You Can't Judge a Body by Its Cover: 17 Women's Stories of Hunger, Body Shame, and Redemption

by David Bedrick

What if your hunger—that force that beckons you to the ice cream aisle, and guides your hands to take seconds when you didn’t even feel like having firsts—was the misunderstood sage of your body, rattling its cage inside the fortress of your soul? What if your resistance to dieting were actually a message of self-love? What if your body size and shape also held intelligence and protection? In You Can’t Judge a Body by Its Cover, you’ll read seventeen stories of women who opened the doors to their souls in therapeutic sessions with David Bedrick: stories of shame and self-love, fear and hope, being small and being big. These are the inside stories of the transformation, from bodies impacted by sexism and racism, rape and harsh criticism, and the deepest hungers for an authentic life. You’ll recognize your own pains and abuses, resistance to weight loss, your hungers…and power. Get ready to be inspired. Get ready to see everything differently. Get ready to meet the life-changing secrets held within your body’s rebellion to living in a society that fetishizes thinness and shames authenticity.

Genres: Self Help, Feminism, Psychology, Nonfiction

293 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2020

About the author

David Bedrick, JD, Dipl. PW, is a teacher, counselor, and attorney. He grew up in a family marked by violence. While his father’s brutality was physical and verbal, his mother’s denial and gaslighting had its own covert power. This formative context introduced David early to the etiology of shame and instilled an urge to unshame.

Professionally, he was on the faculty for the University of Phoenix and the Process Work Institute in the U.S. and Poland and is the founder of the Santa Fe Institute for Shame-based Studies where he trains therapists, coaches and healers and offers workshops for individuals to further their own personal development.

David writes for Psychology Today and is the author of three books: Talking Back to Dr. Phil:Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology, Revisioning Activism: Bringing Depth, Dialogue, and Diversity to Individual and Social Change and You Can’t Judge a Body by Its Cover: 17 Women’s Stories of Hunger, Body Shame and Redemption.

The Unshaming Way, published by North Atlantic books is now available in print, Kindle, and audiobook.

Reviews

[Jen Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bedricks passion and strength
Reminds me of what it was like the first time you say no!
That moment of feeling your own power!!
I became one with his clients helping me see what was truly missing. Stunningly Beautiful.
I felt myself move between the pages, each story feeling as though it was mine.
David's ability to almost jump into someone's body like a shamanic spirit, is mind bogglingly beautiful!
Reaching inward in sheer Brilliance.
Love it!!

[An · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only we knew the struggles of others in accepting their bodies just as we do, perhaps we wouldn't feel so alone and broken with it.

This book allows us not just to peek into the minds of others on the path to loving our bodies and our true selves, it also guides us into seeing the wisdom our bodies themselves bring to the table. Because therein lies the secret that brings about the shift.

I was amazed at how many stories I could recognise myself in and the extent to which it revealed where the next chapter in my own journey may lie.

If everyone who ever occupied themselves with preaching having found THE solution for women wanting to lose weight read this book and embodied the wisdom it brings, the world would be a better place for it.

I suspect I'll refer back to these stories from time to time, and hope others might too, because there's so much to be gained from bringing the underlying message it brings into our worlds.

[Candace Raygoza-Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I finished my copy in 2 days, it had me laughing , crying and feeling so much ... the stories and struggles were so relateable and I saw parts of my own journey in each woman. Its a really good read"

[Noelle Wig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not finish. As an eating disorder, HAES informed therapist, I was really excited to read this. I found myself disappointed. There were many conflicts between how weight loss is not the answer nor adaptive to pursue. And then there’s times where weight loss is encouraged, even a program created for a client. That’s when I had to stop reading. It also seemed out of scope. I wish I liked it more.

[Susannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some great concepts in this book for the practicing nutritionist or person struggling with body image...insights into why people may engage in certain food related behaviors. I am glad I read it, but I struggled to get through to the end...

[Cristina Sbiera · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fost o carte atât de revelatoare pentru mine și m-am simțit ca nu sunt singura cu probleme similare. Poveștile atât de profunde și exemple foarte bune și concise dar scrise totodată cu un touch sentimental.

[Gato Negro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book was like mining for ore...lots of rocky debris with the occasional vein of valuable information.
I did find a few great takeaways.

[Mária Prognerová · Rating 3 out of 5]

v originálnom znení by to bolo asi lepšie, slovenský preklad mi nevyhovoval, ale zopár myšlienok si z nej odnášam 🙂

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this a profoundly helpful book for anyone who struggles with body image and carvings for food that results in feelings of shame. I look forward to reading his soon to be released new book, Unshamed.