You know, it’s actually too bad that Susan Albers targeted this fine little book at emotional eaters, because it would be helpful to anyone with any kind of addiction. Albers has the rare and much-appreciated ability to cut to the chase and explain a complicated idea in a simple, abbreviated way. Even though she’s a shrink, Albers doesn’t lapse into psycho mumbo jumbo, an over-reliance on labeling and/or telling endless sad stories. This is so refreshing! Albers also brings a smartness and a practical, can-do approach to developing self-soothing skills. She’s very inspiring because as you read the book, it’s easy to imagine yourself implementing her recommendations.
The book title, 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself… is a clever play on the Paul Simon’s song title, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. The basic premise is that you have to find something helpful to do to calm your nerves instead of eating as your main source of comfort. Albers says that for many people, “eating to self sooth is a daily, chronic struggle.” Frequent eating to alleviate stress or negative feelings is typically referred to as binge-eating disorder, and it’s estimated that about 10 million people suffer from it. Although Alders distinguishes between emotional over-eating and stress-eating, they’re more similar than different. You’re either using food for non nutritional purposes, or your’e not.
Reasons why people, especially women, use food as a coping tool are briefly explained. Most interesting is the fact that certain foods have biochemical, mood-changing properties. We all know that eating takes the edge off of anger, sadness, boredom or depression. Dieting is another trigger. I wish Alders would have explained this point a little better because, well, most women either perpetually diet or perpetually feel bad because they aren’t dieting.
Alder’s organization of material is one of the strongest points of the book. Unlike many authors, she thoughtfully and strategically puts like things together. You’d think this would be a common book feature, but it’s not. It’s an exceptional one, and it really helps the reader to follow along and figure out how to progress. The 50 ways are put into five major categories with 10 activities in each category. There’s mindful meditation techniques, changing your thoughts, soothing sensations, distractions and social relationships.
I really liked that Alders provides insights and activities that you don’t find elsewhere, or at least that you don’t find all listed in one handy place. I also really like that Alders gives the reader so many doable and easy ideas to act on. The reader doesn’t have to solve every other life problem. All she (or he) has to do is pick one activity from each category and get going.
Albers is a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic Family Health Center who specializes in eating issues, weight loss, body image and mindfulness. She completed a post doctoral fellowship at Stanford University and is the author of Eating Mindfully and But I Deserve the Chocolate. For more information, go to her website at www.sootheyourselfwithoutfood.com
The print version of 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food is only $11.32 at Amazon.com, and the Kindle version is just $9.99, a great value for the price. I like this book a lot. It’s relevant, upbeat, doable, and you can read it in a couple of hours. Two thumbs up, err, maybe that should be 50 thumbs up!
This is Thomas Bien’s greeting to the world, and it’s the first thing you read when you visit his beautiful website at 
There are a couple of ways to drop old conditioning. The usual human (slow) route is contemplation, reflection, trying and resolutions. These all have to do with behavior. You look at the ways you live your life and then decide if some of your thinking/ways of living are no longer serving you, and then you drop it.
Resting in God takes you from a confused state of mind that is frantically trying to find solutions and leads it to a higher quiet state that is clear and steady. GO WITHIN is the fast track. When you meditation, you are giving yourself a chance to find your center and live from it. And when you find your center in God, all the energy fields which were running in every diretion chaotically suddenly come together at one point. And when this happens, when all the energy fields are aligned, things begin flowing the way God intended them to be.
End Your Addiction Now makes the case that biochemical imbalances, not emotional or psychological dysfunction, are both the cause and the cure of problems related to addictions. Authors Charles Grant and Greg Lewis excite and refresh the reader by defying conventional wisdom and introducing nutritional supplements as the most hopeful, efficient and speedy form of treatment for addictions. End Your Addiction Now is based on Grant’s 30 years of experience as a physician on a mission to help people to successfully, permanently recover from every kind of substance use/abuse problem.
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