Book 1!

I started off this year reading a book for the book club I am in.  It just so happened to be the month that I got to choose the book we read.  I saw an episode of Ellen awhile back when she had her wife Portia on to discuss the book she wrote.  It sounded very interesting and was a little different from the books I would normally choose to read so I thought "why not"!

The book is called "Unbearable Lightness" by Portia DeRossi and was an inside look into her life growing up with an eating disorder.  She goes all the way back to her childhood when she started modeling at age 12 and concludes when she gets married to Ellen.  This book was extremely shocking because I haven't been close to someone with an eating disorder and didn't know how a person with one thinks about food.  Portia gave detailed accounts of her introduction to dieting at a young age which included binging and purging, as well as starving herself the week before a modeling shoot.  She thought this was normal behaviour for a model and would reward herself with treats after getting through a shoot and reaching her weight goal.

Portia also talks about her struggle with her own sexuality and how she was ashamed of herself growing up because she thought that she was wrong for being gay and that she would loose jobs if people found out who she really was.  This kind of self hatred made her eating disorder worse when she started taping Ally McBeal.  She started what she thought was "eating healthy" by counting calories and weighing her food, as well as daily exercising.  She went from about 130lbs to 87lbs in less than a year and was only eating 300 calories a day before she was admitted to a hospital after fainting on a movie set!!  It was unimaginable reading the words she wrote when she described her feelings towards food, exercise and especially self control. 

The book did end on a happy note, that being when Portia met Ellen and how she talks about Ellen's love saving her life.  It is incredible in this world how one person can impact another persons life so much and in such a positive way.

All said and done, this was a fabulous book and I would recommend it to anyone, except those who have struggled with an eating disorder before.  This book is a bit of a "how to" when it comes to eating disorders, so someone who has recovered from an eating disorder might not want to bring back memories from their own struggles.  Great and interesting start to the year - book 1 done!!