The Psychology of Eating: From Heathly to Disordered Behavior

Dr. Ogden's book, "Psychology of Eating," is a perfect reading pick for anyone interested in the field of eating disorders. I'd like to highlight several aspects of the book in particular. Chapter 4, "The Meaning of Food," offers an unusually broad but much needed bird's-eye view of the food and its existential valence. After offering various food classifications, Dr. Ogden reviews food as a cultural identity anchor, as a statement/expression of self, and reviews eating as a forum of social interaction. This broad lens perspective offers humanizing context for looking at food and diordered eating - and offers an important counter-weight to the often mechanistic and reductionistic discussions of disordered eating. In chapter 7, "Dieting," Dr. Ogden begins with a similarly broad socio-cultural lens of examining dieting as a modality of female oppression (on par with foot-binding, corsets, etc.). Dr. Orden proceeds with a balanced analysis of the Restraint Theory that has become an official platform for claiming that diets don't work. And - no minor accomplishment - follows up with an honest critique of the Restraint Theory by posing such questions as: if attempting to restrain doesn't work and presumably leads to overeating, then how do vegetarians and anorexics lose weight and maintain weight loss? This question - in light of what appears to be an emerging radical anti-dietism - is an important reality check. The fact of the matter that the contemporary health lifestyles have begun to include rather devoted, long-term vegans, vegetarian, calorie-restricters, and even regular detoxifiers/fasters whose experiences clearly contradict the no-restraint scare tactics. Dr. Ogden does a good job of summarizing the relevant research on this point. As evidenced by Chapters 4 and 7, Dr. Ogden's delivery style is that of a bird's-eye view with a gradual and effective zooming-in. This from-general-to-specific resolution progression allows the reader to orbit around the issue without losing interest. Dr. Ogden doesn't mislead: she begins with an overview of a chapter; nor does she abandon you to make random conclusions - each chapter ends with an effective summary. The book is well-illustrated: it offers - my guess - about 30 figures/diagrams and some photos (check out a rather provocative ad on page 55 for a for-men-only candy bar). Dr. Ogden reviews all the conceptual pillars of the field of the eating disorders: food, food choice, healthy eating, dieting, anorexia, bulimia, overeating, obesity; she reviews the standard treatment options (perhaps, the only area of the book that might be a reason for the second edition); summarizes various strands of relevant research, and culminates with an integrated model of a diet. In sum, Dr. Ogden's "Psychology of Eating" is an encyclopedic feast on the topic of eating, dieting, disorder eating, and eating disorder treatment. Pavel Somov, Ph.D. Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Ove

The Psychology of Eating is essentially a synopsis of various food and eating habits investigations conducted over the past 25 years. Ogden juxtaposes studies about food choice, obesity and dieting the contradict one another. The Psychology of Eating is broad in it focus and sets forth no controversial theories. However, I found linking the practice of Chinese foot binding, corsets, and dieting and extreme stretch. Women can choose to diet, some Chinese girls were forced to have their feet bound. Ogden summaries the importance of the studies while pin-pointing their inherit shortcomings. The book serves as a practical reference and bibliography for anyone interested in exploring topics pertaining to diet, eating disorders, and obesity.