Feeding the Hungry Heart: The Experience of Compulsive Eating

Book Description

This is how Geneen Roth remembers her time as an emotional overeater and self-starver. After years of struggle, Roth finally broke free from the destructive cycle of bingeing and purging. In the two decades since her triumph, she has gone on to help tens of thousands of others do the same through her lectures, workshops, and retreats. Those she has met during this time have shared stories that are both heartrending and inspiring, which Roth has gathered for this unique book.

Twenty years after its original publication, Feeding the Hungry Heart continues to inspire women and men, helping them win the battle against a hunger that goes deeper than a need for food.

Customer Reviews:

FEED THE HUNGRY HEART.......2007-09-13

I BOUGHT THIS BOOK FOR A RELATIVE WITH AN EATING DISORDER BUT I ENDED UP READING IT FIRST! IT HELPED ME TO UNDERSTAND MORE ABOUT THESE DISORDERS. I CAN SEE THIS BOOK HELPING THE SUFFERING FEEL LIKE THEY AREN'T CRAZY OR ALONE, AND THAT THERE IS HOPE. IT OPENS THE DOOR TO RECOVERY....

no title.......2005-11-16

The best book I've yet read on compulsive eating. One line touched me to the core. Do I eat to mother myself because I never got any; to nurture myself? Maybe that's why I need a dog, someone who I feel loves me totally and completely as me, not as a daughter or a wife? But this book also showed some very sick people in regards to food, some very bad binges and sneak eating. My life and thought do tend to revolve around food - buying it, cooking it, eating it. The writing is excellent. Roth should really write a novel or something more demanding. She can write well. I do wonder if the writing of other women was not polished up by her.

All the sugar and 2x the caffeine, please. No teenager should live inside an ED........2005-08-18

Living with an eating-disordered father all my life, it's no surprise that I started sneaking and hoarding food up in my bedroom by the age of 6. He snuck his binge foods, too, existing on diet Coke, eggbeaters, fat-free cheese, and salads of entire heads of lettuce adorned with other fat free vegetables and topped with fat-free dressing to take to work-- where he'd eat a 2lb. bag of M&M's in one shift. When I became clinically bulimic at 12, he slowly ceased restocking the pantry and fridge. I was hospitalized on an eating disorders unit twice- first merely because of the bulimia. My mother, at least, was perfect happy about the 18 extra lbs I'd lost, no matter how dangerously they'd gone. The second time I was admitted to the same unit, I had been purging every last thing I ate, and spent all of my free time either trying to mimick the detailed exercise charts of "true-life anorexic memoirs" OR bingeing and purging my brains out.

Finally, 30lbs below what would shortly become an apparent healthy set weight point, people were getting concerned about my anorexic proclivities. I was to turn 14 years old there.

Brief break before instituationalization. They take no mind of my ED what so ever. I go overboard in the cafeteria. This, plus a lithium prescriptio, puts 42 lbs on me in 4.5 months. I hate myself. I stop eating the moment I am discharged and lose 10 lbs the first week. I do it by baking copiously, and never tasting my goods. I know I am good.

Other adolescent pursuits of self-destruction manage to whittle me back to a minimum expected weight of 140-145. I never go lower than that. I can stay up for days on LSD, consuming nothing but the occasional nitrous oxide balloon, and later-- I will live in my car and travel the country, *always* looking for a handout (and extras, to divert to other street kids). But as a teenager, the only slight possible dip occured when I started enjoying opiates recreationally. It was temporary. Most people get over the weak stomach caused by snorting or shooting dope. I never did, because I now had the perfect cover. No one even *imagined* I might be puking from anything but bulimia. No way. I had my cake and morphine and I could snort and eat and purge it, too.

But I spent a lot of time in the company of others at this time. I was using drugs, yes. But simply because I spent so much time there, I often ate there. And having read some of Geneen's books by then (this one preobably first- to see where the heck she was coming from) I conceded to order along with the guys (this would be the 3rd delivery that day) from the place that delivered all the wierd SUBs, like 12inch cheeseburger.

I would make a sandwich out of whitebread, mayo, and yellow American cheese food product.

I'd eat a piece of pizza.

Not yet understanding the true meaning of "crispy" AT ALL, I followed my bosses directions to cram a take-out container full of "crispy chicken" from the Chinese Buffet next door.

