Food and Loathing: A Life Measured Out in Calories

Reading this book is an awakening experience to the life, mind and feelings of anyone every struggling with weight issues. The very poignant life history of Betsy written with such a light sarcasm and delightful humor allows the reader to identify with their own everyday struggles and gives them the needed courage. I truly enjoyed this book and I hope others will too.

I loved this book. I chose this book to read not really knowing what to expect. Possibly the trials and tribulations of a woman with an eating disorder. But this book is more than that. This is a struggle for self acceptance. This book deals with what lies behind someones continous attempts of what they feel is perfection. Lerner is painfully honest and has no problem revealing herself. Whether you have had similar experiences or not she will drag you through the times in your life that you wondered if everyone else thought you were good enough.

I couldn't put this book down. Lerner writes extremely well, and with a deliciously mordant sense of humor. As someone who has suffered from compulsive overeating and binge-eating, I can tell you that Lerner's account is deadly accurate as to what life is like for people like us. This is a story that I have lived in many respects, yet Lerner puts it into words in a way that I never could. This is not just about the obese or overweight person; it is also about the multitudes of us who are consumed by calories and the struggle to lose weight, whether it be 100 pounds or 10 pounds. A very good read.

Betsy Lerner, has done us all a service. Those of us who are thin and have never struggled with weight, get our eyes opened as to what the other "world" is like. To quote a blurb on the back of the book "It broke my heart in 1,000 places". And those of us who have friends and relatives who struggle with being more than 100 lbs overweight, will want to rush out and buy this book for them, because here FINALLY is a book written by a "FAT" (actually former fat) person who describes in detail the pain "FAT" people experience. Betsy is good at drawing you into her world, and making you feel as if you are observing her struggle (almost as if you were seeing it played out on the big screen.) The fact that she overcame her stay in the mental institution and the stint with the grossly inept therapist, and then rose to the place she is now, is encouraging to say the least.I recommend this book for anyone who knows anyone who has ever been in O.A. And to anyone who would like to know the pain of the most discriminated against group in "American Society".And of course, for those of us authors, who want to know what our editors, and agents really think of us, I highly recommend Betsy's other book THE FOREST FOR THE TREES.Both books are good reads. Impossible to put down, once you start reading them. And the desire to tell other's about them, is...quite frankly, complelling.Marsha Marks

This is a terrific read. Lerner has such a light touch, and such a delightfully wicked sense of humor, that anyone will empathize with her story: she's not just a fat girl looking for love and attention, but an extremely intelligent and self-aware person struggling with questions of meaning and worth. Her shocking swings up and down the scale are, for Lerner, swings between life and death, and between meaning and meaninglessness, hope and hopelessness. This memoir is one of the best I've read.I can think of about five people I want to buy this book for -- it would make a wonderful gift for anyone who's struggled with weight, depression, or any kind of existential angst.