Having struggled with an eating disorder for the past 10 years of my life, I was certain that I would never have a healthy relationship with food again. But, then a good friend gave me Geneen's book, and I have not looked back since on those doubtful thoughts. This is a truely incredible program that, when followed and supplemented with Geneen's books "When Food Is Love" and "Feeding the Hungry Heart", can and will take the word "diet" out of your vocabularly forever. I have never felt better about myself and have never actually lost weight while still eating anything I wanted.

Roth has created a wonderful, insightful compilation of exercises which, when combined with a lot of hard work on your part, can change your life. She will change your feelings about yourself and about why you eat. The exercises take a long time to get through because they are so emotionally demanding, but it is a worthwhile process. If you are ready to take a hard look at what really motivates you to open your cupboard, and examine those dark feelings you hide even from yourself, buy this book.

I always wanted to start a group...after reading this book I was able to start a small group. It is working well so far and I am eager to change my negative thoughts and behaviors.

This book connects the nine points and shows how they all fit into a great spiritual whole in a way that no other book does. As Geneen Roth says in the intro, I already KNOW all of these things about myself, and while there is some comfort in seeing a pattern, what am I supposed to do with this info? Am I to be stuck forever as a discontented four? This book shows how transformation is possible and how each point represents an aspect of the divine unfolding. It lifts the Enneagram above the pop psyc level where you just find out who is compatible with whom. Well written, wonderful style.

I am a a student of the Enneagram and of many spiritual methods. This is one of the best books I have ever read about how the soul lives, breathes, and transforms. Ms. Maitri presents an immense amount of spiritual knowledge in mapping the spirtual facets of the Enneagram. She does this with a clarity reminiscent of Almaas himself (the highest compliment!). Her writing is earthy and simple with an underlying humility that I find evocative of the most realized teachers. The presence of True Nature and a deep wisdom accompany her words, which is often missing in spiritual writing; in other words, she KNOWS what she is talking about. If you have ever read Ken Wilber and others and wished they could be a bit more precise, you must read this book. I am so appreciative and grateful that such a book has been written. It will be a cherished resource in my life far into the future.

My dissertation at university is on eating disorders, so I've been reading quite widely on the subject. Geneen Roth's books had been recommended to me for ages, so I decided I should start with this one: maybe it was the wrong choice as an introduction to her work, maybe not. I guess I'll find out after reading the rest of her books.

Mind you, this is NOT a disappointing book: Not at all. It contains good, very useful ideas, and it makes clear points. The basic, no-diet philosophy of Roth is valid & makes sense. And since this is a self-help book, it helps that the author uses examples, little stories, & catchy titles. From cover to cover, it can be read in a couple of hours, but I think it's better to read the ideas more slowly, savouring & trying to understand each one better.

"When you eat at the refrigerator..." is NOT a bad book: it's just that these things have been said before, & (in my opinion) much better, for example, by Susie Orbach. Maybe Orbach concetrates more on the theoretical part & Roth tackles the more practical, self-help part. I don't know. And maybe Roth has covered more theory in her other books. But this book, for me, was lacking in theoretical explanation of the ideas presented, & so most of these ideas seemed like little gimmicks to me. But, as a beginnning book, a book of ideas that can lead to other similar books, it's not bad.

Geneen Roth is right on target, AGAIN. If you've never read Ms. Roth's books, then this is a great introduction to her philosophy. If you're familiar with her work, then you'll quickly discover that this IS a moveable feast - the portable Roth.

My one criticism, and maybe Ms. Roth will correct this in future printings, is the Table of Contents. This book is supposed to be 'a take along' to be read in bits and pieces as time allows and mood suggests. But when you want to find a nugget, the Table of Contents is a hindrance, not a help. I'm just a reader, not a book editor but below is an excerpt from the current layout and a recommended, improved Table of Contents:

Current:
4.Give Away Clothes that Cut Off Your
Circulation/22 5.Consider Howard Stern and
Live 'As If'/26 6. Learn to Recognize a
Fat-and-Ugly Attack/29 7. Emergency . . .

Suggested
4.Give Away Clothes that Cut Off Your Circulation___22
5.Consider Howard Stern and Live 'As If'__________26
6.Learn to Recognize a Fat-and-Ugly Attack________29
7.Emergency Interventions_____________________34

geneen roth does a fabulous job discussing our relationships between food and love, then giving you ways to change that relationship. it is NOT a diet book. it is a book to make you think.

I read the first print of this book 12 years ago and it changed my life forever!! I have truly broken free from the hold that food, weight phobias, dieting, anorexia and bulimia had on me for over 15 years. I have been free for 12 years now and am forever grateful to Geneen for her bravery to dare to eat only when she was hungry and whatever she really wanted. This book is a must read for women who suffer hatred for themselves and their bodies. Geneen helped me learn to trust myself and therefore love myself.

This books is a wonderful resource for anyone who feels out of control with food, whether for binging, starvation, or just for overindulgences. After reading the book, each chapter/topic can be revisited as needed to replace that aspect of food and eating in its proper perspective. I've been reading this book for years. Gratitude is offered to Ms. Roth for her generous insight and wisdom. Highly recommended.

This is a straight forward, wonderful book that addresses the question overeaters need to know most: WHY? Why do overeaters eat the way the do? Some of the reasons given are so practical you will wonder why you didn't think of them yourself, others you will realize with a start that they are exactly true. When you begin to try a few of these tips, you will be amazed at how well they work. Though I am not overweight, I do overeat at times, and this book helped me to do two complete life style changes: Give up sugar in my coffee (two spoonfuls each cup times 3 cups a day is a lot of calories) and switch from soda to mineral water. I wasn't in any hurry to lose weight, but knew that over time these changes would make a difference of 5 or 10 pounds, and they have. A very helpful guide with tremendous insight. Buy it today!

