建构 2）基因 3）减肥产业），好像人作为人类就没有主观能动性了一样。毕竟看self help的受众人群大部分可能比较吃这套。
姑且举几个例子：
“When you cut back your food intake, your body slowed down the rate at which it burned calories, determined to make sure that what little you did consume was enough for survival.” (pp. 137-138)
典型代谢下降恐吓论，典型的分不清BMR与RMR。基础代谢下降和你挨饿不挨饿毫无关系，如果下降了，那只是因为你的肌肉量或者体脂肪掉了而已。静息代谢下降是真的，比如一个减重者可能不自觉减少很多小动作；但即使在极端的节食或大幅度减重后，代谢适应导致的“额外静息代谢下降”通常只有 50 到 150 大卡左右。
“Researchers estimate that between 40 to 80 percent of resting metabolic rate is inherited.”(pp. 139)
是的，这句话本身没错；但得出respect your genetic inheritance的结论未免有些可笑。要知道人类的所有行为特征都是可遗传的，无论是智商还是努力上限皆为如此。因此，何止是体型，就连你所找的工作和Educational Attainment，其基因解释度（遗传度）也肯定高于40%甚至远高于体型... 此外，遗传度高，绝对不代表“后天不能改变”。基因决定的是你在当前环境下的相对排名，而不是绝对上限。即使“能上什么大学”的遗传度是80%，如果国家扩招、或者你通过后天疯狂刷题，你依然能考上比你“基因预测”更好的大学。同样，即使你有肥胖基因，如果你主动控制热量，你基本不会BMI超过28（除非你双腿截肢）。
“Today, the average model weighs 23 percent less than the average woman.” (pp.159)
这句话是否真我暂且不提，但这句话暗示average woman是健康的，而平均（Average/Normal）在统计学上只是一个现状描述，它绝对不等于医学和生理学上的健康（Healthy/Optimal） 。Reference standards for body fat measures using GE dual energy x-ray absorptiometry in Caucasian adults这篇论文里女性的mean %BF in all age groups是38.6 ± 9.9%啊！平均BMI是26.4啊！
…类似的桥段还有很多。实在不想一一列举了。
不过有些点对于没有洞察力的人来说会比较helpful，执行起来还是有可行之处，比如作者写的“知道你真正想要吃什么”的一页：If you cannot immediately identify what you crave, narrow down your choices by asking: Hot or cold? Crunchy or mushy? Spicy or sweet? (pp. 56)
以上。
June 21, 2018
Great rules if you want to change your relationship with food and swear off diets forever. Easier said than done!
March 28, 2020
There's some parts of the book that feel a bit too "it's okay to give up!", but it's still good advice on how to stop dieting and actually try to eat to satifaction.
May 25, 2023
This book has been absolutely life changing. I will be rereading and using the lessons for the rest of my life.
November 5, 2014
Luckily for me, I've only been on a diet once in my adult life, though that lasted for quite a long time - over year long. And it definitely damaged me psychologically. This book was instrumental in letting go of guilt and shame associated with food and in accepting myself as a fat girl who will probably stay fat and still has full right to enjoy her life.
January 29, 2020
One of the best books I have read on this topic. I loved the lessons and I loved the exercises. The format was helpful - I could focus on one or two lessons at a time and really dive in, rather than trying to race through the book.
December 9, 2008
This book is good for recovery of a life time of dieting.
June 27, 2014
It should be required for every woman to read this book. Diets do not work and this book makes you actually accept and feel free from that idea.
February 14, 2016
I liked it enough I'm buying it so I can do the journaling
October 8, 2018
Excellent book about changing our view on food and health as a lifestyle change instead of a yet another diet plan.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews