6 Books to Gift Yourself this Holiday

Tis the Season

If you are feeling anxious about the holidays, you are not alone. It is easy to become overwhelmed with the decorations, gift exchanges, and holiday traditions barreling towards us. Thankfully, books make great gifts and there are countless options to choose from. But in the rush to find the perfect presents for your family and friends this holiday season, don’t forget about yourself. There are so many great eating disorder recovery books available.

Consider why we give gifts. They are a way we show appreciation and love for others. Nothing compares to the amazing feeling of seeing a loved one’s eyes light up as they unwrap the perfect gift. But why not show ourselves some love and appreciation this year? Let’s face it- 2020 has been rough on everyone.

If you are fighting for recovery from an eating disorder, you deserve to treat yourself.

Gift Yourself These Books to Propel Your Own Recovery from an Eating Disorder

There are so many amazing books to choose from. Keep reading for a few of our favorites.

Radical Belonging : How to Survive and Thrive in an Unjust World (While Transforming it for the Better) by Lindo Bacon

From the author of Health at Every Size, and the co-author of Body Respect, this book provides the reader with a new framework to view our personal struggles. Radical Belonging addresses the way political, sociological, psychological, and biological factors all influence how we feel in our bodies. Because our culture alienates any bodies that are not the “ideal norm,” most of us feel wounded and divided.

Too many of us feel alienated from our bodies. This isn’t your personal failing; it means that our culture is failing you.

Lindo Bacon

In addition to giving strategies to help reclaim yourself, body, and soul, this book also teaches how to rewire your nervous system to help cope with injustice. Bacon takes it a step further by also suggesting ways we can create a world that values all bodies.

Get the book Radical Belonging here.

Dietland by Sarai Walker

This bestselling novel is a bold, funny, and unique read. Dietland is Sarai Walkers’s first novel. The reader follows the adventures of Plum Kettle, a young fat lady who initially does everything she can to keep from being noticed. As she meets intriguing characters along her journey, she begins to question the beauty industry, gender inequality, and the way our society is obsessed with weight loss. Plum describes the dilemma of living in diet culture:

That required living in Dietland, which meant control, constriction—paralysis, even—but above all it meant obedience. I was tired of being obedient.

Sarai Walker

This book is a pageturner that will inspire you to take a deeper look into the ways you have been influenced by diet culture while also entertaining you. There is also an AMC show based off of the book.

Get the book Dietland here.

Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women Can Transform Their Relationships with Food Through Myth, Metaphor, and Storytelling by Dr. Anita Johnston

Dr. Anita Johnston’s Eating in the Light of the Moon is a life-changing read. This powerful book helps the reader explore the deeper issues below an eating disorder.

This book is for all those women who have dared to open to their full potential, to listen to the wise woman inside of them, to speak their truth, and to help heal this earth- and for those who want to.

Anita Johnston, Ph.D.

Although aimed at helping women who struggle with eating disorders, this book would be an excellent read for anyone.

Get Eating in the Light of the Moon here.

The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor

In the incredible book, The Body is Not An Apology, world-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor explores the way systems of oppression thrive off of our inability to make peace with our own bodies. Taylor describes her definition of radical self-love and provides questions and reflections throughout to help the reader learn to reconnect with themselves and:

get on with living our highest, most radically unapologetic lives.

Sonya Renee Taylor

Get the book The Body is Not an Apology here.

Antidiet- Reclaim Your Time, Money, Wellbeing, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating by Christy Harrison

Christy Harrison is a registered dietitian nutritionist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and host of the podcast Foodpsych. In Antidiet, she calls diet culture a “Life Thief” and does an amazing job examining and exposing the lies it has been built on.

The movement to dismantle diet culture is a movement for social justice, for equal rights, for people in bodies of all shapes and sizes.

Christy Harrison

This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning how diet culture is rooted in racism, classism, fatphobia, and social injustice. It also explains the sneaky ways diet culture has changed over time. Antidiet clearly exposes how the messages we are bombarded with via diet culture are not only inaccurate but also extremely harmful.

Get the book Antidiet here.

The Gift of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown

Brene Brown is a writer and research professor who has studied shame and the way it affects our lives. Her book The Gifts of Imperfection is all about living what she calls “wholeheartedly.”

Wholehearted living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness.

Brene Brown

She describes wholehearted living as a journey we remain on our entire lives. Each chapter explains a guidepost, has examples of it, and then offers practical suggestions and questions that will help you dig deeper on your journey to living wholeheartedly.

Get the book The Gifts of Imperfection here.

Happy Reading

We hope you enjoy this list and that these books help with your own eating disorder recovery. We would love to hear from you in the comments below. What are some of your favorite reads?

To read more from Lisette and learn about opportunities to work with her in private coaching please visit her website here, or follow her on instagram here.