Scan barcode
A review by megsginell
What's Eating Us: Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety by Cole Kazdin
4.0
What’s Eating Us
Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety
By: Cole Kazdin
St. Martin’s Essentials
Publication date: March 7, 2023
TW- Eating disorder behaviors described, numbers
What’s Eating Us by Cole Kazdin is a deep dive into the epidemic of eating disorders, disordered eating, diet culture and self-image issues that are so prevalent in our society.
Kazdin, a journalist, uses investigative reporting and her own personal struggle with an eating disorder to try to make sense of this far-reaching problem.
This book is deeply personal. By the way Cole Kazdin is writing, she seems like someone you would want to be friends with. There was joy in reading Kazdin’s words, hope, humor interspersed throughout the grim facts.
I really appreciate Kazdin’s struggle for complete recovery. (As I, too, have struggled with an eating disorder for 2 decades.) Once you have an eating disorder long enough, it seems impossible to fully recover. Your “mental scaffolding is delicate” and the ED lies in wait “like an assassin.” Boy, is that true. Just when you think you’re doing well, one trigger can unravel it all. Furthermore, there is no standard of care for eating disorders. They are incredibly hard to treat. (If you’re lucky enough to get treatment at all.)
Every 52 minutes someone dies from an eating disorder. By the age of 6, little girls are worrying about their bodies, their weight. The message women receive from society is that it is better to be thin than alive. This is a cultural problem. There’s even a name for it- “normative discontent”- a term that describes how prevalent body dissatisfaction is for women. It’s so common it has become the norm. This is why it is so important for everyone to read this book, not just eating disorder sufferers, not just women. After all, all of our experiences are bound together.
I thought this book was very well researched, covering new treatment ideas to maintain a lasting recovery, as well fertility, intersectionality, and the kind of activism needed to effect change in our society. There is a great list of resources in the back of the book, and we’re introduced to people in the community who are making a difference. Truly an important book.
Thanks to NetGalley, Cole Kazdin, and St Martin’s Essentials for the opportunity to read and review this work.
Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety
By: Cole Kazdin
St. Martin’s Essentials
Publication date: March 7, 2023
TW- Eating disorder behaviors described, numbers
What’s Eating Us by Cole Kazdin is a deep dive into the epidemic of eating disorders, disordered eating, diet culture and self-image issues that are so prevalent in our society.
Kazdin, a journalist, uses investigative reporting and her own personal struggle with an eating disorder to try to make sense of this far-reaching problem.
This book is deeply personal. By the way Cole Kazdin is writing, she seems like someone you would want to be friends with. There was joy in reading Kazdin’s words, hope, humor interspersed throughout the grim facts.
I really appreciate Kazdin’s struggle for complete recovery. (As I, too, have struggled with an eating disorder for 2 decades.) Once you have an eating disorder long enough, it seems impossible to fully recover. Your “mental scaffolding is delicate” and the ED lies in wait “like an assassin.” Boy, is that true. Just when you think you’re doing well, one trigger can unravel it all. Furthermore, there is no standard of care for eating disorders. They are incredibly hard to treat. (If you’re lucky enough to get treatment at all.)
Every 52 minutes someone dies from an eating disorder. By the age of 6, little girls are worrying about their bodies, their weight. The message women receive from society is that it is better to be thin than alive. This is a cultural problem. There’s even a name for it- “normative discontent”- a term that describes how prevalent body dissatisfaction is for women. It’s so common it has become the norm. This is why it is so important for everyone to read this book, not just eating disorder sufferers, not just women. After all, all of our experiences are bound together.
I thought this book was very well researched, covering new treatment ideas to maintain a lasting recovery, as well fertility, intersectionality, and the kind of activism needed to effect change in our society. There is a great list of resources in the back of the book, and we’re introduced to people in the community who are making a difference. Truly an important book.
Thanks to NetGalley, Cole Kazdin, and St Martin’s Essentials for the opportunity to read and review this work.