TITLE: The Optimistic Food Addict
AUTHOR: Christina Fisanick Greer
GENRE: Memoir/recovery
RATING: 4 Stars
I always admire someone who shares their story and invites us in to read about it. It is a tough and brave thing to do.
I have read many, many, recovery books on eating disorders and this book touched me. The sadness, loss and pain this person experienced in her early life would be enough to send me hiding under something and never come out - which is, of course, how some people with eating disorders deal (or don't deal) with personal trauma.
I have mixed emotions about the content of this book , obviously I am talking about the view points this author has about eating disorders. She touched on several interesting topics, i.e. are eating disorders an addiction (and a disease) which requires abstinence or are they better treated with intuitive eating.
I have been on both sides of this equation and there are good and bad on each side. The author does not advocate for one over the other although she does admit to believing she has a disease and that intuitive eating did not work for her - she needed clear abstinence.
While the author says she does not want to be "food obsessed" anymore (something I totally agree with) I question how abstinence does this as it encourages a person to vigilantly avoid sugar, flour, etc.....keeping the focus on the food and feeling defeated if there is a "relapse" back into sugar or flour.....
As the author mentions, eating disorders and binge eating in particular have been around for a long time, but they have just recently been recognized as a medical condition and little is truly known about it.
I am encouraged by the tone of optimism in this memoir and I applaud the author for being happy with who she is, even if she is not a size 6 - to me, this was the golden nugget in this book - discovering that you can be happy even if you struggle - that there is hope.
Well written and candid.
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