Breaking Free from Emotional Eating Paperback – May 6, 2003

I read Paul McKenna's "I Can Make You Thin" (horrible title, but great advice). I really liked his four golden rules: Eat only when you are hungry, eat only what you want to eat, eat consciously and enjoy, and stop when you are full. Seems obvious, but hard to practice. I wanted to practice this instead of dieting. It makes sense and it feels right. But his book was missing something. WHY couldn't I do it?Breaking Free has the same ideas as his book. But there are no rules in hers; it's about acceptance. And she fills in the gaps that his book left. His is a small, digestible, analytical book, and hers goes into more depth. What is our goal? We think it's to be thin, but why? Because we want to be satisfied, happy. But that doesn't have to equate to being thin.Her book helps you cut yourself some slack. I still want to lose weight, but I don't need to stop living my life and berate myself because I'm not doing it perfectly and I'm not there yet.She touches on connecting with your body and trusting it. And if you do decide to eat when you are NOT hungry, why? Are you trying to avoid thinking about what's bothering you? Are you bored? If you know that eating when you are not hungry will not nourish your body, what are you hoping to accomplish?She points out that all of this is okay, but these are decisions that we need to make consciously. When she first started trying to come to a balance between her emotions and her body, she put on a lot more weight. And that's frightening. But in the long run, it was worth it to be able to eat only when she was hungry, or to not beat herself up when she ate anyway because she recognized that food was performing another function that she wanted.Her observations really hit home with me. It was a relief to hear someone put my thoughts and feelings into words that I could directly relate to.

I bought this book a couple years ago after I acknowledged I had serious eating issues, and wanted to stop the destructive mental and physical cycle I was engaged in. I was a chronic dieter, obsessed with my mission to lose the last 10-20 pounds I believed was 'ruining' my life. I thought if only I was 130 pounds I would be happy, and I couldn't be happy at 150. I would regularly diet and binge, losing and gaining 20 pounds within a couple months. Everyday was full of anxiety and dread, eating was stressful, all I could think about was how wrong I was and how shameful my eating issues were, and of course how miserably 'fat' I was. I struggled with compulsive eating for 6 years-with the unending 'urge' to eat, until I found this book.If you struggle with emotional or compulsive eating, buy this book! Read it, listen to the message, and most of all give yourself time to heal and make changes. The principles of this book essentially teach you how to tap into your actual hunger and fullness, while ridding yourself of the horrible deprivation mindset of dieting that leads to overeating. I am finally practicing the principles to the fullest (I used to sort of half practice the principles in the hope that I would lose weight, but I was still dieting and fell back into my former behaviors), and after 6 years of chronic binging, I haven't binged in months! But it took time, and I'm not completely free of my tendency to overeat, or my desire to eat when I'm not hungry for various reasons. This past week even I definitely ate too much and when I wasn't hungry. The key thing this book has changed in me is- that I accept it and I MOVE ON. I don't dwell or hate myself or desperately try a new diet. But even so, I am much happier, my eating disorder is not dominating my thoughts as it once was. I am improving daily, I actually feel my 'hunger' now, I actually do not 'feel' like eating when there is delicious food around. For me, this is a major breakthrough. I'm thinner then I have been in years, not 130 pounds, but for once- I'm fine with my weight. I'd rather stay this weight then potentially revert back to my old behaviors- without Breaking Free I would never be this reasonable!!! I can't emphasize enough though- it takes TIME. Be patient, you may gain weight, you may have setbacks, progress is GRADUAL. But if you embody the message of this book, you can overcome your ED!This book will teach you how to accept, love, and forgive yourself in spite of your eating issues. It delves into the emotions and thinking patterns that fuel compulsive/emotional eating, and helps you escape the mental outlook that causes the eating disorder. This is not a dieting book! But it will teach you how to find the strength in yourself to solve your eating issues, and to move on with your life.

I was amazed as soon as I began to read this book. It felt immediately like someone understood me, because everything that was written there echoed so well in my own life that it was eerie. As though I had grown up, written a book, and then transported back in time to read it without knowing I had written it. It was just odd. But in a great way; in a way that made me felt understood, and NOT crazy.This book has helped open a lot of perspectives to me as a woman, as a lover, and as an eater. It reminded me that I am but one person, despite how easy it is for us to separate ourselves from ourselves; it's easier to imagine two different people inside of you than it is to realize that it's one person with different needs that are constantly changing.I found the exercises, list-making, and other points of discussion very helpful. I made the lists for my own benefit and felt like I had accomplished something at the end of each chapter. It was a very enjoyable read, very smooth; like reading a food therapist's words on paper.Geneen's rule of only eating when you're hungry only works, of course, if you are able to keep to it. But I found that when I broke this rule, and when I was extremely conscious of my eating when I wasn't hungry, that it made me feel worse. Not in a way that I was talking down to myself, calling myself worthless or something; it physically made me feel ill. I didn't want to keep eating and I found myself asking myself why I was anyway. I'm getting in touch with myself and my own needs and desires and I have Geneen's book to thank for that.I intend on reading more of her works.