Here you will find some good reads and helpful resources as you navigate the twisting corridors of the internet. There are literally hundreds of thousands of self-help books from which to choose. You can find books to help you do just about anything you can imagine—and some of them are actually effective!
If you are done with diets and gyms and shakes, this is your next good read. Here you will find easy-to-understand explanations of why managing weight is so hard. You will learn practical steps to get a handle on those challenges and truly stop dieting. Building motivation and grasping the connections between environment, food, emotions, exercise, and hunger will help you gently ease into a more comfortable relationship with food and with your body.
Where this book differs radically from those you already own is that it is not a diet. It is roadmap to show you how to shape your lifestyle—not radically change it! Unlike diets, maintenance is part of every step so protecting your progress is a natural outcome. Also included are sections for parents in which I explain how you can apply what you learn here to help your children develop a healthy relationship with their bodies and with food. Truly! A Diet is the Last Thing You Need!
Based on Dr. Meyer’s proven program to help those who love substance abusers improve their own quality of life and learn how to make treatment attractive to their partners, this program revolutionized the recovery field. Awarded the ABCT Self Help Book Seal of Merit, this is the first non-academic book on the powerful, scientifically proven intervention.
Get Your Loved One Sober: Alternatives to Nagging, Pleading, and Threatening teaches supportive, non-confrontational methods to entice substance abusers into treatment. It uses validated behavioral principles to reduce your loved one’s substance use and move him or her toward treatment. Equally important, you learn how to reduce your own stress. If you are struggling to figure out how to live well with your partner, enhance your quality of life, and increase the chances your loved one will embrace treatment, this is your next good read!
More Good Reads
Below are other good reads that my patients have found especially helpful. Some are classics, some are cutting edge, and all are written with close attention to what science has shown to be of value.
| Obesity & Eating Disorders | Depression & Anxiety | Other Challenges |
|---|---|---|
| A Diet is the Last Thing You Need: Weight Loss & Maintenance Answers (BL Wolfe) | Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (DD Burns) | Falling to Grace: The Art and Science of Redemption (H Rankin) |
| Crave: Why You Binge Eat and How to Stop (CM Bulik) | Depression for Dummies (LL Smith & CH Elliott) | Get Your Loved One Sober: Alternative to Nagging, Pleading, & Threatening (RJ Meyer & BL Wolfe) |
| Overcoming Binge Eating: The Proven Program to Learn Why You Binge and How You Can Stop (CG Fairburn) | Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You think (D Greenberger, CA Padesky, AT Beck) | How My Brain Works: A Guide to Understanding it Better and Keeping it Healthy (B Koltuska-Haskin) |
| The Body Project (JJ Brumberg) | The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living: A Guide to ACT (R Harris & C Hayes) | The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country's Foremost Relationship Expert (J Gottman & N Silver) |
| Mindless Eating (B Wansink) | The 4-Week Insomnia Workbook (SD Barrett) Sleep Through Insomnia: End the Anxiety and Discover Sleep Relief with Guided CBT-I (BR Peters) |
Additional Resources
On this website is a lot of information about Eating Disorders and Obesity (on the pages linked here as well as throughout the blogs). If you need more information or are looking for help finding support and treatment, here are helpful links:
National Alliance for Eating Disorders
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
National Eating Disorders Association
If you are looking for a therapist to help you Get Your Loved One Sober, this link will take you to Dr. Meyer’s website and a list of certified practitioners in this proven approach called Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT).
If you looking for therapeutic help with any emotional and/or behavioral challenges, the following links will take you to find help pages at well-respected psychological & educational organizations:
American Psychological Association
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
College Planning Guide for Students with Mental Health Disorders
Use Your Resources
Patients who have long struggled with emotional or behavioral challenges often tell me that they resisted asking for help—from family, friends, or professionals—because they believed it to be a sign of weakness. What I have learned from the thousands of lives my work has allowed me to observe is that the opposite is true. It is the strong people who, when they run into an obstacle, actively take measure of what resources they have and then call on them. Family, friends, professionals, books, (good) websites are your resources. Use them!