BOOK REVIEWS: Forget That Diet and Eat What You Need
Reviewed by Lindsay Woolman
Reprinted from Eating Disorders Recovery Today
Winter 2007 Volume 5, Number 1
©2007 Gürze Books
 Forget That Diet and Eat What You NeedThe Tao of Eating |
This is a beautifully written book that incorporates the Tao, a way of being wide-awake in the moment to everything around us. Included are 81 poem-like chapters that quiet the mind. Each paragraph could be used as a meditation or prayer to erase the rigid thinking that accompanies an eating disorder. Reading this book aloud could be a helpful way to find the peacefulness and calm that are our true nature.
The author has done a good job of not only including poetry, but also commentary to bring the Tao into daily life. The simple instruction of the Tao is to "do nothing," and that by appreciating the emptiness around us, we find true abundance. The reader gets a sense of observing the act of eating or emptiness as a thing that just "is" without judgment. This book is really about letting go and being in the present moment.
One of the main themes is to let go of our notions about dieting, food, and body image. In doing this, the author shows us how we become unattached to outcomes. This book brings relief in knowing that there is no one right way to eat. All that is needed is a reminder to stay attuned to ourselves and to notice what arises without judgment.
As the author says, "The Tao challenges us to take in the whole spectrum of life, the parts that don't attract our attention as well as those that do. The Tao challenges us to be aware, assertive, passive, or whatever the moment calls for, as we forget that diet and eat what we need."
— LW
