Arlene B. Englander, LCSW, MBA is a Columbia University trained licensed psychotherapist who has created health promotion programs on stress management, emotional overeating and other subjects for hospitals, corporations and law firms. Currently in private practice in North Palm Beach, she specializes in helping emotional overeaters move past their emotional issues to lead happier and healthier lives. “Let Go of Emotional Overeating and Love Your Food: A Five-Point Plan for Success” is her psychologically centered program to help people learn to eat whatever they like and stop just at the point of satisfaction without overeating.

Emotional overeating is “eating neither for enjoyment nor for the satisfaction of hunger, but in a desperate attempt to distract oneself from painful thoughts and feelings.” As a former emotional overeater, the author offers psychologically sound techniques for recognizing the symptoms of overeating and methods for addressing it in effective and enjoyable ways.

“Let Go of Emotional Overeating” begins with an Introduction, where she lists the sobering statistics from a 1999 article in American Demographics that stated that 54% of Americans clean their plates even when they are full and that 19% continue to eat even when they are stuffed. Her main purpose in writing this book is to help readers cope with life’s stressors without using food as a crutch and instead get more enjoyment out of food and life. The book is divided into ten chapters: the first two deal with the difference between truly tasting and savoring food versus using it as a stress reliever and how destructive diets really are; the rest explain how to deal more effectively with stress, how to learn to love exercise and how to eat at parties, vacations and with friends and family.

The subject of overeating can be hard to navigate but it is helpful to have someone who has been there and understands the struggles involved. This gives Arlene Englander the credibility to write such an insightful book that gives readers hope that they too can successfully manage the issue. Mindfulness has become mainstream lately and that, along with self-awareness, is the breakthrough method of dealing with overeating. She effectively uses her own experiences, case illustrations and humor to relate to her readers. The language is plain and simple to understand without too much medical and psychological terminology. Highlights include Chapter 3, where she explains how readers can spot the symptoms of excessive stress and Chapter 5 which gives readers the RAFT technique she uses to enjoy a meal so that they too can determine when they are full so they can stop eating. Also helpful is Chapter 6, as it gives helpful tips on learning to eat healthier foods. “Let Go of Emotional Overeating” is an incredibly useful resource guide and is recommended for readers who wants to learn how to stop letting food control their lives.

“The beauty of learning to soothe ourselves-on our own, or with the help of others-is that it enables us to seize the power that food once held for us.”

*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.