This is a very important read. Especially for parents or loved ones of people who have eating disorders but are in larger bodies. EVeryone is impacted by eating disorders and we need to all collectively learn and grow to improve our relationships and treatment of others.

This book was an interesting look into eating disorders and how different they can be, with lots of case studies and anecdotes from people who have gone through the disorders or are in recovery. I found some parts a bit difficult to read as they felt very personal, but I think this book can be a very useful resource for those who feel ready or comfortable to read about these issues. It was well edited and the sections were all really well-written. A great book!

This book is so important, especially in today's day and age. To hear the stories of folks from all types of backgrounds and body sizes is essential to our understanding that eating disorders can impact anyone, as the title states. It is full of both heart wrenching and inspiring tales.

Thoughts:
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book was an amazing read for me both personally and professionally. Although it was hard at time to read thought processes and experiences that reflected my own when I was at my sickest, it was really helpful to hear about the different eating disorders from people who have actually lived with them. I also really appreciated the fact that lesser known and understood conditions such as Diabulimia, muscle dysmorphia and orthorexia to help bring light to the more complex issues. Professionally, it is also great to hear from those with the conditions themselves as at times it can be hard for some professionals to be able to relate or separate the lesson from the actualities of living with a condition.

Favourite Quote:
"Getting back to normal' eating habits with a healthy relationship with food is a process and different for everyone, but it's totally totally worth it. We only have this life, and life is definitely too short to worry about food!"

3.5/5: Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book!

Eating Disorders Don't Discriminate was an interesting read. As someone who doesn't have an eating disorder, but disordered eating, it was highly educational to see other disorders that don't get a lot of time to shine. I did like the the book pointed out that anorexia has the most awareness in society, being the most common eating disorder that is spoken about.

All in all, a great and informative read.

Personal Experience(s)
As someone who struggles/d with an eating disorder, I was immediately caught by this collection. I would not say that I had a lot of knowledge about the issue before. Therefore, it intrigued me to read about different people’s struggle and recovery processes. After the introduction, this book is separated in six chapters with diverse contributions by different authors in each. From the most common and known types—binge eating, bulimia nervosa, and anorexia nervosa—the book moves towards those often neglected. Especially the part on Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder taught me a lot.

Diversify and Educate
This book aims to destigmatize eating disorders and to offer a plentitude of diverse tales to broaden the public’s understanding. It works to disassociate eating disorders from white, rich, young girls and draws out the effect on people in various ethnographic groups. The contributing authors tell us of their personal fight with, acceptance of, and movement away from their eating disorder.
Despite their diversity, these stories also share common features. Many contributors articulate their fear that their eating disorder will never completely disappear. Nonetheless, they express hope and resilience towards their situation. Awareness is a major commonality in their individual stories, which often enables the beginning of a recovery process. Process is another important term to take away from this collection of experiences. The gradual recovery with setbacks and challenges is emphasized by a lot of the authors and by the additional voices of family members of those struggling.

“I feel that if we think about eating disorders more in terms of their collective causes, then we’ll be more able to understand each person’s unique contributing factors and better act upon the various elements that create them.” (195)

The Plentitude of the shared stories
broadens our understanding of eating disorders. Some of them are rather dark, but still find a light at the end of the tunnel. If only in being eye opening to people struggling with or simply concerned about the issue. The diversity of the chapters and contributors moreover allows for everyone concerned to find a reflection of their own experience. After recognizing similar patterns, they will moreover find motivation, understanding, belonging, a feeling of being seen, tips, and many more encouraging messages. Extremely important appears to me that we start to see eating disorders as a multifaceted and individual issue, which neither allows for finding a sole reason nor for generalizing the treatment. When it comes to the disordered relation to food and eating, it seems also important to destigmatize certain food groups and work against our contemporary diet culture, which this book effectively does.

One disagreement
The sole moment while reading that I did not find educating was Dr Chuks’ stand on veganism. I get the concern of (subconsciously) restricting one’s eating habits further by choosing a vegan diet. Nevertheless, his words rather seem to blame veganism for being potentially abused, instead of equally recognizing its potential for experiencing food in a new, unknown, and inspiring way. Especially by choosing a quote by Degener (127), Dr. Chucks indirectly advocates for meat and dairy products as a part of recovering from struggles with eating. Similar to my own experience, Hana Brannigan’s chapter tells readers of the potential veganism offers for the individual. Although people immediately think of restrictions when they hear veganism, the movement away from traditional ingredients refocuses our view on a whole new set of foods.

What now?
I personally wish for the possibility of recalibrating one’s relation to food and one’s body through veganism to be included in future research. This book concludes by pointing out similar goals for following studies and publications. The conclusion summarizes how eating disorders are rooted as much in individual emotional trauma as in societal judgement and expectations. At the end of the book, Dr Chuks points to the yet lacking linking points in the health infrastructure and to societal deficiencies to enable a healthy relationship to food and their bodies for everyone. He summarizes the previously mentioned points of needed improvement that will enable societal change and a better understanding of eating disorders. Even after the conclusion, the book’s immense contribution continues in an appendix with helpful resources of all kinds.

