Customer Reviews

Overcoming Binge Eating

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a binge eater since high school, I've tried many diets, starting over 30 yrs ago in college with the Scarsdale Diet. Later tried Atkins, the Zone, Ornish, not to mention the grapefruit, ice cream, and peanut butter diets and many others. I ordered diet pills from TV and spent untold hours in therapy trying to understand the "why" behind my binge eating. Some strategies helped me lose weight temporarily, but the pounds kept coming back--and the binging never really stopped.

The older I got, the harder it was to get back to a healthy weight. A couple of years ago, I had significant success with the Weight Watcher program--got to my goal weight relatively quickly, but even while on the program I was binging, though on lower-fat foods. Eventually the binges became more frequent, I went back to old favorites, and my weight began creeping up. I like the WW program but have become convinced that my ability to maintain a healthy and stable weight in the long run depends on reducing my binge eating. Since WW doesn't provide much insight/help with binging per se, I started looking for other sources and found this book. It's been a godsend.

The background information is clearly presented and helpful. Fairburn's analysis of the relationship between dieting and binge eating is especially interesting--a must read for anyone who has tried dieting as a means of controlling binge-induced weight gains. The step-by-step process for reducing binge eating and establishing a healthier attitude toward food and body weight is grounded in solid research--and it works. I could understand the rationale behind the approach Fairburn recommends, was making progress in only a few weeks, and achieved a signficant reduction in binge eating soon after. For years I thought the only way to avoid a binge was never to let myself eat the first bite of my favorite binge foods, but now I'm able to eat even those foods in moderation.

I know this review is long and sounds like a magazine ad for the latest diet pill. To others out there like me: Fairburn knows what he's talking about. He understands our problem and has developed a reasonable and realistic plan for solving it. This book helped me reduce my binge eating like no other I've ever read. Thank you Dr. Fairburn.

One year ago, I purchased this book out of pure desperation. I got a real scare when my Aunt died suddenly from complications of Binge Eating Disorder.I had the same problem and was going downhill fast. This book saved me from trying and failing at yet another diet. No matter how "healthy" the diets were that I've tried to control my binge-eating and resulting obesity, nothing worked. Not only did they not work, they were making me sicker both physically and emotionally. I'm a lifetime member of Weight Watchers and only way I every got to my "goal" weight was by starving more than bingeing.

Diets for me are like putting a bandaid over a gunshot wound. Under the bandaid is a oozing infected emotional wound that no diet or foodplan can ever fix. Dr. Christopher Fairburn not only understands the reasoning behind this, he tells you what you can do to help yourself recovery from this devastating disease. Dr. Fairburn even understands that many Overeaters Anonymous groups have misguided ideas of abstinence that are really no better (and perhaps even worse) than dieting.

This book is mostly directed for bulimics and binge-eaters. It could help anorexics but there are probably better books that devote more to anorexics directly.

Two things about me that have radically changed since I read this book: #1)My goal weight is now a healthy and realistic weight #2)I've lost a significant amount of weight without bingeing or starving.

This book has profoundly changed my life!

I used Dr. Fairburn's step by step treatment plan to normalize my eating and stop my bulemia. I have gained control of my life and refer to his book often for reinforcement of its principles and to continue assisting me with my recovery. He provides a clear and comprehensive rational behind each step in treatment, making you feel very confident in his techniques and approaches. If you have a sincere desire to become healthy and well, buy this book, it will be the best thing you could do for yourself.

This book presents it all: facts, accounts, tips, treatment options and research. But best of all: it takes away a lot of the fear people might have about overcoming their eating disorder ("Will I gain an enormous amount of weight?" - Fairburn provides an extended graph that shows most people will *not*).

This book can be used by yourself, together with a treatment professional, as adjunction to group therapy, however you wish. Fairbun gives clear information about what you are doing if you binge and purge and what you are doing to you body. He doesn't dive too far into the psychology behind eating disorder issues, recognizing that there are many, many paths leading someone to have an eating disorder. Instead, he focuses on the problem at hand and gives step by steps instructions on how to normalize your behavior and get healthy again.

This book does offer some helpful suggestions, such as establishing a regular eating schedule, keeping track of what you eat and finding alternatives to bingeing. But I found its explanations unsatisfying on the answers to pertinent questions such as, "What causes bingeing?" The author talks about factors like gender and social class and the prevalence of dieting, but I was looking for an explanation on the physiological level, which this book does not provide.