I shared the top layer of the new Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough icecream from B&J's with the other girl who haunted the apartment, and discovered the joys of "new" Sour Cream and Cheddar Potato Chips.

So thank you for that, Janeen.

It wasn't until I was 2,000 miles and -60 degrees fahrenheit from home, living out of my car with 3 others and a dog that I realized my last eating-disordered vice had slipped away. We were crashing with some nice folks in Colorado Springs, and I was getting some crackers out of the sleeve. I didn't have the faintest idea how many crackers I was retrieving, whether it was divisible by 3, 6, or what the chart on the side of the box said.

A New Way of Thinking.......2005-07-27

Geneen Roth has opened up a new path in my journey to recovery from compulsive eating. Her ideas and suggestions put my eating disorder in a different light. It is nothing to be so ashamed of that I continue my own self-sabotage. With work - getting rid of the old messages surrounding my compulsive eating - I will discover the me I was created to be.

no real substance .......2005-03-24

About the only thing I got from this author is that she suffered from compulsive eating. I agree that you must learn to love yourself, but this woman gives no concrete information on how to do that. I read most of her books about 3 years ago, and even went to one of her seminars. The only thing I learned is that she is rude in person, and the seminar was like one big infomercial pushing her other books. I saw a lot of others there who were struggling with compulsive eating, which was helpful, but we all left feeling like, "now what?". I finally found OA, and am experiencing real recovery. This book wasn't a complete waste of time, because it sent me into another direction to find a program which actually helps me.

Average customer rating:

Unbelievable good---Wow!!!
Understated
Almost 5 stars, but.....
The Hunger for More

A Hungry Heart: A Memoir
Gordon Parks
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Artists, Architects & Photographers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0743269039

Book Description

Acclaimed photographer, filmmaker, composer, novelist, and memoirist, Gordon Parks has participated in, been witness to, and documented many of the major events in the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries.

In A Hungry Heart, Parks reflects on the people and events that shaped him: from growing up poor on the Kansas prairie to crisscrossing the country on the North Coast Limited; documenting poverty and injustice in Chicago to doing fashion spreads for Vogue; photographing black revolutionaries to writing, composing the soundtrack for, and directing the Hollywood movie version of his novel The Learning Tree. More than a self-portrait of the artist, A Hungry Heart is a striking account of an American era.

Download Description

"Gordon Parks, acclaimed photographer, filmmaker, composer, and author of fiction and nonfiction, has participated in, been witness to, and documented many of the major events in the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries. He is first and foremost a celebrated photojournalist and fine art photographer whose work, collected and exhibited worldwide, is emblematic of American culture. In A Hungry Heart, he reaches into the corridors of his memory and recounts the people and events that shaped him: from growing up poor on the Kansas prairie to withstanding the unbearably cold winters of Minnesota to living on the edge of starvation in Harlem during the Depression. He more than survived the challenges and crises of his life; he thrived and has become one of the most celebrated and diversely talented figures in American culture.

Customer Reviews:

Unbelievable good---Wow!!!.......2007-05-04

It has been a long time since I started reading a book and could not stop until I had finish it. I started at 5pm on a Sunday and finish on Monday, the next day. The benadryl I had taken Sunday night did me in. What a man and what an extraordinary life.Every circumstance from the beginning of his life stated, he should have failed. Mr Parks was born dead, not alive but dead. His parents were great role models and taught him how to live. His father gave skin grafts to a burn child and told Gordon he did it for the child. Gordon had asked if the boys parents thanked him or gave him a gift. Before reading the first chapter, I said that I must meet this great man. It is not to be. Mr Parks accomplishments remind me of another great man, Dr. John Franklin Hope, the black historian. These great men were born only a few years apart, 1912 and 1915 respectfully. Please treat yourself and read this book.

Understated.......2006-07-02

Gordon Parks was one of the first to transcend race in America, he was not a "Black" photographer, he was a photographer. He says it well describing his retrospective with photos of a high fashion gown the same color as the blood from a youth in a gang war he had photographed the same day.

Born in 1912 (a living icon before his death this year), Parks' work took him everywhere.. northern Canada, Paris, Rio and all over the US. He brushed with King Farouk and President Eisenhower and spent extended time with Malcom X, Mohammed Ali and Eldridge Cleaver.

This book is a once over lightly. He tells a lot through dialog, but it is not a satisfying substitute for description. I'd like to know more about how he got into photography (it reads like a fairy tale... but then he's remembering back 70 years). History needs more about the people and situations of his WPA and war work experiences... to name a few areas.

