I battled an eating disorder for close to 20 years and often alternated between starving myself and compulsively overeating. When I was fortunate enough to find a great recovery program, I was in the middle of a binge eating phase and fully expected the nutritionist to teach me how to STOP eating, I was completely surprised when instead, she taught me how to START! I had a very unhealthy relationship with food and, like most people, was terrified of fat and calories and tried to eliminate them from my diet as much as I could. This resulted in the all too familiar yo-yo dieting situation. The first thing I was told to do was to STOP buying any products described as: Light, Low-fat, fat-free, diet or sugar-free. Then, I was told to stop counting calories and fat grams and start listening to what my body wants to eat. I was terrified at first, since I was convinced I'd end up gaining weight, but I was willing to try anything that could bring me freedom from my eating disorder.

What I discovered, was that by eating REAL foods that weren't loaded with chemicals and fillers, I found myself ENJOYING food for the first time and learned that when you eat foods that you enjoy, you need to eat less of it to feel satisfied. The most surprising part, is that I actually LOST weight! Food shouldn't be feared, just understood, appreciated and enjoyed.

While I knew enough to avoid "Diet foods" because of the added chemicals, until I read "Unjunk your junk Food" I had no idea how misleading labels could be. Some of the scariest foods can be wrapped in the healthiest looking packages. The biggest lesson I learned was to stop reading the large print on the front and start reading the small print on the back!

Marci Warhaft-Nadler