Starving In Search of Me: A Coming-of-Age Story of Overcoming An Eating Disorder and Finding Self-Acceptance
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$16.95
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Author: Marissa LaRocca
Publisher: Mango
Paperback:
ISBN 10: 1633537129
ISBN 13: 978-1633537125
#1 Amazon New Release ─ The true confessions of an eating disorders survivor
This confessional self-help guide explores the complex emotional truth of what it’s like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. Activist author Marissa LaRocca's revelatory tale includes her struggle with her secrets, including sexuality, and how she emerged as an outspoken advocate for gay rights and women’s health issues.
Anorexia and bulimia health crisis: Many young women and girls struggle with the body image issues that engender eating disorders with elaborate rituals around food, binging, purging, and hiding it all while trying to maintain a face of normalcy to the world. Anorexia and bulimia have become major national health crises with skyrocketing statistics indicating that between 3 and 5% of the population suffer anorexia nervosa alone. Sadly, many never attain the sense of being “normal” and deal with a lifetime of body image and self-esteem issues.
Coming of age story of a woman battling for self-esteem: This intimate account of courage and the search for truth and meaning will have you rooting for Marissa LaRocca as she unravels the emotional layers of her own battle with food, body image, and sexuality. Readers of this riveting memoir, Starving in Search of Me, will relate to the coming-of-age story of a young woman confronting some of life’s major issues while living, for a time, in two closets: one to hide her eating disorder and one to hide her sexuality and very identity.
What You'll Learn Inside This Book:
- Identify the root causes, symptoms, and triggers associated with an eating disorder
- Acknowledge the "life issues" that are being masked by "food issues" or another addiction
- Disempower compulsive behaviors like binging, purging, and obsessing about calories and exercise
- Heal your relationship with food through healing your relationship with yourself
- Escape the victim role, become empowered, and take responsibility for your own happiness
- Connect with your life’s purpose and authentic self, transforming your weaknesses into strengths
- Free your mind through tuning in to the body and witnessing emotions
- Improve your body image and self-esteem by aligning your lifestyle with your true values, desires, and what is realistic
- Effectively communicate your needs with confidence
- Establish guilt-free lifestyle boundaries to reduce anxiety and maximize vitality
- Enhance peace of mind by developing a reliable support system
- Eliminate the need to be perfect by practicing forgiveness and compassion toward yourself
Review
"An intimate and engrossing memoir/narrative meets an empowering self-help guide for sufferers of anorexia and bulimia." ─ Joshua Rosenthal, Founder and Director of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
"Starving in Search of Me is a significant work of honesty that is going to provide company and hope to many who are struggling with the weight of a world that isn’t always easy to stand out in. Now more than ever before, young people need courageous voices like Marissa’s to guide and reassure them that what makes them different is what makes them beautiful. And what makes us suffer makes us human―we are all connected to one another through shared experiences of triumph, failure, and vulnerability. If you’ve ever struggled with an eating disorder, or any other form of self-harm or addiction, I am confident this book will resonate and gracefully navigate you toward hope, meaning, and light. In my opinion, Marissa has accomplished something pretty substantial here―she’s found a way to articulate in words the intangible depths of an experience that is hers, and all of ours." ─ Kate "Fruit" Flowers, Plant-based Advocate, Author, and YouTube Influencer
"Starving In Search of Me is a true companion piece for anyone who has ever struggled with food or themselves. Marissa dives deep into the emotional layers we all struggle with and offers readers a compassionate voice and the opportunity to simply be themselves." ─ Lindsey Smith, award-winning author of Food Guilt No More
"A thoughtful and enlightening meditation on body image, identity, sexuality, and self-acceptance." ─ Aydian Dowling, activist
From the Author
In the 5+ years I’ve been employed by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, a college that uses social media to reach, educate, and support students and followers worldwide, I have become an expert. My job includes promoting IIN college programs through: writing marketing copy; developing websites; creating surveys and analyzing results to evolve programs; streamlining processes, and increasing customer awareness and satisfaction. I am the Course Administrator for the Launch Your Dream Book program, teaching students to self-publish and promote books in health and wellness. I am also the Course Administrator for the Advanced Business and Marketing program, which includes developing cutting edge tools and resources for building a business online such as: specific online marketing, social media, networking, referral marketing, copywriting, website development, public speaking, workshops, publicity, etc. I am now utilizing these tools to promote Starving in Search of Me.
Speaking: I have conducted writing workshops for adolescents at various high schools, libraries, and Barnes and Noble locations through NY’s Huntington Youth Bureau. I’ve conducted emotional eating workshops for women at various yoga centers, cafes, and special event locations. Once my book is published, I will schedule workshops specifically for Starving in Search of Me. I also co-taught a summer writing workshop for adolescents at SUNY Purchase College. And at Integrative Nutrition College, I’ve presented more than 150 webinars on various topics in health, wellness, publishing, business, and marketing. Additionally, I am pitching myself to SUNY Purchase College, Sarah Lawrence College, The Center (NYC Community Center for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community), The New York Open Center, Bluestockings Bookshop, and NEDA (The National Eating Disorders Association).
From the Back Cover
FINDING THE COURAGE TO BE YOURSELF
This intimate account of courage and the search for truth and meaning will have you
rooting for Marissa LaRocca as she unravels the emotional layers of her own battle with
food, body image, and sexuality. Readers of this _ercely self-aware memoir,_Starving in
Search of Me, will relate to the coming-of-age story of a young woman confronting
some of life’s major questions while concealing an eating disorder along with pieces of
her identity. Through her inspiring triumphs and revelations, activist author Marissa
LaRocca invites us all to confront ourselves honestly, asking, “What if, at the root of all
‘disorders,’ is the refusal to acknowledge or permit certain feelings―feelings that, if
witnessed, have the power to free their sufferers? To what extent are ‘disorders’
actually doorways to helping us understand the truth about our lives?”
"Starving In Search of Me_is a true companion piece for anyone who has ever struggled
with food or themselves. Marissa dives deep into the emotional layers we all struggle with
and offers readers a compassionate voice and the opportunity to simply be themselves."
―Lindsey Smith, author of_Eat Your Feelings
"Now more than ever before, young people need courageous voices like Marissa’s to guide
and reassure them that what makes them different is what makes them beautiful. If you’ve
ever struggled with an eating disorder, or another form of self-harm or addiction, this book
will resonate and gracefully navigate you toward hope, meaning, and light. Marissa has
accomplished something substantial here―she’s found a way to articulate in words the
intangible depths of an experience that is hers, and all of ours."
―Kate "Fruit" Flowers
"A thoughtful and enlightening meditation on identity and self-acceptance. A lesson in how
to surrender."
―Aydian Dowling, LGBTQ Activist
About the Author
Marissa LaRocca is a New York-based, award-winning writer, speaker and activist. She is passionate about helping adolescents and young women embrace their individuality and overcome challenges related to emotional eating, self-acceptance, identity, sexuality, body image, and depression. She is on a mission to help others with her activism.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The way I see it, when you’re a child, the world is big and that’s okay because it’s far away. When you’re all grown up, the world is smaller and more manageable because you’ve carved your shape into it, so you need only to live in that shape. But when you’re stuck in that awkward space between childhood and adulthood, it’s like being a fly in a windstorm, trying to navigate a limitless sky while gusts of wind blow at you from every direction. I was still trying to get my shit together, far too curious to commit to anything, let alone an identity. I was simply hungry for so many things I could not yet define.