Title: When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair
Author: Geneen Roth
Published: 1998
ISBN-13: 9780786885084
Publisher: Hyperion

The connection between eating and emotions is deep and tight.  It’s a way we learn to soothe ourselves, to fill the holes in our hearts, and may be one area in which we feel we’re in control.

Geneen Roth’s book is about the ways we trick ourselves into sabotaging ourselves with food, and how to become more aware and stop the damage.

Anyone who has known me for more than five minutes knows that I have issues.  Lots and lots of issues which I use food to deal with.  Emotional eating is a learned trait, and did I ever learn it well.

I’m not sure why I initially picked up When You Eat the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair, something clearly resonated.  Becoming the person you love most in your own life is hard, challenging work.  One needs a lot of help to get there.

Roth goes beyond the “just stop eating so much,” or “trade gluten free for x,” form of food talk.  In 50 short (2-3 pages) chapters, she writes about the issues emotional eating covers and offers ways to break some of the chains we’ve formed over the years.

Most of them are things I already do, like wearing bright colors.  If you haven’t seen my wardrobe, it’s filled with bright pinks and deep purples.  But that’s a recent change for me.

When You Eat the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair isn’t about body image or acceptance, it’s about learning to love ourselves as the gems we are, regardless of our looks.  It’s about learning to stop tearing ourselves down.