February 26th through March 3rd is Eating Disorder Awareness Week. EDAW seeks to increase awareness around the complexities of eating disorders, advocate for those who are experiencing the oppression of fat-phobia, and to acknowledge eating disorders as a complex disability that effects all different types of people from various backgrounds. Hiram College is working with the health center and AmeriCorps to provide accessible resources to students. Below is a list of books for sufferers of eating disorders, loved ones supporting someone in eating disorder recovery, and education resources on both the racial and gendered origin of eating disorders. 
*Books that are marked with an asterisk may not be suitable for someone actively suffering with and eating disorder. 
Books Recommended for Those Struggling with Eating Disorders

Cover ArtThe Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown

ISBN: 9781592858491
Publication Date: 2010-08-27
Through this self-help classic we find courage to overcome paralyzing fear and self-consciousness, strengthening our connection to the world and helping us to believe we are worthy of self-discovery, personal growth, and boundless love. A motivational and inspiring guide to wholehearted living, rather than just the average self-help book, with this groundbreaking work Brené Brown, Ph.D., bolsters the self-esteem and personal development process through her characteristic heartfelt, honest storytelling. With original research and plenty of encouragement, she explores the psychology of releasing our definitions of an "imperfect" life and embracing living authentically. Brown's "ten guideposts" are benchmarks for authenticity that can help anyone establish a practice for a life of honest beauty--a perfectly imperfect life. Now more than ever, we all need to cultivate feelings of self-worth, as well as acceptance and love for ourselves. In a world where insults, criticisms, and fears are spread too generously alongside messages of unrealistic beauty, attainment, and expectation, we look for ways to "dig deep" and find truth and gratitude in our lives. A new way forward means we can't hold on too tightly to our own self-defeating thoughts or the displaced pain in our world. Instead, we can embrace the imperfection.

Cover ArtBraving the Wilderness by Brené Brown

ISBN: 9780812985818
Publication Date: 2019-08-27
A timely and important book that challenges everything we think we know about cultivating true belonging in our communities, organizations, and culture, from the #1 bestselling author of Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection Don't miss the five-part HBO Max docuseries Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart! "True belonging doesn't require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are." Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, MSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives--experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. With her trademark mix of research, storytelling, and honesty, Brown will again change the cultural conversation while mapping a clear path to true belonging. Brown argues that we're experiencing a spiritual crisis of disconnection, and introduces four practices of true belonging that challenge everything we believe about ourselves and each other. She writes, "True belonging requires us to believe in and belong to ourselves so fully that we can find sacredness both in being a part of something and in standing alone when necessary. But in a culture that's rife with perfectionism and pleasing, and with the erosion of civility, it's easy to stay quiet, hide in our ideological bunkers, or fit in rather than show up as our true selves and brave the wilderness of uncertainty and criticism. But true belonging is not something we negotiate or accomplish with others; it's a daily practice that demands integrity and authenticity. It's a personal commitment that we carry in our hearts." Brown offers us the clarity and courage we need to find our way back to ourselves and to each other. And that path cuts right through the wilderness. Brown writes, "The wilderness is an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it's the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand."

Cover ArtLife Without Ed, Tenth Anniversary Edition by Jenni Schaefer (Narrated by)

