Customer Reviews

Breaking Out of Food Jail: How to Free Yourself from Diets and Problem Eating, Once and for All

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If everyone followed the advice in this book, it would put a lot of eating disorders therapists, as well as diet gurus out of business. The author's theory is that eating disorders are biological in origin rather than emotional, and that the artificial food restriction of dieting causes a rebound effect in the body. If you stop the artifical restriction, and eat according to your hunger signals, your normal eating patterns will return and your weight will normalize. Unlike some books that advocate a similar philosophy, the author does not advocate eating poor quality foods. She explicitly states that you should eat high quality real foods whenever you are hungry. Thus, this book DOES NOT ignore good nutrition which some of these books do. She states that if your appetite always satisified, you'll soon lose interest in poor quality foods. I cured my own binge eating problem by following this advice, and don't eat much in the way of junk type foods anymore. I don't understand why more obesity researchers don't advocate this approach, and why Ms. Antonello seems to be a lone voice of sanity crying out in the wilderness.

This book is a follow-up to Jean Antonello's first book on this subject, "How to Become Naturally Thin by Eating More". Although this book is good, I would definitely recommend that "Naturally Thin" be read first in order to get the most out of "Food Jail". Without the benefit of reading the first book, this volume may seem a bit boring and confusing to readers. It contains great information on how the body responds to the self-starvation that dieters well-meaningly put it thru by simply slowing down and holding on that much more stubbornly to excess fat. It explains how to get off the roller-coaster of yo-yo dieting by eating good, real food whenever you are hungry. But, unlike the original book on this subject, the author gives no personal information about herself or her own struggles and eventual triumph with over-weight. Because of this, "Food Jail" seems disjointed and even a bit repetetive in the presentation of it's information. In my opinion, it is important to read "Food Jail" as a companion to "Naturally Thin" and not on it's own to get the most out of Antonello's theories.

Anyone who thinks that they have even a slightly unhealthy relationship with food needs to read this book. The author really knows what she's talking about, and she knows how to explain her theories so that anyone can understand them. Essentially, she believes that eating disorders do not have an emotional root, but rather that they are caused by dieting. When you go on a diet, your body knows that calories are severely limited, and goes into "starvation mode" - it slows down your metabolism to preserve calories. Then, when you have lost weight and begin to eat normally again, your metabolism is very slow so you gain the weight back quickly. There is also an explanation for why people who are dieting crave fatty, sugary foods - their bodies are trying to save them from what is seen only as a famine.

There are sections that describe how to rescue yourself from this "food jail" - you must eat often, whenever you are hungry, until you are no longer hungry. You must understand that initially this will probably cause weight gain, and you must trust that eventually your body will adjust and believe that there won't be any more famines, and then you will lose weight naturally, without trying. There is also a great section on feeling better about yourself - it suggests looking at art by artists like Renior, throwing away your scale, ignoring the sizes of your clothing, and appreciating the things that your body can do, regardless of any extra pounds you may be carrying.

The focus is on eating healthy, whole foods when you are hungry, and stopping when you are full. It's so simple, but people with a history of eating disorders need to have it spelled out for them, and this book does that remarkably well. Reading this allowed me to start along the road to recovery from a lifetime of eating disorders, and the weight that I gained allowed me to conceive my son. I recommend this book highly!

How many people do you know that are as thin as a stick and still eat like a human garbage disposal? Don't you hate them! Well read this book and find out why they're doing it the right way and why we can't lose weight(and keep it off) is that we're fighting our own body and losing. And best of all its not written by some celeb. doctor its written by a real person (who happens to be a nurse) who also suffered through the same diet rollercoaster ride we're all still on. An excellent book that actually explains what you're doing to yourself, why your body is fighting against you and best yet how to stop! I haven't even finished the whole book and I've already started to change the way I eat. I can eat more and not feel guilty and I will lose weight in the end.

A reviewer stated that the author shared none of her own history. I say read the book again.
This book can stand alone from the first book. She repeats what she wrote in the first book and then some. And she repeats the same principles and then some in many different ways ...in order for us brainwashed in the diet mentality to GET IT.
The two times I lost weight effortlessly is when I ate good food when I was hungry and stopped when I was full. Of course when I noticed I panicked and thought I could help it along, and began dieting. Duh!
If the wait to allow your body to become thin naturally seems too long/hard, consider the shape you still won't be in in the next year, two or three by continuing to diet (starve, overeat). Three weeks so far. Watch for my updates.

Jean Antonello is a well-respected expert in the field of obesity and eating disorders. She is the author of two groundbreaking books, the recent Breaking Out of Food Jail (1996) and the mother of all "never-diet-again" books, How to Become Naturally Thin by Eating More (originally published in 1990). During her decades working with women who have eating disorders and the less severe eating dysfunction, such as yo-yo dieting and binge eating, Antonello watched the Theory of Adaptation at work. When a dieter imposes self-starvation, also known as a reduced-calorie diet, the body reacts as if it were threatened with death due to an uncertain food supply. This results in what Antonello calls the feast-or-famine cycle, being locked into bingeing and then dieting, and then bingeing and dieting again. A simple understanding of this natural bodily function can release chronic dieters from the yo-yo cycle forever. Antonello has had great success helping chronic dieters, bulimics, and ano

I am a holistic health health counselor and I work with many women who have been suffering with dieting and eating disorders for years! This book truly enabled me to comprehend what's behind so many women's (and men's) eating problems.

Sure, I have had immense knowledge about the societal and emotional components to disordered eating, but Jean Antonello shared so much more in this great resource. In this book, the big breakthrough for me was that underating is the primary cause for overeating. Since learning this, I have started asking my clients who's chief complaint is binge-eating, if they restrict their diets at all and they always answer yes to this question.
This has really helped me to help them!

This book is a phenomenal resource with suggestions on how to break patterns of undereating and overeating. This book also offers great suggetsions on how to develop a better body image!

I like the book. It is very detailed. That shows you how complicated our bodies are. Everyone has a different body and metabolism that needs different eating patterns. There is discussion about how some people have caused their body to stop losing weight because the individual may be starving their body. One has to eat in order to lose weight--just eat those the food that is good for you.
Some people may find this book very detailed and that may discourage them. I hope not.

I would have been irritated if I had paid full price for this one. It's an okay read, but very contradictory and over-simplified. Just so you know before you read it: Don't fall for the "this isn't a diet" part. By the end you will realize that for all the talk about diets not working she is saying to eat a low fat diet, no sweets, etc. which I consider to be a diet. Eat fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats. Same information but with a lot of arrogant generalizations thrown in. It is also very out of date so I'm surprised that the price is kind of high. I bought used because I saw that it was from the 90's. I'm glad I did.

All the scientific- sounding descriptions (feast, famine, feast-famine cycle, etc.) are really just terms the author has come up with to support her opinion on what she feels should be done to become "naturally" thin. This book is strictly based on the author's own experience and a few of her case studies.

I think it's interesting to note that in the entire book, there is not a single work cited. No journal articles, research, or scientific studies are listed anywhere to support the author's viewpoint. No bibliography at the end of the book for further information on the subjects the author described.

Because of this, I think this method should be approached with a grain of salt. I personally would run as fast as I could in the opposite direction from a plan that tells me that I have to gain weight first in order to lose weight.