Some of the stories evoke nostalgia for a time when a spread in Life magazine would yield life changing contributions for a child in Brazil or a family in Harlem. Do today's photographers get body guards anywhere but Iraq? Do publishers still compensate those like the sharecropper who lose everything, due to the photographic spread?

This book reminds us, though, that these kindnesses and courtesies ran concurrent with overt and life taking racism.

Parks gives an outline that someone else should follow up on.

Almost 5 stars, but............2006-05-10

I would first like to say that this memoir was an excellent tour through the life a professional genious, good father, & well admired & respected man. His story takes us on a journey of reexamining ourselves, our dreams/achievements, black history, American history. He allowed us access to tour places abroad & at home & to see our government at it's best and worstlight. We were introduced to the real people beyond their stardom: from Marlon Brando to Muhammad Ali to Ingrid Bergman to Malcolm X. He focused on families who weren't fortunate enough to live the American DREAM; but for him were very much a part of it. He took a chance on people & stood up for what he believed in; even though the doors often times seemed shut in his face.

I felt that Mr. Gordon could have left out all the details of his many affairs with women: from wives, to mistress, to flight attendants, to his own editor (later to be wife ). I appreciate his honesty; because no man/woman can claim perfection and to do that would have been a lie. But, his detail and sense of "dat a boy" praise made me to give this book a 4.

The Hunger for More.......2006-03-15

When I first picked this up, I didn't know what to expect. All I knew about Gordon Parks was that he was a photographer. After reading it, I felt like a fool, because there was so much more to this extraordinary man. This book is well over 300 pages long, and I finished it in two days. There are many reasons for this.
For one, he has so many stories to tell, and, in a way, he has a way of placing you at the story he is telling. This book was published last year, and he does his best to reach back as far as possible to give the reader accurate accounts of his memories, good and bad. It tells of his humble beginnings, and some of the losses he experienced along the way. He talked about some of his earlier jobs, the undesirable conditions, but some of the people he came in contact with. At that time, he proposed to his first wife, and after constant opposition from her family, they later wed.
He also tells about the first camera he ever purchased. Not having much experience at all, he took some shots, and the rest was history from that standpoint. He never comes off as arrogant, cocky, or pumping himself or his talents up. He was always humble, and just enjoyed doing the things he loved: photography, literature, and music. He made the most of his opportunities when he was given them. His undying love and support for the poor and the less fortunate is well-chronicled, and his loyalty to fellow Blacks at the harshest of times put him in very compromising situations, but he was always able to adapt, sympathize, and relate to his subjects, and it showed in all of his work. He never compromised his beliefs for personal gain, and he was widely respected for it. He also tells of his times behind the camera, from his first film "The Learning Tree" to one of his more popular films "Shaft." To my surprise, his son wrote the screenplay and directed one of my favorite films of all-time, "Superfly", and he tells of how that came to existence.
There are so many lessons gained from reading this story that I do not have the time to list them all. For me, a 23-year-old black man, it was a blessing to be able to come across this piece of literature. I learned about a great man who made his mark on this world to the best of his ability and remained humble and down-to-earth from beginning to the end.

The Hungry Woman: The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea
<i>and</i> Heart of the Earth: A Popul Vuh Story

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The Hungry Woman: The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea and Heart of the Earth: A Popul Vuh Story
Cherríe L. Moraga
Manufacturer: West End Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

United States | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 097053440X

Book Description

In The Hungry Woman, an apocalyptic play written at the end of the millennium, Moraga uses mythology and an intimate realism to describe the embattled position of Chicanos and Chicanas, not only in the United States but in relation to each other. Drawing from the Greek Medea and the myth of La Llorona, she portrays a woman gone mad between her longing for another woman and for the Indian nation which is denied her.

In Heart of the Earth, a feminist revisioning of the Quiché Maya Popul Vuh story, Moraga creates an allegory for contemporary Chicanismo in which the enemy is white, patriarchal, and greedy for hearts, both female and fecund. Through humor and inventive tale twisting, Moraga brings her vatos locos home from the deadly underworld to reveal that the real power of creation is found in the masa Grandma is grinding up in her metate. The script, a collaboration with master puppet maker Ralph Lee, was created for the premiere production of the play at The Public Theater in New York in 1994.