I learned a lot from Ms. Roth's previous books, but except for a few select chapters (the best was about her first editor), this book was incredibly narcissistic. I don't care to hear how many fireplaces Ms. Roth has in her new house, the tiffs she has with a friend (another well educated, got everything YUPPIE), and if she does decide to have a baby after decades of blathering about the reasons to not have one, PLEASE DON'T WRITE A BOOK ABOUT IT! Enough. Ms. Roth is starting to remind me of an incredibly self-absorbed 5-year-old. The people who inhabit her world are only there to compliment her existence. I'm glad I don't know her personally. Being around her must be an energy draining trial.

Buy the books instead. Her screechy voice is hard to listen to.

My first encounter with Geneen Roth's books was with this well-titled book, Appetites, which reflects upon but also goes well beyond her earlier focus on why women overeat and how to deal with their daily struggle. I was wary of a book of this genre, but enraptured by the insights Roth has evolved over a number of years, and with her often beautiful writing, as they emerge from her personal stories. A true friendship is virtually as valuable as true love, she relates, but true nourishment is ultimately deeply personal. Anyone who has at least partially overcome addiction's silent takeovers by evolving her own understanding of her misfocused longings will be inspired by Roth's personal yet widely relevant story.

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

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.

I think Geneen could have stopped after the first four chapters. After that, the correlation between emotions and eating became increasingly obscured. Perhaps it was because I read "Breaking Free" and "Why Weight" first and those two books are the indisputable champs of that topic. Perhaps it was because Ward and June Cleaver raised the five of us. Or perhaps I just had a newer outlook toward food at the time this book arrived from Amazon. Whatever the reason, I do believe I am objective when I say, "if you can only buy two Roth books, buy the others first." PS...an update on progress from the first two books...they are everything they promised, now four weeks later and 11 pounds lighter. Trust me...they are worth the price of admission!

I AM JUST AMAZED AT THE INSIGHT,FRANKNESS, AND HONESTY MS ROTH SHARES IN THIS BOOK. HER BOOK IS A "KEEPER" AND WILL NEVER END UP WITH SOME OF MY "GARAGE SALE" BOOKS. IT IS THE TYPE OF BOOK THAT I WILL REFER TO OVER AND OVER FOR INSIGHT AND INSPIRATION WITH MY COMPULSIVE EATING PROBLEM. ALSO I LOVED THE SELF-DEPRECATING HUMOR SHE WAS ABLE TO SNEAK IN AT VARIOUS TIMES! THIS BOOK DOES INDEED READ LIKE A NOVEL AND NOT JUST A TYPICAL RUN OF THE MILL SELF-HELP BOOK. THANK YOU GENEEN!!! PS:I CANNOT WAIT TO READ ALL OF HER OTHER BOOKS ASAP AND MAYBE ATTEND HER SEMINAR.

Geneen Roth has a handle on what the problems concerned with compulsive eating are all about like no one else I've ever heard or read. She has been there. I have discovered so many things I never knew about myself from reading this book. After being a compulsive eater most of my 47 years, I am understanding for the first time in my life why I do the things I do, that I am not the only person to ever be abused, that there is help and hope out there. I have already stopped feeling panicky about eating and about food. I've never been touched by an author as I have been by this one. I think the only way to stop any compulsive behavior is to first understand it. An amazing, amazing effort by a woman truly anointed to stand in the office of teacher of how to heal your broken, addicted soul. Thanks to Geneen, I'm on a journey back to myself.

I bought this book for 25 cents at the library. The librarian said it was about the 4th time it was sold. It started out as if it had been well-planned but in the middle changed to a goofy diary format which included self-hating poetry and loathesome women. If it had been recently written, no doubt the 'authors' of these diaries would have said, "Girlfriend" somewhere in the story. No advice on how to change your image besides eat all you want until you feel comfortable in yourself. You go girl at 350 lbs. but hey, you Accept yourself!

And why oh, why, do books like this have to include quotes that use the 'f' word? Typical femminist 'I'm so bad' attititude. And what credentials does this author have? PhD in psychology? MD? For anyone, man or woman, who seriously wants to find out what issues lie beneath overeating, try 'Love Hunger' by the Minirith-Meier clinic. Excellent real-life stories, sound advice, and professional writing.

I am sorry you thought this book was a waste of money. This is not the book to read if you are looking for a diet. "Where are the answers?" you say...

Well, the answers are in the stories of these women who have struggled with the agony of a shameful addiction.

This book is so totally anti-diet. Anti-depriving yourself. It's about being good to yourself, maybe for the first time ever.

It's about figuring out WHY, so you can then work toward healing.

The author was not whining. She was simply telling her story, her truth. She tells her story about food, weight, shame, dieting, and the torment of being teased by other kids, in a touching, yet humorous manner.

Maybe you have not suffered the pain of addiction, possibly? I don't know.

I am in a position to give some advice because I identified with many of the women in this book. I suffered for years with food problems and I am finally free. My heart aches for people who are still struggling. This book has helped me in my battle to start being good to myself.

Do yourself a favor, forget about dieting. Eat what you want when you are truly hungry for food. Don't listen to people who tell you you are too fat. Make exercise fun. Enjoy your food, enjoy moving your body. Enjoy life.

Be good to you.

There's you answer.

Because I doubt if Ms. Roth's early years with an abusive mother, emotionally absent father were fiction. Ms. Roth's first book was truly a brave recounting of her conflict with food and you can clearly understand that her childhood had a lot to do with that (as it does for many of us). I also appreciated the writings from other women who've been through the same battles. It really never ends. You have to constantly be vigilant. I would recommend this to anyone who uses food for comfort, anesthesia, etc. The book makes sense.