Judith Matz, lcsw

Our culture’s obsession with thinness has blinded us to the truth, and it is the truth that Matz and Frankel give us in their informative and important updated book.  Beyond A Shadow of A Diet not only separates fact from fiction but helps anyone suffering with a weight issue – as well as professionals who seek to help them – gain the knowledge and strategy necessary to let go of weight stigma and the diet mentality and, instead, embrace true health. This book is a mandatory read and a dream come true for anyone interested in the broad issue of weight and health. The authors have done the necessary and comprehensive research it takes to find the gems we all need to know and will benefit from. 

In Beyond a Shadow of a Diet Matz and Frankel unhook weight from eating and emotional issues, providing ample evidence that compulsive eaters come in all shapes and sizes, and that not all those with larger shapes and sizes are compulsive eaters. Their groundbreaking book provides an empirically sound approach to healing compulsive eating and body shame that should be in every clinician’s toolbox.

Beyond a Shadow of a Diet represents an immense contribution to the effectiveness of health professionals who work with binge, compulsive, and emotional overeating.  My sincere gratitude to Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel for this highly accessible book and their pioneering work in this area.

Updated by new research on the destructive influence of the thin “ideal,” weight-preoccupation and stigma, and validated by the inclusion of BED in the DSMV, this new edition of Matz and Frankel’s already remarkable book is now even better–providing meticulous guidance to effectively intervene with binge and compulsive eating. Clearly laying out how comparisons to an idealized weight or shape result in rejecting and tuning-out the body, the authors show how clients must first see how fear, shame, deprivation, and disconnection from their bodies naturally lead to eating beyond satiation. Readers who may have previously blamed the victim for their “lack of willpower” or larger size will understand that recovery, health, and wellbeing occur when people are helped to compassionately accept, reconnect with, listen, and respond to their body’s needs.  This book should be required reading for all people working in health and mental health.

This book is a gem!  The authors have compiled a definitive, powerful and highly readable justification for shifting the paradigm in our understanding of issues of weight and health.  Just the right mix of science, theory, and practical application.

The second edition of Beyond a Shadow of a Diet examines the devastating impact that the pursuits of weight loss and dieting have on the development of eating disorders.   Addressing subjects such as the therapist’s views on weight, the importance of staying present to the body’s internal signals about eating, and effective treatment strategies for bingeing, compulsive and emotional eating, this edition offers both the public and professionals a powerful avenue toward healing.

Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel have updated their classic training guide for therapists who want a useful, humane, and practical model for helping clients whose well-intentioned devotion to weight loss has backfired (that is, just about all dieters).  It is one of the few books to address the issue of weight bias and stigma, for both the therapist and the client, offering wise and compassionate solutions for thriving in our imperfect world.

Weight loss is often sold as a cure-all, but in the vast majority of cases, diets lead to temporary weight loss, followed by weight gain and feelings of failure. In this eye-opening book, Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel invite therapists to explore their own attitudes toward weight so they can help their patients find a healthy relationship with food. This is essential required reading for all clinical therapists. It is also highly recommended for anyone who wants to help a friend, child, or themselves develop a healthier relationship with food.

In updating Beyond a Shadow of a Diet, Judith Matz & Ellen Frankel have assured that their original masterpiece will remain THE go-to treatment guide for not only binge eating disorder but the vast continuum of behaviors leading to their development. Since every therapeutic client needs to be assessed for eating issues, this book ought to be in the hands of every therapist. At the very minimum, this book will provide the foundation for a “Do No Harm” approach and at most, it may well transform the professional’s life as thoroughly as it will their client’s.

Beyond A Shadow Of A Diet is a must-read for all health professionals! This updated edition is chock-full of compelling studies and resources.  Practitioners will appreciate the many case studies and suggested dialogues to help their patients’ process issues around eating, body image, thoughts, and feelings.  For health professionals who feel split between the Health-at-Every-Size concept and the medical war on obesity, the authors leave no doubt that the focus on so-called healthy weight loss, rather than healthy behaviors, is fraught with skewed research data, which has been massaged into sound-bites to line the coffers of the multi-billion dollar dieting and pharmaceutical industries—at the expense of increasing the risk of harm to patients.  This compassionate book is written in a friendly style, which will empower both health professionals and their patients.

