Sheila Himmel is an award-winning food writer whose daughter, Lisa, fought a life-threatening battle with anorexia. The irony is not lost on either of them, and is a running theme in their new book, Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia.

An Aug. 10 San Francisco Chronicle article by Katherine Seligman provided the following details about the Himmels' struggle, and their decision to write about their experiences with an eating disorder:

Lisa describes starving herself, her 5 foot 3 inch body so thin her hip bones hurt at night, and throwing up as many as 10 times a day.

Sheila writes about the depths of her fear, her family's history of depression, a relative's struggle with weight, the out-of-whack way Americans eat and her own relationship to food  she celebrates it, but admits she was flattered when people met her an invariably commented, "but youre so skinny!" ...

"The book isn't about blaming," says Sheila, sitting next to her daughter. "It's more about, 'This is what happened to our family. It can happen to anybody.'"

The summer after high school, Lisa had gotten help and seemed to be doing better. But college found her spiraling back into bulimia and she was eventually hospitalized. She has since made tremendous progress, attributing her recovery to an excellent psychoanalyst, a concerned high school teacher and a well-educated nutritionist.

Labels: anorexia, daughters, mothers

Posted By: Aspen/CRC