How Women Can Transform Their Relationship with Food Through Myths

This book may be pretty good but it was not exactly what I thought it would be. It is more about anorexia and bullemia than overeating. I really haven't gotten into it enough to give it a great review, so I was a bit disappointed.

This book definitely provided some great perspective, especially from a female point of view. At first, I was turned off by the seemingly hippy-dippy tone, but the true messages came through as I continued to read, and they proved helpful and meaningful. If you are a woman or girl struggling with an ED, stick with it. While it won't resolve your ED completely, it will still help you on your journey towards recovery as you begin to put the pieces together along the way.

Reading "Eating In the Light of the Moon" and having the opportunity to participate and practice new behaviors in the on-line Light of the Moon Café is changing my life. It is not a temporary change, there is no going back. I can't un-know what I've learned. A deep cellular "knowing" and "truth" has been kindled inside of me. Reading "Eating in The Light Of The Moon" brings me a sense of calm and comfort I have never known or believed was possible. My ugly shameful and even grotesque disordered eating is morphed into a treasure of glistening gold. The book and Cafe give me the tools through metaphor, inspiration and connection to safely see my disordered eating differently. I'm learning to approach myself with courage and compassion. This is the truest experience I've ever had in understanding my internal struggle with food. The facilitators at the Cafe have applied their professional expertise, therapeutic skills and compassionate understanding in crafting a shared and individual journey for your healing. I, personally am indebted. I'm grateful that in my exhaustion and exasperation with disordered eating, having tried and given up so many times that I mustered up the courage to invest in my recovery and healing by taking another first step.

The counselor at my eating disorder recovery group read a passage from this book, which was beautiful, and encouraged us to read the book ourselves, so I bought it.
It's... emotionally taxing to read. It requires being very vulnerable and I had to set it down several times, because I felt uncomfortable. Uncomfortable because I was having to confront emotions and realities that are sometimes difficult to confront. It's a very good book. Take your time. Recovery is a process and there is time to take the book one word at a time.
I highly recommend it.

This book helped guide me to a place I never thought was possible. I used it as a guide to get to the healthy place I am now. This book helped me to explain feelings to loved ones that I was unsure how to communicate. I would highlight and read parts to those I needed to communicate my feelings. I will forever be grateful to the author for writing this book because it was such an important factor in my recovery. To all of you reading this review and feeling helpless...Don't give up because it is possible to recover. I'm living proof that dreams do come true. Just like this book said you will go through pain and uncertainty that you feel will never end, but it does pass!! Don't ever give up HOPE!

Anita Johnston has written a kind, tender and knowing book about woman's experience with eating disorders. A kind resource is invaluable to a woman suffering under the long term imprisonment of an eating disorder.

As a psychotherapist who specializes in eating disorder recovery I recommend Eating in the Light of the Moon to women in any stage of an active eating disorder. Johnston recognizes that a common theme in the psyche of a woman with an eating disorder is that she feels like a misfit. She buries her light, her genuine responses and her insights to protect herself. She tries to think and behave according to what she believes is expected of her. This comes at great cost to her spirit and sense of self.

The selected myths and metaphors Johnston shares in this lovely book do not cure. They reach through self incrimination, harsh judgments, condemnations, guilt and sense of being a victim - all too familiar experiences of a woman with an eating disorder - and open windows to new and healthy possibilities.

Johnston offers the awareness light of the moon, in her metaphoric language, to gently and kindly awaken the reader to her own denied self. She is invited to approach her true identity and a more wholesome life by rallying her courage and honoring her true identity. Eating in the Light of the Moon can inspire and reassure a woman that healing is possible.

Never underestimate the power of kindness, especially to women with eating disorders who live in an extremely harsh internal world.
The kindness and appreciation Johnston offers can guide a woman to her recovery path.

Joanna Poppink, MFT
Los Angeles psychotherapist
author of Healing Your Hungry Heart: recovering from your eating disorder

I read this book years ago at the height of my struggles with anorexia and at the beginning of my time in therapy trying to recover. Of all the material I read at the time, I found this the most helpful. As an adult who is physically recovered but mentally has a bad relationship with food and her body, I'm happy to read it again.

