Focuses on exercise addiction and its relationship to eating disorders; explains how compulsive exercise can be harmful and how one can get help to deal with it.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Gr 6 Up-Taken together, these series entries form a comprehensive, yet nonthreatening look at eating disorders. Specifically written for teens in need of help, each book defines and describes bulimia, anorexia, compulsive eating, and compulsive exercise, and then goes on to consider one topic in some depth. The risks and causes are explored, as well as avenues of treatment and recovery. Symptoms are clearly outlined, as is what to say and what not to say to someone you suspect of suffering from an eating disorder. The roles of peer pressure, media images, family relationships, and genetics are included, as is how to deal with these influences. Although written by different authors, the books take a uniformly sympathetic tone, offering help and hope to teens caught in these dangerously addictive behaviors. Bright, full-color photographs enliven the pages, and the writing is clear and easy to understand. While the glossaries, indexes, and lists of resources and further reading enhance their value for reports, the actual purpose of these titles is to start those afflicted on the road to recovery. Of particular interest is the volume on support groups, which tells about different types of groups, what to expect when attending them, and how to start one. Each book is peppered with quotes and personal stories of teens who have "been there," presumably gleaned from interviews conducted by the authors, rendering the overall approach more like sharing than preaching.-Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village,
Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Remedial discussion of a sensitive subject,
By A Customer
This review is from: Exercise Addiction: When Fitness Becomes an Obsession (Teen Health Library of Eating Disorder Prevention) (Library Binding)
The book offers an excellent basic discourse on exercise addiction as it relates to the typical victim: teens and young adults. However, the subject is more broad and destructive in an adult population fixated on self and perfection at any cost. This is unfortunately not discussed in this book. But again, for the right audience it is excellent. For the uninitiated the book does provide a good primer for understanding a potentially life treatening and destructive behavior. The real lacking, however, is information on how the behavior can (and does) destroy the lives of relatives and relations of the victim. By the way, the victim never sees themself as being a victim. (IRONIC) In a nutshell, there is no difference between a fixation with the local running club (exercise addict) and hanging with the guys (or gals) at the local bar (alcoholic) since in these circles a destructive behavior is socially acceptable. More importantly, these environs do not judge the behavior, and in fact may actually encourage more of the behavior as a matter of social indoctrination and demonstrated devotion. It's alot like a cult. Like most addictions, exercise addiction frequently requires an enabling environment where people with similar values and behavior exist. In the 'group' there is no problem. Sadly, the solution is not in those circles but in the care of those who love the victims: their families and true friends. Often, as in the case of anorexia and other eating disorders, TRUTH is the sure thing that will drive the person away from those who can help. Recovery is a long and gentile process so never 'shock' intervene with these individuals because to do so risks severing the ties of the personal relationship. Separation can be permenant because, when forced to chose between the addiction and close personal relationships (father, mother, sibling, husband, wife, etc.), the grossly addicted will frequently chose the addiction. The exercise addiction phenomenon is becoming epidemic and is a sad commentary on the basic degradation in our modern culture. Third world nations should only wish to have enough leisure to participate in such vain behaviors. They starve while we deny ourselves nutrition and purge remaining calories though compulsive exercise. I wish I knew the answer to this paradox.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fills a real void,
By absent_minded_prof (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Exercise Addiction: When Fitness Becomes an Obsession (The Teen Health Library of Eating Disorder Prevention) (Paperback)
This is an intelligent, careful approach to a topic that is difficult to even imagine as being BAD, in the context of our society of cheeseburger-inhaling lardos. Exercise addiction is a very real thing, however, and this book could easily get someone thinking along more reasonable lines. This book is aimed at a relatively younger target audience, teenagers and people in their early twenties. I think later in life, some different issues can come into play in this kind of addiction, but this book does a pretty solid job of talking to younger people where they're at.I would just like to say here -- for anyone purchasing this book, whether it's for yourself, or for someone else, the most important thing you need to be aware of is the RATIONALIZATIONS that lead to people behaving in this way. Yes, it's important to be cognizant of your actual behaviors, but the rationalizations that lead you to consider what is obviously unbalanced behavior to be perfectly okay constitute a deeper issue. Most likely, your rationalizations come from a disturbing, potent combination of 1.)the work ethic and 2.)youth-glorification. Try to stop and think about what your rationalizations are. You probably often think in terms of "self-improvement." You probably do a lot of goal-setting, like running X amount of miles per week, or something along thiose lines. Probably you're saying things to yourself that place any possibility of your personal happiness far out in the future, after, for example, you have run a marathon. All of these things can be laudable traits, laudable goals, but you need to be able to step outside yourself and get a little perspective. Also -- don't keep constantly thinking about happiness as an inherently "future" state. There is SOME happiness to be gleaned from, for example, completing a marathon, but just don't sacrifice too much of what life has to offer along the way. You need to stop and enjoy being young. You'll only be young once, unless those Buddhists are right... Either way, you need to relax your mind, and leave your body alone. Stop beating yourself up. If you have a overly strong association in your mind between physical fitness and being attrative to the opposite sex... well, okay, there is obviously some correlation between the two, especially at your age. However -- this correlation diminishes a LOT with every passing year after about age 23. If you make an investment in your mind now, instead of your body, it will pay off well in your future. In some ways, what someone might call "exercise addiction" might come from very real forces in your life that simply will not go away for awhile. There are real beliefs, real... well... real realities, that won't change. Some households may put an unusually high premium upon physical fitness, for example. Still, try to keep a sense of perspective. At least TRY to find calmer ways of being happy in the moment, while you're young, and don't be so frenzied. This book is a great idea. Two thumbs up.
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