Arts Entertainment
Battle Of The Bulge
From food bingeing to concerns with body image to finding
a healthy way to eat, Jewish authors provide insights for people needing
diet information to help themselves and understand others.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
I
f you've invested in diet or exercise plans to
lose weight recently, you're not alone. A report
issued by Michigan State University this year
pegs payments for coping with weight issues at
$99.2 billion per year in the United States.
Michigan, it was reported, is the first among the
states in having overweight adults (38.7 percent) and
eighth highest in obese adults (22.4 percent).
Studies by the national Centers for Disease
Control note that obesity in the United Strates has
risen at an epidemic rate during the past 20 years,
even among children, who spend much of their free
time in front of the television and computer.
According to the MSU study, overweight is
defined as 20 percent above recommended levels,
while obesity is figured at 30 percent above recom-
mended pounds.
Compounding the "diet problem" are individuals
who have negative body images and believe they
need to lessen food intake when they really do not.
In four recent books, Jewish authors offer insights
into the "diet dilemma." Each one, whether focusing
on personalities or general findings, provides insights
for people needing diet information.
Two writers tackle eating and image problems that
detail personal dieting difficulties and coping mech-
anisms. The other two offer readers what they con-
sider to be healthy, enjoyable eating plans for life.
A Memoir Of Binge Eating
Betsy Lerner tried to write a novel about binge eat-
ing but was dissatisfied with each attempt. The liter-
ary agent, after years of working on her own fiction
project, finally realized that the writing would have
to be a matter of fact.
Lerner's own life, the inspiration for the"projected
work of fiction, became her subject, and the dramat-
ic result is a memoir, Food and Loathing (Simon &
Schuster; $22), which tells about her lifelong battle
against weight gain.
"Writing about myself wasn't anything I wanted to
do, but once I started, I realized I could just keep
going," says Lerner, 43, who takes readers back
many years and lingers longest on young adulthood.
"I kept 30 notebooks during the most difficult peri-
ods of my life and was able to use them."
The author, revealing her most intimate feelings
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2003
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toward her body and herself, explores how she went
back and forth between eating compulsively and los-
ing weight. As part of that, she describes the effects
from both types of behavior on her relationships and
details how she discovered and dealt with her core
problem, manic depression.
"When I got my driver's license, bingeing became
even easier," she writes. "I would sneak off ... for all
the junk food my mother never allowed in the
house. I'd go to fast food restaurants two towns
away so as not to run into anyone. I ate until I was
sick — often."
One of Lerner's goals in writing about her condi-
tion was to serve as a role model for others because
she was able to gain control of her problem. Another
goal was to inform relatives and friends about eating
issues faced by people they know.
Lerner, now settled
into a comfortable life
as a wife and mother
with a career, chronicles
how weight concerns
plagued her as a child
and continued through
college — until she
came close to suicide
and sought treatment in
a mental hospital.
Ultimately, her eating
problems would be
resolved through proper
doses of lithium, which Betsy Lerner: "I always
carry the person I was
she still takes under the
with me as I become a
guidance of a psy-
new person."
chopharmacologist.
"I wrote about a peri-
od that, in some cases, was 20 years old," explains
Lerner, who had only temporary success through
Overeaters Anonymous.
"I think I was able to write because I wasn't in any
real pain or danger. There were a couple of rocky
moments while I was writing, and I did cry a few
times."
Some of Lerner's saddest experiences had to do
with family discord, the use of illegal drugs and
recurring promiscuity, all related to her low self-
image and lack of self-esteem.
As she talks to groups about her book, she is able to
note the positive changes in her life and how she raises
her own 6-year-old daughter to prevent eating problems.
"From the time I got married, I felt much less angry
and much more secure," says Lerner, who met her hus-
band in a writing workshop in college. "When I had
my child, I think that brought out the best in me. The
anger has subsided."
Lerner, who writes about her Jewish upbringing and
cultural identity, found no help for her problems
through faith and married someone who is not Jewish.
Although she attends services to make her mother
happy, the writer is anti-religion, believing that strictly
following religious teaching leads to harm and discord.
She explains she finds more meaning in the arts.
"My feeling is that I always carry the person I was
with me as I become a new person," Lerner says.
"My strengths now are very much connected to my
fragility then.
"I still wish I could lose more weight, and I go up
and down a few
pounds all the time. I
don't go up and down
50 pounds; I go up and
FOOD AND
down 5 pounds. I
hoped the book would
LO AT HIN
release me from that,
but it hasn't."
While Lerner is glad
she has conquered the
negative behavior associ-
ated with overeating, she
also is glad that there
A LAME KT
have been many
advances in the treat-
ment of eating disorders
BETSY LERNER
and more opportunities
for help. She applies her
knowledge at home by
keeping snack eating low-key for her daughter.
"I would advise people with weight problems like I
had to see therapists trained specifically to deal with
them,""Lerner says. "I think I had periods in my life
when I could have achieved much more and suffered
less, but I don't think [doctors] knew enough then."
Body Image Issues
While Betsy Lerner tackled eating problems she
faced, Stephanie Pierson had to deal with eating
problems faced by her daughter during high school.
Phoebe Pierson had been starving herself at home
and forcing herself to vomit at school.
Even after the eating problems were addressed
through family counseling, body image issues
remained, and Pierson decided there ought to be a