Customer Reviews

The Tao of Eating: Feeding Your Soul Through Everyday Experiences With Food

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Three cheers for Dr. Harper!Finally someone who is not afraid to go against the societal stream and denounce widely held beliefs about eating and dieting. Truly a voice "crying in the wilderness" showing the way to freedom and a fuller life. Eating is such a key part of living that to help individuals see it as a positive part of life instead of another challenge will truly help them along the path to becoming more "soulful" and ultimately more content and fulfilled in their lives. I continue to struggle with employing the Tao of Eating and ignoring the voice of society that controls eating with rules and calorie counts, but this book gives you practical help to get on the right path to eating and stay there. It is about time we address a society that is spinning out of control in this area, even if it is one reader at a time.

Readers might think that a book like this is only for women --NOT TRUE. It's a great book for EVERYONE, including men, who would like a better relationship with food and more pleasure and depth in their everyday life. Men also get too caught up in what they should and should not eat and Dr. Harper frees us from that way of thinking. Not only does she encourage us to stop dieting -- she goes a step further and shows how dieting limits our experience of life and is harmful - "Rule-bound" eating interferes with "soulful" living. Diets fool us into thinking we are doing something good for us, but in reality they are keeping us from knowing and accepting ourselves, others, and our lives. This book is a lot more than just a book about eating --its about a whole way of approaching life and all of our relationships. It requires us to really think about the choices we make. I think Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, Soulmates, and The Soul of Sex, sums up the far-reaching value of this book. He says, "Linda Harper's book on food, eating, and NOT dieting is the BEST BOOK ON FOOD I have ever seen. It's radically comforting for those of us who keep trying to eat properly. And it is a rare book that gets the idea of soul care exactly right. Read this book, eat well, and you will discover the wonder of living soulfully."

If you have been struggling with on and off dieting and food obsession, this book is a great tool to start on the road to normal eating. The book is not a diet book but a way of living. Many people I know, including myself, read this book more than once as it provides such valuable tools of self discovery. This book is for the individual that has had enough of the diets and wants to come to a sense of peace about their relationship with food and the daily choices they make. I highly recommend this book if you are ready to find a peaceful way to live for the rest of your life.

Finally, some comfot and joy for men and women who have lost the ability to eat naturally and "soulfully." A disgruntled reader above lamented the lack of feminist discussion in the book. As a feminist, I agree that many of women's problems with food are based on the exploitive culture we live in, but I also know quite a few men who struggle with weight and with food, if not so much about body image as about health and aging. This book isn't trying to analyze the many historical and societal reasons why people have lost the ability to eat peacefully and naturally, it's trying to provide a very real, day-to-day, method for restoring soulful eating for most people. Obviously, it's not a textbook for serious eating disorders or any other kind of disorder. But it's a great source of wisdom for the average eater who needs to restore insight, instinct and reason to their daily meals. This book needed to be written--thanks for writing it, Dr. Harper!

Too bad for exercise/diet/etc. obsessed people who will never see this book! And too bad, too, for people who have chosen other things to be obsessed by. The author shows a way out, for those of us who will listen. It may not be the ultimate book on the subject, but it does seem to be one giant step for humankind. I don't know why we have to fight about what makes life worth living, or why so very many people in our world think that deprivation is the only way to exist, but I'm glad I'm not alone in disagreeing with that!

Dr. Harper does not give us one hard fast rule that we will be guaranteed results; rather a book with clever questions empowering us to choose, how or what we want to eat. It is that simple, We as a society are hung up on fat content and calories. Rather than focusing on rules, it focuses on you the reader and how you feel about yourself. After reading this book, I feel free to eat, drink and be happy with myself... and so what if I don't have the body of a Brad Pitt or Luke Perry; at least I am happy. I am a male who found Dr. Harper's message applicable and appropriate to me!

This book should be required reading for anyone considering yet another diet. The author explains why diets cause weight gain. It was thrilling to read about the many people who learned how to enjoy food again. Follow this book's directions and you will really remember again how to love yourself. The recommendation by Thomas Moore (aka: Care of the Soul) tells the reader that this is one important book to read.

This is a wonderfully written book for ALL. Not only those who diet but those who feel guilty for never dieting. Please mothers give this book to your daughters! The media today has an obsession with thin is in. Dr. Harper puts all this into perspective in a fun easy to read book. Listen to your inner soul, your voice to know what is best for you. A wonderful book!

THE TAO OF EATING by Linda R. Harper is a welcome addition to books on the enjoyment of food and the opposition to dieting. The world does not need another diet book, whether it be ghost-written for a so-called celebrity, or endorsed by a medical quack. The fact that so many diet books are published every year, and bought by people looking for God to say, "This is The Book that will solve your problems," is amazing and disheartening in itself. Our desire to be anything but ourselves is all too prevalent in American society. If all Ms. Harper tells you is to accept yourself, the book would be worthwhile, but she says even more that gives the reader encouragement and hope. This book is not only appealing at first glance, but contains common-sense authority. The lay-out is good, allowing the reader to go back and forth with ease. The premise of the author's theory of a natural relationship with food is refreshing. How to get there is presented in a thorough and pleasing manner. More power to her!

First, don't be frightened. I know, the word "soul," and its kissing cousin "Tao," have become buzz words in our society, stinging those of us who embrace the practical and shun self-indulgent self-reflection. But don't be frightened. Dr. Harper has found a way to bring all of us - the pragmatic and the mystics - to the table, encouraging us to sit and eat!!! She takes the strict numbers approach away from food - fat grams, calories, etc. - and discusses the power of choice. What a glorious word - choice. To be sure, Dr. Harper is not leading a defense for the unfit. She very clearly focuses on healthy choices that help to eliminate the "clutter" of food that we encounter every day. Instead, our experience eating is a richer, more healthy experience. Adding joy to food and eating - especially in this world that believes that idea to be perverse - is a refreshing and powerful message.