This is an engaging memoir backed up by research, interviews and fact-based arguments. Any woman who reads this will see herself in it in some capacity, and it was especially poignant to read at the beginning of the year when everyone's making weight loss resolutions.

“It’s only when we feel safe, not judged, not crazy, that a lot of other people feel some of the exact same things, that we can better identify what we are really feeling, and what we really need. We can better hear our own voice. And not just with food and our bodies. In every part of our lives.”

A deep in the trenches, heartfelt look at our culture, - its obsession with female bodies, the very narrow allowance for approved female weight, and the suffocating judgement of
“goodness”, or “worthiness” - all jumbled up together, as we learn the intractable rules and burn as we fail, again and again, burdened with the baggage of our own biology. For we are what we eat, literally, in a world that never stops demanding we consume less (ironically, in a culture and economy dominated by consumption), squash out our hunger, support our “health”, and suffer more. And the majority of us, many battling eating disorders, psychological devastation, and overwhelming confusion, do our outmost to comply. Blindly.

This eye-opening treatise, (the authors decades-long struggle with her own eating disorder) is a reminder, again, (in a world that needs more reminders), that no matter what they all say, we are perfect, we are human, and the path to self acceptance, particularly for females, (but true for us all), is necessarily fraught with landmines. There are no easy answers, and recovery, though just conceivably possible, is a tricky and precarious process.

A fascinating read, and one that is so necessary, - providing analysis, resources and insight in this thoughtful and compassionate exposé - and along the way perhaps, uncovering just enough hope to finally take this topic forward in a new direction.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts provided are my own.

I thought this was relevant book about eating disorders, food insecurity and and double standards. The author/journalist does a great job of presenting the facts that people have to look a certain way, be a certain weight, eat certain things. etc. Health professionals and therapists only add to the issue and may not be looking out for your best interest. Also that you cannot trust someone just because they say they are a "therapist." According to the author's opinion, most of these therapists are brainwashed to believe unhealthy relationships with food and diet trends/fabs are ok.

I thought this book provided some good information but there was nothing new that I already did not know about previously. It may help and inspire other people to be healthy and seek their regular medical provider for help. I thought this book would have been better if would have talked about most of the world eating overly processed foods and most seeing that this ok.

Not for me. Cannot recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley, Cole Kazdin and St Martins Press Essential for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Already available

Found it quite the insightful read. A fresh perspective on an issue I did not know a lot about. The personal approach of the author describing her own experiences with ED lent a lot to it.

There can never be enough written to try to understand eating disorders and reverse our epidemic of body anxiety. In this smart book, Cole Kazdin contributes to healing these difficulties. The book is well researched and thoughtful. It’s.a good read for those trying to understand more.

More memoir than I was expecting, but the scientific research was well woven throughout. I just wish there'd been more of it. There was a lot that was new to me here despite having read a good bit previously on the topic, so I felt like I learned a good bit and it's very worthwhile for that.

TW: Mention of ED

I enjoyed reading What’s Eating Us By Cole Kazdin. Even though it’s a difficult topic to discuss, and it’s still difficult to read about eating disorders, this book was a necessary eye-opener. Kazdin details her own struggles with an eating disorder from childhood until now, while using statistics, the most recent research, additional information provided by researchers, and anecdotes from people who have also struggled with eating disorders.

The description of her own experiences with an eating disorder as well as the treatment of an eating disorder provided so much insight and warmth into a topic that can feel very isolating for so many people. Kazdin’s vulnerability is refreshing and imparts so much wisdom and reality into the entire book.

I really appreciated the fact that she highlighted the differences in eating disorder diagnosis and treatment between racial/ethnic groups as well as between social groups. I learned so much from this book and am looking forward to reading more from Kazdin and continuing to learn more about eating disorders. This book is a good introduction into learning about the current understanding and treatment of eating disorders in the United States. It is surely a shock to learn about the deficits and continued mistreatment of eating disorders in this country. Anyone who is interested in learning more about this topic should read this book.

Thank you to St.Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Absolutely phenomenal! Kazdin has written an incredibly honest and relatable book about the struggles of eating disorders. The amount of inclusivity and care that was taken to find and represent marginalized voices was a step in the right direction for this genre of work. As was looking at the development of eating disorders as a multii-layered issue that has roots in not just our biology and environments, but also cultural and societal influences. I appreciated Kazdin's blunt style of writing, which helped some of her points sink in more quickly. Things I may have read in other books, in other words, felt more resonate and honest. More true.

This was such an eye opening book. While I didn't agree with everything I really enjoyed this read. I would recommend this to other people for sure

What's Eating Us is a shocking look at the state of eating disorders. Like much of the healthcare system, it is broken and deeply flawed, however, the degree to which it is failing patients is shocking. I was also completely floored to take an introspective look at my own "disordered eating" - although I do not have an eating disorder, this helped me understand more about what it looks like and how to help those who are struggling. The author's journey through her own eating disorder was powerful and moving in so many ways. It's easy to identify with her hustle mindset.

Thank you to netgalley and St. Martin's press for the ARC of this title.

I don’t know much about eating disorders so I was super excited to dive into this book. I was not disappointed! I found it all so incredibly interesting and enlightening and it will definitely make me more conscious of the words and terms I use around food in the future

A great read the pushed me to reflect on my own experiences with food, body image and disordered eating. Will purchase a copy for my own !

"What's Eating Us?" focuses on Cole Kazdin's struggle with a persistent eating disorder that she was determined to hide from her friends and family. She binged, purged, and exercised excessively in an effort to stay slim. Ms. Kazdin is an award-winning journalist who cites scientific studies, interviews experts, and has poignant conversations with women who, like her, are anxious about their body size.