ISBN: 9781639293629
Publication Date: 2014-02-28
The 10th Anniversary Edition of the book that has given hope and inspiration to thousands who are dealing with eating disorders "If you or someone you love has an eating disorder, this is the book to read."-Dr. Phil Jenni had been in an abusive relationship with Ed for far too long. He controlled Jenni's life, distorted her self-image, and tried to physically harm her throughout their long affair. Then, in therapy, Jenni learned to treat her eating disorder as a relationship, not a condition. By thinking of her eating disorder as a unique personality separate from her own, Jenni was able to break up with Ed once and for all. Inspiring, compassionate, and filled with practical exercises to help you break up with your own personal E.D., Life Without Ed provides hope to the millions of people plagued by eating disorders. Beginning with Jenni's "divorce" from Ed, this supportive, lifesaving book combines a patient's insights and experiences with a therapist's prescriptions for success to help you live a healthier, happier life without Ed. This 10th anniversary edition features a new afterword as well as sections devoted to family, friends, and supporters; how treatment professionals can use the book with their patients; and men with eating disorders. "Of all the great books written on eating disorders, none has had a wider reach than Life Without Ed. Those suffering have found connection and hope, family members have found understanding and empathy, professionals have learned from it and praised it. It will remain a classic for decades to come."-Michael E. Berrett, PhD, psychologist; CEO and cofounder of the Center for Change; coauthor of Spiritual Approaches in the Treatment of Women with Eating Disorders"[Life Without Ed] was the first [book] to teach readers that they can not only separate from their eating disorder, but also disagree with and disobey it. I wholeheartedly recommend this witty, hopeful guide to patients, carers, professionals, and anyone else who wants to understand what it's really like to live with an eating disorder and ultimately triumph over it."-Jennifer J. Thomas, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the Harvard Medical School; co-director of the Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital "This uplifting book's intimate inner dialogue has energized countless young women-and men-in their own recoveries from eating disorders."-Leigh Cohn, MAT, CEDS, coauthor of Making Weight: Men's Conflicts with Food, Weight, Shape & Recovery "Jenni is truly a remarkable woman. She unselfishly shares her struggles and triumphs in something that will probably affect all of us in one way or another in our lifetime. Her candid and inspiring story will truly help those suffering from their own "Ed." I feel privileged to know her and her story."-Jamie-Lynn Sigler, actress.

Cover ArtThe Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk*

ISBN: 0670785938
Publication Date: 2014-09-25
A pioneering researcher and one of the world's foremost experts on traumatic stress offers a bold new paradigm for healing   Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children.   Renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain's wiring--specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies. Based on Dr. van der Kolk's own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy--and a way to reclaim lives.

Cover ArtBefriending Your Body by Ann Saffi Biasetti

ISBN: 1611806089
Publication Date: 2018-08-07
A step-by-step holistic approach to eating disorder recovery, using self-compassion and embodiment practices to reduce symptoms, increase body awareness and acceptance, reconnect to others, and step back into an integrated life Those who struggle with disordered eating often find themselves in an unrelenting cycle of harsh self-judgment, painful emotions, and harmful behaviors. Seeing the body as an adversary, these patterns can lead many people to become withdrawn or isolated. Ann Saffi Biasetti's powerful holistic approach to liberating people from disordered eating focuses on growing self-compassion and embodiment. This insight, informed by yoga and mindfulness meditation, views the body not just as something to be healed or restored but as a source of great wisdom and knowledge. Dr. Biasetti offers yoga-based movement, body-awareness practices, meditations, and journaling exercises to help release long-held habits of self-criticism and perfectionism. Her step-by-step program will rebuild self-compassion, self-care, body awareness, acceptance, and connection to the self and to others.

Cover ArtSick Enough by Jennifer L. Gaudiani

ISBN: 0815382456
Publication Date: 2018-09-26
Patients with eating disorders frequently feel that they aren't "sick enough" to merit treatment, despite medical problems that are both measurable and unmeasurable. They may struggle to accept rest, nutrition, and a team to help them move towards recovery. Sick Enough offers patients, their families, and clinicians a comprehensive, accessible review of the medical issues that arise from eating disorders by bringing relatable case presentations and a scientifically sound, engaging style to the topic. Using metaphor and patient-centered language, Dr. Gaudiani aims to improve medical diagnosis and treatment, motivate recovery, and validate the lived experiences of individuals of all body shapes and sizes, while firmly rejecting dieting culture.

Cover ArtGoodbye Ed, Hello Me: Recover from Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Life by Jenni Schaefer