I apologize as it has been a few years since I read the book cover to cover, although I have since gone back to certain chapters and I keep it in a special spot so I know in harder times I can go back and find what I need to in words of Anita. I loved this book, it spoke to me with words I never thought I would hear but very desperately needed. After living every day feeling like weakness and inferiority was my only option, I felt defeated every night. The cycle of my illness would not stop, which increased my shame and eventually led to a state of numbness. Through Anita's stories and tellings, I found acceptance. The strength and power IS inside you (just as it is inside me). Every day of my life suffering from bulimia I felt hatred toward myself, but self-hatred doesn't build the foundation of recovery. I had to forgive myself for a disease out of my control and that is where recovery (for me) could begin. I am not going to tell you that this book will rid you of those urges or even change your eating disorder, but it may give you the boost needed to realize you are truly deserve more than what you are telling yourself everyday with an eating disorder and if you allow the words to truly soak into your brain, with some added meditation you may be surprised with the peace you develop within yourself; and that is the foundation of recovery.

I met Dr. Johnston a few years ago when I was in rehab for an eating disorder. This book was something she gave me. At first I didn't get into it. I thought it was silly and full of goofy stories, until I realized I couldn't relate to any of them because I didn't appreciate myself as a woman. Now, this isn't Feminine Mystique, but it is a beautiful illustration of the power of women, of our intuition and of our minds and bodies if we would just let them be heard. Changed my life.

I didn't buy this here, but my eating disorder therapist gave this to me, and I was astounded how much it spoke to me. I was worried it'd be a little on the "woo woo" side in some places, but I'm glad that didn't stop me from being open to it because it's got some really, really real stuff in it. It may not change your life, but it may give you a new, helpful perspective on what's going on with you and your body.

Johnston incorporates constructivist and feminist theoretical influences into a predominately cognitive behavioral approach to eating disorders. Johnston focuses on the validation of the feminine self and personal meaning, coaxed to the surface through myths and metaphors. Current literature supports the integration of metaphor and meaning-making in therapy. Johnston illustrates its ability to help therapists and clients reframe their views of problematic eating to facilitate the exploration of underlying issues while supporting and celebrating the self.
Whether the myths and metaphors Johnston presents are useful for you or your clients is not as important as seeing that a metaphor can access a wealth of information and images, and create a sense of connection and collaboration more quickly and powerfully than other approaches.

For people who want to recover from an eating disorder this book is a must for your library. It is conforting, interesting and soulful. It prompts the inner self to open its mouth and get ready to be fed what will truly nourish you.

An eating disorder can be a catalyst to your growth as a person if you surrender to it with awareness and be open to its teachings. This book can help you do that. When you really know what you need besides behaviors of an eating disorder then you can go about the task of learning and working in partnership with life to create what you are really wanting and desiring.

If you are new in recovery this book helps open the door to the deeper self and prepares you for a journey. If you are already in recovery and want another affirming voice to add to your support system, this book will help.

This book cracked me open. There were things Dr. Johnston showed me that I wasn't even AWARE I was doing or why. Some painful truths, but oh so good!! The tools you learn to help work your way through the mush that is an eating order were invaluable. While painful at times to read, it also left me feeling very hopeful . . . something that had been missing for awhile.

I bought this many years back, and I can say it made a positive, lasting impression. It helped me develop deep compassion and respect for women. In my early 20s, I wanted to be rail thin and win the approval of outsiders. Today, I am still health and image conscious but it's coming from a grounded, empowered place. This book was a step in my journey toward sorting how I define power, beauty, and vibrancy.

"Two of the most instrumental things in my recovery from my eating disorder were the support of other women and the concepts found in Eating In The Light of The Moon by Anita Johnston, Ph.D. In 2008, I took part in a group based on this book led by Elisabeth Peterson (RD) and joined a women support circle that focused on these concepts. During that time, my thinking changed and I was better able to understand my struggle with food and take the steps I needed to finally and fully recover.

