When Food Is Love: Exploring the Relationship Between Eating and Intimacy (Plume) (Paperback)

by Geneen Roth (Author) "I fell in love for the first time when I was in sixth grade..." (more)
Key Phrases: obsession with food, compulsive eating, compulsive eaters, Lou Ann, New York, Model Mugging (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This is the fourth book ( Feeding the Hungry Heart, etc.) generated by the seminars Roth conducts at her Berkeley, Calif., home for people who believe that if they were thin, they would be happy. But the author makes clear that losing weight doesn't automatically gain one success, respect and love. Roth's personal story and those of her clients as related here exemplify the need to discover why the overweight are addicted to food. Citing her own deprived childhood, the author demonstrates that gluttons seek the reliable comforts of eating instead of closeness with humans who might become abusive (like her mother) or vanish (like her father). Those bent on self-improvement will find that the book merely repeats well-known principles in a melodramatic fashion.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
An examination of the link between eating disorders and the need for intimacy explains how eating disorders sabotage intimate relationships and why many people overeat to satisfy their emotional hunger. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Plume (July 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452268184
• ISBN-13: 978-0452268180
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,922 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #17 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Disorders & Diseases > Eating Disorders
  #18 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Self-Help > Eating Disorders
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

139 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious!, January 26, 2000

By	J. Grigsby (Lexington, KY) - See all my reviews

I first bought a copy of WHEN FOOD IS LOVE as a Valentine's Day present for myself in 1996. I was 200 pounds overweight at the time and WHEN FOOD IS LOVE became my only non-food source of comfort, nurturance, love. I read my beloved copy from beginning to end and then started, again, at the beginning. I read WHEN FOOD IS LOVE probably 10 or more times that winter. Geneen's words became my mantra of sorts.

Because of Geneen's remarkably profound insight and her willingness to share the parts of herself that she least wanted to and because of my sheer desperation, I began grasping the principles that she set forth in WHEN FOOD IS LOVE and subsequently, I lost 140 pounds.

I suddenly, almost magically, found myself able to do things that I had not been able to do in my whole adult life: cross my legs, walk around the block without feeling like my legs or my heart would collapse, fit with ease into the seats at the movies.

As an avid reader, people frequently ask me which book is my favorite. I often mention John Irving's A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY or Jane Hamilton's A MAP OF THE WORLD or Harper Lee's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. It simply seems too melodramatic to say that my favorite book of all-time, the book that saved my life, the book that brought me back to me is Geneen Roth's WHEN FOOD IS LOVE. So usually I don't.

Instead I continue to cling to, to pore over my cherished copy - with the curled up cover, the tear-stained pages - with the absolute knowledge that Geneen's words have impacted me, touched me like no other book, with the absolute knowledge that I am a being who is worthy of compassion, grace.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally someone who understands, July 2, 2002

By A Customer

Roth doesn't just tell you to diet and exercise--in fact, she tells you not to! As she tells the story of her own struggles to get past her abusive childhood, and to become able to trust and enjoy her relationship with her boyfriend (who later becomes her husband), she shows us how we use food to make ourselves feel better, and why we become so dependent on it. She talks about how hard it is to enjoy the good things without trying to sabotage them, which is something I did without realizing I did it. (My wonderful boyfriend is really glad I read this book!) Though our stories are very different, I saw myself in many of her actions. I never realized that my problems with food, my series of troubled relationships, and events from my childhood (and adulthood) were so connected. This book doesn't just help you lose weight, it helps you change your habits, heal your past and accept good things in your life. I especially reccommend it for everyone who sneaks to the fridge every time you feel depressed, overwhelmed or hurt.

44 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for me, maybe for you, August 10, 2005

By	Sarah Luciani (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

I hate giving any book less than a 5 star rating, but I must be honest, this book was not what I needed. I am not saying that it is not for you! It is mainly an autobiographical account of the author's difficult childhood and trouble with intimacy due to growing up with an abusive mother. There is a little bit here and there about compulsive eating, but mainly with the philosophy that there is no other reason a person compulsively over eats than having had something very traumatic happen to them at the time they began compulsively overeating or having a bad childhood. Her philosophy is that it is very important to review all the old stuff, and talk about it and relive it and explore it and analyze it. I know this is a popular mode of thinking, but having grown up in an abusive home myself,and spending years in therapy I realized that enough was enough already. It happened. Life can go on. You don't have to be a mess forever because of it. Or stay stuck in old wounds. I did find her vulnerability and openess touching, and if these are the philosophies you hold, then this may be the book for you. It just wasn't for me.