When Food Is Your Drug: A Food Addict's Guide to Managing Emotional Eating

by Kristin Jones

Have you ever found yourself covered in cookie crumbs with an empty container next to you after an argument with your spouse, but you have no recollection of eating an entire box of Thin Mints? Do you struggle to stay committed to a diet meal plan because you just are constantly hungry? Does food provide you comfort in your loneliest moments? In this thought-provoking and practical book, When Food Is Your Drug will help you determine the extent of your emotional eating issue and how to go about addressing it. Emotional eaters know they have a relationship with food that is not “normal” but pinpointing the exact problem and then knowing what to do about it has remained a mystery for many until now. Through a no-nonsense process, you will be able to identify your specific triggers that set off your desire to emotionally eat, learn where they originated from in your past, and then take the necessary steps to accept, forgive, and rewrite your relationship with food so it serves you positively moving forward. In When Food Is Your Drug, you will learn strategies Differentiate between emotional hunger and physical hunger Be present in your body when eating so you recognize feelings of satisfaction Use food appropriately and not let it be an escape or distraction from difficult or uncomfortable feelings Distinguish what you are truly hungry for and have self-care activities ready and waiting when they are needed Rewrite your relationship with food so it serves you in a positive way and allows you to move past events that have influenced your food issues When Food Is Your Drug empowers readers to take control of not only their relationship with food, but more importantly, their relationship with themselves. When that relationship is in a good place, all other relationships flourish and thrive. Now is the time to get all of your relationships healthy and When Food Is Your Drug takes you step by step through how to do that. Follow the advice in this book and be free from obsessing about food, calories, and your weight.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction

145 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 8, 2019

Reviews

[Tamara Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who struggles with food addiction as well as emotional eating, this book was very helpful in self discovery of understanding and coming to terms with the childhood triggers that have led to food addiction and emotional eating.

The concept of food addiction is something that is often dismissed as something that doesn’t really exists. The biggest struggle faced by food addicts is that unlike drugs and alcohol which are not necessary for survival, humans need food to survive. Through this book, the author seeks to help the author embrace their food addiction and for on active recovery rather than believing that reading this book will lead to being cured.

By reading this book, I learned that food addiction and emotional eating are two separate things and that food addiction, like an addiction to drugs or alcohol, is an hurdle that needs to be overcome daily and an addiction is never free from addiction but is instead always in recovery.

Through a combination of the author’s personal stories as well as interactive writing exercises for the reader, this allows the reader determine what has lead to diagnosing emotional eating as well as engaging in writing exercise that is educational, insightful yet painful at times.

I really enjoyed this book due to the amount of examples that is presented to explore how deeply childhood impacts present day eating relationships. I also appreciated that the author is very clear that although the book is informative, the reader should learn from the interactive lessons but they should also consult a professional.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some good advice and the writing prompts were nice, but the information isn't necessarily new, especially if the reader has already a book or two on EDs.

The intro was really a turn off for me and I honestly almost quit reading. She said she wished she had been addicted to drugs rather than food since drugs aren't essential to life, whereas food is obviously necessary for survival and you have to live with the triggers. I get what she was saying, but found it insensitive to those who struggle(d) with drug addiction. I feel like she was comparing apples to oranges. I don't understand that struggle either, but know some people who did or whose lives were terribly affected by it and it is a whole different beast than what she speaks of in this book. I get she was just expressing what she felt, but it really felt like she was saying another addiction was easier, which was a weird flex and did not leave a good impression.

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I appreciated the author's ability to share personal experiences, it felt to me like the author was trying to play therapist. While well-intended, it sounded like a person parroting the therapy they have had in the past. In my opinion, the "work" the author encourages you to do may need to be done in a therapist's office. Resolving many childhood issues needs more than writing about it. I was looking for a book that delved more deeply into the issue of emotional eating, and this mainly offered brief suggestions and thoughts from research articles.

[Madison Tesch · Rating 2 out of 5]

✅ Confirmed what I already knew about having an eating disorder.

❌ Didn’t provide helpful information on dealing with said disorder. Was a whole lot of the author trying to be a therapist and share her specific story.

[Jeffrey Schlissel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kristin throws it on the table. BOOM, here it all is. Although her book was geared to a different demographic, it gave me hope. I already have three or four books on this subject, and I love how she writes. You will really enjoy her book.

[Frederick Aschauer Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and concise

The author's perspective is an advantage, telling personal stories about her own journey. I am working on the exercises, so it's a work in progress.

[timothy sprague · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

This resonated with me very deeply, and I do believe it could for anyone that has an emotional attachment to food. 10/10

[Helene Imberman · Rating 1 out of 5]

not helpful

This book was not helpful to me. Too much time spent on the author’s life. Nothing new in this book.

[Justine Benscoter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first 3 paragraphs completely turned me off of this author

Kristin Jones may have been trying to prove a point with her drug addict analogy, but wow. To say that you wished you were a meth addict because it would have been easier than having to struggle with food, proves that she doesn't know or care about any actual drug addicts. Being addicted to a substance is a lot more terrible than getting to go to a cushy rehab in Southern Florida (as Jones puts it). I know and love several people who have struggled, and a few that have DIED from their addictions, and Kristin Jones manages to minimize their desperation in the first few paragraphs of her book. Not cool.