Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything

I heard about this in a passing statement made by Oprah. She said how amazing it was and has ended her food battle forever. Yikes I've said that before and always find myself back where I started. Anyway the insights about overeating and what is going on emotionally are things I have known for some time. She doesn't diet, me either I have learned I am losing my weight better not on a diet. That way I don't dwell on food.

I was expecting some big Spiritual connection to God and Women and why we over eat. Well God is not mentioned much and when he is it is not the God I know. It is a vague generic God. Not my deeply loved personal Savior. So if you want that type book this is not it.

You will learn about her food retreats and hear stories of how many have been helped by letting go of diets but this is not a Spiritual book. God in the title is misleading. I wish I could return the book guess I will just have to sell it but feel badly even passing it on to someone else.

So sorry I wanted to really love this book, but it just doesn't tell me anything I don't know.

I really wish I could get my money back. This book had some decent insights, but nothing I haven't heard before. I kept reading, hoping it would redeem itself. It didn't.

My issues with this book:

1.) Poorly organized - it felt like I was reading a bunch of stories from her seminars intermixed between stream-of-consciousness type ramblings.

2.) Concept of God - Personally, I feel like she is capitalizing, even preying upon, people's vulnerability. They see a title like "Women, Food, and God" and think that maybe this is the answer to all their struggles as she invokes God into the equation. She doesn't. She is an atheist. Nothing wrong with that, but she is selling a book that portends to be about women, food AND God except the "God" part is missing. Too new-wave "feel the tingling in your elbow and embrace it!" for my personal tastes.

3.) Profanity - really? Do we really need the F-word throughout and an entire chapter with a swear word in the title (and all throughout) so you see it printed on every page? Is her audience suddenly 14 year old boys???

4.) No real application techniques - She goes on and on and on (and on, and on...) about these different inquiry techniques, and breathing and being aware concepts but she never really tells you how to do it. Finally, after 200 pages of thinking, "Okaaaaaaay, are you ever going to share these secrets with me instead of just telling me stories?" There is a 3 page appendix that actually gives the guidelines of what she was even talking about. Finally, in one of the last chapters she mentions these Eating Guidelines over and over. I actually flipped back through the book - did I miss them? Was I not paying attention? No, she never actually tells you what they are unless you read the last page of the appendix. There they are in all their 7 line glory. Really? That's it? (For more in-depth coverage of these "guidelines", which are excellent she just doesn't bother to educate the reader as to why, see book suggestion in point #5, "Intuitive Eating".)

5.) Nothing new - really, there was nothing in it that I hadn't heard before. If you really want an excellent book on dealing with overeating, try "Intuitive Eating" by Evelyn Tribole and E? Resch (I think??) It was actually assigned as a text book in one of my master's classes in Dietetics. It is an excellent book and is actually written by dietitians.

Don't listen to Oprah - this book is not worth the paper it is printed on (which is ironic, because the paper is of really cheap quality.)

Roth's message is a really good one, but there were SO MANY metaphors that as I read I felt like I was swimming through thick molasses. I have read a number of very good magazine articles by Ms. Roth, but I did not really like the style of writing in this book. When I would reach her concrete examples, however, it was like coming up for air--and her points were clearer. I like the message that overeaters should stop using food to avoid feeling/dealing with difficult emotions, but there were only a few key paragraphs and examples that conveyed this message. I think that a good solid article and the guest spot on Oprah would've been enough.

I have battled with my weight for all but the earliest of my 57 years on the planet--a painful lifelong cycle of dieting, losing and gaining (often, gaining back more than I lost--The American Way).

I'd heard about Geneen Roth's books for years, but I'd never read one because I thought they were only for binge eaters. I have plenty of issues around food, but binge eating has rarely been one of them. However, recently, I had the opportunity to read Women, Food and God. I was happy to find that the book DID speak to me, and was not just about binge eating.

In the end, though, I am conflicted about the book. One of the key ways I rate a book about dieting/weight loss is--did it tell me anything new? After 40 years of reading about weight loss, there isn't much I haven't already heard, but Geneen DID approach it from a somewhat different perspective than I'd heard before. Her approach was much more internal (psychological, emotional, spiritual) than it was external, and I liked that. However, when I was 30 pages from the end of the book, I realized that she hadn't outlined any guidelines that would allow me to put what I'd read into action. I was shocked to find that the set of rules was on the very last page, and that it consisted of only half a page of text.

It seemed to me that Ms. Roth made the assumption that everyone who was ever going to read one of her books had already read the earlier ones, so this one didn't need to say all that much (and it doesn't). It reads like a personal journal from one of the retreats that she holds to help people work through their food issues. Large chunks of the book are copied verbatim from letters she got from retreat participants. It felt...well, LAZY. Like she just did it for the paycheck.

