Like Mother, Like Daughter: How Women Are Influenced by Their Mother's Relationship With Food-And How to Break the Pattern [Hardcover]

Debra Waterhouse (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786861673 | ISBN-13: 978-0786861675 | Publication Date: January 1997 | Edition: 1st

Explains how women can unlearn unhealthy eating habits, identifying a cycle passed on from mother to daughter and describing how to break that cycle while addressing such issues as childhood self-esteem and adult eating problems. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An obsession with dieting can actually cause weight gain, according to Waterhouse, a California research nutritionist. In summaries of dozens of studies and interviews, she shows how the height/weight charts have changed since the 1960s, how mothers protect their daughters from fat and thereby undernourish them and how girls, by age five, are diet-conscious. She cites a University of California study indicating that 80% of American girls are dieting by age 10. How to regain common sense about body shape, weight and food? The clue, Waterhouse states, is getting mothers free of a punishing culture so they in turn can free their daughters to find comfort in their body's healthy weight. Low-fat foods may actually contribute to weight gain: "Fat-free Fig Newtons contain 110 calories per serving; so do the regular Fig Newtons." Humor is used well throughout: "Scales are for fish, not for women." This book is filled with sensible tips for breaking the dieting habit and self-rating exercises to improve one's relationship with food.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Since many women are obsessed with thinness, they diet in pursuit of their ideal body image. These women learned to diet from their mothers and will, in turn, teach their daughters by example. Waterhouse (Why Women Need Chocolate, LJ 9/1/94), a dietitian and former anorexic, wants to break this vicious cycle by teaching women to have a healthy relationship with food so that they will be positive role models for their daughters. She advocates common-sense measures such as eating a wide variety of foods in moderation, balancing food intake with exercise, and encouraging a positive body image. She offers practical suggestions for modifying eating and exercise patterns in order to achieve a healthy lifestyle. Unlike Kim Chernin's The Hungry Self: Women, Eating & Identity (LJ 6/15/85), which explores only the psychological aspects of eating disorders, this book deals with making behavior changes that improve both physical health and parental relationships. Highly recommended for all collections.?Barbara M. Bibel, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books; 1st edition (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786861673
• ISBN-13: 978-0786861675
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,791,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! If ever a book was a mirror..., July 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Like Mother, Like Daughter: How Women Are Influenced by Their Mother's Relationship With Food-And How to Break the Pattern (Hardcover)

Having spent 14 of the 20 years of my life dieting, starving, compulsively eating, and purging, this book opened my eyes as to where it all stemmed from... My mother's own battles with weight and her fear of me growing up to be like her. This book brings to light shocking information on the damaging effects of dieting, gives supportive advice on changing dieting habits as a team with your mother or daughter, and stresses the importance of eliminating guilt and blame from the mother/daughter relationship. A wonderful book for either/both a mother and daughter.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "variety, moderation and balance" Very Inspiring, March 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Like Mother, Like Daughter: How Women Are Influenced by Their Mother's Relationship With Food-And How to Break the Pattern (Hardcover)

If there is one thing,but there were many,that I got from this book is that the Love of food and dining my mother has shared with me is healthy. For the rest of the women who are in the a constant state of "diet" Ms. Waterhouse explains that you need only trust you own body to find its balance. Very Zen

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, March 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Like Mother, Like Daughter: How Women are Influenced By Their Mother's Relationship with Food--and How to Break the Pattern (Paperback)

This book has eye-opening information, especially for women who are either chronic dieters or whose mothers were. My mother wasn't a dieter -- just a tremendously successful overeater. I found that this book has less information for overeaters than it does for people who continuously "diet". It is still a fabulous book, though -- I wish every mother in America would read it!