The Love-Powered Diet: Eating for Freedom, Health, and Joy

Victoria Moran's latest book is a beautiful portrait of overcoming overeating through a nurturing spiritual, emotional, and vegetarian practice. I love that this book has Ms. Moran's personal story of overcoming obesity along with using the 12 Step program and practical insights. Anyone who is looking for the real deal and not some fad diet should read this book!

I'm a dietitian who works with many people struggling to attain a healthy body weight. I will consider this book "required reading" from now on. Two of my favorite excerpts: --"The body is a reflection of what's going on inside: emotionally, intellectually and spiritually." --"When you change your diet, not with a specific goal weight in mind but because your life and world will be better when you do, your body will take it from there."

As a researcher & writer, I have read many books on how to get past an eating disorder, and I have to say this is the best. Packed with tools and tips, as well as a great deal of empathetic anecdotes of her own eating disorder past, Victoria has made this a must-read book for those struggling with eating issues. How I wish I had had this book 36 years ago when I had bulimia, which was 7 years of pure hell. I found it quite humorous when Victoria described fishing some cake out of a trash can during an eating binge, until I suddenly recalled the disgust and self-loathing of having done it myself as a young woman struggling with this food demon. This is not a diet book in the sense that it prescribes a meal plan, food restrictions, calorie counting or carb/fat/protein ratios. In fact, there are not even any recipes! The diet to be given is LOVE (for yourself) and Victoria tells you how. Victoria's solutions for low self esteem, which so often leads to binging, range from spirituality with no particular religion (in fact, there is even a list of prayers from a wide variety of philosophies/religions), 12 Steps, journaling, tips on how to get to the self-love consciousness of what she calls "zero point," and proven insights such as blatant honesty. Meditation is also a strong tool, and Victoria shares her own daily ritual which is loosely called meditation, but is more like self-reflection. (For people who get bored chanting mantras, her routine would be perfect!) Though the book doesn't prescribe a specific diet (except for love!)Victoria nonetheless strongly recommends her own way of eating, which is vegetarian. In fact, I was delightfully surprised to find she went on to become a raw vegan! She writes, "I myself have taken to the high-raw lifestyle in the past year and although I don't care to make it a religion or go a hundred percent raw, I must say that I feel younger, lighter, and more alive than I have in years." As another recovering food addict, I am happy to hear that, since the raw diet did so much to heal my own eating disorder. This book will also educate you on the pitfalls of the SAD (standard America diet) way of eating, benefits of organic, sprouts, and other factors of health besides diet. Every chapter is filled with sidebars with all kinds of fascinating information. Highly recommended for anyone who uses food for a substitute for love.