Customer Reviews

Food Addiction: The Body Knows: Revised& Expanded Edition by Kay Sheppard

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book 12 years ago and attended Kay Sheppards treatment program. I lost 60 lbs, had 5 years of abstinence and the only freedom from food I have ever known. Then I decided to get "flexible" so it would be easier for me to live in "the world". At first I thought I had it under control, but slowly my eating has escalated and now I find myself 45 lbs heavier, back into bingeing, uncontrollable consumption of sweets and a bevy of emotional and health problems to go with. After reading old journals and seeing how happy and sane I was during those 5 years --- well I decided I can continue with this trek toward insanity and death or I can surrender myself to this simple program. So I'm back.
The critics of this program are either in denial or not full blown food addicts --- yet. This is no magic bullet. It works if you work it.
Thank you Kay for your uncompromising honesty.

This is a good starting point for food addicts. Ms. Sheppard offers much valuable information. However, the tone of the book, a bit exclusionary and black and white, can be offputting. It's necessary to overlook that in order to appreciate the valuable information this book contains.

First let me say that I'm glad the ideas and instructions presented in this book have worked for many people. Even if the scientific reasoning for abstaining from sugar and wheat is complete rubbish, I don't think that matters if it works. It simply did not work for me.

I think Ms. Sheppard would classify me as a food addict. I have demonstrated many of the typical food addict behaviors over the years, and my weight has always been a problem to one degree or another. However, I think either I am not truly a food addict and my problems with food are strictly psychological or Ms. Sheppard's program simply doesn't work for all food addicts. Either way, I got the impression from reading her book that almost all overweight people could "recover" using her program, and I disagree.

I stuck to the program perfectly for about eight weeks. For me, it was just another exercise in renewed hope, deprivation, failure, and disappointment. Maybe it will be your salvation, but it certainly wasn't mine.

I have every diet book, I have done every eating plan since 1965. At age 13 a doctor prescribed diet pills to me, he died because he was overwieght. This book taught me that there is a way to get rid of the cravings. This book taught me that with eating changes I could get rid of food controlling me and me not controlling food. I have lost 10 pounds in a month. I am able now to clean up after a meal without being the human garbage disposal. I alow my kids to bake now because I am not eating up half a cake or half the cookie dough. I feel terrific.

As a 63-year old woman who has lost and gained hundreds of pounds over the past 40 years, this book has shown me where the ultimate problem lies. This is the first time I have ever been on a diet where I felt so good and had no more cravings or even the desire to binge eat. I am slowly losing the 154 lbs. that I need to lose - which I have never been able to do before without feeling deprived. This book is a miracle for me and I only wish more people would realize the help that is in there for those who have lots to lose. I cannot praise this book enough. Thank you for writing it - it has become my food bible and I will never again let food ruin my life as it has done in the past.

As a professional working with eating disordered patients for the past 15 years, I find Kay's text a "timeless" classic in the field. She is able to put into words a clear picture of what the "tyranny" of food addiction is all about, and most importantly, shows her reader where the answers are to be found. Kudos to Kay and all those who follow her teachings.

I'm sorry, but honestly, I bought both of her books, read a few chapters, and I just don't like her approach to food. Food is an addiction, yes, but I think it is unreasonable to live the rest of your life without some flour, some sugar, some good fat, and boiled meat!!!?? jesus, the day I have to eat boiled meat, just put a fork in me, I'm done and on my way to straight up deprivation binge cycles or anorexia. eating is a privelage and one of life's great pleasures, people who are healthy are priveleged to have this pleasure but life needs balance. I think of the my many relatives that have had cancer and could not eat.Even though I think Sheppard has some great connections about food and addiction, I think her approach is too extreme and not mind/body focused enough, and frankly I just didn't like her. Kudos to those she has helped, get it where you can! But, I don't think this is a five star book - going back to Geneen Roth

This is one of the very few books that tells it like it really is. No medical books or doctors address the issues in this book.
The world needs to be ed8ucated on the material inside. A MUST READ and LIFE SAVER for those who can't stop eating.

I have struggled with compulsive eating for as long as I can remember. I have tried the "eat only when you're hungry" plan prescribed for compulsive overeaters, as well as just about every diet you can name, only to find my self-destructive behavior worse than before. And then, I found this book.

Admittedly, when I first read the prescribed road to recovery, I was none too thrilled. In the beginning, I assure you, it's tough. But the rewards are so far and beyond your wildest dreams, I can't even begin to explain. In ten weeks I lost 25 pounds as a side effect of the recovery process. The weight loss, though quite welcome, has not been the true blessing of recovery. It has been my ability to think about things other than food, to release my feelings of inferiority, of weakness, of shame.

The program emphasizes the importance of support from friends, family members, and eating disorder groups. I recovered in a foreign country with a different language where I had NO ONE. No friends, no family, no nothing. If you are blessed with the support of loved ones, I promise you will succeed. I was able to kick a disease that breeds in isolation while I was all alone. And if I could do it, anyone can. Buy this book and take what Kay has to say to heart. Her advice has forever changed my life.

...and reading this book was an important first step in that process.

All those so-called weight-loss "solutions" out there have one thing in common: they all want your money.

It can also be argued that they have one more thing in common: they don't work in the long run.

This book is the badly needed type of reality check for crawling out from under the agony of obesity. It tears down the myths behind the "quick" approaches, gives frank accounting of the real cost of gruesome surgical methods and their horrible aftermath. And points you in the right direction.

It's an easy read, but you'll want to read it more than once.