The story is ironic, sad and true: A writer who worked as a food critic had a daughter who struggled with anorexia. While Sheila Himmel was judging Americas favorite and finest foods, her daughter Lisa was home starving herself.

California's Mountain View Voice recently reviewed the book that the mother and daughter wrote to chronicle their battle against anorexia:

[Sheila and Lisa] tell their story in a new book, Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia, which they co-authored&. Hungry is not just another book about anorexia, of which there are many. It is also a portrait of how a confluence of societal and social pressures wreaked havoc on the Himmel family. As Sheila highlights in the book, their situation was fraught with a terrible irony.

Though writing the book was hard and painful, both mother and daughter told The Voice that they are glad they did it. Hungry underscores the obsession most Americans have with food and body image. It also tells a story of successful recovery  a story that many still struggling with eating disorders need to hear.

Labels: anorexia, daughters, parents, mothers

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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

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Often, the things that moms and daughters need most to talk about are the things that never get discussed at all. Co-authors Mary Jo Rapini and Janine Sherman hope their new book, Start Talking, will help open the lines of communication.

"Despite all the resources out there, there are still a lot of misconceptions out there... This book is really about starting the conversation, and it doesn't have to be about sex. It can be about other things, such as how your child is feeling about her best friend."

During her years as a therapist, Ms. Sherman discovered that many of the issues facing girls today can be linked to body image issues. Sexual promiscuity, bullying, eating disorders and other risky behavior are often tied to girl's opinion about herself and her overall appearance, she said. Source: Courier Post (New Jersey)

Labels: daughters, mothers, communication

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A study out of Stockholm, Sweden, has found that new moms with histories of eating disorders had a much harder time adjusting to motherhood than did those with no history of eating disorders.

"Women with eating disorders were more likely to worry they may not be a good mother; did not feel proud of being a mother; and felt they no longer had enough time for themselves. The researchers also found this group much less likely to enjoy feeding and caring for their babies, and more likely to worry their child would turn out unhealthy or not normal."

Researchers compared levels of adjustment between 67 first-time moms without eating disorder histories and 44 first-time moms with histories of either anorexia or bulimia. Only 13 percent of the non-eating-disorder group struggled to adjust to motherhood, compared with 92 percent of those with histories of disordered eating. Source: Reuters

Labels: self-esteem, parents, mothers

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