Book Description

On this live workshop, Geneen Roth shows you how to get off the diet/ binge roller coaster for good. For more than 15 years, her bestselling books and workshops have helped thousands of former dieters stop struggling - and start living. Why do we eat too much? To comfort ourselves and distance ourselves from painful feelings, says Roth. This is why diets are ineffective - and destructive. Here are the tools to transform your painful cravings into a love for food, your body, and your life.

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An Absorbing Read
A fond, passionate portrait of a hard-to-pin-down woman
Fantastique!
THE inside scoop on Miss Josephine

Josephine: The Hungry Heart
Jean-Claude Baker
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0679409157
Release Date: 1993-12-28

Book Description

This revelatory biography of Folies Bergere dancer Josephine Baker (1906-1975) is a study of struggle, truimph and tragedy.

Customer Reviews:

An Absorbing Read.......2007-07-06

Jean-Claude gives a well balanced account of the life and times of Josephine Baker. With unabashed frankness he describes her sexual escapades and decadent appetites, her manipulative and cunning business dealings, and her unbelievable selfishness. This biography paints a very clear picture of the woman who gave definition to the term "diva." Her demands of those who handled her and worked for her would go beyond unreasonable. For instance, she would borrow enormous sums of money from friends and would never pay them back, and would then call on them again for more favors as if she had never defrauded them. There was no request too outrageous for this woman to make. Realizing that her family in St. Louis was suffering the horrendous racial atrocities of America, she brought them to her home in France only to use them to work for her on her estate. At one point she disowned her brother because he would not allow her to adopt his child and raise it as her own. She would work her nurses, her maids, and the children's tutors so hard that the turnover became virtually unmanageable. Her maids would work extremely long hours, and as a result her employees became disgruntled and would often steal from her. She used men like one would use Kleenex. She brazenly carried on affairs with married men, some of whom were husbands of friends and fellow-entertainers. She engaged in enumerable sexual affairs (and orgies) with both men and women. Wild goings-on aside, she was a consummate entertainer--constantly reinventing herself and giving herself completely to her audience. In an era when black performers suffered atrocious injustices, she persevered. She'd encountered terrible racism in many cities (especially when she returned to America), so much so that she was turned away from so many hotels that she had to stay with friends while under contract to perform. While not a tell-all tabloid type expose (thankfully), Jean-Claude Baker delivers a thorough account of the life of one of the world's most exciting and enduring icons. If you are a fan of historical figures and of biographies, this one is a must read.

A fond, passionate portrait of a hard-to-pin-down woman.......2003-09-01

Josephine Baker was enigmatic during her lifetime and even more so after her death. A chanteuse, a sex symbol, the mother of 12 adopted children, French Resistance heroine, Baker reinvented herself as often as necessary to stay at the top of her trade - whatever that trade was at any given moment. Jean-Claude Baker (one of her 'adopted' children) chronicles her life in this engaging biography with a mix of love, admiration, and incredulity. The lady had balls, and while not a tell-all book, The Hungry Heart does her ample justice.

Fantastique!.......2002-08-18

A perfectly balanced expose of this legendary and highly complex superstar: Amoral in extremis, manic and delusional, but blessed with indomitable human spirit. Excellent historical perspective throughout.

A beautifully written biography which does not succumb to the tawdry, despite its detailed narrative of Josephine Baker's pathologically decadent lifestyle.

Absolutely the best biography of J.B., bar none. A Must Read for Paris cabaret enthusiasts.

THE inside scoop on Miss Josephine.......2002-02-13

This is a biography of LaBaker written by one of her many adopted children. He gives the inside dish on his mom, including that both she and his adopter father were gay. He points out too that she did have some self-loathing issues regarding her race as well. This book has a great photo section. It helped me to see the ugly side of Josephine that wasn't fully presented in the great movie by HBO. I am not sure it is the best work out there, but it is a must-read for any Josephine fans and scholars. In addition, people that study Black Americans abroad or French naturalized citizens should read this.

Hungry Hearts (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)

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A Useful Addition to Yezierska's Works in Print
Immigrant girl speaks truth for two centuries.

Hungry Hearts (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
Anzia Yezierska
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0141180056

Customer Reviews:

A Useful Addition to Yezierska's Works in Print.......2002-05-10

It's good to see Yezierska getting so much attention these days, and even better to see her books back in print. Hungry Hearts is the collection which earned Yezierska a Hollywood contract and gave her the title "Cinderella of the Tenements," but her skills with the short story are not as strong as her skills with the novel. If you are just getting interested in Yezierska, I'd recommend Bread Givers or Salome of the Tenements, both of which have also recently been reprinted.

