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MeaningFULL: 23 Life-Changing Stories of Conquering Dieting, Weight, & Body Image Issues by Alli Spotts-DeLazzer

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MeaningFULL: 23 Life-Changing Stories of Conquering Dieting, Weight, & Body Image Issues is a blend of motivational self-help, memoir, psychology, and health and wellness. Alli Spotts-De Lazzer is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, an expert in eating and body image issues, and a woman on the other side of her own decades-long struggle with food and body.


A $702 billion global diet/nutrition and weight loss industry shows that people worldwide are devoted to achieving maximum health and their desired bodies. Yet mainstream approaches are failing these individuals, and sadly, science proves this. Intent on gaining the “health” and “happiness” that diets promise, consumers keep trying. They become sad and frustrated, believing they’re failing when they’re not. They simply need a legitimate, alternative path, which MeaningFULL offers. Through the contributors’ diverse, real-life mini-memoirs followed by Spotts-De Lazzer’s commentaries, readers will learn about themselves and discover their unique, unconventional formulas for conquering their issues. Along the way, MeaningFULL will also guide them towards more self-appreciation, wellness, and fulfillment.

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Advance Praise

Social Media Raves
I really can’t recommend this book enough. As a therapist who works primarily with teens, I have a front row seat to the impact of diet culture and body image on our young people’s functioning, health, and joy. MeaningFULL is written in that compelling and relatable sorta way that keeps you reading and still thinking after you put it down.

Here’s the thing; we want our kids to feel comfortable and confident in their bodies AND we want them to make food choices that are reasonably supportive of health. Of course we do! It gets tricky because most of us were raised with sneaky diet culture baked into our own relationship with food, body, and health. Diet culture is so EVERYWHERE that unless you know to look, it’s the invisible norm. Yikes! How can you really push back against an enemy you can’t see?
​
So yes, for your kids and for yourself, please read this book!

Jenn Loft
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
“A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. MeaningFULL is just that; meaningful. It is FULL of hope and encouragement. Readers will surely recognize themselves in one of the many, beautifully diverse stories of food and body image struggles and triumphs. As an eating disorder therapist, I feel confident in recommending this book to my clients as the author takes great care to engage readers in a safe way that focuses on healing. Her straightforward commentary at the end of each mini memoir is refreshing and illuminating, helping to eliminate any potential misreading of the information presented. Need a fill-up on hope? Grab this book and settle in.”

Josie Munroe, LMFT​
"Have you ever thought that the painful experiences you’ve had after falling off a diet or being uncomfortable with your body are yours alone? No one else could have ever felt as sad, frustrated, or disappointed as you have! No one else could have struggled with self-esteem or a lack of inner trust as you have! The truth is that these feelings and experiences are universal in a world of diet culture, that only values you for an idealized size or shape of your body and judges you for your eating choices. MeaningFull is a relatable, down-to-earth book that can help you to not feel so alone and isolated in your relationship with food and your body. By reading the stories of a multitude of people who have found their way out of the trap of diet culture and by reading the clear and valuable guidelines and advice that Alli Spotts-De Lazzer presents, you will finally find the hope for a future of joy and satisfaction in your eating and a sense of respect and dignity for the miraculous body that is yours."


Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S, FAND
Nutrition Therapist
Author of The Intuitive Eating Workbook for Teens and The Intuitive Eating Journal
Co-author of Intuitive Eating, The Intuitive Eating Workbook, and The Intuitive Eating Card Deck
Have you ever felt like you can't escape yourself? Like…truly, you're in this body for the duration of this journey on earth…and have you ever felt just not right in your own body? If so…and especially if you're a woman, this message is for you. Because like you, I have tried to “fit” some ideal image of what I'm supposed to look like.

Am I the right size?
Am I the right shape?
Am I the exercising enough? Eating too much? 

But really, all of these questions might be, at least for me, “Am I enough?” If you've felt not enough, it may spill out into questions about what you're supposed to look like. And who gets to say what we're “supposed” to look like anyway?

For me, healing and accepting myself fully has been a journey. One that has involved a lot of prayer, escape from toxic people who tell me I'm not good enough, and a few important friends and mentors along the way. One of those is Alli Spotts-De Lazzer, MA, MFT, LPCC, CEDS

She is a therapist who works with eating disorders and body image, and has come to be an amazing friend of mine. She truly has helped me come to see that I am enough. Exactly as I am. I want her to help you feel the same way.

