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Rating: 
Summary: Correction: forever no sugar, not 6 months
Review: From the moment I started to read this book, I felt as though the author was writing about my life. I have read many books regarding food addiction and articles too, but this one far outshines any of them. I have struggled with food most of life. Of course I always blamed my failed diets on lack of willpower. Now that I have read this book I know it has nothing to do with willpower. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks they may have a problem with food. It is easy to read. I also attend Overeaters Anonymous meetings and I think this book will help in my recovery. The author is also a food addict so she knows there are no gimmicks or fast fixes when it comes to addictions. Just like the 12-Step program, the book takes the recovery in steps. If I am willing to follow the suggestions, I will have freedom from food addiction. I must first be willing.
Rating: 
Summary: Groundbreaking Author!
Review: I am a food addict. I did not know that the meaning of this was until I started reading Anne Katherine's book. From the very first second of reading this book it grabs you. How certain food trigger our brain chemistry to act in certain ways, and why chocolate has more power than radishes over us. We may like radishes and we may like chocolate, but we probably have more of an addiction response to chocolate than we do to radishes.She also says that not all people have the same response to the same foods as others, so not all people are addicted to the same foods or react in the same way. And also, sometimes we can eat certain foods a little and won't have a reaction. Food addiction is tricky. And a relatively new field. Anne Katherine is a pioneer in this field. She has a website,... and does retreats, summer camp, lectures. The way I found her was my own website for weight loss communities.msn.com/ruthlilycatsweightlosscommunity and I encourage people to read books. I found this book here at amazon while looking for binge eating books, and no-diet books (along the lines of Geneen Roth). This book is the next level up from Geneen Roth and is the real brain chemistry behind the foods that we eat. An aside, I have not finished reading the book yet, so that is what I've gleaned from the first parts of the book. I am just so thrilled there is a book like this that I couldn't wait to review it. Thanks amazon for sending me the book!!
Rating:
Summary: Food Addiction is not about Good or Bad
Review: I had a doctor who first spoke to me about a possible eating disorder, and I thought he was nuts. But the more we talked and he supported me I came to understand what he was saying. This book is a wonderful resource for people that can not understand their uncontrollable eating. It gives practical exercises for self discovery. Food addiction is not about dieting and often diets may trigger the addiction for compulsive eating. It took me to learn this before I could address my weight issues.
Rating:
Summary: Correction: forever no sugar, not 6 months
Review: I had to go back and look through the triggering chapter for me. She advocates that sugar is like cocaine for food addicts. Then she tells you one year after giving up sugar, give up refined carbs. Then she said to tell everyone in your family that these foods are drugs and then she says you have to stay viligant in your quest to weed these drugs out of your life. What follows is a suggested list of foods where you should look for hidden sugar as well as a suggestion to make sure you drill every waiter in restaurants about how they cook their foods. Then she lists "good" foods to have in hand. See where I am going with this? I'm in RECOVERY for an eating disorder. How am I supposed to FREE myself from a food addiction when I need to continually obsess about FOODS? For the majority of binge-eating disordered people, this is NOT going to be helpful. I still can't understand why she says this isnt' a diet. Having lists of good foods/bad foods IS A DIET! I feel much calmer and happier knowing I can eat what I want when I want it. THAT is what frees me from food and allows me to deal with my emotions that drive me to food. Obsessing about what foods I can/can't have just keeps me superficially in the food part of the disorder and never would allow me to get past the food and get to the feelings. Food isn't the enemy. I dropped my stars to 2 stars because I'm really triggered now. I'm stressed out. See? Even talking about this sugar/drug/good food/bad food is a trigger. This book will have to go in the trash will all my other diet books.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for Intuitive Eaters
Review: I think the main problem with this book is the fact that it needs an updated edition. It was pubished in 1991, with the forward updated in 1993. She mentions several studies that are incomplete and ongoing with "promising" initial results . Many of these studies regard a condition she calls "brain allergy." What is a brain allergy? According to Katherine, the brains of food addicts are most likely allergic to sugar and refined carbs. She then mentions several times and even devotes a whole chapter on "abstaining". She wants the reader to go 6 months eating no sugar, refined carbs and alcohol. She says this is not a diet. She says this is avoiding a dangerous drug. I think this sounds as off the wall as high colonic theraputic enemas and gall bladder washes. I'm in recovery with a therapist for binge-eating disorder. The CURE for this disorder is to eat intuitively: to eat what you want, when you want it and to stop when you are full. No foods are off limits, because limiting foods causes restriction, which in turn causes binges (I'm totally glossing over the whole psychological element here). People in recovery for all eating disorders should not diet. But, isn't eating for 6 months with no sugars and carbs a DIET? No, says Katherine. Abstinence is not a diet. Abstinence is avoiding foods with harmful chemicals. I say this chapter is a trigger for me because I'm already stressed thinking she wants me to go on the Atkins plan. I have a real problem with this author's inability to clearly point out how avoiding foods for 6 months is not a diet. It is a diet. Eating disordered people already know diets CAUSE eating disorders. However, I did find tremendous comfort in the author's personal experiences and especially when she shows how she deals with a triggering anxious thought. I found the exercises to be a bit silly and not a good substitute for personal therapy. I really wanted to give this book a 2.5 stars because 3 stars seem too much, yet 2 stars seem too little. It would be interesting to see, 13 years later what became of those studies she based her "brain allergy" ideas on. My guess would be they didn't prove anything, as the first time I heard of a brain allergy was when I read this book. I would recommend the 2003 edition of "Intuitive Eating" and also "Overcoming Overeating" instead of this book. These books were more complete to me, as I didn't have to skip chapters about going on a sugar free diet.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't provide worthwhile solutions
Review: This book was obviously a fad back in the 90s when sugarbusters and other no-sugar diets first came out.
Her theories are implausible and she gives no real plan or solutions to dealing with the root issues of why binge-eaters eat. We aren't powerless to food. Eating food is simply a way we have chosen to cope with our anxious feelings. In that argument, choosing food is a way we EMPOWER ourselves, though in a twisted way.
Skip this book and find one that gives a realistic plan to devling into your deeply rooted issues... the ones you try to avoid by eating. Geneen Roth is a good author to start with.
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