Here are 100 books that 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder fans have personally recommended if you like 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders

Jenna Hollenstein Author Of Intuitive Eating for Life: How Mindfulness Can Deepen and Sustain Your Intuitive Eating Practice

From my list on reality-check your relationship with food and body.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m obsessed with the connections between Buddhist philosophy, meditation, Intuitive Eating, eating disorder and addiction recovery, body liberation, and intersectional social justice work. These connections are everywhere! It may not seem like it, but how we relate to food and our bodies reflects how we feel about all bodies. How we speak to ourselves reflects how we feel about difference, difficulty, and interdependence. Challenging our entrenched beliefs about health, eating, food, and body helps us to ultimately recognize the inherent worthiness of all bodies. This is how we both come to know ourselves authentically and how we change the world for the better. 

Jenna's book list on reality-check your relationship with food and body

Jenna Hollenstein Why Jenna loves this book

Few people – perhaps even those of us in the eating disorders field – really appreciate just how common eating disorders and disordered eating are.

In this book, an eating disorder physician calls into question the cognitive distortion that someone isn’t “sick enough” to warrant intervention and eating disorder recovery.

I love how Dr. Gaudiani not only covers the reddest flags of eating disorders, but acknowledges what many of us have come to regard as “normal” but in reality is disordered, dangerous, and harmful.

By Jennifer L. Gaudiani ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Sick Enough as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Patients with eating disorders frequently feel that they aren't "sick enough" to merit treatment, despite medical problems that are both measurable and unmeasurable. They may struggle to accept rest, nutrition, and a team to help them move towards recovery. Sick Enough offers patients, their families, and clinicians a comprehensive, accessible review of the medical issues that arise from eating disorders by bringing relatable case presentations and a scientifically sound, engaging style to the topic. Using metaphor and patient-centered language, Dr. Gaudiani aims to improve medical diagnosis and treatment, motivate recovery, and validate the lived experiences of individuals of all body…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bulimia: Using DBT to Break the Cycle and Regain Control of Your Life

Karyn D. Hall Author Of The Radically Open DBT Workbook for Eating Disorders: From Overcontrol and Loneliness to Recovery and Connection

From my list on recovery from eating disorders.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been interested in psychological health since I was in high school and continue to search for interventions and preventions to alleviate mental illness and build mental health. I’m a licensed psychologist and coach focusing on evidenced based treatments, with a special interest in how people connect and the impact of loneliness. Despite a growing population, more people are feeling lonely, including adolescents, and loneliness can often be a root cause of mental suffering. Loneliness is common among individuals with anorexia and other eating disorders as well as chronic depression. Addressing how to connect and how they may be blocking connections can be a complicated but needed process. My work is focused in this area.

Karyn's book list on recovery from eating disorders

Karyn D. Hall Why Karyn loves this book

Eating disorder behaviors often reflect a coping skills deficit and this workbook focuses on skills to manage emotions and address the issue of a need to be in control. This workbook offers new ways to overcome distress and negative body image beliefs that keep you stuck in a destructive cycle. This workbook uses multiple exercises to help you learn and practice skills rather than just understanding skills, which makes a difference. 

By Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher , Michael Maslar ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bulimia as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

At the root of bulimia is a need to feel in control. While purging is a strategy for controlling weight, bingeing is an attempt to calm depression, stress, shame, and even boredom. The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bulimia offers new and healthy ways to overcome the distressing feelings and negative body-image beliefs that keep you trapped in this cycle.

In this powerful program used by therapists, you'll learn four key skill sets-mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness-and begin using them right away to manage bulimic urges. The book includes worksheets and exercises designed to help you…


Book cover of Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food

Karyn D. Hall Author Of The Radically Open DBT Workbook for Eating Disorders: From Overcontrol and Loneliness to Recovery and Connection

From my list on recovery from eating disorders.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been interested in psychological health since I was in high school and continue to search for interventions and preventions to alleviate mental illness and build mental health. I’m a licensed psychologist and coach focusing on evidenced based treatments, with a special interest in how people connect and the impact of loneliness. Despite a growing population, more people are feeling lonely, including adolescents, and loneliness can often be a root cause of mental suffering. Loneliness is common among individuals with anorexia and other eating disorders as well as chronic depression. Addressing how to connect and how they may be blocking connections can be a complicated but needed process. My work is focused in this area.

Karyn's book list on recovery from eating disorders

Karyn D. Hall Why Karyn loves this book

Our survival and health depends on the food we eat, yet so many have a conflicted relationship with food. In Mindful Eating, the author helps the reader regain joy in eating through eating mindfully. She discusses the nine types of hunger as well as six guidelines for mindful eating. A Zen teacher, her writing is clear and easy to understand. 

