Customer Reviews

Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is amazingly heartfelt. It gets you in the gut--no pun intended! A friend recommended this book because it's so funny and true. It's not just about food and weight--the author delves into the roller-coaster emotions and fears of self-worth that we all share as people, regardless of our body type. Anybody who's ever chased the latest diet hoping to find happiness needs to read this book!

What if your problem with weight had more to do with a deep hunger for meaning in the world rather than for that big slice of chocolate cake staring at you? Could our obesity not really have anything at all to do with calories, but rather attaining the hopes and dreams we don't even know we want yet? Deep questions like these are what Allen Zadoff explores in his book entitled Hungry.

After allowing his weight to get up to 350 pounds in his late 20s, Zadoff thought he knew why he got to be so big. It had to be a whole host of reasons--a slow metabolism, not enough willpower, a big appetite, a desire to be manly and eat that way, big boned, and it made him happy. But in the end, he wasn't happy and traveled down a path that led him to lose over 100 pounds while gaining a whole new perspective on life.

Hungry takes you down this road that Allen Zadoff took to shed the pounds and turn his world upside down. It's an inspiring story of hope for better tomorrow with behavioral methods concerning food that would intrigue a psychologist for weeks! And before you ask, his diet had very little to do with what kind of food he ate. That didn't matter to him (and he doesn't think it should matter to you).

This book is the real deal. It is the true memoir of a man who lost 150 lbs simply by experiencing a shift in perception. He put on a new pair of glasses to see a bigger picture of the world that he had never seen before. The book is nicely divided into small bite sized chapters that get right to the point with Allen's elegant and witty writing style.

I really enjoyed this book. In clear, no nonsense language Allen Zadoff managed to convey to the reader the pain of being very over weight with no self pity, no real excuses. He ate too much at one time. Period. Then, somehow after reaching 300+ pounds, he looked inside of himself and accepted a truth. He needed to eat less. So - no more dieting for him. He decided to establish a traffic light of an idea. Red light for dangerous food, yellow light for foods that need to be approached with caution and green food - the kind one can eat lots of and manage to stay slim. I loved this idea. I don't have a huge weight problem, but I do eat too much at times for a variety of reasons. I swear - as soon as I did what Zadoff said, wrote down my red, yellow and green foods, I began to eat less. And I began to lose weight. Wow. Thanks, Mr. Zadoff. You did a great job. I hope everyone who has ever struggled with weight reads this book. It's short but the message is clear. Look at what you eat. Identify problem foods. Approach them with caution. I guess he said it all.

Hungry is really a romance novel. Make that a rom-dram-com. Yes, it will make you laugh, cry - and hungry! It's a hilarious and touching story about all the ways author Allen Zadoff got through his childhood and young adult years making love to Devil Dogs and Lenders bagels, only to discover, slowly and painstakingly, how to fall in love with his own life and every moment in it. Oh, and to lose (and keep off) well over 100 pounds, too. If you've ever struggled with a love of food, you will love this book. Even if you've never over-indulged, you will savor Zadoff's ability to spin a yarn. Hungry is a compulsively fast read that delivers plenty of thoughtful moments and belly laughs along the way. Bon appetit!

I'm inspired after reading Allen Zadoff's book. "Hungry" is poignant and hilarious and I truly admire his honesty and integrity around his relationship to food. I laughed and nodded my head when I related...it really is a treat to read a book that's both thought-provoking and seriously funny. And it's so nice to know I'm not alone!

Just as Allen used to eat a bag of potato chips in one sitting, I read his book in one sitting!

His prose is witty, charming, succinct, touching and inspiring. Moreover, his vulnerability is attractive. He exposes his true self, which shows courage and draws in the reader. Allen has found his calling: The place he is called to be is a place where his happiness and the world's deep hunger meet. The world is hungry for this book, and it's going to help a lot of people along the way. Hungry expands and connects with people's various turmoil, even apart from eating. Anyone who has ever been hungry should read this book!

This is such a lovely book - I laughed so hard it made me cry, and then it made me really cry, then laugh again.
The stop-light tool alone is worth the price of the book! It is a funny, funny memoir, and gave me so much great insight and tools for living. I waver between a size 8 and a 10 but this book helps me be my size 8 self. Get one for yourself, and all your friends, they'll love you for it!

Allen Zadoff is a great writer. He's sharp, wise and funny. This little memoir of his journey from fat to "normal" size, is insightful and enjoyable to read. Allen is open and revealing about his life, but only alludes to the solution he found, which seems to be a 12 step program called Overeaters Anonymous. The second half of the book, when he is in recovery from overeating, is sprinkled with 12 step kinds of slogans. He never directly says he joined OA, but lists it as one of his recommended resources in the back of the book. Perhaps he was trying to preserve the anonymity of his participation in the program by not directly talking about it or endorsing it. It seems to me that it would have made the book more revealing had he detailed how he found his way to OA and why it worked for him. Nonetheless, this is a good read. Anyone who has struggled with these issues will be able to relate.

Hungry is a book about a man's struggle with addiction (in this case food), and his ongoing journey toward self-acceptance. It's a clear-eyed glimpse into the mind and heart of an addict, and it is a tribute to Allen Zadoff that he manages to bring a light touch to such a serious subject. Utterly non-pedantic, it is actually a fun, even breezy read, touching and insightful. As a man with his own particular allergy, I related to that obsessive hungering for a substance outside of myself that can lead to self-destruction.
I'm wary of books that promote 'spirituality' but Mr. Zadoff doesn't force his ideas on the reader so much as offer a glimmer of hope to the hopeless. I recommend this book to the faithful and faithless alike. Bon Appetit!