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| September, 2006 | ||
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Your Weight or Your Life? Food was a source of misery instead of enjoyment for the majority of Barbara McCalmon’s life. Her futile struggle to fight her ballooning weight because of obsessive binge eating with long periods of exercise (also obsessive) became, at times, life-threatening. It is the painful memories of these years that the author graphically and, at times touchingly, presents in this heart-warming book Your Weight or Your Life? Her condition became so serious that family members finally intervened and insisted she enroll in a clinic for eating disorders. According to the author, her real cure came later, through the Science of Mind philosophy, which she was attracted to in early adulthood. “It became obvious that a solution to my problems resided not with the amount of calories I consumed, but within my soul....” she writes. “I realized that to solve my problem I must first reconnect with my inner foundation—a higher power...to bring back balance into my life.” Balance is still a part of McCalmon’s life, and she continues to be an active member of the Mile Hi Church of Religious Science in Denver, Colorado. Now recovered, she has opened two successful day spas and is looking forward to doing a lecture tour on overcoming eating disorders. In the last chapter, “A Program for Recovery,” she offers specific suggestions for others who are suffering from food addiction. What makes Your Weight or Your Life? a worthy read is the honesty and openness of its author to unashamedly relate, often with a pleasant mix of insight and humor, the struggle of her food addiction and recovery. —Cliff Johnson
If you are worried about your tendencies around drinking or drug use, or have concerns about a loved one’s addiction I highly recommend you read this book. No More Letting Go clearly defines the severity and effects of substance addiction. The author Debra Jay is a graduate of the Hazelden Addiction Professional Training Program and the co-author of Love First: A New Approach to Intervention, and Aging and Addiction. Part One of the book is titled “Questioning Our Assumptions” and Jay uses its chapters to give the reader the defining factors of alcoholism and drug addiction. She also discusses how the interactions and interventions of family and friends can be a spiritual road map to understanding these particular types of addiction. Jay states, “Addiction is a disease, not a choice,” and explains further that genetics, not choice, determine if a person will become addicted to alcohol or other drugs. She also says, “Addiction lives in shadows, secrets, and silence. It whispers to the family ‘Don’t say anything, don’t do anything, don’t ask for help.’ But when we decide to talk about addiction, we open windows and let in the light.” A strong advocate of Alcoholics Anonymous, Jay lists the twelve steps that a person must follow to gain control of his life. One of the steps which speaks directly to the influence of spirituality on recovery is: “[We have] made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” No More Letting Go is an excellent handbook for understanding the disease of addiction. It is also an excellent reference for the process of intervention and support for those who are affected by these who are affected by these often misunderstood illnesses |
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