ISBN: 0071608877
Publication Date: 2009-08-26

Don't Battle an Eating Disorder Forever-Recover from It Completely Jenni Schaefer and Ed (eating disorder) are no longer on speaking terms, not even in her most difficult moments. In her bestseller, Life Without Ed, Jenni learned to treat her eating disorder as a relationship, not a condition-enabling her to break up with Ed once and for all. In Goodbye Ed, Hello Me Jenni shows you that being fully recovered is not just about breaking free from destructive behaviors with food and having a healthy relationship with your body; it also means finding joy and peace in your life. "Jenni Schaefer has dedicated her life to helping people overcome their eating disorders and live life to the fullest. She is an inspiration to all!" --Dr. Phil "Every young woman and man interested in overcoming disordered eating should read this treasure of a book." -Leigh Cohn, M.A.T., CEDS, Editor-in-Chief, Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention "The beauty of Jenni's written journey through her tormented relationship with Ed is that it is honest, passionate, hopeful-but, most important, it ultimately assures the reader that life really can move on." -Lynn Grefe, CEO, National Eating Disorders Association Combining Jenni's signature personal advice and unfailing encouragement along with valuable exercises you can do as you read, Goodbye Ed, Hello Me will give you the prescriptive tools to take the final steps in divorcing your Ed completely. Foreword by Carolyn Costin, LMFT, M.A., M.Ed.

Cover ArtLife Without Ed by Jenni Schaefer

ISBN: 0071422986
Publication Date: 2004-01-12
The 10th Anniversary Edition of the book that has given hope and inspiration to thousands who are dealing with eating disorders "If you or someone you love has an eating disorder, this is the book to read." --Dr. Phil Jenni had been in an abusive relationship with Ed for far too long. He controlled Jenni's life, distorted her self-image, and tried to physically harm her throughout their long affair. Then, in therapy, Jenni learned to treat her eating disorder as a relationship, not a condition. By thinking of her eating disorder as a unique personality separate from her own, Jenni was able to break up with Ed once and for all. Inspiring, compassionate, and filled with practical exercises to help you break up with your own personal E.D., Life Without Ed provides hope to the millions of people plagued by eating disorders. Beginning with Jenni's "divorce" from Ed, this supportive, lifesaving book combines a patient's insights and experiences with a therapist's prescriptions for success to help you live a healthier, happier life without Ed. This 10th anniversary edition features a new afterword as well as sections devoted to family, friends, and supporters; how treatment professionals can use the book with their patients; and men with eating disorders. "Of all the great books written on eating disorders, none has had a wider reach than Life Without Ed. Those suffering have found connection and hope, family members have found understanding and empathy, professionals have learned from it and praised it. It will remain a classic for decades to come." --Michael E. Berrett, PhD, psychologist; CEO and cofounder of the Center for Change; coauthor of Spiritual Approaches in the Treatment of Women with Eating Disorders "[Life Without Ed] was the first [book] to teach readers that they can not only separate from their eating disorder, but also disagree with and disobey it. I wholeheartedly recommend this witty, hopeful guide to patients, carers, professionals, and anyone else who wants to understand what it's really like to live with an eating disorder and ultimately triumph over it." --Jennifer J. Thomas, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the Harvard Medical School; co-director of the Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital "This uplifting book's intimate inner dialogue has energized countless young women--and men--in their own recoveries from eating disorders." --Leigh Cohn, MAT, CEDS, coauthor of Making Weight: Men's Conflicts with Food, Weight, Shape & Recovery "Jenni is truly a remarkable woman. She unselfishly shares her struggles and triumphs in something that will probably affect all of us in one way or another in our lifetime. Her candid and inspiring story will truly help those suffering from their own "Ed." I feel privileged to know her and her story." --Jamie-Lynn Sigler, actress
Self-Help Interactive Workbooks Suggested for those Struggling with an Eating Disorder

Cover Art8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder Workbook by Carolyn Costin; Gwen Schubert Grabb

ISBN: 0393711285
Publication Date: 2017-03-07
8 Keys to Recovery from an eating disorder was lauded as a "brave and hopeful book" as well as "remarkably readable." Now, the authors have returned with a companion workbook--offering all new assignments, strategies, and personal reflections to help those who suffer from an eating disorder heal their relationship to food and their bodies. Clients of Costin and Grabb consistently tell them that knowing they are both recovered is one of the most helpful aspects of their treatment. With this experience as a foundation, the authors bring together years of clinical expertise and invaluable personal testimony, from themselves and others, to the strategies in this book. Readers will get a glimpse of what it's like to be in therapy with either Carolyn or Gwen. Filled with tried-and-true practical exercises, goal sheets, food journal forms, clinical anecdotes and stories, readers are guided in exploring their thoughts, feelings, and coping strategies while being encouraged to choose how they want to approach the material.  This book is an important resource to anyone living with destructive or self-defeating eating behaviors.

