Praise for Stop Eating Your Heart Out
“Meryl Beck integrates some of the most effective weight management tools available into a 21-day plan that will empower you. You will also be able to identify with the author's personal story in ways that will be highly instructive for meeting your own challenges. We highly recommend this superb program.”
—DONNA EDEN AND DAVID FEINSTEIN, PHD, CO-AUTHORS OF ENERGY MEDICINE AND ENERGY MEDICINE FOR WOMEN
“Stop Eating Your Heart Out is rich with powerful tools to heal overeating. If you are ready for change and want compassionate and nurturing support on your journey, this book may just be the recipe.”
—SYLVIA HASKVITZ, AUTHOR OF EAT BY CHOICE, NOT BY HABIT
“From the first moment you start reading Meryl Beck's Stop Eating Your Heart Out, I think you'll feel like you're with one of your best friends—someone who loves you, cares for you, and really accepts you just the way you are. I did. Meryl's honest presence and simple, doable approaches fill the pages and made me feel supported and that her suggestions were going to be easy to follow and really helpful. If you've got the chains of emotional eating holding you back, Meryl will help you be free.”
—TAPAS FLEMING, FOUNDER OF TAPAS ACUPRESSURE TECHNIQUE®, TATLIFE.COM
“Stop Eating Your Heart Out is a well thought out book that will help those with emotional eating find a path to recovery. Meryl Beck's personal story illuminates the journey and her practical step-by-step guide provide touchstones that anyone can follow to find healing from emotional overeating.”
—CAROLYN COKER ROSS, MD, MPH, AUTHOR OF THE BINGE EATING AND COMPULSIVE OVEREATING WORKBOOK
“Meryl has written a wonderful book that demystifies Twelve-Step Recovery and brings the healing tools within Twelve-Step programs to us all. Her book is a valuable contribution in the field of emotional eating recovery. Readers will gain personal insight as well as practical tools for healing and living well.”
—JOANNA POPPINK, MFT, PSYCHOTHERAPIST, LECTURER, AUTHOR OF HEALING YOUR HUNGRY HEART
“Meryl Hershey Beck has presented 21 self-help tools in her thought-provoking, beautifully written Stop Eating Your Heart Out. She creatively and artfully takes us along on her journey as she combines tried-and true recovery methods, such as the Twelve Steps, with new energy techniques. If you have a problem with overindulging and using food instead of dealing with feelings, then open this book and discover for yourself that you too can achieve freedom from emotional eating.”
—DR. JAMES DURLACHER, DC, AUTHOR OF FREEDOM FROM FEAR FOREVER
“An excellent resource. Here you will learn how to understand varieties of problems that contribute to overeating and how to sort these out. Helpful exercises at the end of each section will guide you on your path to a healthier, happier life.”
—DANIEL J. BENOR, MD, ABIHM, AUTHOR OF SEVEN MINUTES TO NATURAL PAIN RELEASE
“Meryl Beck's Stop Eating Your Heart Out is a must have for anyone searching to make peace with food, weight, body image, and self-esteem because you will find that safe haven you are looking for right here. It is truly food for the soul. Meryl takes this complex and important issue that plagues millions and breaks it down into bite-size, palatable pieces that you can easily digest and lovingly weave into your everyday life. Plus, you will get the pleasure of absorbing all the soul-filled nutrients that are present on each page. I highly recommend this book. Your life will never be the same.”
—BRONWYN MARMO, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE FOOD IS A LIE: THE TRUTH IS WITHIN
“Meryl Beck has written a book that illuminates the true path to recovery from compulsive eating.”
—JEANNE RUST, PHD, CEO AND FOUNDER OF MIRASOL EATING DISORDER TREATMENT CENTERS
First published in 2012 by Conari Press, an imprint of
Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
With offices at:
665 Third Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94107
Copyright © 2011 by Meryl Hershey Beck
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.
The Twelve Steps are reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS). Permission to reprint the Twelve Steps does not mean that AAWS has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, or that AAWS necessarily agrees with the views expressed herein. AA is a program of recovery from alcoholism only—use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after AA but which address other problems, or in any other non-AA context, does not imply otherwise.
Excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit on pp. 143–144 reprinted courtesy of Doubleday/Random House
All client names included here have been changed to protect their privacy.
ISBN: 978-1-57324-545-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
Cover design by Jim Warner
Cover image © Sandra Voogt
Interior design by ContentWorks, Inc.
Illustrations by Alison Hershey Manes
Typeset in Berkeley Oldstyle
Printed in the United States of America
Malloy
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).
www.redwheelweiser.com/newsletter
In loving memory of my cherished son,
who was so proud of his mama!
Jonathan Hershey Beck
1976–2011
Contents
Chapter 1: My Story: The Making and Breaking of a Compulsive Overeater
Chapter 2: Becoming Self-Honest