Immigrant girl speaks truth for two centuries........2000-09-23

I opened up this book by Anzia Yezierska and fell in love. I fell in love with the words of a writer who is present and accountable and alive in every sentence. Never before have I been so disarmed by the passion and fire contained within and behind the words of any writer. It's as though she couldn't wait to get each word down, attacking the paper in describing her immigrant experiences, her neighbors, her family, herself. Because Anzia Yezierska was not afraid to expose her soul, I was taken on a journey that walked me though the life of one proud, passionate, immigrant woman. I was able to hear her fears, triumphs, pain and disappointments through her authentic and authorative voice. Passionate and real. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Food for the Hungry Heart: Daily Devotions for Overeaters (Serenity Meditation Series)

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Amazing, inspirational, MUST have.

Food for the Hungry Heart: Daily Devotions for Overeaters (Serenity Meditation Series)
Cynthia Rowland McClure
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Devotionals | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

The Twelve Step Life Recovery Devotional

ASIN: 0840732228

Customer Reviews:

Amazing, inspirational, MUST have........1999-10-23

This collection of daily devotions is truly inspirational. Only someone who has "been there" and has been healed could have authored this book. You will look forward to reading each day's entry. You will be inspired and lifted up by Cynthia's wisdom and Christian faith. At the end of the year, you will want to read it over again just as I have.

Food for the Hungry Heart: Inspiration for Overeaters (Itty Bitty Books)

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Food for the Hungry Heart: Inspiration for Overeaters (Itty Bitty Books)
Cynthia Rowland McClure
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Devotionals | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Feeding the Hungry Heart: An Audio Workshop on Healing Your Relationship With Food

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Buy the books instead
Geneen Roth Rules!

Feeding the Hungry Heart: An Audio Workshop on Healing Your Relationship With Food
Geneen Roth
Manufacturer: Sounds True
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

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Accessories:

Sony WMFX479 Walkman

ASIN: 1564553264

Book Description

Feeding the Hungry Heart Geneen Roth

Start a Healthy Love Affair with Food and Yourself! Why do we eat too much? Because we are hungry - but not for more food. On Feeding the Hungry Heart, you will learn how a deep internal hunger for self-respect and fulfillment can translate into compulsive eating. Here is Geneen Roth's pioneering "no more diets" workshop, recorded live as it happened, to bring you face to face with this inspiring teacher and her no-nonsense philosophy for living diet-free. It has helped a generation of women regain their sanity and self-esteem with simple guidelines for replacing over-eating with awareness and compassion. Exercises and visualizations help you restore balance to your life, and learn what your body really needs to stay healthy.

Customer Reviews:

Buy the books instead.......2002-12-08

Same good stuff that's in her books. She has a rather screechy strident voice that's hard to listen too.

Geneen Roth Rules!.......2000-07-16

I've had issues with food for aprox.40 years. In 1986 I spent 30 days in an eating disorder rehab, followed their rigid food plan & philosophies, lost weight, gained it back,spent years going to therapists in that field, followed every diet on this planet & even created my own, became totally confused & bewildered, hopeless, helpless. I prayed, crossed my fingers, lit candles, took new medications & did everything but offer my first born in return for a miracle. Well, the miracle came in the form of the "Feeding the Hungry Heart" audio cassette & thanks be for it, because I love my first born daughter. I play it whenever I'm in the car, & it's been almost a month now, & I can honestly say that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, knowing the light won't go out.Hallelujah! Everything Geneen says hits home & I agree with her principals & guidelines 100%. There's no psycho babble. She keeps it simple & honest,giving advice & guidance as a sister-sufferer who knows & has been on the same bleak path I plodded along for so many years. And she often does it with humor, a definite bonus. I just finished ordering the cassette for a friend & wish I could afford to send one to each of my friends who could certainly benefit from it. Spreading the word will have to suffice. Now you know why Geenen Roth rules, in my book.

Hungry Hearts: On Men, Intimacy, Self-Esteem, and Addiction

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Hungry Hearts: On Men, Intimacy, Self-Esteem, and Addiction
Joseph Nowinski
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Alcoholism | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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