Life Beyond Your Eating Disorder: Reclaim Yourself, Regain Your Health, Recover for Good
Kandel, founder and director of The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, brings her own successful recovery from anorexia and bulimia to this readable text whose message is that full recovery is possible. Noting that no recovery is “perfect,” the author, who stresses that she is not a health professional, seeks to free others from identifying with the disorder and risking becoming it. Kandel seeks to empower readers by sharing her own past—how her youthful perfectionism and aspirations to become a ballerina fueled her need to control and numb her emotions, which stoked her disorder—as well as the stories of others. She also offers practical advice, using boxed and large-type inserts to emphasize main points: “My eating disorder gave me carte blanche not to have to do things that scared me: I didn’t have to feel . . . Basically, it protected me . . . from life.” With a list of resources, Kandel’s experience and accessible self-help approach should help many find and remain on the path to wellness. --Whitney Scott