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Ever since I started writing Weightless, I’ve learned so much about building a positive body image, ditching dieting, genuinely accepting myself and embracing true health.

While every day is a process, I’m light years away from where I was: deeply dissatisfied with my body, not knowing who I was, thinking thinness would make me a better and happier person and afraid of relinquishing dieting, because left to my own devices, I’d surely devour everything in sight. (Magazines love to make us think this, but it’s so far from reality.)

Many of us, at some point in our lives, have struggled with food or body image issues (or, most likely, both). If you have, Esther Kane’s book It’s Not About the Food: A Woman’s Guide to Making Peace With Food and Our Bodies is a must-read. For many years, Esther also suffered from her own body image battles and a life-threatening eating disorder. And that’s where the book begins, with her story. Here, Esther’s honesty and authenticity really struck me. While she recounts her struggles and recovery, Esther is eloquent and inspiring. I think this will resonate with many readers. She writes:

I see my recovery process as being like the act of peeling an onion, each layer representing a new discovery about myself and with each layer that is peeled back, there are tears. The tears are a way to let go of my grief and the agony that comes from understanding why I nearly killed myself through an eating disorder. The tears also represent, for me, the painful realization that roughly one-third of my young life was spent being totally obsessed with food and weight and that, try as I might, I will never be able to get those years back.

Continue reading… »

Continuing with this week’s focus on eating disorders, I wanted to post my review of Beating Ana: How to Outsmart Your Eating Disorder & Take Your Life Back by Shannon Cutts, who generously provided me with a free copy. Shannon founded a pro-recovery organization called MentorConnect and travels the country, doing lectures and presentations on eating disorders, recovery and related topics (you can find more info on her website, Key to Life). I highly, highly, highly recommend learning more about MentorConnect and getting involved.

Happy 2010 everyone! I hope you enjoyed a wonderful weekend. Today, I’m happy to feature a book review by reader Kate Thieda, who shared her story of eating disorder recovery with us last month here and here. Below, she’s written an excellent review of Goodbye Ed, Hello Me by Jenni Schaefer. Thanks so much, Kate, for your review!! Oh, Marsha Hudnall over at the fantastic blog A Weight Lifted has included an interview with me today. I was thrilled to answer Marsha’s questions (I interviewed Marsha for Weightless in November). Please check it out and comment, if you like. Thanks!

For those who struggle with eating disorders, recovery can seem impossible and even unimaginable—how could life be any different than it is now? Stories of those who have triumphed and gone on to be happy, healthy and successful can be hard to come by.

Enter Jenni Schaefer, author of Life Without Ed, and her new book, Goodbye Ed, Hello Me, sharing her story of full recovery and successful “divorce” from “Ed,” her eating disorder.

Goodbye Ed, Hello Me is written in the same friendly, easy-to-read, short-chaptered format as Life Without Ed. Schaefer chose the premise of describing the stages of building a new, loving relationship with herself—as opposed to life during her “marriage” to Ed—as her structure for the book.

Part 1 is “Happily Divorced: Life Without Ed.” An important distinction Schaefer makes in this book is the difference between being “in recovery” and being “recovered” from an eating disorder. She acknowledges that life is always in flux, and therefore being “in recovery” can signify a process, but has chosen to declare she is “recovered” in order to permanently evict Ed from her life. Schafer also challenges readers to separate themselves from the voice of their eating disorders, saying the “missing piece” from her first book was this advice: “Don’t blame Ed for anything.” Ultimately, the choice of whether to listen to what Ed says is your responsibility. To have a successful “divorce,” you need to take charge.

Part 2 is “Being Single: Making It on Your Own.” One of the most confusing, and at …