By Jan Chozen Bays ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mindful Eating as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Turn food from foe to friend with this bestselling guide to developing healthy eating habits through mindfulness practices—from a beloved Zen teacher

Food. It should be one of life’s great pleasures, yet many of us have such a conflicted relationship with it that we miss out on that most basic of satisfactions.  But it is possible—and not really all that difficult—to reclaim the joy of eating, according to Dr. Jan Bays. Mindfulness is the key. Her approach involves bringing one's full attention to the process of eating—to all the tastes, smells, thoughts, and feelings that arise during a meal. She…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of Decoding Anorexia: How Breakthroughs in Science Offer Hope for Eating Disorders

Karyn D. Hall Author Of The Radically Open DBT Workbook for Eating Disorders: From Overcontrol and Loneliness to Recovery and Connection

From my list on recovery from eating disorders.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been interested in psychological health since I was in high school and continue to search for interventions and preventions to alleviate mental illness and build mental health. I’m a licensed psychologist and coach focusing on evidenced based treatments, with a special interest in how people connect and the impact of loneliness. Despite a growing population, more people are feeling lonely, including adolescents, and loneliness can often be a root cause of mental suffering. Loneliness is common among individuals with anorexia and other eating disorders as well as chronic depression. Addressing how to connect and how they may be blocking connections can be a complicated but needed process. My work is focused in this area.

Karyn's book list on recovery from eating disorders

Karyn D. Hall Why Karyn loves this book

In Decoding Anorexia, a past sufferer of anorexia and a scientist, discusses the neuroscience and biology that underlies the disorder. She notes the reasons for the call to starvation and the characteristics of the people who are at risk for this disorder. She demystifies the disorder by offering a clear science-based explanation that includes the biological and environmental factors that can lead to the disorder. Understanding biology can be helpful in understanding the ups and downs of recovery and why it’s a difficult journey.

By Carrie Arnold ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Decoding Anorexia as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Decoding Anorexia is the first and only book to explain anorexia nervosa from a biological point of view. Its clear, user-friendly descriptions of the genetics and neuroscience behind the disorder is paired with first person descriptions and personal narratives of what biological differences mean to sufferers. Author Carrie Arnold, a trained scientist, science writer, and past sufferer of anorexia, speaks with clinicians, researchers, parents, other family members, and sufferers about the factors that make one vulnerable to anorexia, the neurochemistry behind the call of starvation, and why it's so hard to leave anorexia behind. She also addresses:
* How environment…


Book cover of Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel

Meg Arroll Author Of Tiny Traumas: When You Don't Know What's Wrong, but Nothing Feels Quite Right

From my list on helping you understand why you feel the way you fee.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a psychologist, yet I am also a human being with real, complex, and, at times, disturbing thoughts and feelings. I would say I’ve learnt more from my own experiences and those shared by others than any training or qualifications. I never tire of listening to these real-life narratives, which are full of more color and depth than our rudimentary single-word emotion labels describe. I gather these stories up to feed my emotobiome (our microscopic inner world of feelings) along with the books and learnings from my list. I hope you’ll join me on this rollercoaster ride through human feelings–I wouldn’t miss it for the world. 

Meg's book list on helping you understand why you feel the way you fee

Meg Arroll Why Meg loves this book

I loved this scientific yet readable book because it gave me the physiological answers to why we feel the way we feel!

As a psychologist, I’m used to helping people unpick their trauma and past experiences to give insight to their present emotions, but reading this book gave me further understanding on a molecular level.

As a practitioner, I often bang on about the mind-body connection and how we can use the mind to help heal the body and vice versa, and this book gave me robust explanations regarding the role of neurochemicals to help explain this interaction to my clients. 

By Candace B. Pert ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Molecules of Emotion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Why do we feel the way we feel? How do our thoughts and emotions affect our health? Are our bodies and minds distinct from each other or do they function together as part of an interconnected system? In MOLECULES OF EMOTION, neuroscientist Candace Pert provides startling and decisive answers to these long-debated questions, establishing the biomolecular basis for our emotions and explaining these new scientific developments in a clear and accessible way. Her pioneering research on how the chemicals inside us form a dynamic information network, linking mind and body, is not only provocative, it is revolutionary. In her groundbreaking…


Book cover of Spontaneous Happiness: A New Path to Emotional Well-Being

Bonnie Kaplan Author Of The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition

From my list on improving your brain health.

Why am I passionate about this?

During my career, when someone asked if I had read a particular book on mental health, my reaction was “why would I read interpretive books when I already read the actual studies on which those books are based?” Eventually, I began to discover what I had been missing. There are many excellent books that enhanced my knowledge of mental health and nutrition, and I am grateful for many more than the five listed here. But even so, in 2020 Julia and I concluded that there was a huge gap in the books available --- so we wrote The Better Brain to educate people about what micronutrients do in our brains.

