MSI Press Blog

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is The Optimistic Food Addict by Christina Fisanick. Amazon review by GMU Patriot - I was lonely and hungry for something deeper than what food could satiate. To say that I was moved by Christina Fisanick Greer’s memoir, “The Optimistic Food Addict” is an understatement. I found myself in every word. As a fellow food addict, I know what it is to “dance with the dragon” (confront our substances) every day. Christina vividly illustrates what she’s endured battling fo

photo and The Conversation article by Laura Brow n I cannot stick to diets. I have tried for at 50 years to do so, but I just can't. I know from my friends that I am not alone. THIS diet, though, I CAN manage. It's not exactly a diet. It is more about modestly manage what you buy and eat, as explained clearly and briefly in this great article from The Conversation today: " Changing Your Diet Could Add Ten Years to Your Life -- New Research. " Very nifty, summative, easy-to-use chart, too. Worth the few minutes to read, especially since research says it may add TEN years to your life. Easier said than done? If you are struggling with low self-esteem from food being in control of your life, MIS Press author, Dr. Christine Fisanick, has a very sane and helpful approach to it all. She shares remarkable personal details in her book, The Optimistic Food Addict . Description from Amazon and other sellers:  The Optimistic Food Addict explores the author's journey through

  Binge eating and overeating can be a problem for almost anyone over the holidays. Author Dr. Christina Fisanick Greer knows all about unhealthy relationships with food. Her book, The Optimistic Food Addict, brings insight and support for those suffering from binge eating disorder but also for anyone who at times eats too much  Chapter Eighteen: Dancing with the Dragon              The fever started the day after Christmas, and by December 28, I was out of commission entirely—struck down by the flu. I could barely sleep, but that’s all I wanted to do. My throat hurt, my head hurt, my back hurt. My entire body was alive with peculiar aches and painful spasms.              By the time I started feeling somewhat functional, I still had no appetite and, worse yet, no sense of smell or taste. This predicament gave me a good opportunity to put to rest a curiosity that had plagued me for decades: what role does taste and smell play in bingeing?              We know from recent research and

The following excerpt comes from Dr. Fisanick's book, The Optimistic Food Addict (Chapter 6):               The roads were thick with ice the night I told my parents I was pregnant. My boyfriend and I broke the news to my mother first, as we sat on that old, gold couch in the living room, waiting for my dad to get home from the midnight shift.               My mother, who had been a teen mother herself, was disappointed, probably because she knew the hard road ahead of me. She wanted me out, and she was sure my dad would feel the same.               I had just turned seventeen and was in my senior year of high school. I was an underachieving Honors student. I stopped caring about school the day I met my neighbor’s blond haired, blue-eyed best friend. And there I sat next to him, five months pregnant with his child.               The trailer where I grew up was cold that night, like always. The lack of insulation and ancient oil furnace meant frozen pipes and the necessit

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  The Optimistic Food Addict  by Christina Fisanick. Amazon review by Jennifer Johnson - A heart wrenching look at what it's like to have a food addiction .  A book definitely written from the heart and soul. A heart wrenching look at what it's like to have a food addiction. Highly recommend. For more posts about Christina and her book, click  HERE . GET THE BOOK ON DISCOUNT AT  MSI PRESS WEBSTORE USE COUPON CODE FF25 FOR 25% OFF Sign up for the MSI Press

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  The Optimistic Food Addict  by Christina Fisanick. Amazon review by MLZ - Raw. Real. Relatable. Christina doesn't sugar coat anything. (Pun intended!) Her personal experiences bring to light what many seek to keep in the shadows. Hiding food wrappers in the trash? Mentally mapping my day to include a stop at my favorite drive-thru? Yep, I've done both. This compassionately written book provides hope to others who will see they're not alone in their s

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  The Optimistic Food Addict  by Christina Fisanick. Amazon review by Jennifer Johnson - Heart-wrenching. A book definitely written from the heart and soul. I heart wrenching look at what it's like to have a food addiction. Highly recommend. For more posts about Christina and her book, click  HERE . GET THE BOOK ON DISCOUNT AT  MSI PRESS WEBSTORE USE COUPON CODE FF25 FOR 25% OFF Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book

  What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  The Optimistic Food Addict  by Christina Fisanick. Amazon review by Kay - Highly recommended!   This book is an inspiration for all who have struggled with food addiction, heart-rending at times, an incredible journey shared. Thank-you!!! For more posts about Christina and her book, click  HERE . GET THE BOOK ON DISCOUNT AT  MSI PRESS WEBSTORE USE COUPON CODE FF25 FOR 25% OFF Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , an

    What is a book jewel? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Starting in August, we will share near-daily, as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  The Optimistic Food Addict  by Christina Fisanick. Amazon review by E. B. - Worth the read! I finished this book in just a few hours. I didn't expect to be drawn into her story as much as I was. I admire her strength through such a difficult life. I also appreciate her honesty in sharing her story. Reading this book helped me to begin to understand myself a little more, and maybe some of the reasons why I struggle with a food addiction. Some of her experie

  THIS EXCERPT FROM THE OPTIMISTIC FOOD ADDICT SEEMS APPROPRIATE FOR WHAT MANY PEOPLE ARE EXPERIENCING FROM THE "QUARANTINE FIFTEEN" COUNTRY-WIDE AVERAGE POUNDS GAINED OVER THE PAST YEAR.              For a good half an hour before falling asleep, I would try to force my mind to coerce my body to burn itself alive. I hated my fat so much that I would imagine it sizzling like bacon in a skillet, dripping like hot wax off my bones and into the ether. I was determined to will my fat to melt away.              The next morning I would wake up, disappointed to find my thighs and ass still too big to fit comfortably in my third-hand Jordache jeans. And later that night, I’d lay prone in my bed, visually imagining my flesh liquefying in my skin once again.              This dour wishful thinking would go on night after night from the time I was 11 until well into my 20s. And yet many people asked me, nearly as often as I asked myself, if being fat bothered me so much, why couldn’

  Chapter 1. Lip-Tied For my 40th birthday, my husband got me a gift I’d always wanted but could never afford. He paid for me to have the gap in my two front teeth fixed. With the advent of social media and selfies, the gap—about the thickness of a Susan B. Anthony dollar—became like a chasm to me; a dental Grand Canyon of sorts, which seemed to pull camera flashes to it. If I tilted my head a mere inch toward the light, the gap would fill with a shadow that stood in stark relief against my white, never cavitied smile.   I’m sure it seemed extra large to me in part because of its meaning. I associated it with where I came from: a trailer park in West Virginia. The only people I knew with a gap in their teeth (other than the occasional high-profile David Lettermans or Lauren Huttons) were too poor to get their gaps fixed. I hated admitting that I held these beliefs, especially at 40, especially as an academic heavily invested in celebrating Appalachian culture.   Although