Elisabeth and Anita have recently launched an e-course, and support group, Light of the Moon Cafe', designed to take the concepts in Eating in the Light of the Moon to a deeper, more personal level that can be shared with other women from around the world. This café has such a power to help those struggling with disordered eating or a troubled relationship with food to find support and emotional nourishment as we heal. I encourage you to checkout their website, explore, try a free week, and sign up for this course/group."

This was an interesting book, quite true to its name, Johnston uses myths, metaphors and storytelling to help illustrate some of the core "problems" with women's thinking regarding food and eating habits. While I definitely do NOT have problems on the level of examples used in this book - I do not now, nor have I ever been anorexic or bulimic or had any medically treatable eating disorder...I do make "bad" food choices and eat for reasons that are not related to physical hunger...so I got a lot more out of this book that I thought I would based on the target audience alone.

I am very glad to have read it...but realize that for the intended audience, this should probably be a STEP with it also being necessary to consult a doctor to really resolve the issues behind their "disordered eating." I think I've found my own "core" problem and that was largely due to the impact of a couple of the stories/myths used in the book...but the info that Johnston uses in conjunction with the myths/stories is interesting as well and very useful I think, for anyone with poor body image and/or "disordered eating" habits. I'd recommend it in a heartbeat!

Words cannot fully express what an excellent book this is! I've read several self-help books on happiness, eating behavior, Louise Hay books, Eckhart Tolle books, etc. This book is so unique in the way it delivers its message. I really enjoyed every chapter. After reading it a second time, I continue to grow and learn from it.

Thank you so much Anita, from one person to another, your book has touched me in so many ways, I cannot express it all.

I recommend any women w/emotional eating issues to read this book. You won't regret it. And please, after reading it take a few minutes of your time to write a review on it (here on the store). I rarely write reviews but was compelled to b/c this book was so incredible!

I wish everyone w/an eating issue to find their way to a more intuitive eating path. Namaste.

I had the good fortune to meet Anita this summer while attending the IAEDP Conference here in Orlando. I have always had an interest in self-esteem and self-confidence issues associated with women. As a newly graduated and apprenticing therapist, with an interest in the adolescent population, I had heard that Anita's workshop was one not to miss! Upon reading her book, I first realized that this was not just a book addressing eating disorders, this was a book written for all women. It begins by taking you the reader, through a Labyrinth, a continuous journey, that allows one to realize the importance in acknowledging and respecting one's own identity as a woman. It weaves a tapestry that interconnects a woman's identity to the society and environment in which she resides. The journey one takes by reading this book allows them to address their own issues around their association with food. I can only tell you, what an amazing journey it as for me! I'm reminded by a comment by Joseph Campbell when asked to define a hero, and his response was, "a hero is someone who has created something greater than themselves." That's what Anita has created, she's given to all women a gift that enables them to move through the issues that prevent them being the woman they are. Oprah, you would love this book!

Considering the fact that I have an eating disorder, I get very upset with the media and various authors who portray eating disorders as vanity problems or a struggle to "fit in." Anita Johnson described what it is really about- feelings. I would highly recommend this book for not only those with eating disorders, but also their friends and family. I have two copies, one for myself, and one for those who care about me to read.

This is a deeply insightful book that speaks to women with disordered eating of all types and severities. I've found that one of the most terrifying aspects of living with an eating disorder is the sense of stark isolation from others that we feel, fueled by the powerful secrets that we keep. As a woman recovered from bulimia, I was appreciative of Dr. Johnston's ability to help me see the many commonalities among women who suffer with eating disorders.
Johnston uses stories, myth and symbol to help explain the emotional and spiritual struggles that women encounter as they seek to regain a balance between heart and mind. Her description of the labyrinth as a metaphor of women's healing path serves as a gentle reminder that healing from disordered relationships with food is not a simple, straight-forward, linear process; and that being judgmental of our "progress" toward healing can only hinder our journeys.
I have read this book several times and have shared it with my mother, friends and colleagues. It has been a catalyst for many emotionally and intellectually fruitful discussions. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