Cover ArtThe Radically Open DBT Workbook for Eating Disorders by Karyn D. Hall; Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher; Mima Simic

ISBN: 1684038936
Publication Date: 2022-05-01
A groundbreaking workbook to help you develop healthy coping strategies, build a solid support network, and stay on the path to recovery. If you've been in therapy for an eating disorder, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia, your past treatment may have focused on helping you control your emotions and contain your behaviors. However, research now shows that many people with eating disorders actually suffer from emotional overcontrol. Based on more than twenty years of research, this breakthrough workbook offers skills based in radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT), a proven-effective, transdiagnostic approach for treating disorders of overcontrol (OC). With this compassionate workbook, you'll learn how to move beyond the unhealthy coping strategies that keep you feeling isolated and lonely, find tips for building a solid support network and enriching social connections, and develop your own personalized plan for staying on the path to recovery. You'll also find assessments to help you determine the root cause of your OC disorder, exercises for increasing social engagement, and skills for improving social flexibility, trust, and intimacy. Having an eating disorder can make you feel like you're alone in the world. Even if you're in recovery, you may have days when feelings of isolation are too much, and you may feel tempted to fall back into unhealthy patterns of eating or restrictive eating. This workbook will help you build your own "treatment tribe," a group of people that help lift you up and support you as you find your way to a full recovery and a rich, meaningful life.

Cover ArtThe Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole; Elyse Resch; Tracy Tylka (Foreword by)

ISBN: 9781626256231
Publication Date: 2017-04-01
Do you use food to comfort yourself during stressful times? The Intuitive Eating Workbook offers a comprehensive, evidence-based program to help you develop a healthy relationship with food, pay attention to cues of hunger and satisfaction, and cultivate a profound connection with your mind and body. Have you tried fad diet after fad diet, only to gain weight back? Maybe you've tried the protein diet only to move on to vegetables only? Raw almonds and coconut water every forty-five minutes instead of big meals? Or perhaps you've tried counting calories, but the numbers on the scale still don't add up. If you are ready to throw in your hat and give up on dieting for good, take heart. You can enjoy food again--you just need to pay attention to your body's natural hunger cues. Based on the authors' best-selling book, Intuitive Eating, this workbook can show you how. The Intuitive Eating Workbook offers a new way of looking at food and mealtime by showing you how to recognize your body's natural hunger signals. Structured around the ten principles of intuitive eating, the mindful approach in this workbook encourages you to abandon unhealthy weight control behaviors, develop positive body image, and--most importantly--stop feeling distressed around food! You were born with all the wisdom you need for eating intuitively. This book will help you reconnect with that wisdom and ultimately change your life--one meal at a time.
Books About the History of Eating Disorders, Fat-Phobia and Diet-Culture

Cover ArtFearing the Black Body by Sabrina Strings

ISBN: 9781479886753
Publication Date: 2019-05-07
There is an obesity epidemic in this country and poor Black woman are particularly stigmatized as "diseased" and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat Black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago. Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment, analyzing important works of art, newspaper and magazine articles, and scientific literature and medical journals--where fat bodies were once praised--showing that fat phobia, as it relates to Black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of "savagery" and racial inferiority. The author argues that the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core, racialized and racist. Indeed, it was not until the early twentieth century, when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in the culture, that the medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. An important and original work, Fearing the Black Body argues convincingly that fat phobia isn't about health at all, but rather a means of using the body to validate race, class, and gender prejudice.

Cover ArtHunger So Wide and So Deep by Becky Thompson

ISBN: 0816624356
Publication Date: 1996-07-15
This work challenges the popular notion that eating disorders occur only among white, well-to-do, heterosexual women. Based on in-depth life history interviews with African American, Latina, and lesbian women, this book chronicles the effects of racism, poverty, sexism, acculturation, and sexual abuse on women's eating patterns and bodies. By revealing how these girls and women use eating to "make a way outa no way", it dispels popular stereotypes of anorexia and bulimia as symptoms of vanity and stresses the risks of mislabeling what is often a way of coping with society's own disorders. With its multicultural focus, this book not only brings women of color and lesbians into our picture of eating problems, but also clears up many demeaning and sexist ideas about these problems among white women. By featuring the creative ways in which women have changed their unwanted eating patterns and regained trust in their bodies and appetites, it also offers a message of hope and empowerment that applies across race, class, and sexuality.

