Runaway Eating: The 8-Point Plan to Conquer Adult Food and Weight Obsessions »

Cynthia M. Bulik, Ph.D., FAED , is the William and Jeanne Jordan Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, professor of nutrition at UNC’s School of Public Health, and director of the U NC Eating Disorders Program. She has been featured or quoted in Vogue, Newsweek, Self, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. T he coauthor (with Nadine T aylor) of Runaway Eating, Bulik lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The first book to address a disturbing new trend: dangerous eating patterns in midlife women that can have serious health consequences.

Struggling to cope with the stress of menopause, empty nest syndrome, caring for ailing parents, work overload, and the cultural emphasis on youth and beauty, more and more women find themselves eating compulsively to ease tension, manage anxiety, quell depression, and distract themselves from what's really eating them. Others obsessively follow strict diets or exercise excessively.

In this groundbreaking book, clinical psychologist Cynthia M. Bulik, Ph.D., and dietitian Nadine Taylor team up to present a patient-tested 8-step program to help women regain a healthy relationship with food. Readers also will find:

o A thorough explanation of the full spectrum of Runaway Eating behaviors, from occasional lapses into binge eating to restrictive dieting to compulsive exercising o Alternative ways to alleviate anxiety and defuse depression o Practical strategies for managing the menopausal symptoms that often lead to disordered eating

Library Journal

There is no question that food misuse in this country constitutes an epidemic. Approximately 64.5 million American women are overweight, and more than half of them are classifiably obese. Clinical psychologist Bulik (Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and dietician Taylor (Natural Menopause Remedies) are concerned with a group of problem eaters that has been steadily growing in the last five years: women in midlife and beyond. In Part 1, the authors define "runaway eating" as the "consistent use of food or food-related behavior to deal with unpleasant feelings." They discuss the causes, the risk factors, and, perhaps most interesting, why such problems arise in midlife. Part 2 provides an "8-Point Plan To Conquer Runaway Eating"-e.g., "eat on time and in time," "identify your triggers," "manage menopausal symptoms," and "pare down perfectionism." This very readable book, which is dotted with anecdotal experiences, is particularly noteworthy because it emphasizes eating problems in middle-aged and older women. Suitable for consumer health collections in public libraries.-Linda M.G.Katz, Drexel Univ. Health Sciences Libs., Philadelphia Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.