Unfuck Your Eating: Using Science to Build a Better Relationship with Food, Health, and Body Image

by Faith G. Harper

Food is complicated. And our relationships with food and eating are all kinds of fucked up. It doesn't help that cultural messages about health, diet, body image, and weight are fatphobic and often medically dangerous. Dr. Faith Harper, author of the bestselling Unfuck Your Brain and Unfuck Your Body, brings her trademark combination of science, humor, and real talk to help us work through our food, health, and body image issues and develop a healthier relationship with food so that it can fuel us and bring us pleasure. She delves into the difference between eating disorders and disordered eating and the causes and consequences of both, breaks down the difference between various behaviors, tackles trauma and other co-occurring conditions, and provides compassionate and practical steps to improve your eating habits and repair your relationship with yourself.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Health, Food

192 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 2023

About the author

Faith G. Harper, PhD, LPC-S, ACS, ACN is a bad-ass, funny lady with a PhD. She’s a licensed professional counselor, board supervisor, certified sexologist, and applied clinical nutritionist with a private practice and consulting business in San Antonio, TX. She has been an adjunct professor and a TEDx presenter, and proudly identifies as a woman of color and uppity intersectional feminist. She is the author of the book Unf*ck Your Brain and many other popular zines and books on subjects such as anxiety, depression, and grief. She is available as a public speaker and for corporate and clinical trainings.

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should start off by saying I’m a therapist with a specialty in eating disorders. This started off great as it talked about body neutrality and Health At Every Size, but the tips and tricks were rife with problems. She refers to a lot of diet culture crap to trick your body into thinking it’s full, and quotes Michael Pollan, for goodness sake. Please look at her recommendations for reading and skip this entirely.

[August · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the information was informative at the beginning but the “suggestions” given at the end just are straight up dangerous & unhelpful advice for folks trying to recover from a litany of eating disorders

[Autumn Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

TRIGGER WARNING: Eating Disorder Mention Below 👇

In truth, I really thought I would get more out of this book. While it was informative, it felt more like a Wikipedia entry of eating disorders and disordered eating when I anticipated a more psychological and scientific analysis of how we view, consume and talk about food as a society. I think I got some of that for about 10-20 pages of this book? Overall, just wasn’t what it made itself out to be in the subtitle, with far too many bullet lists of disorders that felt more like a google search and less like a specific or unique POV on the subject matter.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decently short read. I think it has the ability to be a helpful start for those how struggle with eating disorders. I don't agree with some of Dr. Harper's views on gender fluidity and race, but her methods still seem useful. After reading this I am a bit on the fence about whether or not I'd like to read more of her work.

[Anastasia Charatsidou · Rating 2 out of 5]

I missed depth in the book. It felt like there was a lot of general information with a constant recurring advise of ‘go to a psychologist’. Perhaps my expectations were different but it felt like everything I read could have been summarized in a single article anyone can find with a couple google searches.

[Milla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prima

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Willow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Constantly self contradicting - if you actually want to unlearn fatphobia and disordered eating read books by Aubrey Gordon, DaShaun Harrison, Christy Harrison, and Sabrina Strings