cover image Shades of Hope: A Program to Stop Dieting and Start Living

Shades of Hope: A Program to Stop Dieting and Start Living

Tennie McCarty, foreword by Ashley Judd. Penguin/Amy Einhorn, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-399-15806-3

McCarty and Shades of Hope, her treatment center in Buffalo Gap, Tex., are familiar to fans of Oprah, Dr. Oz, and the Lifetime TV show, Ruby. During her years of success helping overeaters, bulimics, anorexics, and multiple-dependence drug, alcohol, and food addicts confront their disease and heal, McCarty has advocated an approach based on Alcoholic Anonymous’s 12 Step Program. A folksy and straight-forward professional, Tennie has seen it all and learned from her own addiction and recovery that eating disorders respond well to addiction treatment. The book suggests: Admission, which identifies why food addicts seek to fill a void and how to face the problem; Beliefs, about family roles and body image; Decision, which offers a key 12 Step spiritual component; Action, outlining the steps required to process such emotions as anger, fear, and loneliness; Results, about making amends and embracing feelings. Unlike other diet and nutrition books, there is scant scientific information about food and addiction, i.e., why sugar, flour, and caffeine cause physiological dependence, or why “trigger foods” change brain chemistry. The value of this book lies in its wakeup call about dysfunctional relationships to food. As hopeful as this book is, the remedy it provides is one that succeeds best in a therapeutic community. Agent: Trena Keating. (Apr.)