Amy Barth - 101 Tips For Recovering From Eating Disorders: A Pocket Book Of Wisdom

101 Tips for Recovering From Eating Disorders: A Pocket

Book of Wisdom

Copyright 2009 by Amy Barth. All Rights Reserved.

Author info at www.AmyJBarth.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Barth, Amy, 1959

101 Tips for recovering from eating disorders : a pocket book of wisdom / by Amy J. Barth.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-1-61599-001-6 (trade paper : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-61599-001-1 (trade paper : alk. paper)

1. Eating disordersPopular works. I. Title. II. Title: One hundred one tips for survivors of eating disorders.

RC552.E18B37 2010

616.8526dc22

2009029357

Published by Loving Healing Press

5145 Pontiac Trail

Ann Arbor, MI 48105

Tollfree 888-761-6268

Fax 734-663-6861

www.LovingHealing.com

Cover design by Shaila Abdullah

Dedication

To D.M and her little miracle M.M.,

and

To D.Z: for helping me learn the hard lessons, hanging in there with me through all the ups and downs, knowing when to be tough and when to be nurturing I love you.

Acknowledgments

To my daughters: You are phenomenalauthentic, kind, caring and respectful. As always, so proud of you

To my publisher, Victor: For keeping at me to get my manuscripts in and being patient when I dont

Foreword

Congratulations on taking a positive step toward recovery! It took loads of courage to acknowledge old binge, purge, or starve patterns of behavior. Through your journey you will remember your storywho youve been, how you hurt, where youve walked, and what youve done. Every day is a new step in recovery.

Now a new journey begins as you realize your life has more purpose than just to survive. The focus shifts as you determinedly grow more inspired, energized, and fully engaged in your life. In 101 Tips for Recovering from Eating Disorders, social worker, healer, and compassionate sage Amy Barth provides a goldmine of inspirational tips and ideas to carry you forward into the days ahead.

I always recall a motivational plaque that read, Life is a do-it-yourself project. Get excited about it! I love that expression because it reminds us that its up to us to make each day special. That doesnt mean that each moment of every day is going to be wonderfully smooth, uneventful, and happy. But it does mean that it is our personal responsibility to take action each day to make sure were excited about being in a body and about being alive. Using tools like the book you are holding now will help you achieve this goal. Use it as a roadmap, a guidebook, and your very own secret path to success.

As you say goodbye and wave farewell to your eating disorder, an opportunity arrives to say hello to moving forward with new understandings. Life is an ever-changing flow of moving, breathing, suffering, and hoping. It includes sorrows and dreams, and the mystery of things actually working out for the best. The transformative powers of your eating disorder journey assist you now in creating a new life experience based on compassion, self-empowerment, worthiness, and trust.

Whenever youre feeling a bit lost, take a few deep slow breaths. Conscious breath instantly lifts your spirits, clears your mind of distressing thoughts, and eases physical tension. Breath is the choice you make to be alive and to be you. Once youve taken a few breaths, open 101 Tips for Recovering from Eating Disorders and join Amy Barth as she graciously shares her own heart-filled knowledge and insider secrets to creating a rich and satisfying life. Barths words, culled from years of experience, make this book not only indispensable, but also a roadmap to success.

Dr. Annette Colby

Author, Your Highest Potentia

Preface

Eating disorders are formidable foes. I know firsthand. My first encounter was watching my good friend from childhood begin her struggle. It was a struggle that nobody really understood at the time. We were 17 and graduating high school. I went off to college where I too began to struggle. I had a predisposition to developing an eating disorder. I had been sexually abused (85% of girls who are sexually abused develop eating disorders) I was a sensitive kid who strived for perfection.

I had a mother who obsessed about her body and mine. She was always on a diet and she made it clear to me that my body was not OK. I had been a skinny kid but always had a stomach. I still remember my yearly check up at the pediatrician when I was 11, my mother asked the pediatrician, When will she lose her stomach? He replied Its baby fat and she replied back that Amy is 11 years old and this is definitely not baby fat. She gave me a very loud and clear message that my body was not OK. The same year, my brother-in-law gave me the nick name ST (for spare tire) he still calls me that to this day The message was clear from all of them, my body was not OK.

When I was 15, my mother wanted to send me to fat camp for the summer even though I was within the normal weight range. There it was, another message that my body was not OK. At 16, I joined Weight Watchers and followed the diet to a T! (striving for perfection). I dont remember if I actually lost any weight, but it made my mom happy! My mom was petite and my older sister is petite and I always felt like the Jolly Green Giant next to them.

My freshman year, I discovered Feen-a-Mint (the laxative Bisacodyl) along with my dorm-mates. They chewed the chalky gum occasionally, but my habit developed into a full blown eating disorder. I struggled with it on and off in college. My senior year, I lost a lot of weight and my mother rewarded me with a shopping spree. She was so happy, I was finally a size 5. I wonder if she would have been so happy if she knew how I achieved those results? Actually it was quite miserable, though in the late 1970s and into the early 80s, nobody recognized what I was doing. It was never addressed. Fast forward to age 22, my fianc told me to choose between him and my laxatives I chose him and was in recovery from my eating disorder for the next 21 years. I was busy raising my family and was very conscious not to expose my daughters to any of this.

In 2003, I started my healing from Childhood Sexual Abuse and my eating disorder returned with a vengeance. I had to numb those painful feelings and what better way, then engaging in disordered eating? For four months, I descended into eating disorder hell As I started to heal, I started to give up my disordered eating. I would go months and then have a couple of days lapse and it went on for several years until I finally recovered! Eating disorders are not about food, they are dangerous and they are always a symptom of an underlying issue.

If you are struggling, please use the tips in this book to help you on the slippery slope to recovery. Recovery is liberating. You wont regret it. I am so proud of you for beginning down this road.. I know you can do itGood luck!

Amy Barth,

August 2009

Important Lessons Ive Learned

1. There are no perfect people (to stop striving for perfection, it doesnt exist).

2. To find my authentic self (done).

3. To accept and love my apple shaped body.( Thin limbs and a round middle) yup, thats me!

4. Not to care what other people say about me, its none of my business (I admit this is hard).

5. Not to listen when people talk about the diets they are on (diets dont work).