Bonnie's book list on improving your brain health

Bonnie Kaplan Why Bonnie loves this book

Dr. Weil is a true pioneer of trying to educate both the general public and health clinicians about non-drug approaches to improving health. He has published a couple of dozen books to share his knowledge about botanicals, nutrients, true food, inflammation  --- as well as other integrative skills and knowledge (breathing, meditation). The reason I selected this book to highlight is because it reminds us of the range of human emotions that are ‘normal’: as he says, it is not realistic to expect to be happy all the time. But eating a diet of healthy whole foods, avoiding ultra-processed products, and using supplements as needed --- these steps can improve our society’s mental health. 

By Andrew Weil ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Spontaneous Happiness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Dr Andrew Weil charts a new path to finding lasting happiness
Everyone wants to be happy. But what does that really mean? Increasingly, scientific evidence shows us that true satisfaction and well-being come only from within.
Dr Andrew Weil has proven that the best way to maintain optimum physical health is to draw on both conventional and alternative medicine. Now, in Spontaneous Happiness, he gives us the foundation for attaining and sustaining optimum emotional health. Rooted in Dr Weil's pioneering work in integrative medicine, the book suggests a reinterpretation of the notion of happiness, discussing the limitations of modern medicine…


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Book cover of Head Over Heels

Head Over Heels by Nancy MacCreery,

A fake date, romance, and a conniving co-worker you'd love to shut down. Fun summer reading!

Liza loves helping people and creating designer shoes that feel as good as they look. Financially overextended and recovering from a divorce, her last-ditch opportunity to pitch her firm for investment falls flat. Then…

Book cover of How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live: Learning the Alexander Technique to Explore Your Mind-Body Connection and Achieve Self-Mastery

E.J. Lamprey Author Of The Christmas Caper

From my list on getting older with style and panache.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a columnist in a national magazine, book reviewer on a daily newspaper, journalist on a small rural paper, commercial blogger for hire, copy-editor, and critiquer, usually alongside more conventional roles in the not entirely thrilling world of corporate finance. In my fifties, I took a belated gap year courtesy of a good redundancy package and started writing full-time under a couple of different names, mainly EJ Lamprey but here as Clarissa. The gap year never really ended . . . At the heart of all my books is the exuberant celebration of finding in autumn the best season of our lives.

E.J.'s book list on getting older with style and panache

E.J. Lamprey Why E.J. loves this book

I actually believe the Alexander technique should be taught in schools from the start, to become a lifelong habit to improve lifelong health, but it’s never too late to start. While there’s no denying it is best taught hands-on, there aren’t enough teachers out there. There are many books but this one has a lovely holistic approach. Even better, if you’re lucky enough to have a practitioner within reach, the book adds to your understanding and to the benefit of your sessions. Win, win.  

By Missy Vineyard ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Alexander Technique (AT) is a remarkably simple but powerful method for learning to skillfully control how your brain and body interact, allowing you to better coordinate your movements while increasing the accuracy of your mind's thoughts and perceptions. Now, in How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live , leading Alexander Technique master teacher Missy Vineyard sheds a completely fresh light on this revolutionary method and, in the process, offers path-breaking insight into the mind-body connection. Vineyard thoroughly explains and teaches the central skills of the AT through simple self-experiments, and she offers engaging stories of students in…


Book cover of The MindBody Code

Tom Ang Author Of Photography

From my list on books to make you a better photographer but aren't about technique.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have had the great luck to combine my love of writing with my love of photography that in turn combines my great loves of art and of science. Oh, I have another love: to share what I know; some call it teaching. That is why I’ve lectured and talked more times than I can remember, and written millions of words in magazine features and forty books. In the early years, my attention centred on photographic techniques, but I’ve become increasingly focused on creativity and the conditions that enable full expression of the individual. My choice of books refracts that range—I hope—into a coherent spectrum of approaches.

Tom's book list on books to make you a better photographer but aren't about technique

Tom Ang Why Tom loves this book

Of the dozens of self-help books I’ve browsed or read, this book gave me tools to replace past pains and shame with pleasure and pride.

Numerous books helpfully tell you what you lack, gleefully list what you need to change. This one offers an important further step: it provides neural tools that helped me to change and make the changes last. I knew vaguely—like a small pain that is easy to ignore but which limits your movement—my ability to create, to grow ideas had always to battle a thicket of past aches, struggles, and fears.

This book not only helped me through that—it’s a guide, consequently, to lead a longer, richer life. Without a doubt, it’s one of the most transformational books in my life.

