Dying to Be Beautiful: Help, Hope, and Healing for Eating Disorders

Thin is pretty. And looks are everything.

Throw in feelings of worthlessness. Add an overactive conscience. Result: an obsession with physical perfection that ends in defeat, failure, and shame.

This book offers a boost out of the black hole of food fixations: anorexia, bulimia, and exercise dependence. The authors review the standard therapies (behavioral, cognitive, psychodynamic, family, support groups, drugs) and include appendixes on relevant literature and treatment resources. But it is the detailed, heart -rending stories of struggle and triumph-including Schwirzer's own-that lift the heart and reveal the secret of victory: breaking the isolation and turning the eyes away from self to fix them on God.

Jennifer's is a fresh voice in the field of eating disorders. Her personal struggle with anorexia nervosa, and that of the young women whose stories she tells, offers a new means of achieving wellness in concert with traditional psychotherapy-the healing power of faith in God. From deep feelings of worthlessness and a desperate need to be loved, these young women transformed their lives through a belief that God loves them unconditionally.-Dr. Elizabeth Poss Colebrook, author, Anorexia Nervosa

These insidious, debilitating diseases are tearing the core out of so many precious lives. Jennifer Schwirzer's personal and anecdotal insights provide a timely call to a culture inundated by the message to be perfect or fail. Ultimately, true and consistent healing can take place only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is a much-needed book.-Joseph DeAngelis, M.A., Licensed Professional Counselor, Connecticut.

Jennifer Schwirzer almost died of anorexia in 1978, at age 19. In 1999 she graduated summa cum laude from Atlantic Union College. She is the manager of Expressly Vegetarian Café in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, and is the founder of Michael Ministries, a music/speaking/writing ministry. She has produced six CDs of her own music and given concerts in the United States, Canada, Africa, South America, and Europe. Previous books include Testimony of a Seeker, A Most Precious Message, and I Want It All. Jennifer and husband, Michael, have been married for more than 20 years and have two children, Alison and Kimberly.

Winston J. Craig, Ph.D., R.D., is professor of nutrition and director of the dietetic internship at Andrews University, where he has taught nutrition health since 1987. He has authored more than 125 articles for scholarly journals and lay publications, written five books on nutrition, and conducted seminars on four continents.