A good book after a walk in Michigan autumn!

One of the joys of a Michigan autumn (after shuffling through leaves and looking at color) is to settle in with a lap blanket and a good book. For those in recovery, reading can be a distraction, an escape, and even a stress and anxiety reliever. Reading a good book about another person’s experience can give one perspective on their own life and make them feel a little less alone.

Sanford Behavioral Health’s Dr. Anna Flores shares her recommended reading list. Anna Flores is a Doctor of Clinical Nutrition specializing in eating disorder and co-occurring substance use disorder treatment at Sanford Comprehensive Treatment for Eating Disorders.

Dr. Anna Flores

Dr. Flores says, “My clinical approach is grounded in identifying and addressing root causes, as opposed to only providing a band-aid for symptoms. Entering a healing partnership with me means that you are seen, heard, and supported exactly as you are. And that we will work together in cultivating and nourishing a positive relationship with food.”

Recommended Reading 2022

Eating Disorder Reading List: 

Non-Fiction & Self-Help

• Goodbye Ed, Hello Me, by Jenni Schaefer 
• Life Without ED, by Jenni Schaefer 
• 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder, by Carolyn Costin 
• Eating in the Light of the Moon, by Anita Johnston 
• Body Outlaws: Rewriting the rules of beauty and body image, by Orphia Edut 
• Gaining: the truth about life after eating disorders, by Aimee Liu 
• Unbearable Weight: feminism, western culture, and the body, by Susan Bordo 
• The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk 
• The Body is Not an Apology, by Sonya Renee Taylor 
• The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brene Brown 
• Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life, by John B Arden 
• A Hunger So Wide and So Deep: A multi-racial view of women’s eating problems, by Becky W. Thompson 

Memoirs 

• Not All Black Girls Know How To Eat, by Stephanie Covington Armstrong 
• The Body Tourist, by Dana Lise Shavin 
• Unbearable Lightness: A story of loss and gain, by Portia de Rossi 
• Wasted: A memoir of anorexia and bulimia, by Marya Hornbacher 
• Going Hungry: Writers on Desire, Self Denial, and Overcoming Anorexia, by Kate M. Taylor 
• Please Eat: A mother’s struggle to free her teenage son from anorexia, by Bev Mattocks 
• The Mean Disease: growing up in the shadow of my mother’s anorexia nervosa, by Daniel Becker 
• Loud in the House of Myself: Memoir of a strange girl, by Stacy Pershall 
• Hunger: A memoir of (my) body, by Roxane Gay 

Poetry 

• Milk and Honey, by Rupi Kaur 
• Home Body, by Rupi Kaur 
• You Remind Me of You: A poetry memoir, by Eireann Corrigan 

Adolescent/Young Adult 

• Things I’ll Never Say, edited by Anne Angel 
• Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson 
• Guts, by Raina Telgemeier 

Substance Use Disorder Reading List: 

Non-Fiction & Self-Help 

• The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz
• The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brene Brown 
• Eating in the Light of the Moon, by Anita Johnston 
• Never Enough – The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction, by Judith Grisel 
• Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life, by John B Arden 
• Undoing Drugs (The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction), by Maia Szalavitz 
• The Road Less Traveled, by Scott Peck 
• Living Clean: The Journey Continues
• Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addiction, by Noah Levine 
• Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl 
• A Woman’s Way Through the Twelve Steps, by Stephanie Covington 
• Drop the Rock, by Bill P, Todd W., and Sara S.
   

Memoirs 

• Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget, by Sarah Hepola 
• Drinking: A Love Story, by Caroline Knapp 
• Terry: My Daughter’s Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism, by George McGovern 
• The Big Fix: Hope After Heroin, by Tracey Helton Mitchell 
• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction, by Gabor Maté
• Cherry, by Nico Walker 
• Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol, by Ann Dowsett Johnston 
• Quit Like a Woman, by Holly Whitaker 
• The Unexpected Joys of Being Sober, by Katherine Gray 
• Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions, by Russell Brand 
• Unchain Your Brain, by Daniel G. Amen 
• Dry, by Augusten Burroughs 
• Drinking, by Caroline Knapp 
• This Naked Mind, by Annie Grace 
• The Sober Lush, by Amanda Eyre 
• My Fair Junkie: A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean, by Amy Dresner 
• Girl Walks Out of a Bar, by Lisa F. Smith 
• A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey 
• Beautiful Boy, by David Sheff 
• Drunk Mom, by Jowita Bydlowska 
• The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself Self-Compassion, by Kristin Neff, PhD 

Sanford Behavioral Health

Sanford Behavioral Health is licensed and accredited as an addiction, eating disorder, and co-occurring mental health treatment facility, serving all of Michigan and beyond. Each of Sanford’s facilities in Greater Grand Rapids is carefully and diligently crafted to create a welcoming and comforting environment. Sanford is led by a psychiatrist-led team of medical, clinical, and support personnel providing medication-assisted, evidenced-based treatment to residential, outpatient, and telehealth patients. For more information, visit www.sanfordbehavioralhealth.com.

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