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“BEATING ANA: How to Outsmart Your Eating Disorder & Take Your Life Back
I was thrilled to receive a copy of Shannon Cutts new book, “Beating Ana: How to Outsmart Your Eating Disorder & Take Your Life Back.” In Shannon’s book, she illustrates a new way of approaching recovery from your eating disorder by adding the support and guidance of a mentor to your professional treatment team. As Shannon illustrates and many in recovery know, fighting your ed can be a lonely and isolating experience. She illustrates the power of personal connection discussing how RELATIONSHIPS REPLACE EATING DISORDERS.
Shannon’s book does more than discuss how mentoring can help in the process of ed recovery, it shows you. In fact, the book is a carry along companion to recovery. It addresses the many ups and downs associated with any eating disorder recovery and provides helpful exercises to navigate the slippery slopes. The book is compiled with communications Shannon has received and sent to women she has mentored. As you read, you feel a part of the relationship, learning and growing with Shannon and those she has helped.
A favorite chapter for me was “Eating is Not Optional” It reminded me of the temptation many in recovery report- skip a meal, skip a snack, no big deal. Everyone else is doing it, right? Wrong! As Shannon eloquently writes in her book, “Eating is not optional. Skipping a meal for someone with an eating disorder is just that- skipping a meal.” She offers recovery exercises to challenge this thinking and uses the metaphor of a car low on (or overflowing with gas) to remind us how to fuel our own bodies.
Here is an excerpt:
“Does it boggle your mind- the thought of driving on an empty tank, refusing to refuel, and still expect your car to take you wherever you go? (Similarly, how likely would it be that, if you were to fill your tank to “full” and then keep on filling it, that the excess fuel would find a way to fit inside usefully, rather than spilling over the sides to create a potentially hazardous condition for you?) So then why do we so often over or underfill our tank when it comes to “fuel” we want to put in our body, when in the very same way gas is fuel for our car FOOD IS FUEL FOR OUR BODY.”
Read tomorrow’s post to hear first hand more from Shannon in the first Mindfullness online author interview. I specifically asked her more about this mantra and others that can help in your ed recovery. Stay tuned!
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