Thankfully the way we learn is through stories, and that's why Alli had a mission on her heart to create a book of stories to help anyone going through a similar struggle. Alli's book...tells the stories of 23 real, actual people who have been there. They've been down in the trenches of disordered eating, body image issues and feeling less-than. They've conquered their inner demons (for the most part!) and that voice that says “you're not good enough” when you know darn well that you are.

-- Samantha Scruggs, RD
In “Meaning Full” Alli Spotts DeLazzer has put together a trove of inspiring stories for anyone interested in tackling problems with eating, weight and body image. The various contributors in the book take readers on a summary of their own healing journey providing useful ideas and strategies that others can apply where appropriate. Readers not only get honest, personal, accounts, but Alli’s summary at the end of each case provides clarification, cites research, and gives further resources on the various subjects brought up. It is refreshing to read a book where individuals dealing with weight and body image struggles describe overcoming their plight.


Carolyn Costin, Director of the Carolyn Costin Institute
Author, 8 Keys To Recovering From An Eating Disorder


 
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For parents who have a child struggling with any kind of eating or body image issues, it’s common to feel isolated, scared, confused, and even ashamed. The stigma and stereotypes around these issues and sometimes serious illnesses add an extra burden for so many families, and it can be hard to find other people who truly “get it.” Parents looking for hope, insight, and connection will find many poignant stories in MeaningFULL. Caring for a young person through healing from these issues—from seemingly minor self-image problems to serious eating disorders—can take an emotional toll, and families often need a lot of support. Alli Spotts-De Lazzer’s collection of diverse personal stories can help parents feel less alone, shed the guilt or self-blame, and start to see a light at the end of the tunnel. 


Oona Hanson, MA, MA
Educator and Parent Coach
MeaningFULL is a must read for anyone who personally struggles with disordered eating (or an eating disorder), loved ones who support those that struggle, and providers that care for people who struggle! This beautifully-written book features first-person accounts of what it’s like to experience and overcome disordered eating and body image issues, or support someone who’s healing. The stories are powerful reminders of the strength, perseverance, and bravery needed to heal. The author does an outstanding job of summarizing the key themes while allowing the storytellers space to share their voices. As a registered nurse who helps clients recover from eating disorders and disordered eating, I would highly recommend this wonderful book!

Nicole Mareno
PhD, Registered Nurse
I really can’t recommend this book enough. As a therapist who works primarily with teens, I have a front row seat to the impact of diet culture and body image on our young people’s functioning, health, and joy. MeaningFULL is written in that compelling and relatable sorta way that keeps you reading and still thinking after you put it down.
​
Here’s the thing; we want our kids to feel comfortable and confident in their bodies AND we want them to make food choices that are reasonably supportive of health. Of course we do! It gets tricky because most of us were raised with sneaky diet culture baked into our own relationship with food, body, and health. Diet culture is so EVERYWHERE that unless you know to look, it’s the invisible norm. Yikes! How can you really push back against an enemy you can’t see?
So yes, for your kids and for yourself, please read this book!

Jenn Lofft
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in children, teens, and families
​One of the most intentional books I have ever read. This book provides stories of hope from a people who have recovered from dieting, body image issues and eating disorders. After each story, Alli offers her expert insight and experience.

-- Kelly Linnan
I have never read a self-help book quite like this. A powerful series of essays, some from anonymous authors, about diet culture, weight loss, eating disorders and all of the psychological trauma that comes with them. The main author of this book, Alli Spotts-De Lazzer is a trained therapist and having her commentary at the end of every story really helped put them into perspective and answer any leftover questions that the reader might have.

Laura Lee
Each person in this book has a few pages to tell their story. And for each one, eating disorder therapist Alli Spotts-De Lazzer, who has her own recovery story, adds in some useful comments. These put each story in the context of the scientific knowledge we currently have.
You may have noticed that I'm not into recommending loads of memoirs from people telling their recovery story — and there's no shortage of these victorious accounts. That's because they tend to increase parents' distress (the stories can be so heart-breakingly horrific). And while your fear shoots up and you get weakened, you are still not learning much because the treatment the writer got (or didn't get) is now obsolete. Or it very much should be.
This book avoids those pitfalls. So if you are longing to understand your loved one better, and to bolster yourself with vision and hope, go ahead.

-- Eva Musby
Our pick for anyone struggling with their body image. Not only does this book teach you some insightful lessons about dieting, weight and modern body image problems, but it also provides real-life anecdotes and stories to back them up. Real information from real people.

-- Happy Rubin
Alli Spotts-De Lazzer’s MeaningFull: 23 Life-Changing Stories of Conquering Dieting, Weight and Body Image Issues is a book which, with no exaggeration, can change the world for the better!

--Lucire

Reader Reviews