Many reviewers complained that God got the short shrift in this book (it is, after all, called Women Food and GOD). While I understand why people are upset, I think some people only have one concept of God and since Geneen didn't talk about God in the way they were expecting, they feel shorted. She does talk about spirituality, about the spirit that is our uniqueness, but she talks very little about God as you would hear your priest or minister speak of Him (Her?) in church. Personally, I think the God part of the title was more a marketing ploy than a true expectation to include God in the content of the book.

It was also VERY obvious that Ms. Roth has been through many years of therapy, since there is a generous sprinkling of psychobabble throughout. Parts of the book also reminded me of The Secret. A positive is that the book is a very quick read--and that is with me focusing entirely on the book and marking passages with a highlighter as I read, etc.

Had I not gained a new perspective...had I not taken away anything new from the book...I would have likely given it 1 or 2 stars, because it just feels so lacking in content or authentic intention. Had there actually been more content and tangible direction around the guidelines, I may have even given it 4 or 5 stars. That said, I did enjoy hearing about how the retreats are led and what kinds of exercises they do, but it would have been more helpful if those exercises were set out in the book.

EDITED ON 8/7/10 TO ADD: After my disappointment with this book, I researched other books by Roth to see if I could find what I was looking for. I think I have. Why Weight? is a workbook that helps one focus on the reasons behind their eating issues. I have read it all the way through once but have not yet reviewed it because I want to do more extended work with the book before I do that. Here is the link to that product:
http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Guide-Ending-Compulsive-Eating/dp/0452262542/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281183903&sr=1-1

"Women, Food and God" will be featured on the Oprah show this week, with Geneen Roth, author of many books on compulsive eating. Geneen has always been masterful at describing her compulsive eating and compulsive dieting in artful detail. This book discusses the process of her retreat students, as well as the connection of spirituality and compulsive eating.

Here are a few snippets:

"Women turn to food when they are not hungry because they are hungry for something they can't name: a connection to what is beyond the concerns of daily life."

"The relentless attempts to be thin take you further and further away from what could actually end your suffering: getting back in touch with who you really are."

"Compulsive eating is an attempt to avoid the absence (of love, comfort, knowing what to do) when we find ourselves in the desert of a particular moment, feeling, situation."

"If compulsive eating is anything, it's a way we leave ourselves when life gets hard."

"Compulsive eating is a way we distance ourselves from the way things are when they are not how we want them to be."

"Ending compulsive eating is all about the capacity to stay in the present moment."

No matter where you are in your compulsive eating process, it's likely that something will speak to you in this book. The question is - what many people (including myself) have been writing about for years - how do you stop compulsive eating? And that has to do with not only being in the present moment, but learning to manage emotions without automatically reaching for food.

[[ASIN:B001KG83VQ Lose Weight Without Willpower: The Art of Peaceful Indifference to Food]]
[[ASIN:B001LT3NHG EFT Manual for Binge Eating: Turn Off The Drive To Overeat (Emotional Freedom Techniques)]]
[[ASIN:B001GMKH0Y EFT Weight Loss]]

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An unusual application of spiritual practice turns up in this bestselling book by Geneen Roth. It invites people of all faiths to tap into the “luminous presence that so many of us call God” to manage their relationship with food and ultimately life itself. Reviewer Gay Hendricks pronounces it “daring, dazzling, funny, comforting, wise and profoundly spiritual,” and I can only concur. Roth’s holistic approach is that we must learn to eat mindfully, using all our senses, at a pace and in settings conducive to such, rather than focus on calories and RDAs. The seven simple guidelines at the end are worth saving and reviewing often until they become habit. Roth is as compassionate as she is entertaining, and followers of her advice to make eating a spiritual experience have found it carries over to a general sense of well-being. God comes through.

I am so glad I borrowed this book from the library. It would have been a total waste of good money! When someone puts God in the title, I expect to learn more about Him. Not so...this author is 100% in love with herself! I have lost 35 lbs. by learning intuitive eating and trusting in Him. I do not "hear a voice" that puts me down all the time. I don't talk nasty and use God's name in the same breath! What filthy language! What an utterly lost life this lady has and she is teaching others this garbage? I learned more from the Overfed Head by Rob Stevens in less time with better results.

This is a beautifully written book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is struggling with emotional eating. Geneen Roth hit the nail on the head so many times throughout the pages that I had goosebumps during much of the time it took me to read the book. Her authenticity, clarity, expertise and compassion blend together to bring powerful support to anyone who is ready to transform their relationship with food. I've recommended this book to many people and will continue to do!

Just another blah blah blah book. No different than the rest.