Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women Can Transform Their Relationship With Food Through Myths, Metaphors & Storytelling

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Summary: This book lifted my spirits when I needed it most
Review: I feel compelled to share with potential readers of Anita Johnston's EATING IN THE LIGHT OF THE MOON how much this book has helped me on my recovery from bulimia. As a woman with an eating disorder, let me assure that the path to recovery is a long difficult journey, but when things get tough, to this day, I turn to this book.

The concept is different than anything I have read to date, and I have read a lot. I love analysis, thought and literature. Johnston, who, by the way, runs an acclaimed eating disorder clinic in Hawaii uses multicultural fairy tales and myths to illustrate to the reader important steps on the journey to recovery. The story I return to again and again is that of the Tutu bird.

Briefly put, there was a young girl who lived in a village in Africa where the people were starving. Like all the other village children, she was sent out to fetch the animals that had been captured in the village traps overnight so that the villagers might eat. When she got there, there was a Tutu bird in the trap. His song was so sweet that she set him free. She returned to the village and explained what happened. The villagers were so angry that they buried her alive in a mud hut and left her to die. She cried and cried. One day, she heard a sweet song and a ray of light came though the top of her hut. The next day she heard the song again and realized that it was the Tutu bird. The bird was pecking a hole in the mud hut to free her! The bird then dropped in fruits and nuts. This continued until the girl was well fed and the Tutu bird could free her. She returned to an astonished village with the Tutu bird nourished compared to the thin villagers and then left with the Tutu bird to go into the forest forever. The point of the story: Find your voice, listen to it and don't stray. It will serve you in the end no matter how bleak things seem at the time.

If your mind is a literary one - if you are a person who finds deep meaning in stories/books - then PLEASE purchase this book. It has instrumental in my recovery and I really want to thank Ms. Johnston for that. I hope EATING IN THE LIGHT OF THE MOON will speak to you as it has to me.

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Summary: Right to the heart of the matter
Review: Johnston's book spirals deeply into the core issues that any woman coping with disordered eating would want to address, and she does it with a gentle, patient, and encouraging spirit. Her work uses myth, allegory and storytelling as a way of looking at the deep-seated issues of what it means to be a woman in today's culture and how that affects our relationships with food. This is definitely not a diet or how-to book. It is lyrical, poetic and spiritual, but remains eminently practical. Johnston transcends the standard medical view of disordered eating as a purely physical problem and incorporates woman's mind, body and spirit in her work. Johnston integrates feminine spirituality and feminism with basic healthy living practices and presents options that those of us who have struggled with food may not have considered before. As a recovered bulimic, I can vouch for the efficacy of her approach, and I fervently wish that everyone who has struggled with food and eating issues would read this book.

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Summary: Very Helpful for my recovery from compulsive eating disorder
Review: My therapist first recommended this book to me, which has been very helpful to me in redefining my relationship with food. I see this as a gentle book, one that does not preach a particular way of thinking, a way of eating or a way of feeling about yourself.

It presents you with a number of folk stories and myths which assist in understanding the way we approach our relationships with food. While the author interprets them, she is not so "in your face" that you can't find meanging of your own in them -- there is room for musing about what the story means in relationship to your own life.

It is a book I keep on my nightstand and return to regularly since I pick up different nuances each time I read it. The layers of meaning are subtle and can take time to sift through as healing continues.

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Summary: Born a woman in the 20th century? Read this book!
Review: There is not a woman in the western world today who hasn't been influenced by 5000 years of masculine thinking. Dr. Johnston's stories and interpretive lessons nourish a hunger for feminine guidance and wisdom, and help the reader tap into a sense of strength born from paying close attention to the information her she receives from her inner resources - dreams, feelings, intuition. Written for women with disordered eating, this book speaks to all women

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Summary: Thank you, Dr. Johnston.
Review: This is a deeply insightful book that speaks to women with disordered eating of all types and severities. I've found that one of the most terrifying aspects of living with an eating disorder is the sense of stark isolation from others that we feel, fueled by the powerful secrets that we keep. As a woman recovered from bulimia, I was appreciative of Dr. Johnston's ability to help me see the many commonalities among women who suffer with eating disorders.

Johnston uses stories, myth and symbol to help explain the emotional and spiritual struggles that women encounter as they seek to regain a balance between heart and mind. Her description of the labyrinth as a metaphor of women's healing path serves as a gentle reminder that healing from disordered relationships with food is not a simple, straight-forward, linear process; and that being judgmental of our "progress" toward healing can only hinder our journeys.

I have read this book several times and have shared it with my mother, friends and colleagues. It has been a catalyst for many emotionally and intellectually fruitful discussions. I recommend it whole-heartedly.