In Beyond a Shadow of a Diet, Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel provide a concrete, up-to -date scientific approach for treating people who suffer from binge eating and weight concerns. The Health at Every Size model they promote is an ethical and effective approach that endeavors to treat patients of all shapes and sizes fairly and compassionately.  Based on the latest research, this book presents the cutting edge consensus among doctors, nutritionists, size acceptance activists, eating disorders treatment providers, and obesity specialists on the best practices in treatment today. This is a wonderful and comprehensive resource to guide therapists who work to free their clients from body hatred and eating disorders.

This brilliantly written book is a must-read for any therapist seeking an effective and compassionate treatment for binge eating disorder or compulsive overeating.

What an incredible resource for clinicians working in the field of eating disorders! How refreshing to read such accurate and helpful information from professionals who not only truly understand the Health At Every Size model, but offer such skillful application for treatment interventions.  I have already recommended BASOAD to those I supervise and will continue to do so over and over again with peers, colleagues and skeptics. To include points of discussion for clinicians to evaluate their own bias in the areas of weight, body image and dieting is pure genius and essential for being effective in this field. Thank you and bravo to Ellen and Judith for masterfully crafting such a valuable resource; this is the newest staple on my bookshelf.

This book belongs on the bookshelf of every therapist and dietitian. These two gifted authors answer the question of what to do when your client wants to lose weight. They cover the essential concepts of body image counseling that you never got in school. Scientific evidence and lively case study examples are sprinkled throughout, bringing the book to life and leaving you with a new confidence for a hopeful future.

Beyond a Shadow of a Diet is, beyond a doubt, a wonderful guide for therapists (actually, all clinicians) who are frustrated with diet and weight-focused messages that compound their clients’ struggles with eating. It is a comprehensive guide for moving beyond the old, ineffective cultural paradigm to attuned eating, self-acceptance, and a compassionate, whole-person approach.  

This is the book we’ve been missing! It has it all; the latest neuroscience, practical clinical skills, mindfulness tools and stories we can use to help our clients make peace with food, their bodies, and themselves. In Beyond a Shadow of a Diet, Matz and Frankel give us everything we need to advance a health-focused, weight-neutral, non-diet framework. I dare anyone to read it and not walk away with a comprehensive understanding of the paradigm and how to effectively impart it to others.

Much like a wonderful dining experience, Beyond a Shadow of a Diet leaves one feeling fully satisfied and wholly content. Each of the three courses (that is, sections!) is served up beautifully, moving from The Problem, to The Treatment, to what everyone is expectantly waiting for- The Solution. The scope of the book is epic, yet its language is clear, detailed and easy to swallow, despite the breadth and depth of the topics covered.  It’s all here – research, statistics, history, philosophy, wellness, ethics, culture, bodies and brains. This is a book that details “what’s wrong” without resorting to bias, blame or catastrophizing – and goes on to exquisitely present how to make things “right”. This one gets a 5 star rating.

Phenomenal! This riveting, state of the art book should be mandatory for all therapists and other health professionals. 

In a culture where dysfunctional relationships with food, exercise, body size, and body image are the norm, Beyond a Shadow of a Diet is a beacon of light guiding the clinician to curiosity about his/her own beliefs around body sizes, weight, and health.  Matz and Frankel have taken the strong foundation of their first edition and built upon what should be required reading for any therapist or healthcare provider.

Binge Eating Disorder is finally recognized as a distinct eating disorder, and now we have the most current “go-to” resource for clinicians. Matz and Frankel put the principles of the Health At Every Size paradigm into action, offering real time, real life clinical examples that honor the complex biopsychosocial etiology of BED.  With updated research on the science and outcome of food restriction and dieting, they offer a model of attuned eating – the only lasting solution for eating disorders. This new edition presents a full menu of information and interventions – all the ingredients for a new, improved, and, at-last, effective treatment approach so that we can all literally get “beyond a shadow of a diet.”

Beautifully written!  This compassionate edition offers both professionals and the public a powerful avenue toward healing. 

Bravo!  A compassionate, extraordinarily thorough, and helpful guide for therapists struggling with their own and their clients’ obsessions with body image and binge or compulsive eating.  [It] offers a truly effective approach to the culturally induced preoccupation with body size that so often derails treatment.  Life-changing on both sides of the consulting room

An excellent resource for clinicians and lay people! Matz and Frankel have developed a comprehensive guide to binge eating disorder. The book encapsulates the most recent research and data available in the field of eating disorders. It is a pleasure to read a book that gives research and personal stories in an easy-to-read manner. A must read!