Roxanne reviews Words to Eat By: Using the Power of Self-Talk to Transform Your Relationship with Food and Your Body by Karen R. Koenig, LSW, M.ED
Let’s just say that due to my Masters in Counseling and the fifteen years I spent tending to students, teachers and parents, that I’ve been around the block several times in regards to reading self-help books. This experience enables me to differentiate books that simply regurgitate tactics (which still hold value considering many of us fall back into dysfunction given stress or simple every day distractions) vs. books employing innovative approaches, captivating enough to seem novel.
And the latter is exactly what Words to Eat By by Karen Koenig, LCSW, M.ED is...it is fresh and nurturing in a way that I’ve never read before. Karen’s truly calming and reassuring voice is clearly shaped by her personal past dysfunctional eating and current successful career as a therapist (each chapter ends with a case study she navigated).
Her plans and advice are simple yet extremely complex; as our neural pathways formed around food relationships can have roots deeper than the oldest redwood tree. Hence, practice is the only thing that makes perfect, or in this case, self-loving. You have to read the book to glean her savvy ideas, but I will share two items I found particularly irresistible.
First, Koenig gives side by side unhealthy self-talk sentences paired with healthy self-talk sentences. Again, sounds trite, but until you capture these negative moths flying around in your head that cause your mindless eating, you can’t replace them with healthier alternatives.
Second, I love Koenig’s concept that the opposing force to shame is pride. She accurately realizes that many of us grew up in shame based houses which produced very self-destructive behavior, a place where many feel oddly at home. Her encouragement is to focus on the tiny incremental language choices we make in our heads that can institute huge positive changes in our lives.
Karen Koenig will be joining the Mindful Book Club February 22nd at 6 pm to talk about her book and process and take questions from the audience via Zoom. Click here to make a reservation. Your purchase includes a copy of Words to Eat By.