Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I read this book with high hopes that it would finally give me the tools to understand why I binge and what to do about it. However, it seemed to me that most of the book was devoted to telling the reader that she is not to blame for her food addiction. That is true, of course, but a couple sentences about it would have been sufficient. I wanted more of a scientific explanation of why I'm addicted to certain foods, but there really wasn't any.
Most of the book is spent building up to creating your own food plan, but when you get there, it's just a very strict meal plan with pretty much no suggestions on modifying it. The authors insist that you won't be hungry following this plan. I have eaten exactly the same breakfast they suggest, and I have rarely made it past 3 hours without feeling ravenously hungry; they insist that you must wait 4-5 hours between meals.
The authors do not seem to take variations in activity level into account. I made a rough calculation of the calories allowed, and it looks to me like there are about 1700 calories/day for women. This might be fine for someone who does only the 30 minutes of walking 3x/week as is recommended in the book. I, however, exercise fairly intensely for about an hour 6x/week. I need more calories. No recommendations are given for adapting the meal plan for this kind of situation.
The meal plan includes a nighttime snack, which consists of cereal, milk, and fruit, and is intended to prevent middle-of-the-night binging. That meal is one of my favorite binges - if anything, it's going to make things worse! No alternative meal arrangements are suggested. And besides, I have never once gotten up in the middle of the night to eat, but the authors seem to think that all food addicts do this.
On the positive side, I did appreciate that the book validated my belief that I am physically addicted to sugar and refined carbohydrates. It also opened my eyes to the possibility that I am addicted to wheat, refined or not.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Why Can't I Stop Eating: Recognizing, Understanding, and Overcoming Food Addiction
"Why can't I stop eating?" If, like millions of others, you often ask yourself this question, you may be addicted to food. The food you eat may be precisely what makes you crave more . . . and more. This straight-talking book puts the widespread problem of food addiction into clear perspective and points the way to a life free of the obsession with food. Debbie Danowski, whose food addiction nearly ruined her life, and Peter Lazaro combine forces to give readers a full understanding of this debilitating condition: its sources, patterns, consequences, and physiological underpinnings. Unlike fad diets and drugs with their side effects, hidden costs, and infamous failure rates, the program outlined in this book goes to the root cause of chronic overeating and puts the tools for a lifelong cure into the hands of anyone willing to accept responsibility for a healthy, happy future.