Cover ArtCalories and Corsets by Louise Foxcroft*

ISBN: 9781846684265
Publication Date: 2013-06-11
"At last, a book on dieting that is sensible, and better still, entertaining."--The Independent Today we are urged from all sides to slim down and shape up, to shed a few pounds or lose life-threatening inches. The media's relentless obsession with size may be perceived as a twenty-first-century phenomenon, but as award-winning historian Louise Foxcroft shows, we have been struggling with what to eat, when, and how much ever since the Greeks and the Romans first pinched an inch. Meticulously researched, surprising, and sometimes shocking, Calories and Corsets tells the epic story of our complicated relationship with food, the fashions and fads of body shape, and how cultural beliefs and social norms have changed over time. Combining research from medical journals, letters, articles, and the dieting bestsellers we continue to devour (including one by an octogenarian Italian in the sixteenth century), Foxcroft reveals the extreme and often absurd lengths people will go to in order to achieve the perfect body, from eating carbolic soap to chewing every morsel hundreds of times to a tasteless pulp. This unique and witty history exposes the myths and anxieties that drive today's multi-billion-dollar dieting industry--and offers a welcome perspective on how we can be healthy and happy in our bodies. Louise Foxcroft has a PhD in the history of medicine from the University of Cambridge. Her book Hot Flushes, Cold Science was the winner of the 2009 Longman-History Today Prize.
Books Suggested for those who are Looking to Support a Loved One with an Eating Disorder

Cover ArtHow to Disappear Completely by Kelsey Osgood*

ISBN: 1468308467
Publication Date: 2014-09-30
She devoured their memoirs and magazine articles, committing the most salacious details to memory to learn what it would take to be the very best anorexic. When she was hospitalized at fifteen, she found herself in an existential wormhole: how can one suffer from something one has actively sought out? With attuned storytelling and unflinching introspection, Kelsey Osgood unpacks the modern myths of anorexia as she chronicles her own rehabilitation. How to Disappear Completely is a brave, candid and emotionally wrenching memoir that explores the physical, internal, and social ramifications of eating disorders.

Cover ArtSurviving an Eating Disorder [Fourth Revised Edition] by Michele Siegel; Judith Brisman; Margot Weinshel*

ISBN: 0062954148
Publication Date: 2021-06-22
Thoroughly revised and updated with the latest research and methodologies, the fourth edition of the classic guide written specifically for parents, friends, and caregivers of individuals with eating disorders. For more than thirty years, this classic guide has been an essential resource for the "silent sufferers"--those affected by a loved one's eating disorder. This revised edition put family and friends at the center of the treatment process, providing the latest information on the methods and practices available to facilitate the recovery process. Surviving an eating disorder is the first book for family and friends to use a psychological perspective to understand eating disorders. Other treatment manuals or self-help books propose change, but Surviving is the first to consider why change can be so hard for everyone involved. The factors that can hinder progress are discussed and the methods that can work are emphasized. Illustrated with case examples, this fourth edition explains the latest treatments and provides the necessary tools to carefully evaluate what can be most effective for each reader's individual care. The authors offer concrete advice and support, urging readers to care for both them and their relationships as they support their loved ones struggling with food and eating issues. With its combination of information, insight, and practical strategies, Surviving an eating disorder considers crisis as opportunity--a time for the possibility of hope and change for everyone involved.

Cover ArtTalking to Eating Disorders by Jeanne Albronda Heaton; Claudia J. Strauss*

ISBN: 0451215222
Publication Date: 2005-07-05
When a friend or family member shows signs of an eating disorder, the first impulse is to charge in, give advice, and fix what is wrong. But these tactics-however well-intentioned-can backfire. This compassionate guide offers ways to tackle the tough topics of body image, media messages, physical touch, diets, and exercise-along with a special section on talking about these issues with children. It includes information about when to get professional help, how to handle emergencies, and answers to difficult questions such as "Am I too fat?" or "Is this ok to eat?"