Art & Science of Rational Eating

by Albert Ellis

This is the first book to systematically explore the biological psychological causes of eating disorders and how to control them using the principles of rational emotive therapy (RET) and cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). The Art and Science of Rational Eating teaches RET principles of unconditional self- acceptance; how to always accept and endorse oneself--even when some eating or other behaviors are self-defeating. This is the path toward successful self-control and weight control. Albert Ellis, Ph. D., the originator of RET and CBT, has worked closely with associates Micheal Abrams, Ph. D., and Lidia Dengelegi, Ph. D., to develop this unusual self-help book devoted especially to eating disorders. It is a needed self-help book for those suffering from bulimia and anorexia.

343 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1992

About the author

Albert Ellis was an American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). He held M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University and American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). He also founded and was the President of the New York City-based Albert Ellis Institute for decades.
He is generally considered to be one of the originators of the cognitive revolutionary paradigm shift in psychotherapy and the founder of cognitive-behavioral therapies. Based on a 1982 professional survey of USA and Canadian psychologists, he was considered as the second most influential psychotherapist in history (Carl Rogers ranked first in the survey; Sigmund Freud was ranked third).

Reviews

[Farnaz Ps · Rating 3 out of 5]

از بین کتابهای رژیم و تغذیه این یکی از بهترینها بود

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

The message of this book is that most human beings are genetically predetermined to be fat by the current standards of society( there is a lot of truth to this). You can try to lose weight, but you will most likely fail to keep it off, so you are better off not trying to lose weight and accepting yourself as you are. Should you be foolish enough to try, the authors offer some diet tips mixed in with REBT (cognitive therapy) all while reminding you that failure is likely.

The authors only give the reader examples from their weight control therapy groups of people who try to lose weight and fail. The examples that are painted in a positive light are patients who decide that losing weight is not worth the discomfort and who learn to accept being heavy. People who try to be fit are painted as being shallow and wasting their time on a triviality.

The authors claim to know a lot about nutrition, dieting and fitness. Yet, they recommend going on extremely low calorie diets because they think seeing fast results will keep people motivated. It is believed that crash diets are responsible for the yo-yo effect they decry and contributes to raising body weight set points. The authors also minimize regular exercise as a fat loss tool, claiming it helps a little, and is good for health, but it doesn't contribute much to serious weight loss. No wonder so many of their patients give up on trying to lose fat and focus on acceptance.

For what it is worth people do lose large amounts of weight and keep that weight off for long periods of time without being uncomfortable. People interested in this should go to the web site for The National Weight Control Registry.

The book has an interesting discussion about bigotry and the bigotry against heavy people.

I believe people who read the front cover of this book where "The sensible, sure-fire way to lose unwanted pounds" is printed will be disappointed. The contents of this book do not match the descriptions of it. This book is not a manual for making weight loss work. This book is about calling into question why people try to lose weight and encouraging people not to do so.

If you are interested in learning to use REBT(cognitive therapy) as a tool for learning how to have better eating habits "How To Stick To A Diet" by Windy Dryden is a far better choice.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty typical effort from Albert Ellis. I'm discovering that most of his works are a combination of brilliant ideas paired with sometimes embarrassingly sloppy execution. Ellis's basic REBT theory and his ABC(DEF) model of attacking refuting irrational beliefs is extremely helpful. However, the application of those ideas to the concept of eating and weight loss is not always successful. I liked the way the authors suggest that some of us (who are only 10-15% over weight) may be better off accepting that our weight "set points" are higher than we'd like than living in a constant state of deprivation.

[Parisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

برای من فصل 5 (دیدگاه جامعه در مورد چاق ها) و فصل 6 (چه وزنی زیباست؟) واقعاً تجربه ی تازه و بی نظیری بود و به جرئت میتونم بگم جزو بهترین شناختهایی بود که با مطالعه به دست آوردم. اما در مورد کسانی که میخوان با خوندن این کتاب برنامه ی رژیم غذایی و لاغری اجرا کنن پیشنهاد میکنم اول با اصول کار الیس آشنا بشن و بعد سراغ این کتاب بیان. آشنایی با الفبای تئوری الیس باعث میشه بهتر کتاب رو فهمید