By Dr. Mario Martinez ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The MindBody Code as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With The MindBody Code, Dr. Mario Martinez shares the rewards of an investigation that has spanned generations and cultures to reveal the most effective methods for initiating deep and lasting change. Through fascinating case studies and practical training in the new science of biocognition, Dr. Martinez illuminates the pathways to healing the archetypal wounds of shame, abandonment, and betrayal; how to break through the ceilings of abundance that limit prosperity and create the "subcultures of wellness" that will help you reach your full potential; how to transform "aging consciousness" to continually increase your value and competence as you grow older;…


Book cover of Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation

John Casey Author Of Devolution

From my list on complex characters and philosophical undercurrents.

Why am I passionate about this?

I began reading spy and political thrillers at a young age—I was captivated by the thrill and mysteriousness of the clandestine world. I would go on to earn my Master’s in International Affairs, learning French and German along the way. I was a combat pilot and flew all over the globe. At the Pentagon, I regularly liaised with foreign diplomats to create and improve international cooperation and security. I then became a diplomat myself, working for the Defense Intelligence Agency. It was my time with the DIA and working at U.S. embassies in Europe and Africa that was the inspirational capstone for writing Devolution and The Devolution Trilogy.

John's book list on complex characters and philosophical undercurrents

John Casey Why John loves this book

Mindsight is an amazing book that explains how one can actively train their brain to recover from mental and other problems. In some cases, this means living medication free and being able to live a normal life.

But why recommend Mindsight alongside spy thrillers? It has to do with the complex and atypical intellect of Michael Dolan, the lead character of my trilogy. Dolan’s past tragedies, the strange method he uses for compartmentalizing his thoughts and the things that bother him, his ability to wall those things up so they cannot bother him—this eventually catalyzes other problems that are far more significant and negative. Siegel’s Mindsight was instrumental for me in creating a psyche for Dolan that was singular, captivating, and problematic—but it also provided my main character an escape route—a way to overcome and heal.

By Daniel J. Siegel ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mindsight as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From a pioneer in the field of mental health comes a groundbreaking book on the healing power of "mindsight," the potent skill that allows you to make positive changes in your brain–and in your life.

Foreword by Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence

• Is there a memory that torments you, or an irrational fear you can't shake?
• Do you sometimes become unreasonably angry or upset and find it hard to calm down?
• Do you ever wonder why you can't stop behaving the way you do, no matter how hard you try?
• Are you and your child…


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Book cover of Pinned

Pinned by Liz Faraim,

“Rowdy” Randy Cox, a woman staring down the barrel of retirement, is a curmudgeonly blue-collar butch lesbian who has been single for twenty years and is trying to date again.

At the end of a long, exhausting shift, Randy finds her supervisor, Bryant, pinned and near death at the warehouse…

Book cover of Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing

Sydney Campos Author Of The Empath Experience: What to Do When You Feel Everything

From my list on for empaths and highly sensitive people.

Why am I passionate about this?

I always sensed I was from another planet, here to help create a new world by nature of my heightened sensitivity and ability to perceive beneath the surface of our supposed reality. After decades of struggling and nearly dying through addiction to mute my sensitivity, my healing path led me to see how being an empath is the greatest gift, once we learn to take care of ourselves and refine our abilities. My book The Empath Experience is the guide I wish I had when I was born, that tells my story and guides life-changing practices to master your energy and harness your empathic gifts as the superpowers they are.

Sydney's book list on for empaths and highly sensitive people

Sydney Campos Why Sydney loves this book

This book is so genius in its ability to straddle so many different dimensions of experience – from science to medicine to intuition to energy healing and everything in between. I love Carolyn Myss as a great example of what’s possible in bridging worlds – her story of bringing medical intuition into more mass consciousness is brilliant and endlessly inspiring. This book helped me to affirm what I was already sensing as an energy healer – that all dis-ease and pain is rooted in an underlying spiritual or energetic issue. This book provides great precedents for how we can truly heal and recover from seemingly hopeless ailments by actually getting to the root of our supposed problems and meeting them with love, grace, and acceptance.

By Caroline Myss ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Anatomy of the Spirit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Encoded within your body, teaches Caroline Myss, is an energy system linking you directly to the world's great spiritual traditions. Through it, you have direct access to the divine energy that seamlessly connects all life. On Anatomy of the Spirit, Myss offers a stunning picture of the human body's hidden energetic structures, while revealing its precise spiritual code and relationship to the sacred energy of creation.

Our most revered wisdom traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism, hold in common essential teachings about seven specific levels of spiritual development, the stages of power in life. These seven great truths also grace…


Book cover of Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders
Book cover of The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bulimia: Using DBT to Break the Cycle and Regain Control of Your Life
Book cover of Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food

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5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in eating disorders, therapy, and emotions?

Eating Disorders 23 books
Therapy 17 books
Emotions 179 books