Anti Diet, Emotional Eating and Body Positivity Books
The first step to ditching diets is to rebel against diet culture. One of the best ways to do that is to read up on the growing body of anti-diet research put together by dietitians in the anti-diet/ Health at Every Size space.
Doing this will not only reaffirm what you already know: that diets don't work, it will also prepare you intellectually to be challenged by anyone who criticises you for your weight and eating habits.
In the app, I talk extensively about the Health at Every Size Movement, Intuitive Eating and Body Positivity. The Programme a wonderful way of getting an overview of the information you need, combined with practical exercises, enabling you to begin your recovery journey right way,
For anyone who wants to explore a topic further, these are the six books to turn to first.
(Please note, the links to these highly recommend books are affiliate links, as denoted by ‘*’, for more info please see my privacy policy).
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight* (2010), by Linda Bacon, PhD
The HAES movement is gaining increasing popularity with health professionals (along with a growing body of supporting clinical research), who recognise that dieting and an obsession with weight and weight loss is not the answer to declining public health.
Instead, the movement advocates for a focus on health, both physical (via gentle nutrition and joyful movement) and mental (a peaceful relationship with food, self-esteem, body acceptance and respect).
Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition* (2020), by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN & Elyse Resch, MS, RDN
Intuitive Eating (IE) is about listening to your body’s cues when it comes to hunger, fullness and food choices, and giving yourself unconditional permission to eat, instead of relying on external cues like calorie counters and diet plans. It’s really about building trust with your body.
In this book, Tribole and Resch break IE down into their 10 key principals and explain the health benefits of IE. It’s a research-based approach and seen as pivotal part of recovery from disordered eating and a lifetime of dieting.
Body Positive Power* (2017), by Megan Jayne Crabbe
Megan is a well-known advocate for the Body Positive movement. In her book, Megan shares her own story of battling body image issues and anorexia. She discusses the Body Positive movement, diet culture and eating disorder recovery in this uplifting and empowering book.
In a sea of books and magazines telling you how to be thinner or look better, sexier, younger, this book is a breath of fresh air from society's bulls**t. We talk more about Body Positivity & Self Compassion module of The Health Mindset Programme.
Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating* (2019), By Christy Harrison, MPH, RD
Christy Harrison is a registered dietitian and podcast host of Food Psych (see Recommend Podcasts).
This book is particularly good at digging into what we mean by ‘diet culture’ and is packed with research to show just how dangerous diet culture is.
Just Eat It: How Intuitive Eating Can Help You Get Your Shit Together Around Food* (2019), By Laura Thomas, PhD.
Laura Thomas is a registered nutritionist and hosts the podcast show, Don’t Salt My Game (see Recommend Podcasts).
Laura has a talent for taking nutritional research and explaining it so that it’s easy to understand for non-science folk. Her book follows the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating, and while lengthy and packed with research, you may find it easier to read than older texts on Intuitive Eating.
Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail To Understand about Weight* (2014), By Linda Bacon, PhD and Lucy Aphramor, PhD, RD
This is a shorter read than Health at Every Size and neatly summarises some of the main points. I especially like this book for its discussion on the concept of ‘body respect’, which is often an easier place to start than ‘body confidence’ or even ‘body acceptance’.
If you’re struggling to accept your body and give up dieting because of health concerns, this is a good book to start with.
All of these books have been instrumental in my own recovery from disordered eating and dieting. I advise swapping out the health and fashion magazines which just make you feel bad about yourself and trading them for books like these, podcasts and self-care magazines.