In conclusion,
This book not only offers a plentitude of experiences and thus broadens our understanding of eating disorders and those concerned by them. It further destigmatizes (and educates on) them, offering a reflection of one’s own experiences for those struggling as much as ways of support for family members or friends. The editors’ wish to have this book made educational material seems not only preferable but necessary to me.


page 132: the bios feature the exact same sentence, which appears a bit sloppy to me
I think, the Instagram handle for Dave Chawner (if it's supposed to be the Instagram handle) is wrong (I found him at @dave_chawner)

BOOK REVIEW - Eating Disorders Don't Discriminate; Stories of Illness, Hope and Recovery from Diverse Voices
by Edited by Dr Chukwuemeka Nwuba and Bailey Spinn

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a beautiful collection of lived experience stories highlighting various eating disorders. It was a great read, particularly for UK-based people, but insightful for anyone.

With ED's lived experience, it took a long time for me actually to get through this book. I needed to be in the right mood actually to pick it up. But it is good when you have the space and energy to be engaged with it.

I always support ED promotion, and this book does a lot to break down the stereotypes associated with EDs.

This compelling collection of stories, curated by Dr. Chuks Nwuba and Bailey Spinn, serves as a beacon of hope and empowerment for those suffering from eating disorders. More importantly however, is that this provides hope for those that may often feel underrepresented in the “eating disorder” world. Thirty-one different stories are provided within this anthology. This book provides a view into the world of individuals who don’t fit the “typical” profile of an eating disorder sufferer. This is especially pertinent as there are so many different types of disordered eating patterns. While I enjoyed the stories presented, I felt that they were too short and lacked in-depth information. I would have wanted more information to be provided.

This book is notable in that it features contributions from a diverse group of people, diverse in many ways: race, geography, and socioeconomic. This book has showcased that there no longer is a “conventional” eating disorder, and this will foster greater awareness and understanding among sufferers, providers, and family members. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5/5: Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book-- It was an interesting, easy read containing essays on eating disorders from a diverse range of individuals with different genders, body types, cultural backgrounds, and personal/professional experiences. While I really enjoyed some essays and learned a good amount, many of them fell short, lacked depth, and left me wanting more. I think the book could have benefitted from more trans and queer voices as well as more / deeper content essays on non-anorexia eating disorders.

Thank you NetGalley & Jessica Kingsley Publishers for this ARC.

This book is full of hope, but more importantly, it's realistic hope. I was particularly taken by the use of rugby as an analogy for recovery, as it made perfect sense. I think this may be particularly helpful for family/carers of clients, particularly as it has a wealth of resources at the end

the content of this book is great. it really succeeds with its mission to promote diverse voices, and it really strengthens the book. also, the cute and colorful cover will help this book be even more accessible, which helps with making the book more appealing in order to increase the public’s knowledge on eating disorders. my only issue was this book was the writing. in some sections, parentheses were way overused, and not just to reference a source. this made the reading experience kind of jarring for me and made the writing flow less. also, this book used “?!” a few times, and i HATE that in books, especially trad pub books.

tws: fatphobia, eating disorders, references to medical trauma, mentions of suicidal ideation, references to racism, animal cruelty, bullying, panic attacks

I really appreciated the variety of stories in Eating Disorders Don't Discriminate. I liked the highlight of lesser known disorders like ARFID, as well as the range of experiences.

This was an enjoyable read. It's very important that the "lesser-known" eating disorders also get some attention, and this book does that very well. I struggled with what we now call ARFID for over ten years, and I rarely read something else about ARFID, even though it is quite common (especially among people with ADHD & on the Autism Spectrum like me).

The short chapters make this very easy to read, but because of that, some stories really miss some depth. I appreciate that the editors made sure the stories won't be triggering for readers, but that also makes most of them shallow. I was also a bit annoyed by the short piece on veganism (how it can worsen eating disorder behaviour) and "ethnic" eating (the assumption that foreign food is less healthy than traditional "white food"). Thankfully, later, one of the stories is from a vegan who describes that veganism doesn't equal bad health, and that a vegan lifestyle adapted for ethical reasons is no bad thing. Of course, there are people who use these lifestyles as a way to restrict certain foods "with permission", but in my experience, those people are in the minority. And everywhere I go, people associate "ethnic" eating with healthy, homemade, fresh food and good meals. So that little paragraph was very different from what I know. But I guess I am no dietician pr psychiatrist, just an "expert by experience".

"Eating Disorders Don't Discriminate," delves into the diverse experiences of individuals grappling with eating disorders, shattering stereotypes associated with age, gender, race, body size, and diagnosis. This book serves as an essential resource, offering an honest portrayal of what many face.

The strength of the book lies in its ability to highlight the indiscriminate nature of eating disorders, dispelling misconceptions prevalent in society and primary care. By presenting a wide spectrum of narratives, the authors contributes significantly to the ongoing efforts to raise awareness and destigmatize these disorders.