Johnston's book spirals deeply into the core issues that any woman coping with disordered eating would want to address, and she does it with a gentle, patient, and encouraging spirit. Her work uses myth, allegory and storytelling as a way of looking at the deep-seated issues of what it means to be a woman in today's culture and how that affects our relationships with food. This is definitely not a diet or how-to book. It is lyrical, poetic and spiritual, but remains eminently practical. Johnston transcends the standard medical view of disordered eating as a purely physical problem and incorporates woman's mind, body and spirit in her work. Johnston integrates feminine spirituality and feminism with basic healthy living practices and presents options that those of us who have struggled with food may not have considered before. As a recovered bulimic, I can vouch for the efficacy of her approach, and I fervently wish that everyone who has struggled with food and eating issues would read this book.

To say this book is amazing is an understatement. I've read it more than once along my journey and it always seems to give me the comfort and inspiration that I'm looking for. I have recommended it to women who don't have eating disorders and they've enjoyed it equally as much as I did, so I really think anyone who wants to improve their relationship with food and/or themselves should pick this one up!

Anita Johnston doesn't give you another book of clinical criteria and personality tendencies. She writes with recognition that her audience has an intimate relationship with the reality and intricacies and seduction of their eating disorder. Even for the professional, she provides a new avenue to access thoughts, behaviors, symptoms. johnston's diction can be startlingly honest - denial is not easy here. But all along, she is telling myths that are safe to consider, to discuss, to debate, and ultimately to embrace, becauase they are not real and my (our?) eating disorders are not at attention and armed for battle. I think this is a beautiful book and one that I have utilized, and seen utilized in hospital and group therapy, a thousand times on the long road of recovery.

My therapist first recommended this book to me, which has been very helpful to me in redefining my relationship with food. I see this as a gentle book, one that does not preach a particular way of thinking, a way of eating or a way of feeling about yourself.
It presents you with a number of folk stories and myths which assist in understanding the way we approach our relationships with food. While the author interprets them, she is not so "in your face" that you can't find meanging of your own in them -- there is room for musing about what the story means in relationship to your own life.
It is a book I keep on my nightstand and return to regularly since I pick up different nuances each time I read it. The layers of meaning are subtle and can take time to sift through as healing continues.

"Eating in the Light of the Moon" is hands down the best book on disordered eating I have yet to read, because it sheds light on the painful struggle with uplifting, inspiring storytelling. Johnston's soft, delicate voice will weave you through tales of distant lands which somehow bring you to the shore of self-discovery. This book does use psychology as the basis for its generalizations, but I never found it to be too preachy. Like saying good-bye to your favorite characters at the end of a novel, you will not want this story to end. It is one giant affirmation, and I recommend it especially to women who long to reclaim their hidden or lost feminine.

This book brought to light many hidden feelings and emotions within myself concerning eating disorders. This is one of the first books I have read that deals with eating disorders on a much more intense, deeper level. No longer can chronic, life-destroying eating disorders merely be attributed to simple problems with vanity and food. There is so much more to learn about eating disorders and about society's approach to women and food itself. We continue to foster and increase disordered ways of thinking in young girls every day. We owe it to our youth, our future, to take more responsiblity for what is happening to such a talented, smart, gifted group of individuals. I would recommend this book to anyone, not just those dealing or coping with eating disorders. The book is an overall wonderful commentary on our world's history with food, women's innate gifts and intuition, and how the two have been lost and misunderstood over the years. As someone who has dealt with an ED for over 8 years, I found this book also serves as a good starting point/foundation for recovery.

As a recovering compulsive eater and a professional psychotherapist who works with women who are struggling with disordered eating, I have found Anita Johnson's book to be a beacon of light in a sometimes very dark space. Through storytelling she gets to the very heart of what makes women so vunerable to using or withholding food to dull or cover the pain of life. I highly recommend this book for every women who has struggled with disordered eating,every therapist who works with women and friends, family and lovers of the women who struggle with disordered eating.

