Books For Parents Who Have Kids With Eating Disorders

❤️ Understand Behavior ❤️ Set Boundaries ❤️ Motivate Recovery ❤️

Top 10 Recommended Books For Parents Who Have Kids With Eating Disorders

Here are the 10 books I regularly recommend to my clients who are supporting their children through eating disorder treatment and recovery:

1. The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
2. Autonomy-Supportive Parenting: Reduce Parental Burnout and Raise Competent, Confident Children, by Amy Edlynn
3. Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory-Based Strategies by Robyn Gobbel
4. Brain-Body Parenting: How to Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids by Mona Delahooke
5. Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD: A Scientifically Proven Program for Parents by Eli R. Lebowitz
6. The 5 Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans by Aliza Pressman
7. Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous and Independent Children by Lynn Lyons and Reid Wilson
8. The Highly Sensitive Child: Helping Our Children Thrive When the World Overwhelms Them by Elaine N. Aron
9. Stop Walking on Eggshells for Parents: How to Help Your Child (of Any Age) with Borderline Personality Disorder without Losing Yourself by Randi Kreger, Christine Adamec, and Daniel S. Lobel
10. Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss

Books I Use To Support Parents Who Have Kids With Eating Disorders

In Alphabetical Order by category

Here is a selection of the books that inform my approach:

Addiction

• The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence by Jessica Lahey
• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Mate Md and Peter A. Levine
• This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life by Annie Grace

Anxiety

• Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD: A Scientifically Proven Program for Parents by Eli R. Lebowitz
• Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls by Lisa Damour Ph.D.
• Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous and Independent Children by Lynn Lyons and Reid Wilson
• Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even Though it Feels Bad) by Tracy Dennis-Tiwary
• The New Adolescence: Raising Happy and Successful Teens in an Age of Anxiety and Distraction by Christine Carter

Attachment

• Nourished: Connection, Food, and Caring for Our Kids (And Everyone Else We Love) by Deborah MacNamara PhD
• Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté
• Raising Parents: Attachment, Representation, and Treatment by Patricia M. Crittenden
• The Awakened Family: How to Raise Empowered, Resilient, and Conscious Children by Shefali Tsabary

Body Respect

• The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor
• More Than a Body: Your Body Is an Instrument, Not an Ornament by Lexie Kite and Lindsay Kite
• Body Positive Power: Because Life Is Already Happening and You Don’t Need Flat Abs to Live It by Megan Jayne Crabbe
• Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight by Lindo Bacon and Lucy Aphramor
• What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon

Co-occurring Diagnoses

• Raising Kids with Big, Baffling Behaviors: Brain-Body-Sensory-Based Strategies by Robyn Gobbel
• The Anxiety Audit: Seven Sneaky Ways Anxiety Takes Hold and How to Escape Them by Lynn Lyons
• The Highly Sensitive Child: Helping Our Children Thrive When the World Overwhelms Them by Elaine N. Aron
• Unmasking Autism by Devon Price
• ADHD 2.0: New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction by John Ratey and Edward Hallowell
• Getting Ahead of ADHD by Joel T. Nigg
• Scattered: How Attention Deficit Disorder Originates and What You Can Do About It by Gabor Maté
• Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care About Has Borderline Personality Disorder by Paul T. T. Mason and Randi Kreger
• Stop Walking on Eggshells for Parents: How to Help Your Child (of Any Age) with Borderline Personality Disorder without Losing Yourself by Randi Kreger, Christine Adamec, and Daniel S. Lobel

Eating Disorders

• Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women Can Transform Their Relationship with Food Through Myths, Metaphors, and Storytelling by Anita A. Johnston
• Famished: Eating Disorders and Failed Care in America by Rebecca J. Lester
• What’s Eating Us: Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety by Cole Kazdin
• Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders by Jennifer L. Gaudiani
• 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder: Effective Strategies from Therapeutic Practice and Personal Experience by Carolyn Costin and Gwen Schubert Grabb
• Anorexia and Other Eating Disorders: How to Help Your Child Eat Well and Be Well by Eva Musby
• When Your Teen Has an Eating Disorder: Practical Strategies to Help Your Teen Recover from Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating by Lauren Muhlheim and Laura Collins Lyster-Mensh

Feeding/Eating

• Nourished: Connection, Food, and Caring for Our Kids (And Everyone Else We Love) by Deborah MacNamara PhD
• Nourish: How to Heal Your Relationship with Food, Body, and Self by Heidi Schauster
• Feed Yourself: Step Away from the Lies of Diet Culture and into Your Divine Design by Leslie Schilling
• Your Child’s Weight: Helping Without Harming by Ellyn Satter
• How to Nourish Your Child Through an Eating Disorder: A Simple, Plate-by-Plate Approach to Rebuilding a Healthy Relationship with Food by Casey Crosbie and Wendy Sterling
• Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
• Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family: How to Eat, how to Raise Good Eaters, how to Cook by Ellyn Satter

