Syndrome W or Lying in Weight

Syndrome W: A Woman's Guide to Reversing Mid-Life Weight Gain

Author: Harriette R Mogul

Harriette Mogul explains that this unfortunate weight gain, which impacts millions of women, does not have to be a permanent condition. With clear and understanding language, she illustrates that the added pounds are actually a symptom of insulin resistance. With a low dose of medication and a modified low-carb diet, it can be treated.

Publishers Weekly

Any weight loss plan that warns readers their doctor may resist administering treatment intrinsic to its success raises questions about the plan's credibility. And so it goes for this book, written for middle-age women who exercise, eat "right" and still can't lose weight. Medical doctor Mogul says the key lies in a frequently undiagnosed metabolic abnormality characterized by high insulin-low sugar levels, increased cholesterol and "white coat hypertension" (blood pressure that rises in the doctor's office). The solution: a "moderately low carbohydrate diet" (recipes included), eating smaller portions and exercising, as well as the "off-label" use of Metformin, a prescription medication for Type II diabetes. In a somewhat chaotic writing style, Mogul suggests that not following her plan is a fast track to "Syndrome X," a forerunner to heart disease. Unfortunately, links between Syndrome W and Syndrome X are purely alphabetical. No major research validates the connection or establishes that Metformin is helpful when sugar levels are normal. Mogul has published small studies on this topic and may have a treatment appropriate for a subgroup of women. But as a mass market solution, it's bound to disappoint. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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Lying in Weight: The Hidden Epidemic of Eating Disorders in Adult Women

Author: Trisha Gura

It is commonly held that the sufferers of anorexia nervosa and bulimia are angst-ridden teenage girls who impose unrealistic beauty standards on their still-developing bodies. In Lying in Weight, Gura explodes the myths that adolescence is the only time of life that these disorders manifest and that women who achieve a normal weight after contending with eating disorders are "cured." Shockingly, tens of millions of American women -- overlooked by the medical and mental health communities because they're older than 25 and understudied -- suffer from "food issues" that can be linked to any number of disruptive changes and challenges throughout their lives. These triggers -- marriage, the birth of a child, menopause, stress from child rearing, marital difficulties and depression -- bring about emotional, psychological and medical problems that play out under the radar in women who live in the throes of food obsessions.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction: Confidences and Lies     xi
Chronicity: The Myth of Recovery     1
Adolescence: Girls in Women's Clothing: Eating Disorders Stunt Psychological Development     24
Young Adulthood: She, He, and It: A Lover's Triangle     61
Pregnancy: An Oasis in an Eating-Disordered Life     98
Parenting Years: A Kind of Sibling Rivalry: When the Eating Disorder Competes with Children     136
Midlife: Eating Disorders: Millstones or Stepping-stones?     188
Late Life: Never Too Old to Be Too Thin     225
Healing: The Ongoing Chapter in an Eating-Disordered Life     258
Helpful Organizations     307
Directory of Treatment Facilities     309
The Clinical Definitions of Eating Disorders     315
Notes     319
Bibliography     351
Index     353