Customer Reviews

When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair: 50 Ways to Feel Thin, Gorgeous, and Happy (When You Feel Anything But)

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked this book up because its title made me laugh - such an outrageous idea. It's quick, easy, scannable, and full of nuggets that helped me begin to approach my problems with dieting and self-care with love and humor. Helped me see that bashing myself, trying to FORCE myself to follow a diet (Atkins, Weight Watchers, whatever) wasn't working for a very good reason. Several excellent reasons. And it sparked a journey of gentle self-inquiry that's proven quite fruitful.

But if it hadn't been a slender volume with a sense of humor, I would have resisted the messages it contains.

This book helped me begin to find answers to these questions:

Why can't I stick to a diet, since being thin is what I want most?

Why do I always come last in my family hierarchy of need (that, incidentally, I'm in control of, hello)?

Am I just doomed to remain fat because of my genes, or my unhappiness? Both?

What's the relationship between self-esteem and my weight?

What does being thin represent to me?

On the strength of this book, I attended a Roth seminar, and that experience is speeding me along, with insights and growth coming thick and fast.

So, if you're ready for something newer and deeper than the latest tips and tricks, or another set of rules, but not quite sold on your own ability to make *anything* work - give this a try. It might be just what you need now.

Geneen Roth is right on target, AGAIN. If you've never read Ms. Roth's books, then this is a great introduction to her philosophy. If you're familiar with her work, then you'll quickly discover that this IS a moveable feast - the portable Roth.

My one criticism, and maybe Ms. Roth will correct this in future printings, is the Table of Contents. This book is supposed to be 'a take along' to be read in bits and pieces as time allows and mood suggests. But when you want to find a nugget, the Table of Contents is a hindrance, not a help. I'm just a reader, not a book editor but below is an excerpt from the current layout and a recommended, improved Table of Contents:

Current:
4.Give Away Clothes that Cut Off Your
Circulation/22 5.Consider Howard Stern and
Live 'As If'/26 6. Learn to Recognize a
Fat-and-Ugly Attack/29 7. Emergency . . .

Suggested
4.Give Away Clothes that Cut Off Your Circulation___22
5.Consider Howard Stern and Live 'As If'__________26
6.Learn to Recognize a Fat-and-Ugly Attack________29
7.Emergency Interventions_____________________34

Thank you, Geneen.

Having read "Feeding the Hungry Heart" about 10 years ago, I can say that she has outdone herself. Her experiences in the last 10 years are explored and expressed firmly, simply and confidently in these pages. Read it, then read it again to be sure and highlight the parts that hit you like a brick in the head.

Yeah, a brick in the head would most likely hurt, and so might some of what she has to say, but that only means that she is hitting a place inside that you have been unwilling to explore because it IS painful. Let these insights shine into your dark corners, clear your mind, set free your heart and soul so you can soar like the eagle that you are.

"Being kind to yourself is the only solution," she says. "Think self-kindness, not self indulgence." We berate and punish ourselves for not being who we think we could or should be, and that self-loathing compounds and turns into fanatical dieting, then bingeing, or fanatical exercise and starvation. And all the defeating, humiliating, exhausting cycles in between. And where do we end up? Always in the same place. Feeling fat which equals unloved, unworthy, unbelievably depressed and out of control.

Would we let our friends get away with calling us those things? Then why do we tolerate it from ourselves?

All you really need to do is be kind to yourself, and your SELF will return the favor.

May not make sense right now. But read the book. Internalize it. Live it. Then you will see. Again, thanks Geneen, for giving me permission to treat myself the way I deserve to be treated.

I've spent hundreds of dollars and endless hours trying to figure out what was driving my compulsion to overeat. I felt as though she had been living in my skin all these years. I gave a copy of the book to my therapist and said goodbye. I'm pleased to report for the first time in 3years the weight is starting to melt off. I'm so much more than a number on the bathroom scale. I'm declaring peace with myself once and for all. Thanks Geneen

i would not be overstating to say that this book has changed my life. what most helped me was ms. roth's instructions to be kind and understanding to ourselves rather than following the old patterns of beating up on ourselves for being overweight, eating the 'wrong' foods, etc. i have passed this book along to at least five of my friends and quoted it to countless others. i highly recommend this book to anyone who needs even the tiniest nudge in the self-esteem area. a truly wonderful book!!

I purchased this book and read it in one sitting. There were times when I so recognized myself among its pages that my throat would tighten with unshed tears. People, and women in particular, so often have negative images of their bodies, and food obsessions that are not as clearly marked as bulemia or anorexia. This book will teach you how to look differently at your body and begin to love it, no matter WHAT size it is. I plan to carry this book wherever I go, and when I am tempted to mentally flog myself for any number of reasons, I will whip it out for a conference with my "portable best friend." I highly recommend it.

I've had this book a couple years now and I must say it's what I always go back to when diets disappoint me. It really tells it like it is and I'm planning to buy more books by Geneen as soon as I can. If anything this book at the very least puts things into perspective. A lot of it is "obvious" but then again are things we all tend to forget or not realize. I will keep this book on my bedside table forever!

I would highly recommend this book by Geneen. It is funny, enlightening and really makes you think about food and your relationship with food. The chapters are an easy read and you will find it difficult to put the book down. Geneen looks at the many causes of why we do certain things and how to rethink why we do such things. Best of luck on your new journey!

This has to be one the best books that I have ever read. To be honest, I have never read any other so-called "diet" books because I thought/think that it is all in your head and if you can have the will power and the motivation you will lose the weight. This books echos those thoughts. Also, when this title popped up on my "we recommend" list I thought that it must be good if Anne Lamott wrote the foreward and that is what made me want to buy it. It's great! And she loves chocolate, what more could you want from a book?

I can't belive how much I LOVED this book. If you have always struggled with food and want to stop, this is a MUST read. This book changed my life.