Resources for Eating Disorder Recovery

Navigating eating disorder recovery can be a complex journey, whether you’re the one recovering or a loved one supporting someone through the process. To help, I’ve compiled a categorized list of valuable books that address various aspects of recovery, from healing relationships with food and body image to understanding societal factors contributing to disordered eating. Below, you’ll find an overview of each resource and the kinds of questions it can help answer.

Books Focused on Body Image and Self-Compassion

1. Your Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor
   This book helps readers explore how to cultivate radical self-love and challenge the societal norms that promote body shame.

   • Your question: How can I begin to embrace my body as it is? How does body shame impact my mental health and relationships?

2. The Wisdom of Your Body by Hillary L. McBride
   McBride’s book focuses on reconnecting with your body and understanding its signals, offering practical tools for healing body image.

   • Your question: How do I start listening to and trusting my body again? How can I repair my relationship with my body?

3. Reclaiming Body Trust by Hilary Kinavey and Dana Sturtevant
   This book introduces the concept of body trust and provides a framework for healing your relationship with food, movement, and self.

   • Your question: What is body trust, and how can I rebuild it? How do I begin to feel safe in my body?

Resources on Society, Culture, and the Roots of Disordered Eating

1. Fearing the Black Body by Sabrina Strings
   Strings examines the historical roots of fatphobia and how anti-Blackness shaped Western beauty ideals.

   • Your question: How are societal standards of beauty connected to systemic racism? How has fatphobia been constructed and perpetuated?

2. The Wellness Trap and Rethinking Wellness podcast by Christy Harrison
   Harrison unpacks how wellness culture often promotes disordered eating under the guise of health and well-being.

   • Your question: How does wellness culture contribute to disordered eating? How can I critically evaluate health advice?

3. Fat Talk by Virginia Sole-Smith
   This book explores how to have meaningful conversations about weight, body image, and diet culture, especially with children.

   • Your question: How can I talk to loved ones about body image and food in a supportive way? How do societal pressures around weight affect parenting?

4. Anti-Diet and the Food Psych podcast by Christy Harrison
   A manifesto against diet culture, this book provides tools to reject harmful dieting practices and embrace intuitive eating.

   • Your question: What is diet culture, and how does it harm me? How can I transition to intuitive eating?

5. Health at Every Size by Lindo Bacon
   This foundational text introduces the Health at Every Size (HAES) approach, which prioritizes health over weight and embraces body diversity.

   • Your question: How can I focus on my health without dieting? What does research say about the relationship between weight and health?

6. The Maintenance Phase hosted by Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon
   A critical look at wellness and diet culture, debunking myths and providing thoughtful analysis.

   • Your question: What are the misconceptions about wellness and diet culture? How can I approach health information with a critical eye?

Books Specifically for Eating Disorder Recovery

1. The 8 Keys to Eating Disorder Recovery by Carolyn Costin and Gwen Schubert Grabb
   This practical guide outlines eight steps to recovery, with exercises and insights for both individuals and loved ones.

   • Your question: What are actionable steps I can take toward recovery? How can loved ones support someone recovering from an eating disorder?

2. Eating by the Light of the Moon by Anita Johnston
   Using storytelling and metaphor, Johnston helps readers explore the emotional and spiritual aspects of their relationship with food.

   • Your question: How can I understand the deeper emotional roots of my eating disorder? What role does storytelling play in healing?

3. Sick Enough by Jennifer Gaudiani
   Written by a physician specializing in eating disorder treatment, this book explains the medical aspects of eating disorders in a compassionate way.

   • Your question: What are the physical effects of an eating disorder? How can I understand the medical implications of my recovery?

4. Life Without Ed by Jenni Schaefer
   A personal account of recovery that offers relatable insights and practical tools.

   • Your question: How can I separate my identity from my eating disorder? What tools can help me in recovery?

5. Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
   A groundbreaking book that introduces the Intuitive Eating framework, helping individuals reconnect with their body's natural hunger and fullness cues.

   • Your question: How can I move away from dieting and learn to trust my body's hunger signals? What steps I need to take to become an intuitive eater?

Recommendations for Loved Ones

If you are a family member, partner, or friend supporting someone in recovery, the following books may be particularly helpful:

• Fat Talk by Virginia Sole-Smith: Learn how to navigate conversations about body image and food without causing harm.

• The 8 Keys to Eating Disorder Recovery by Carolyn Costin: Understand practical ways to provide meaningful support.

• Reclaiming Body Trust by Hilary Kinavey: Explore how to create an environment to encourage self care and compassion for our bodies.