Looking for recommendations on books on emotional/comfort/binge eating

September 18, 2018 10:57 AM

I'd like to find a book to help me stop mindlessly binging on food. A couple of books that showed up when I searched on Amazon were Breaking Free from Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth, I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna, and a book called Brain Over Binge. Are those any good or does anybody have any other suggestions? Also open to things like podcasts, websites or other sources of info. To clarify I'm not really looking for books that suggest diet plans or snacking on low calorie foods or anything like that, I'm looking for books focused on the root causes. Thanks!
posted by iamsuper to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

I always recommend "Never Binge Again" (website here).
It's a quick read, and deceptively simple, but not easy.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 11:13 AM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

Geneeth Roth’s books work for many people. There is also Judith Beck’s Beck Diet Solution, which offers CBT for tackling many food-related behaviours and thoughts, including emotional eating and binging.
posted by Aravis76 at 11:17 AM on September 18, 2018

I love that Geneen Roth book.
posted by woodvine at 11:35 AM on September 18, 2018

A couple friends of mine really benefited from a different Geneen Roth book (Women, Food, and God, if that sounds relevant to you) and recommend her.
posted by momus_window at 11:38 AM on September 18, 2018

I've been researching this and searching on the term "Mindful Eating" which brings up a lot of resources, but I haven't investigated any of them so I don't have a specific recommendation.
posted by matildaben at 11:41 AM on September 18, 2018

I used the workbook Making Peace With Food in the 1990s.
posted by jocelmeow at 12:13 PM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I would definitely suggest reading a couple write ups to make sure this is the direction you want to go, but one of the best at discussing root causes and impacts has to be Hunger by Roxane Gay.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 12:49 PM on September 18, 2018

An instagrammer I follow speaks very highly of brain over binge. She also talks pretty regularly about her binge eating disorder (handle is kellie_keto if you’d like to check her out).
posted by bluloo at 5:33 PM on September 18, 2018

A friend of mine said that reading Brain Over Binge was a game changer for her. It's by a recovering anorexic, but it's for anyone with an unhealthy relationship with food.
posted by kinsey at 6:04 PM on September 18, 2018

Brain over Binge actually sort of discounts the whole idea of emotional eating - hence the title. It's a mind over body approach and I don't know if it slips into a just use your willpower!! kind of thing.

Specific to the emotional components, seconding Geneen Roth. You might like Ellyn Satter's work if there are some broader "how to feed myself" issues - it's family-oriented but it basically lets you re-teach yourself how to eat (which was huge for me). Evelyn Tribole's Intuitive Eating is another possibility.

More ~spiritual~, but if you like Women, Food & God, look at Anita Johnston's Eating in the Light of the Moon.
posted by ahundredjarsofsky at 9:16 PM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Highly recommend Gillan Riley’s Eating Less. It is a compelling and thoroughly logical approach that seems to me, having read everything I can find on this subject, truly one of the most intelligent and genuinely useful books on overeating. It cuts through the diet fatigue and just makes sense. Well, it did to me anyway.

Good luck - things really can get better.
posted by Weng at 5:18 AM on September 19, 2018

I'm really appreciating Jan Chozen Bays' Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food. (I'm currently halfway through, so while it's been terrific so far, I take no responsibility if at the very end she's like "in conclusion, murdering people is great lol".)

The author is a pediatrician and Zen teacher-- consistent with the Zen approach, the book does not make any grand claims or stringent dictums but rather guides you in learning to thoughtfully and comprehensively investigate how you encounter food and what it is you're actually telling yourself.
posted by dusty potato at 10:06 AM on September 19, 2018