As an Eating Disorder professional, I commend the book for its dedication to education and its impact on fostering empathy. However, it is acknowledged that the text provides a broad overview, leaving room for future works to explore the nuanced complexities surrounding eating disorders, especially for a professional audience where more of the science would go a long way.

In conclusion, "Eating Disorders Don't Discriminate" is a commendable contribution to the literature, emphasising the need for society to confront the issue of eating disorders.

"Eating Disorders Don't Discriminate" pulls together essays from various voices—leaning heavily towards content creators—about, well, eating disorders and some of the misconceptions about them.

As with any collection of essays, some feel stronger than others, and readers' mileage will vary. I found myself wishing that some of the authors of section introductions had been allotted space for full essays, as the introductions tended to be written by professionals in the field, while the essays tended to be written by people with platforms. (Including one of the editors, I counted 11 bios that included the number of followers a given writer has on social media. More than bit odd to me, but maybe something that will go over better with Gen Z?)

One thing that I found disappointing was the emphasis on anorexia over other eating disorders. The focus on anorexia is intentional:

"Bailey and I think it's important to mention that there are noticeably more essays for anorexia nervosa. This is not to say that it's more important, or indeed, more common. As already mentioned, it isn't. Far from it. This is intentional, and due to the large amount of attention it receives, there are equally many misconceptions about it, and as a result a lot of dismantling via these stories that we felt needed to happen." (loc. 521*)

But it also seems really odd that this comment comes on the heels of acknowledging that anorexia gets a truly disproportionate amount of attention:

"In the world of academia [...] anorexia nervosa assumes a disproportionately large amount of eating disorder research funding. [...] out of 190 studies of eating disorders, 72 (38%) were for anorexia nervosa [...]. This is despite anorexia nervosa making up only 8 per cent of all eating disorders." (loc. 263)

A quick count from the table of contents—4 essays on BED; 5 essays on bulimia; 11 essays on anorexia; 4 essays on ARFID; 3 essays on OSFED; and 2 essays on other ED-related topics. That's a total of 29 essays (plus introductions, interludes, etc.), which puts the proportion of essays about anorexia at...38 percent. Now, it's unusual that the book covers ARFID and OSFED in any detail, and I appreciate that—ARFID in particular is so rarely discussed. But 'there are misconceptions' is true for any of the disorders discussed in this book, and even if anorexia had been skipped altogether there still would have been material for this book plus a sequel plus a few more sequels talking about some of the un-talked-about aspects, and myths vs. reality, of eating disorders. I've read...okay, not *everything* out there, but a significant proportion of everything out there, on the topic, and I'm not convinced that there's anything so new in here as to claim that the emphasis should remain on anorexia. Very much reads to me as though anorexia is still the most acceptable eating disorder to write about.

It's an interesting book for the mix of topics, but I think the most valuable parts are the in the sections of the book that have been given the least space, such as when someone with atypical anorexia (all the symptoms of anorexia but a bigger body) asks "How can I find comfort in a community that has the common fear of looking like me? How can I recover when people automatically assume that I have a binge eating disorder just by looking at me?" (loc. 3112)—and in the in-between sections of the book by people who have the credentials to back up their expertise rather than claiming to be an 'expert by experience' (loc. 2029). I loved seeing the essays on ARFID and atypical anorexia in particular, because there's so little out there about them, but if you're looking for something outside the box this book is probably most useful for those few essays.

Thanks to the authors and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

This was a pretty good and informative read, as a person recently diagnosed with an eating disorder it clued me in to a lot of things that were never explained to me.
It was great to see the discussion around the bias and stereotypes surrounding eating disorders too, there isn’t a whole lot of books out there that go in depth like this did.

The medical information on types of eating disorders was useful. Some of the personal essays were enlightening and thought-provoking. However, some aspects of the book seemed a little superficial (perhaps necessarily so to avoid triggering) and editorially biased.
With thanks to the authors, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

I have an eating disorder and this book resonated for me. I recommend everyone who has an eating disorder or knows someone who does to read this book.

So much misinformation out there and this book sets out to give out clear and scary information on just how affected people with eating disorders are. The theory of "only certain types of screwed up people" suffer from ED is turned on its ear here - as seen by the title of this book.

Very well researched. A must read.

Such an important book that will help and educate so many people! The different perspectives were really enlightening and definitely bought home the much needed message that eating disorders can affect anyone.

This book had a lot of potential in showcasing the eating disorder experiences of people of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and others who have been excluded from many eating disorder narratives. Disappointingly, the formatting issues in the Kindle version of the book made the reading experience disjointed.

This is the type of book that I would enjoy skipping around to read the more poignant essays: some of the essays were stronger than others. While some gave me a new perspective on what an eating disorder could look like, others were too surface level for me to feel the impact of the eating disorder in the individual's life. Additionally, the author provides lengthy interludes with academic descriptions of the various types of eating disorders from the DSM-V, which took away from the impact of firsthand narratives about experiences with eating disorders.

Overall, some thought provoking essays that make it worth paging through the book, and, with formatting updates, could be a solid read.