GAINING:
The Truth About Life
After Eating Disorders
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Resources "Purposeful Figs"
Aimee Liu 2005 turning pain to
COMPASSION, POWER, & PURPOSE The sites listed and linked on this page reflect the enormous range of POWER that recovery can unleash. The artists and activists whose links appear here all have histories of eating disorders but have now succeeded in filling their lives with passion and purpose. They have found their voices, dared to move out into the world, and risked showing their true selves in order to connect with and help others. This page was created to honor them and to inspire those still struggling to release their own power, embrace their unique passions, and discover their true purpose in life. GAINING: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders
As anyone who has ever recovered from an eating disorder knows, anorexia and bulimia are not really "about" eating, weight, or food. Good nutrition is just the first of many gains that lead back to health. Too often, however, the other crucial gains are ignored, leaving anorexia and bulimia to show up in relationships, parenting styles, compulsive exercise and work habits. Just published by Warner Books,GAINING examines these anorexic and bulimic "shadows" through a combination of memoir, interview, and cutting-edge research. Readers will discover why gaining weight is not "enough," and what therapies, strategies, and practices are most effective in combatting these self-defeating syndromes. The path to a rich and satisfying life is challenging, but it is also more interesting than anyone imagined thirty years ago! Just as SOLITAIRE was America's first memoir of anorexia, GAINING is the first mid-life retrospective of recovery from eating disorders. Additional books about Eating Disorders
CLICK HERE to see the books and articles Aimee discovered in her research for GAINING. Recent essays in great collections
Read about Aimee's contributions to great new women's anthologies on aging, health, and relationships. SOLITAIRE
"Miss Liu writes with a directness that is touching and at times profound." -New York Times Originally published in 1979*, when Aimee Liu was just 25 years old, SOLITAIRE is America's first memoir of anorexia. At a time when few doctors even knew the term anorexia nervosa, Aimee was fourteen years old when she reduced her body weight by one fourth. Her periods ceased. She became obsessed with counting calories. Though accepted by the world-class modeling agency, Wilhelmina, she soon lost too much weight to fit into the clothes she was supposed to showcase. For seven years, her compulsion to restrict her eating overshadowed her social, family, and school life. Yet, like most anorexics of her day, she was never diagnosed or treated. In SOLITAIRE Aimee chronicles the events that preceded her eating disorder, as well as the day-to-day realities of living in the grip of this self-defeating syndrome. Though this original text is more than twenty years old, the anorexic experience is largely unchanged, and SOLITAIRE remains one of the most honest accounts ever written about life with an eating disorder. * Note: The text in the 2000 re-reissue of SOLITAIRE is unabridged and unedited from the original. Eating Disorders Support and Information
CLICK HERE for a listing of websites and organizations offer information, support, and referrals to professionals in the treatment and prevention of eating disorders. Treatment Programs for Eating Disorders
Eating disorders affect people of all ages. While writing an article about mid-life eating disorders for PREVENTION magazine, I compiled the following list of programs that specialize in treating all eating disorders. This list does NOT constitute a recommendation for any particular program. It is simply one place to begin your research if you are looking for specialized adult treatment. AIMEE CO-AUTHORED THE FOLLOWING
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