abcreads: When Diets Don't Work Anymore

According to the Eating Disorders Coalition, approximately 11 million Americans suffer from an eating disorder. Food addictions are confounding and it may be something that has taken over your life. Sometimes when a compulsive eater goes on a diet, it is about as effective as an alcoholic trying a little controlled drinking. People who are not addicted to sugar and junk food might not understand the difference between phases of excessive indulgence and a full-blown, debilitating binge eating disorder. However, your library is here to help you research some long-term solutions.

Dr. Robert H. Lustig, author of Fat Chance Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease has written a sobering book detailing the forces beyond will power that eaters are up against these days, such as processed foods, biochemistry and politics tampering with the food industry, school cafeterias and our healthcare system. Robert Lustig’s 90-minute YouTube video “Sugar: The Bitter Truth”, has been viewed more than three million times. Now his completely scientific book can shed further light on what every eater needs to know about what lurks in the supermarket.

Dr. Mike Dow, co-host of the cringe-worthy TLC TV series Freaky Eaters, offers a four week plan to curtail a junk food addiction without the debilitating effects of withdrawal. The premise of his book: Diet Rehab : 28 Days to Finally Stop Craving the Foods That Make You Fat, establishes that the brain needs two neurotransmitters to regulate mood and functions: serotonin and dopamine. While consuming addictive foods, we get "high", but if we quit junk food and sugar abruptly, the serotonin and dopamine withdrawal will cause inevitable relapse and make even the most resolute dieter fall off the chuck wagon. Dr. Dow not only offers a physical solution to this vicious cycle, but reveals activities and strategies to establish emotional equilibrium for a new way of living.

Geneen Roth has been writing for decades about the psychological aspects of compulsive eating. Her latest book: Women, Food and God : An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything considers the spiritual underpinnings of compulsive eating and features tools needed to stop using food to blot out reality. Geneen Roth's backlog of helpful books is considerable and can also be found in ebook and Playaway formats.