Leadership/Management/Negotiation

• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss
• Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown
• StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath
• The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey
• WOLFPACK: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game by Abby Wambach
• The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t by Jim Collins
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

Marriage

• Fight Right: How Successful Couples Turn Conflict Into Connection by Julie Schwartz Gottman PhD and John Gottman PhD
• Love and War in Intimate Relationships: Connection, Disconnection, and Mutual Regulation in Couple Therapy (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Marion F. Solomon Ph.D. and Stan Tatkin
• The All-or-Nothing Marriage: How the Best Marriages Work by Eli J Finkel
• The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country’s Foremost Relationship Expert by John Gottman
• Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Sue Johnson

Memoirs

• What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
• Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
• Untamed by Glennon Doyle
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
• Educated: a Memoir by Tara Westover
• Troubled: The Failed Promise of America’s Behavioral Treatment Programs by Kenneth R. Rosen
• Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur
• Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke
• The Mind and The Moon: My Brother’s Story, The Science of Our Brains, And The Search For Our Psyches by Daniel Bergner

Mindfulness

• Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence – The Groundbreaking Meditation Practice by Daniel J. Siegel
• Trusting the Gold: Uncovering Your Natural Goodness by Tara Brach
• Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
• The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz 
• The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer

Motherhood

• The Drama of the Gifted Child, by Alice Miller
• Mother Hunger by Kelly McDaniel
• Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself by Lisa Marchiano
• Will I Ever Be Good Enough?: Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers by Karyl McBride

Neurobiology

• Brain-Body Parenting: How to Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids by Mona Delahooke
• The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
• Beyond Behaviors: Effective Neuroscience-based Tools to Transform Childhood Behaviors by Dr. Mona Delahooke
• Our Polyvagal World: How Safety and Trauma Change Us by Stephen Porges and Seth Porges
• What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry
• The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

Parenting

• Autonomy-Supportive Parenting: Reduce Parental Burnout and Raise Competent, Confident Children, by Amy Edlynn
• The 5 Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans by Aliza Pressman
• The Gender Creative Child: Pathways for Nurturing and Supporting Children Who Live Outside Gender Boxes by Diane Ehrensaft 
• Reconnecting with Your Estranged Adult Child: Practical Tips and Tools to Heal Your Relationship by Tina Gilbertson
• Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottman PhD and Daniel Goleman
• Teach Your Children Well: Why Values and Coping Skills Matter More Than Grades, Trophies, or “Fat Envelopes” by Madeline Levine PhD
• Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen by Michelle Icard
• The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence by Rachel Simmons
• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
• Untigering: Peaceful Parenting for the Deconstructing Tiger Parent by Iris Chen
• How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims
• Get Out of My Life, But First Could You Drive Me & Cheryl to the Mall?: A Parent’s Guide to the New Teenager by Anthony E. Wolf

Relationships

• The Power of Discord: Why the Ups and Downs of Relationships Are the Secret to Building Intimacy, Resilience, and Trust by Claudia M. Gold and Ed Tronick
• The Dance of Anger: A Woman’s Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships by Harriet Lerner
• Why Won’t You Apologize?: Healing Big Betrayals and Everyday Hurts by Harriet Lerner
• Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson
• Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself by Melody Beattie

Self Development

• Are You Mad at Me?: How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You by Meg Josephson
• Too Much: A Guide to Breaking the Cycle of High-Functioning Codependency by Terri Cole
• Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin Neff
• Constructive Wallowing: How to Beat Bad Feelings by Letting Yourself Have Them by Tina Gilbertson
• No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Richard C. Schwartz 
• Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price
• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
• Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect by Jonice Webb
• Perfectly Hidden Depression: How to Break Free from the Perfectionism That Masks Your Depression by Margaret Robinson Rutherford
• The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living: A Guide to ACT by Russ Harris and Steven C. Hayes
• Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns
• It’s OK That You’re Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn’t Understand by Megan Devine
• Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab
• The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown

Trauma

• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel A. van der Kolk
• The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté
• The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity by Nadine Burke Harris
• When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Gabor Maté
• A Bright Red Scream by Marilee Strong

Weight/Diets

• Diet-Proof Your Daughter: A Mother’s Guide to Raising Girls Who Have Happy, Healthy Relationships with Food & Body by Amelia Sherry
• Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith
• You Have the Right to Remain Fat by Virgie Tovar
• Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight by Lindo Bacon
• Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating by Christy Harrison
• The Diet Survivor’s Handbook: 60 Lessons in Eating, Acceptance and Self-Care by Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel
• Body Kindness: Transform Your Health from the Inside Out – and Never Say Diet Again by Rebecca Scritchfield