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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
This is definitely not going to be for everyone. But, for me, it helped me completely rethink my relationship with food and weight loss.
This really helped me get my overeating problem in check. This book isn't a quick fix or self help book, it is a "You are NOT alone" book. I appreciate that and am glad it's not just shoving BS ideas at me. It really helps get your mind thinking two thoughts if you are an overeater like me: 1. I have a problem that goes BEYOND me feeling fat and 2. There's a way to manage it. Thank you, Allen, for sharing your story!
This is definitely not a diet book, however. It might give you some insight into my you are eating in an unhealthy way. I gained some knowledge that I think will be helpful on my journey through life and with food.
I struggle with whether to go with 3 or 4 stars. It's a solid 3 1/2 for me.
Zadoff tells his story with humor and great candor. I appreciate his honesty. I've always felt like I have an unhealthy attitude toward food, and while I don't know that my problem is as severe as his, I learned a lot from his journey and am grateful he shared his story.
This is an easy read in one day, although I went a little slower and finished in two.
Zadoff tells his story with humor and great candor. I appreciate his honesty. I've always felt like I have an unhealthy attitude toward food, and while I don't know that my problem is as severe as his, I learned a lot from his journey and am grateful he shared his story.
This is an easy read in one day, although I went a little slower and finished in two.
*Originally posted on ashleighreads.com *
I hadn’t meant for this to be my novel this week; that was supposed to go to Eli Brown’s Cinnamon and Gunpowder, which I am about halfway through. I ended up picking up Hungry at work, where it was amongst a stack of free books from the publisher. I started reading it during my break…and finished it in record time. Granted, the novel is pretty short on its own, but the prose is relatively speedy, as well.
Hungry is a memoir by Allen Zadoff, in which he recounts his struggle with overeating and his road to recovery. Overeating, it turns out, is an eating disorder within itself, akin to anorexia and bulimia. And of course, after reading Portia de Rossi’s memoir earlier this summer, I could see why. Whereas anorexics don’t eat because they need to feel like they are in control, overeaters eat because they feel they aren’t. Two sides of the same coin.
(What is it with me and eating disorders? I’m not sure where the fascination with this psychology comes from, but I find the whole field so interesting. It’s probably my favorite mental disorder. Anyway…)
I think the most interesting part of Hungry was not only learning that overeating is an eating disorder—and a widely misunderstood one, at that—but the mentality behind it. Zadoff describes times when he would shut himself out from the world in order to ritually eat anything and everything he could get his hands on, and how he would eat when he felt anything at all. Lots of nutritionists and doctors suggest that people overeat when someone is stressed, or angry, or feeling some sort of “trigger emotion”—but for Zadoff, literally all of his emotions were triggers.
Now, if you asked me if I was an overeater before I read this book, I would have said yes. I have a bad reputation of sometimes being a “garbage disposal”, finishing off the food from friend’s plate and eating more than my fair share of sweets at a time. I’ve had plenty of binges that I regret the moment they end. However, after reading this book, I feel silly even trying to compare. The way Zadoff described his eating habits—eating the equivalent of three meals in one sitting—not only made me lose my appetite, but also reevaluate my own relationship with food.
This book made me very thankful for my body. I’ve had a lot of struggle with body image in the past, as I’ve mentioned, but I wouldn’t say what I’ve experienced has ever surpassed normal insecurity. I’ve never self-harmed, or fallen victim to a disorder. I try to exercise and eat right, but whenever I feel that routine taking over my life, I try to take a step back and refocus my priorities. Sure, I want to be thin and healthy, but I also want to be happy.
And Zadoff words this best:
“What are you here for? I don’t mean here in the bookstore or in your living room or wherever you’re reading this book. I mean here on earth. Why are you on earth? Are you here to move from meal to meal like a ghost, living only for the next meal, hating yourself for the last one? Are you here to think about food 50 percent of the time and your body the other 50 percent?
Or are you here to live?”
I hadn’t meant for this to be my novel this week; that was supposed to go to Eli Brown’s Cinnamon and Gunpowder, which I am about halfway through. I ended up picking up Hungry at work, where it was amongst a stack of free books from the publisher. I started reading it during my break…and finished it in record time. Granted, the novel is pretty short on its own, but the prose is relatively speedy, as well.
Hungry is a memoir by Allen Zadoff, in which he recounts his struggle with overeating and his road to recovery. Overeating, it turns out, is an eating disorder within itself, akin to anorexia and bulimia. And of course, after reading Portia de Rossi’s memoir earlier this summer, I could see why. Whereas anorexics don’t eat because they need to feel like they are in control, overeaters eat because they feel they aren’t. Two sides of the same coin.
(What is it with me and eating disorders? I’m not sure where the fascination with this psychology comes from, but I find the whole field so interesting. It’s probably my favorite mental disorder. Anyway…)
I think the most interesting part of Hungry was not only learning that overeating is an eating disorder—and a widely misunderstood one, at that—but the mentality behind it. Zadoff describes times when he would shut himself out from the world in order to ritually eat anything and everything he could get his hands on, and how he would eat when he felt anything at all. Lots of nutritionists and doctors suggest that people overeat when someone is stressed, or angry, or feeling some sort of “trigger emotion”—but for Zadoff, literally all of his emotions were triggers.
Now, if you asked me if I was an overeater before I read this book, I would have said yes. I have a bad reputation of sometimes being a “garbage disposal”, finishing off the food from friend’s plate and eating more than my fair share of sweets at a time. I’ve had plenty of binges that I regret the moment they end. However, after reading this book, I feel silly even trying to compare. The way Zadoff described his eating habits—eating the equivalent of three meals in one sitting—not only made me lose my appetite, but also reevaluate my own relationship with food.
This book made me very thankful for my body. I’ve had a lot of struggle with body image in the past, as I’ve mentioned, but I wouldn’t say what I’ve experienced has ever surpassed normal insecurity. I’ve never self-harmed, or fallen victim to a disorder. I try to exercise and eat right, but whenever I feel that routine taking over my life, I try to take a step back and refocus my priorities. Sure, I want to be thin and healthy, but I also want to be happy.
And Zadoff words this best:
“What are you here for? I don’t mean here in the bookstore or in your living room or wherever you’re reading this book. I mean here on earth. Why are you on earth? Are you here to move from meal to meal like a ghost, living only for the next meal, hating yourself for the last one? Are you here to think about food 50 percent of the time and your body the other 50 percent?
Or are you here to live?”
It's a quick read, it's not a self-help book, it's interesting but not compelling, unless you're a compulsive overeater. Then it may be compelling.