Bod Behavior

by Isabel Chiara, Sabra May (Reading)

Readers may know Giana from Isabel Chiara's first book, Eat Your Words. She is a woman whose life has been steeped in the food industry; raised by a hardworking family of restaurateurs with strong Italian farmland roots, whose collective love language has long centered around all things edible. Giana recognizes that she's masked her emotions, anxieties, and ambitions in a metaphoric, self-medicating mode of compulsive eating and food obsession. In Bod Behavior, Isabel's second Giana-based release, readers experience what happens when a keen, sophisticated, and successful woman becomes determined to apply the skills she has for achieving external accomplishments internally. Bod Behavior offers readers a juicy, relatable, and easy-to-digest narrative, as well as the invitation to venture into the raw wild of our vulnerable places, arriving, by the book's end, in the light of a kind of self-commitment that feels secure, self-directed, and generated from the inside-out.

Genres: Nonfiction

Audio CD

Published November 1, 2022

About the author

Isabel Chiara, author of Eat Your Words, created Giana Giovanni, a character whose story is told in the style of a first-person historic memoir. Giana’s story takes us from the farm fields of Italy circa World War II, to the era of Grease Lightening in the late 1970’s, and up to current day. In humorous, easy-to-read language, Eat Your Words gives us a peek at the generational path of overeaters beginning from a home-grown food heritage (in this case the traditional Italian pastas and farmland fare) to the fast-food, drive-thru window of the super-sized large fry and extra-thick chocolate shake.

With the wisdom of the feminine, Isabel supports Giana’s inner-exploration and aha moments, not pushing her to find a solution to her dysfunctional relationship with food, but encouraging her, through self-love, to live her way back into her body that feels, at last, like home. In this tale, our protagonist’s main “squeeze” and heroic rescuer isn’t the hot boy next door but rather the overly-handled bag of chips she grapples with until finally exchanging it for the act of self-embrace.

Reviews

[Samantha Turley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a timely read that helps contextualize the causes of disconnect we experience from our bodies and helps us reclaim a nurturing relationship with our selves. It’s steeped in advocacy and is a deeply personal reflection. Get ready to reckon with diet culture and attune to your own body’s story.

[Gina Stamper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so full of wisdom that it takes multiple rereadings to grasp everything you may miss. It’s a book you can start and stop, which makes it a great guide.
Beautifully written. If you are ready to see life through the eyes of love, then this is a MUST read!