BOOK REVIEWS: Love Your Body
Reviewed by Kelly Coutee RN, MA, LMFT, LPC
Reprinted from Eating Disorders Recovery Today
Fall 2007 Volume 5, Number 4
©2007 Gürze Books
 Love Your BodyChange the Way You Feel About the Body You Have |
This thoughtfully-written workbook is a guide to help improve your body image and assist you on your journey toward a more healed relationship with your body. Written by seasoned professionals, a psychotherapist and a nutritionist, their passion for treating women with eating disorders is apparent throughout the text. The teachings come across genuinely and with sincerity, a necessity in treating these illnesses. It is also very well organized which is helpful for those in pain and needing direction.
Not only informative but transformative, Love Your Body: Change the Way You Feel About the Body You Have offers concrete tools to support the exploration of negative self-talk, defeating behaviors, and the growth of body-hatred. Using directed journaling and visualizing activities, you are gently led to insightful understanding of food, weight, and body issues. With this newfound clarity of your wounding, cognitive-behavioral techniques are provided to teach you to embrace your body and shower it with love and admiration.
Through conveying love in their teachings, the author's put a lot of emphasis on treating your body as the gift that it is. This thinking helps you to deal with and "hush" that relentless inner voice saying your body doesn't measure up, which is the biggest gift you can give yourself.
I especially appreciate that the book starts and ends with a body image self-assessment, giving immediate feedback about your healing journey. It also gives attention to relapse prevention which is imperative to long-term recovery.
The appendix is full of affirmations and beautiful poems for reflection. There is also a list of National Non-Profit Eating Disorder Organizations and contact information.
This workbook is not intended to take the place of professional help and would be great to use in conjunction with the guidance of a psychotherapist and/or nutritionist. I can see it being very helpful to those in early recovery and as a refresher to those in long-term recovery during those challenging times that you forget what you know.
Love Your Body offers hope and healing for anyone suffering from a diminished body image. The book is available for purchase at www.HealthyBodyImage.com.
