The Rules of "Normal" Eating: A Commonsense Approach for Dieters, Overeaters, Undereaters, Emotional Eaters, and Everyone in Between!

Does this sound like you?

Food will make me fat. My body should be perfect. I am ashamed of how I eat. I am not in control of my body. I am only lovable when I'm thin. Eating is the only pleasure I have in life.

An unhealthy relationship with food, weight, and body image can cause scores of irrational beliefs—beliefs that will affect every aspect of your life. The Rules of “Normal” Eating targets these beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, and points the way toward genuine physical and emotional fulfillment. Filled with humorous insights, compassion, and practical wisdom, this book outlines balanced attitudes and patterns that will benefit all types of eaters.

• Learn the four rules that “normal” eaters follow instinctively.
• Change unhealthy thinking and old habits.
• Manage difficult emotions, rather than starving or stuffing them.
• Feel healthy and “normal” around food.
• Create a life that is truly satisfying and fulfilling.

Psychotherapist and educator, former chronic dieter and world-class binger, Karen Koenig, LicSW, M.Ed. transformed herself from overweight and unhappy to fulfilled and weight-comfortable by learning to become a "normal" eater. She is a clinical social worker in private practice with more than 20 years' experience helping hundreds of compulsive, emotional, and restrictive eaters learn to eat normally.

A skilled and dynamic teacher, Ms. Koenig runs graduate social work and psychology continuing education programs in eating and weight management, where she teaches her "normal eating" model. She is a founding member of the Greater Boston Committee of the Massachusetts Eating Disorders Association, and is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers, Massachusetts Chapter Private Practice Committee.

As a frequent contributor to Focus, NASW's state publication, Ms. Koenig has written columns on eating, weight, and body image problems. Her personal essays have been published in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, and other local and national publications. She was a semifinalist in the 1999 Massachusetts Film Office Screenwriting Contest and received a Certificate of Achievement in the 1996 Writer's Digest Literary Short Story Contest. Over the past three decades, she has been interviewed on radio, television, and in print and served as spokeswoman for groups such as 9 to 5, Organization of Women Office Workers, the FACE Program, and the Self-Esteem Boston Educational Institute.