To Build an Army, You Will Need to Recruit Some Soldiers
Your Recovery Affects Others, Too
Keep Track of Your Mile Markers So You’ll Know When You’ve Arrived
Chapter Six: Beware of Fake Security Blankets
Sometimes a Security Blanket Might Not Be a Blanket at All
The Danger of Trading One Addiction for Another
Never Put All Your Marbles in One Jar
Another Way of Looking at It: Diversification of Assets
Let Go of the Old to Grab Hold of the New You
Profile in Recovery: Jamie’s Story
Chapter Seven: Getting to the Heart of the Artichoke
Chapter Eight: Laila, Rosie, the Incredible Hulk and Other Powerful Healthy Voices
Change Your Focus to Change Your Mind
Sometimes It’s Hard to Do It Alone
Becoming Self-Considerate: Let Your Healthy Voice Take Care of You
Profile in Recovery: Molly’s Story
Chapter Nine: Talking Back to Ignorance
People Aren’t Mean; They’re Just Ignorant
We Live in a World Full of Ignorant Messages
Sometimes They’re Just Worried or Trying to Help
Chapter Ten: Bridezilla Meets Brideorexia and Other Triggering Occasions
Messages from the Bridal Industry and Others
Whatever the Occasion, Keep Your Eye on the Prize
Afterword: re(Define) (Real)ity™
Recovery Means Steering Your Own Course
Accept the Gift That Is Offered
Getting Help
Acknowledgments
About the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness
About the Author
Foreword
JOHANNA KANDEL BEGINS THE PREFACE of this wonderful book with a disclaimer, saying what she is not—not a psychiatrist, therapist, nutritionist or doctor of any kind. She does say that she is a recovered individual who knows the physical and emotional journey of those who struggle with an eating disorder. But, oh, Johanna is so much more than that, as those of you reading this will certainly realize by the last chapter. She is a visionary, an activist, a healer, a teacher, an organizer, a warrior, a negotiator, a mediator, an author and an optimist. She is an inspiration to all whose lives she has touched, but never has she wanted to be a role model to be admired, copied or looked up to. This book provides many tales of recovery to help readers understand that there are many paths to healing, each as unique as the traveler herself. The message reinforced here is that there is no room for competition or perfection in recovery—no glory in being the fastest, the best, the thinnest or the most popular. Recovery is a process and the right process is the one that works best for you.
I have been involved in the field of eating disorders for almost thirty years, specifically in the area of body-image treatment and training. I met Johanna when she was nineteen years old and a volunteer working at the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP) Conference. Just as Johanna has changed and grown since that time, so has the field of eating disorders itself. We now know more than we ever did before about the complexity of eating disorders: their connection to other psychiatric disorders, the gender-biased risk factors, the role of the brain, genetics and one’s temperament as variables, the connection between body shame and the culture, and the importance and effectiveness of complementary treatment modalities such as art therapy, dance/movement therapy, spirituality and yoga. Research has given us more information and more tools. We need to always keep the belief alive that recovery is possible, that no recovery is “perfect” and no one should ever give up. It may be useful to know that the word recover comes from the Latin and means “to bring back to normal position or condition.” Therefore, the person we discover during recovery is not someone new, but someone we have once been, a person whole and integrated. Recovery needs to be viewed as a continuous process that allows for the development of a greater sense of oneself, not a definite end of symptoms.
Years ago I came across the following passage in the book On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. I share it here because I associate it so closely with the struggle involved in freeing oneself from the grasp of the eating disorder:
It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we’re alive—to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a façade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are.
Like a vampire who takes the very lifeblood from the innocents who fall under his spell, so, too, the eating disorder takes the very life spirit of those