Carolyn Coker Ross - The Binge Eating and Compulsive Overeating Workbook: An Integrated Approach to Overcoming Disordered Eating

Binge eating disorder (BED) and compulsive overeating (CO) are problems that affect millions of people. If you have fought to stop bingeing or overeating, if you have struggled to cope with the emotions that accompany these behaviors, this workbook will help you. You can break the vicious cycle of desperation, self-defeating behavior, and negative thinking of BED and CO. This book offers hope and help to all of you who have been frustrated and felt like giving up on yourself because you havent been able to make your life whole and satisfying on the deepest level possible.

In my thirty years of practice, I have worked with many patients with BED and CO. Indeed, I have worked with women and men just like youand have been successful in helping many of them change their lives for the better. My training in preventive medicine and public health initially led me to focus on lifestyle behaviors that affect health, such as disordered eating, smoking, and drug and alcohol abuse/dependence. Then, after twenty years of practice, I completed a two-year fellowship in integrative medicine with Dr. Andrew Weil at the University of Arizona. More recently, as the director of an inpatient eating disorder program, I developed a unique integrative medicine approach to treating anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and compulsive overeating. This integrative approach changed the lives of those I treated. This approach, my training in integrative medicine, and my years of experience are the foundation of this workbook.

The integrative medicine approach I created and share with you in this book combines the best conventional treatments for BED and COfor example, cognitive therapy, medication, and nutritionwith the use of complementary therapies such as dietary supplements, acupuncture, massage, and others well-supported by research. This approach goes beyond treating symptoms and behaviors to treating underlying root causes. As a result, this book will help you tap into your own bodys healing capacity, gain insight into the origin of your disease, and give you the tools and skills you need to transform your life.

This workbook addresses lifestyle elements, nutritional deficits, psychological issues, medical problems, and diagnoses that often accompany BED and CO (such as depression, anxiety, and trauma) using a whole person approach. This will empower you to make the changes I know you want to makethe changes that will help you feel better and be healthier and happier in your life. This book is not about losing weight. Nor is it about looking better in your clothes, although either or both of these may happen. Three decades of working with patients have taught me that happiness and good health are necessary to both feel better and look better. Without the first, the second is impossible.

Perhaps you have picked up this book because youre tired of worrying about your appearance or about health issues related to being overweight. You may have fought for some time to stop bingeing or overeating, trying different diets to lose weight, all without long-term success. By now, youve probably had your fill of dieting and being told to eat this or not to eat that. You may be concerned about your health or have been told by your physician that your weight is a major health risk. Again, this book is not a diet book. This book will teach you more about the reasons behind your behaviorsand strategies to manage them. This book will help you if:

• You are willing to learn and practice the strategies in this book. Practicing these strategies will enable you to change the behaviors that cause you distress.
• Youve decided that you need to change the ways you deal with stress and regulate your emotions, because what youve been doing isnt working.
• You want to dig deeper and find the underlying core beliefs that drive your behaviors.
• You know you want to stop living your life at the mercy of BED and CO.