Overcoming Binge Eating (Paperback)

by Christopher Fairburn (Author) "IT STARTS OFF with my thinking about the food that I deny myself when I am dieting..." (more)
Key Phrases: binge eating problems, tackling other forms, people with bulimia nervosa, American Psychiatric Association, New Zealand, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American
Christopher Fairburn is one of the world's foremost authorities on problem eating. Because he is one of those rare individuals who understands and can work with people, but is also a top-flight researcher, his book offers state-of-the-art, helpful information, written in a caring way. You can trust this book. It is a landmark in the field. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The New Yorker
An urgently needed source of information, this authoritative book presents the facts about binge eating and offers concrete solutions to help overcome it. This book is a must read for binge eaters and their families. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 247 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; Reissue edition (March 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898621798
• ISBN-13: 978-0898621792
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,791 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #28 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Self-Help > Eating Disorders
  #32 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Disorders & Diseases > Eating Disorders
  #36 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Mental Health > Compulsive Behavior

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

196 of 203 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Godsend---Fairburn's approach actually works!, May 23, 2003

By A Customer

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.

72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Aunt Died from this disease but I don't have to....., May 22, 2004

By	L. Griggs (United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

119 of 132 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Falls short of the mark, March 4, 2005

By	wild arkie (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

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.