It Was Food vs. Me ... and I Won

by Nancy Goodman

The real triumph of It Was Food Vs. Me--and I Won is Nancy's funny, honest, and charismatic voice, which comes through on every page. Her enthusiasm, directness, and warmth will inspire and motivate anyone who wants to live a healthier, more rewarding life.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 26, 2004

About the author

I WAS HELD HOSTAGE BY FOOD!

I spent many years obsessed about my weight. I tried every diet I could get my hands on. It was an endless cycle of lose weight, gain it back. I finally got help and discovered that I didn't have a "food curse" as I'd thought. I had a feelings curse! I am an emotional person and when I was upset, I'd run to food to feel better. Not that I had any awareness of this whatsoever! I just thought I loved food.

This is how I ended up losing weight: I used my hunger and cravings as a built in GPS. If I was hungry, it meant one of two things. I needed to eat with structure. OR, I was riled up about something. Separating these two components; hunger and emotions, did two things. It made me aware of my feelings. It forced me to FEEL them. That cut out the extra calories. This led to very knowing choices both with what I wanted to eat, and what was right for me to do.

I dropped weight. My relationships became more honest. I began bringing in fresh goals. Feeling my feelings was TOUGH, let me tell you. Much easier to go to food! But there are no solutions there. It left me feeling bad about myself. So.... I have written two books to help people find that GPS inside.

"It Was Food vs Me...and I Won" (my memoir)
"Surprise Me!" (a fun light read with a buried message)

Both available on Amazon

I am here to help. authornancygoodman.com

Reviews

[Barbara Gottesman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book, helpful with emotional eating. A little TMI, in my opinion, but I think the author was just trying to relate her experiences to us and how we use food to try and fix things, heal emotionally, deal with life, etc. It was very open and honest and very repetitive to drill the point.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, honestly, I enjoyed this book. Usually I don't go for "self-help" or fad diet books, but this one seemed a bit different. As a girl who identifiers herself as an emotional eater, this book really made a lot of sense. Rather than it being a dieting book (as I am NOT a dieter, just someone who wants healthier food and excercise habits), Goodman deals with the reasons behind our food obsessions. And what girl can't say she doesn't relate to that in someway during our day and age? If it isn't counting calories at an obsessive level, it's eating far too many of them, without thinking that maybe there's something behind eating for the simple fact that it's enjoyable.

Goodman discusses why diets are bad and saying "no" to junk food or whatever it is you want to eat, is bad, too. She explains emotions, food, excercise, and how they're connected. She opens up and tells her personal story struggling with food and weight obsessions in her life, as well as the tribulations that caused her to use food as a way to "deal" with the bad.

Overall this book was insightful, and the author kept a personable tone that was friendly and trustworthy. I recommend it to anyone struggling with any obsession with food and/or weightloss.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

To her credit, Goodman does not spend an inordinate amount of time dwelling on the progression of her disease. Her focus remains on her recovery process. However, none of the tools she employed are particularly groundbreaking or earth-shattering. She simply kept a journal. It is wonderful that worked for her but the likelihood of daily journal entries being enough to sustain recovery for most people battling an eating disorder is minimal. Goodman delves into advice about the food and here is where she contradicts herself. On the one hand, she espouses the virtues of "freedom" and "flexibility" all the while maintaining a fairly rigid set of rules (i.e. don't eat x,y,z, don't eat after this time at night, this fruit is too high in sugar and should be avoided, certain foods should only be consumed at certain times of the day and in certain combinations) that offer anything but that.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does provide quite a few helpful hints on taking care of one's health via diet and exercise. It also provides insight into the mind of a binge eater. While Goodman's journey was a big challenge for her, it's hard for me to see her as a role model, as she's someone who has only ever been 15 lbs overweight (ay least that is my impression from the numbers she put in the book--I may have misread this). I'm guessing that this, and not "where she was in her journey at the time" is what probably stunted book sales--we all want to read about someone who's accomplished MORE than we'll ever be able to, in hopes that we can accomplish our own small goals.

While this book has some great ideas and is well-written, I would suggest this book to some who has binge eating issues instead of only weight-loss issues.

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly about binge eating. Some helpful insight and info but nothing earth-shattering.

[Aurora · Rating 2 out of 5]

A brave story