According to the National Eating Disorders Association, eating disorders affect 70 million people worldwide. Given the growing influence of Instagram influencers and YouTubers, the number of eating disorders seems to be on the rise. Thankfully, there are plenty of books on eating disorders that chronicle the struggles of these disorders and show the potential for recovery for those with the most severe symptoms. Here are some of the most enlightening and empowering choices.
Please note that the following titles may be triggers for those currently struggling with or recovering from an eating disorder. Nor does it replace the . Reader discretion is advised.
10 must-read books about eating disorders
Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and gain Portia de Rossi
Portia de Rossi weighed just 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of her first Hollywood movie. From modeling as a child in Australia to appearing on one of the hottest shows on American television, all her hard work has brought her to this moment. But inside I was literally dying. Portia shares her struggles with eating disorders and how those diagnosed with her can feel like they’re fighting with their own bodies.
Brave Girl Eating: Fighting Anorexia in the Family Harriet Brown
Brave Girl Eating It chronicles a family’s struggle with anorexia nervosa. Journalist, professor and author Harriet Brown tells the story of her daughter Kitty’s journey from starvation to her return to health in transparent and terrifying detail. Brave Girl Eating is an intimate, vulnerable, compelling, and ultimately uplifting book about the damage of mental illness and possible recovery from anorexia nervosa.
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body Roxanne Gay
New York Times bestselling author Roxanne Gay has previously written about her experiences with food and the body, using her own emotional and psychological battles as a means to explore anxiety about pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. I am writing to As a woman who describes her body as “very chaotic,” Roxanne experiences firsthand the tension between her desires and denials, self-control and self-care.
of hungershe provides an insightful and critical account of her childhood, teenage years and twenties, including the devastating act of violence that turned her life upside down and how it affected her eating behavior. She offers a perilous exploration of what it means to be overweight in an age when bigger means less attention.
Eat…: A mother’s struggle to free her teenage son from anorexia Bev Mattox
A rugby star and popular student, 15-year-old Ben has everything a teenager could want. At the same time, his urge to exercise became extreme, and within months the once-talented rugby player had lost a quarter of his body weight and suffered anorexia nervosa.
Ben’s mother, Bev, shares the heartbreaking yet moving story of a mother helplessly witnessing her son transform into someone else. She also shares the importance of the help of her parents and therapists.With the help of those around her and his own determination, Ben slowly recovered and took control of his life. .
The Body Tourist By Dana Reese Shevin
In this moving and hilarious memoir covering six years of recovery from anorexia, Dana Reese Chevin explores the psychosis that nailed it so deeply into her life long after she was considered “cured.” offers a candid and ultimately optimistic view of the thinking of Eating disorder. Many authors write fragilely and eloquently about their struggles with depression, addiction, and eating disorders, but their stories usually end when recovery is achieved.
But what happens to all that happens when that person rejoins their family, community, and society? Beyond her recovery, Shavin explores how she rejoins the world and engages with others. , detailing how, after years of darkness, she felt deeply in her body again.
how to disappear completely Kelsey Osgood
Osgood’s anorexia nervosa began at the age of 15, and he devoured memoirs and magazine articles about the disorder, providing as many details as possible about how little the writers ate, their minimum weight, and their ruthless exercise regime. absorbed. “Best anorexia” possible. Eventually, she found herself hospitalized with the disease. After that, she began to wonder how she could suffer for what she was actively seeking.
how to disappear completely A memoir of Osgood’s ten-year battle with anorexia, detailing her three lengthy hospital stays and the competitive world of inpatient facilities. With her unflinching honesty, Osgood demystified the many myths of her anorexia, documenting her own struggles while also documenting the undercurrent of a cult eating disorder among her teens. Eliminate
it was me all along Andy Mitchell
Andy Mitchell ate mindlessly extravagantly all his life. Her food was her babysitter, her comforter, her best friend. It provided a refuge from her disintegrating family.But when she stepped on her scale at 20th On her birthday, and it registered almost £300, she knew she had to change something about food and the way she viewed herself for her life.
Unlike other books on eating disorders that focus on anorexia, it was me all along From transforming Mitchell from morbidly obese to half her size and seeking comfort in cream-filled things, to finding balance in a delicious and understated bowl of pasta on the romantic streets of Rome. The story is more than a woman who loved food and hated her body.It’s about someone who changed her circumstances and discovered the truth about the beauty of balance and true control.
This Mean Illness: Growing Up in the Shadow of My Mother’s Anorexia Daniel Becker
In the first book written by the child of someone who died of an eating disorder, Danielle Becker describes the heartbreaking details of her mother’s anorexia. I see it as just one of many hospitalizations.
From the observation and confusion of a young child to the realization of helplessness as an adult, Danielle describes how a father and two brothers struggled to balance their loyalties to and separate from her mother so she could recover. is intimately depicted. Ultimately, Daniel must come to terms with his mother’s decline and begin a life out of the shadow of her mother’s eating disorder. In so many books on eating disorder recovery, personal symptoms and struggles are told. this means sick It offers a new perspective on how you can be personally affected by these diseases even if you don’t have them.
Wastefulness: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia Maria Hornbacher
Why would a talented young woman find herself in a dangerous relationship involving drugs, sex, starvation and death? Through the loss of , Maria Hornbacher lovingly embraced anorexia and bulimia.
how to kill your life Cat Marnell
At 26, Kat Marnell was the next beauty editor. lucky, one of the top fashion magazines in the United States, and that’s all people knew about her. There was a deeper secret behind her success. She was a prescription drug addict who suffered from bulimia nervosa and insomnia. how to kill your life Beginning at a prestigious New England preparatory school, he received a prescription for Ritalin for ADHD. It follows New York and follows Marnell’s amphetamine-stimulated rise to editorship, to the point, inevitably, that her illness threatened all her endeavours.
Philadelphia Eating Disorder Clinic
If left untreated, eating disorders can not only ruin a person’s life, but can end it. Our rehab offers eating disorder programs that can help. We provide specialized care for disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and orthorexia. Our Nourish in Recovery program is designed to support clients through their recovery from eating disorders.
Even the best books on eating disorder recovery cannot replace professional care.Call Banyan Treatment Centers Philadelphia today at 888-280-4763.