Physicians and psychologists do not agree on what causes girls and women to embrace dysfunctional eating behaviors. We do know that eating disorders take a tremendous physical and mental toll on millions of people. Furthermore, these conditions are difficult to treat, since so many patients resist seeking help. Even when they do, they often backslide. Sometimes, success is measured in slow progress—eating a bit more and bingeing less. It does not help that body shaming, especially on social media, is so common.

Kazdin traces her disordered eating history with brutal honesty. She received an excellent education and embarked on a fulfilling career, but for quite a while could not break free of her self-destructive habits. In this well-written and powerful work of non-fiction, Kazdin provides both factual information and heartrending anecdotes. She dismisses commercial weight-loss diets as useless and dangerous; condemns the medical profession's indifference to women of color who suffer from eating disorders; and suggests techniques that can help foster recovery. "What's Eating Us?" is an instructive, compassionate, and practical addition to the existing literature on anorexia, bulimia, and other devastating examples of disordered eating.

I loved this book - easy to read and so informative about the relationships we form with food and our bodies. I've been reading so much about diet culture and our society and this really added to my knowledge. A valuable resource for so many!

Super informative, reads more like a memoir than traditional non-fic which i really liked. I think the author's personal story added a lot to the factual information that was given.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! So this book definitely goes into eating disorders and their recovery a bit more than I anticipated... which was definitely interesting and helpful. I'm so glad she brings up how disproportionately eating disorders affect BIPOC populations and yet there is not a ton of research/visibility/recovery support for them. I also enjoyed hearing about the author's experience and how personal this work is for her.

I wish I could scream from the rooftops about this book! Cole Kazdin sums up perfectly what women face on a daily basis when it comes to body anxiety, disordered eating, and self-perception. I thought it was so powerful to open the book with a quote from Glennon Doyle basically saying that powerful women will be in their 80's still saying they should only have a quarter of a cookie. Like many other women, I suffer from body anxiety and disordered eating. Each chapter made me want to yell in solidarity while also crying because I felt so soon. It's comforting to know you're not alone but also incredibly frustrating to know that the world we live in sabotages us every single day. To be told we must finish our plates yet are called out for eaching too much, to being celebrated for losing weight and looking thinner when unhealthy methods may have been used to get there -- all of it creates such a toxic culture that author Cole Kazdin captures in so many honest, blunt, and eye-opening ways throughout the book. Reading how low-fat diets were only recommended for those with a heart condition was jaw-dropping, as were some of the other little-known facts about how and why we believe the food myths so many of us subscribe to. I wish I was friends with Kazdin --- we should start a club for women who are just over all of it! But fair warning: If you're not ready to look inside yourself to see what your brain tricks you into believing about your body or the way you eat, you may not be ready for this book. I went into it knowing I suffer from disordered eating and I was still uncomfortable at times, so I can only imagine someone who isn't ready to face their unhealthy habits or patterns may feel. That's not to say this isn't a good book (it's great!), just that not everyone may be ready for it...

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

Kazdin has written a thoroughly researched and thought-provoking book on disordered eating. Her writing style is engaging, witty, and moving, all of which help convey the truth behind eating disorders and their recoveries. She doesn't shy away from calling out not only the diet industry but also the medical field for their parts in underdiagnosing and failed treatments for eating disorders. Kazdin details the complexities of disordered eating (news flash, it's more than body image or insecurities) and breaks down WHY most treatments fail and where the new research and treatments are headed. She also approaches the racism and oppression within the medical and mental health with sensitivity and honesty, recognizing and voicing her own privilege.

The book contains many helpful resources. It is not a step-by-step guide, but she does walk the reader through some of her own therapies (failures and success) which I found helpful. Highly recommended for anyone who has ever struggled with food issues or knows someone who does. Also highly recommended for public library collections.

This book was triggering for me and might be for any woman with disordered eating (abnormal eating patterns) and eating disorders (clinical diagnoses) but I think it is an important read nonetheless. It definitely challenged my thinking about my body and my relationships with food, dieting, exercise, and the dreadful scale. I appreciated Kazdin’s candid writing about her struggle with an eating disorder and her journey to recovery. A lot of the statistics in the book are alarming (“90% of all women aren’t satisfied with their bodies” for example) and it’s clear there is not enough research (or funding for research) on eating disorders or disordered eating. Kazdin says “the antidote to all of this [dieting] nonsense is moderation of a variety of foods.” It makes me think of the Michael Pollan quote: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." After finishing this book I needed to process my thoughts and feelings so I typed up two single-spaced pages about my disordered eating that began literally in infancy - I was given Tang (a sweetened artificial orange drink) in a bottle, and put on a diet by my parents at age 5. Kazdin advises us to stop labeling foods as “good” or “bad.” Stop talking about our weight or diet or what we are/aren’t eating (sugar, carbs, bread…). And in general STOP TALKING ABOUT WOMEN’S BODIES.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was my first time alternating between reading and listening to a book on audio. While I usually prefer to read a book, it was powerful to hear the author narrate her own story.

As a woman who has struggled with eating, body image, and been virtually every size, this book allowed me to feel seen. It helps to know that I am not alone in these struggles. Sadly, there is no quick fix or cure. Our failure as a society to make lasting changes leaves ALL women susceptible.

Cole Kazdin should be applauded for her vulnerability and for bringing awareness to a taboo issue. She not only opened my eyes to fact that while help is available, it is primarily geared toward white women. Women who fall in the BIPOC demographic fall through the cracks because the systems in place do not take them into account. This is unacceptable and must be remedied.

*This book deals heavily with disordered eating, negative body image, and mental health. It is a terrific read, but may trigger some readers.

Special thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Essential, and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read and listen to this book in exchange for my honest feedback.