Compulsive Overeater: The Basic Text for Compulsive Overeaters [Hardcover]

Bill B (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1988

Bill B. tells the story of how he lost seventy-five pounds and maintained his weight loss for over ten years. Chapters focus on topics of real concern to us--abstinence, anger, fear and depression, relationships, and money. For those of us who struggle with compulsive overeating, Bill B.'s interpretation of the Twelve Steps and how they apply to overeating can be a valuable inspiration.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bill B is a contributor for the following Hazelden Title: Compulsive Overeater

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Hazelden Publishing (January 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568380623
• ISBN-13: 978-1568380629
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #671,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, September 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Compulsive Overeater: The Basic Text for Compulsive Overeaters (Hardcover)

Although not OA approved literature, it is well worth any OA'er reading. The author states that the BIG BOOK is still the bible, and he reads it often, but his book shows us overeaters the 12 steps from a compulsive overeaters perspective. Something he said helped me to return to program something like its not just another diet program, it's a "save your life program". AMEN

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book by Wonderful 12 Step Teacher, April 19, 2011

By 

Sandra Weinrib - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Compulsive Overeater: The Basic Text for Compulsive Overeaters (Hardcover)

In response to a previous review:
Bill Bluestein was my very good friend and beloved OA sponsor for many years. He was one of the most important and influential people in my life. I am a woman and when I met Bill, I was in my thirties and he was old enough to be my father. He was still married to his first wife at the time.
Bill had a reputation for being a womanizer, but he was always appropriate with me. I spent many, many hours alone with him, in his office, at his home, in his car, and together in restaurants. He never made a pass, or even said anything the least bit suggestive to me.
My experience of Bill is that he devoted countless hours and energy teaching me the proper interpretation of the 12 Steps of the AA program, helping me to learn and incorporate them into my life. He listened to my problems, did me favors when I was sick and couldn't make a living, and was always there for me as a true friend with love and guidance whenever I needed him. I owe so much of my current success and happiness to him, even though probably 20 years have passed since we lived in the same city.
We kept in touch, and I occasionally went to visit him. At a certain point, a mutual friend called and said Bill was involved in a big scandal as he had been seducing patients (he was a licensed psychologist and head of an Eating Disorder Unit) and women in Overeaters Anonymous.
I phoned him immediately. He copped to everything, told me he had a big problem and had checked himself into a sex addicts clinic. He spoke candidly to me, taking full responsibility for his actions, the way he always had regarding his past with drugs and food addiction.
Bill never pretended to be a person without problems -- he kept a sponsor of his own til the day he died. That was because he knew he needed one. Bill himself was kept locked in closets and physically abused as a child, and who knows what else, because he only spoke of it in reference to clearing away the wreckage of one's past, not to garner sympathy or excuse his life.
I am not trying to excuse any of Bill's actions here, but I have my own observations and thoughts on the matter. The people around Bill tended to put him on a pedestal. That I never did. To me, he was a flawed man, but one I loved and learned from.
When the truth about his sexual misconduct came out, many of the people he had spent countless hours helping and being there for, asking nothing in return, were the quickest to turn on him. I am thinking of men now, even more than women, men I knew well because they were my friends and I heard first hand how angry they were. I believe this was on account of putting him on too high a pedestal and being too disillusioned when he fell.
For me, he was just another recovering compulsive personality and I continued to work my program and be there for him, without buying into any bull, but he wasn't offering any by the time we spoke. The program is about progress, not perfection.
When the stories came out, and I heard some of them personally from some of the women involved, I realized one thing: these were all women who did not set appropriate boundaries with men to begin with. I always did -- he always got that vibe from me, and that's why he never got out of line with me.
Despite claims of prior review, Bill did not rape anyone. He was a womanizer who, as a licensed psychologist (he was also an attorney), crossed the line and seduced some of his patients as well as some of the women he met in OA, where he was popular as a speaker and sponsor.
I am not blaming the women here, but they had a part in it, most of them knew he was married and they were weak and confused when it came to sex and relations with men, AS WAS BILL WHEN IT CAME TO SEX AND RELATIONS WITH WOMEN. In the end, he faced his demons and worked his program on his sexual misconduct. I personally witnessed this.
To the world: to this day, many years after his passing, I love Bill Bluestein and am grateful and priviliged to have had him in my life. And I will say about the book: anything Bill has written or had a hand in on the topic of compulsive overeating and working the 12 step program, it's great stuff, it helped me turn my life around and become the person I always wanted to be. The 12 steps do that, and Bill taught me how to properly understand and practice them.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compulsive Overeater's, March 27, 2010

By 

Vickie Seltenreich "Victoria" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Compulsive Overeater: The Basic Text for Compulsive Overeaters (Hardcover)

I found the book to be absolutely fabulous! It has hit home on so many levels and has given me a lot to think about. It delves deep into your phsyche as does AA which it is founded on those same principles. But, the book is from a guy that has been through it and lives with it everyday. It is his journey through the process and afterwards. Also, I believe that I am building a much stronger relationship with God as I cannot do it alone!