This is a sensitive and insightful book for woman who have struggled with their body image or their relationship with food and eating.
Not too technical or theraputic, it uses stories to demonstrate the issues women face in our culture that promote a false sense of what it is to be feminine and attractive.
I would also recommend it for men with a daughter or sister that have struggled with issues of diet, weight and body image.

The nutritionist at my college recommended me this book after I told her I had disordered eating problems. This book has shed a light on my need to make peace with myself and be my own motherly figure sometimes. the way the book develops is brilliant and I think reading it was a very necessary step in my recovery from the DE.

This book is extraoidinary in its depth and simplicity. Johnston takes a complex and challenging subject and addresses it with many of the most helpful concepts of our time. Her writing style is nurturing and compassionate as it models the inner wise woman she is teaching her readers to develop. As a teacher and research psychologist on this subject matter, I have shared this book with dozens of women and the typical, enthusiastic response is "What an amazing book, I couldn't wait to read the next page!" Becky Coleman

this book was an EXTRAORDINARY experience....it was almost as if I was having a 1:1 therapy session with a psychologist. What a fantastic exploration into an isolated world of eating disorders where no one really knows what it is like until you have been there. This book really gets to the meat of what is underlying an eating disorder. Having experienced this myself, it was nothing short of a incredible awakening as to revealing why I do what I do. Highly recommended

The author uses storytelling a a compassionate vehicle to describe how women become trapped in dyfunctional relationships with food, mind and body (regardless of the culture they live in). This approach is not only intriguing and insightful, it is a nonthreatening way to help crack the veneer of denial that goes hand-in-hand with eating disorders and unhealthy relationships with food.

Really well written guide that take a woman thought out the journey with her feelings, and lost parts of her self that she developed struggling with food. It showed me the ways to look at myself differently, more gently, discover the inner self and feelings that I didn't know existed. Through metaphors and real life experiences this book took the trough the self discovery journey. I needed to read it and get in touch with myself and see how my eating diored played a role in my life. Thank you Anita for creating it!

This book is more than fantastic. It has helped me more than any book, any therapy, any friendship through my ED. It's like I have a pocket guide that understands exactly how I see the world and relates to how I feel. I recommend this book for all women. 50 5 star reviews doesn't lie.

Dr. Johnson peels the layers of misinterpretation and misunderstanding away from the packaged vision of today's young lady and woman to reveal the pure feminine spirit. Her retelling of our stories and fables draws every woman back to her remembrance of her genuine self, freeing us to recognize the magnificence of our differences in the celebration of our womanhood.

I will be keeping this book next to my beside for years to come! Dr. Johnston's writing is not only eloquent and engaging, but her themes are bright and strong. This book is a must-read for any woman feeling lost in her own skin and in society. My relationship with myself and my food will never be the same again!

This is one of the best books I have ever read about emotional eating. The author is clear, easy to understand, and compassionate. She provides a mix of thoughtful and pragmatic info. I strongly recommend this book!!!!

I have read several eating disorder recovery books and this one was like a breath of fresh air. Instead of a "how to" this book shares old folk stories and relates them to women with disordered eating. I couldn't put it down! It is a truly inspirational book that has helped give me strength through my road to recovery.

My girlfriend's daughter is bulemic I'm sad to say, but my girlfriend coundn't put this book down to give it to her. I read a bit of it its good an excellent feminist/ mythopoetic analysis of eating, eating disorders and the life of women. I come from a psychodynamic and 12 step orientation myself...but women love this book...waiting to see if it helps.

This book is fabulous in helping to understand the difference between food nourishment and soul nourishment. It shows the use of food concerns as a coping mechanism for underlying emotional issues and helps start you on a path of understanding.

The book was not what I was looking for. The positive about this book was the free shipping to me but because it was not what I was looking for I did have to pay the shipping back which was unfortunate.