Fairburn also dismisses the idea of carbohydrate craving as a "myth," and mentions a colleague's research that proposes fat, not carbohydrate, as the substance that binge eaters actually go for. Well, if that were true, then why don't binge eaters eat a pound of butter or drink olive oil when they binge? As a former binge eater, I can tell you that I have never done that. In fact, I have never binged on anything that was not full of simple carbohydrates such as sugar or white flour. But I have binged on lots of stuff that had no fat. I find this author to be too dismissive of a phenomenon that many people have experienced. It's like going to the doctor and having him or her tell you "it's all in your head."

The author also dismisses the idea that there is such a thing as food addiction by attempting to refute the statements of Overeaters Anonymous. Now, I have been to OA and, while the group support can be helpful, the overall approach is a failure. The OA Board itself has held meetings to try to figure out why the 12-step approach doesn't have a greater success rate with binge eaters. But Fairburn marries the concept of food addiction with OA and, through convoluted and not entirely convincing arguments, throws them both out. And we've all heard that story of the baby and the bathwater.

Finally, he says repeatedly that food avoidance causes bingeing and therefore no foods should be avoided. The point is well taken, but, considering how much stuff being sold in the grocery store is only masquerading as food, why in the world would you not avoid "Frankenfoods" that are full of sodium nitrite, artificial flavors and coloring, hydrogenated fats and so on? There is a difference between avoiding pork skins and avoiding fresh produce.

I just think this book leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe it will help some anorexics and bulimics, but it was not much help to me as a binge eater. I would recommend a book that I read just after this one called "The Schwarzbein Principle," by Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., which does give real answers on a physiological level. It also validates the carb cravings which so many, including myself, have experienced, as well as showing how to defeat them. Dr. Schwarzbein's approach has worked very well for me, whereas Fairburn's did not.

I picked up this book over two years ago, and since then I have lost 55 pounds. This book was the first and most important step to beginning the process. I began binge eating - having learned it from my mother - in my early teens. It's all about the comfort & "zoning out", self-medicating if you will. I have HATED my body (and ergo myself) since the age 22, the point at which my metabolism slowed and I stopped being as active as I had been up until I got married, and the binge eating caught up with me.

This book provided the insight I needed to UNDERSTAND the disorder. I truly believe the key to overcoming any inner battle is education. I could not lose weight ("eat less, move more") on sheer willpower or for that fit-into-a-bikini mentality. Now I'm all about longevity, mental health, energy, and etc. Those are the true reasons to eat well and keep moving.

I gave this book to a friend, and now I looking for another copy to keep in my library forever, both for reference when I struggle, and to share with any of my other friends and acquaintances who comment on my new shape and want to know "How did you do it?"

Although I have only gained excessive weight during the past five years, I now recognise that I have suffered from binge eating disorder for many years since early adulthood. This book is easy to follow and clearly shows how you can regain control of your life. I am successfully undergoing treatment for binge eating disorder with a clinical pyschologist who has worked with Dr Fairburn over the past five years. This is the only book that she has recommended to assist me: now I know why. Do yourself a favour, buy it and follow it!

This was the first of many books I bought when I decided that I would finally try to recover from my eating disorder-- a vicious cycle of bulimia, anorexia, and, more often than not, binge eating.

While Fairburn was indeed informative, what with his statistics, his approach seemed impersonal and cold; he sounded as if he had no personal experience with eating problems, which made him hard to relate to in my opinion, and he provided no solutions for the emotional aspect of problems with eating-- which were entirely the reason my problems began in the first place. After I tried his methods of treatment, I honestly did not see any change. I still had the same problems, and I finished the book feeling like it was a waste of time to read.

I prefer a more empathetic approach. Fairburn's method may work for some, but for others, I recommend Breaking Free from Emotional Eating; that book truly changed my life and helped me completely transform not only the way I ate but the way I lived as well. It's targeted more towards women, but men may be able to find a solution within as well. I wish everyone luck on their journey.

This was the first book I ever read to try and combat my binge eating behavior that has been present for about seven years. I saw myself in all of the symptoms, but when I tried the program it almost made me more obsessed with food. Plus, I couldn't keep up with the "schedule" with my lifestyle. I understand that schedules are crucial for anorexics but for me it was not the answer. I have since read Intuitive Eating and I highly recommend that for anyone who has tried to stop binge eating and eating emotionally.

I have tried everything to stop binge eating- OA, Weight Watchers, diets etc.....

This book is the only thing that has given me success. I have a great eating disorders Dr and this is what he works with.

Keeps it simple, direct, focused, do-able

Trying to eat only when you're hungry never worked for me- Normal eaters eat three meals a day and 2-3 snacks

I am now a normal eater- intuitive eating puzzled my over-thinking mind

Love this book