Still reading Women Food God by Roth. I am reading page 175 which seems to be saying to me that the struggle with food can not be controlled with self-discipline because the struggle is really about loving and wanting and having. Roth seems to be saying at one point that the struggle with food is a struggle with love and God.

In the chapter titled, Those Who Have Fun and Those Who Don't, Roth identified two distinct pattern of behaviors of compulsive eaters: the Permitters, for example me, and the Restrictors. The Permitters rebel against following food rules and are suspicious of diets. Permitters need to feel safe and merge with chaos because they feel that there is no point trying to control the uncontrollable. They are the "Oh, what the heck" kind of people. The "jolly fat" folks fit into this category because the "Eat, drink and be merry" attitude prevails. They are really in denial and walk around numbing the pain. The solution is for Permitters to wake up from the numbness and recognize hunger and fullness cues.

Restrictors are, of course, the opposite. They love structure and rules therefore they willingly deprive themselves and follow various diets.

I liked the If Love Could Speak chapter. Roth discovered her workshop group of compulsive eaters rebelled against Eating Guidelines so she framed them as "If Love Could Speak Instructions". If love could speak what would it say to you about food? Roth is confident love would say, Eat what your body wants then stop.