Living Full
Winning My Battles with Eating Disorders
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Narrated by:
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Gabra Zackman
About this listen
Imagine waking in a hospital bed to find your frail pale arm punctured by an IV transferring fluids and nutrients into your weak, stiff body. What happened? You're an adult, age 26, 67 pounds, and you just had a seizure precipitated by your chronic secretive decades-long struggle with unacknowledged eating disorders (ED). You have no friends and no normal young adult experiences. Living Full is author Danielle Sherman-Lazar's story.
A groundbreaking 2012 study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders found that about 13 percent of women over age 50 exhibit ED symptoms. To put that in perspective, breast cancer afflicts about 12 percent of women. Everyone knows about breast cancer and how dangerous it is, yet eating disorders are kept hidden out of shame.
Filled with pop culture references, humor, and delivered with raw honesty about the escalating and increasingly dangerous behaviors of a person acting out the mental illness of ED, Living Full chronicles Danielle Sherman-Lazar's step-by-step descent into the nightmare that is full-blown ED. Recovery comes using the Maudsley Approach, a treatment that is rarely tried on adults. In a grueling battle, sometimes reminiscent of Helen Keller's fight with Anne Sullivan, the Maudsley Approach is a regimen of supervised controlled eating or refeeding by outpatient helpers that can eventually result in recovery.
Written by a woman who has passed through the crucible of ED to recovery, Living Full exposes the rarely talked about behind-the-scenes triggers and treatments, shame and guilt, and even coexisting addictions that go undetected in adult women today.
©2019 Danielle Sherman-Lazar (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Confessions of a Carb Queen
- A Memoir
- By: Susan Blech, Caroline Bock
- Narrated by: Aimee Jolson
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time Susan Blech was 38 years old, she weighed a staggering 468.1 pounds. She binged. She was "only a little chubby," or so she convinced herself. Gripping, sometimes shocking, and ultimately inspiring, Confessions of a Carb Queen is the story of how Susan changed her life to save her life, ultimately losing 250 pounds without surgery. Susan speaks candidly about eating binges, fat sex, and other topics no obese person has dared to address.
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Negative reviews are ridiculous.
- By Heather Marie on 01-07-16
By: Susan Blech, and others
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White Girl Problems
- By: Babe Walker
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Babe Walker, center of the universe, is a painstakingly manicured white girl with an expensive smoothie habit, a proclivity for Louboutins, a mysterious mother she's never met, and approximately 50 bajillion Twitter followers. But her "problems" have landed her in shopping rehab - that's what happens when you spend $246,893.50 in one afternoon at Barneys. Now she's decided to write her memoir, revealing the gut-wrenching hurdles she's had to overcome in order to be perfect in every way, every day.
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Hysterical
- By Kimberlykate on 02-01-13
By: Babe Walker
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Some Women
- By: Emily Liebert
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Annabel Ford has everything under control, devoting her time to her twin boys and keeping her household running smoothly. But when her husband of a decade announces that he's leaving, she's blindsided. And suddenly her world begins to unravel. Piper Whitley has always done her best to balance it all - raising her daughter, Fern, by herself while advancing her career as a crime reporter. Only now that she's finally met the man of her dreams, Fern's absentee father shows up, throwing everything into a tailspin.
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Great Book!!
- By femmefatale on 01-12-23
By: Emily Liebert
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#IMomSoHard
- By: Kristin Hensley, Jen Smedley
- Narrated by: Kristin Hensley, Jen Smedley
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In their highly anticipated first audiobook, the hilarious mom duo with millions of followers explores all the ridiculous shit you’re expected to do to keep multiple humans alive and happy-ish and celebrates the love for the friends who get you through it.
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IRelateSoHard
- By Peekablue on 04-20-19
By: Kristin Hensley, and others
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Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight?
- Confessions of a Gay Dad
- By: Dan Bucatinsky
- Narrated by: Dan Bucatinsky
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2005, Dan Bucatinsky and his partner, Don Roos, found themselves in an L.A. delivery room, decked out in disposable scrubs from shower cap to booties, to welcome their adopted baby girl - launching their frantic yet memorable adventures into fatherhood. Two and a half years later, the same birth mother - a heroically generous, pack-a-day teen with a passion for Bridezilla marathons and Mountain Dew - delivered a son into the couple’s arms.
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A Parenting Book with Humor and Heart
- By The Reading Date on 02-05-14
By: Dan Bucatinsky
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In the Water They Can't See You Cry
- A Memoir
- By: Amanda Beard, Rebecca Paley
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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At the tender age of 14, Amanda Beard walked onto the pool deck at the Atlanta Olympics carrying her teddy bear, Harold, and left with two silvers and a gold medal. She competed in three more Olympic games, winning a total of seven medals, and enjoyed a lucrative modeling career on the side. At one point, she was the most downloaded female athlete on the Internet. Yet despite her astonishing career and sex-symbol status, Amanda felt unworthy of all her success. Unaware that she was suffering from clinical depression, she hid the pain beneath a megawatt smile.
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I applaud Amanda - but her editor's were lame
- By Heather on 03-10-15
By: Amanda Beard, and others
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Hope and Other Luxuries
- A Mother’s Journey Through a Daughter’s Anorexia
- By: Clare B. Dunkle
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Clare Dunkle seemed to have an ideal life - two beautiful, high-achieving teenage daughters, a loving husband, and a satisfying and successful career as a children's book novelist. But it's when you let down your guard that the ax falls. Just after one daughter successfully conquered her depression, another daughter developed a life-threatening eating disorder.
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Potent and Real
- By Susie on 09-17-15
By: Clare B. Dunkle
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Starworld
- By: Audrey Coulthurst, Paula Garner
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Emma Galvin
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Sam Jones and Zoe Miller have one thing in common: they both want an escape from reality. Loner Sam flies under the radar at school and walks on eggshells at home to manage her mom’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, wondering how she can ever leave to pursue her dream of studying aerospace engineering. Popular, people-pleasing Zoe puts up walls so no one can see her true self: the girl who was abandoned as an infant, whose adoptive mother has cancer, and whose disabled brother is being sent away to live in a facility.
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lovely story
- By Chess on 11-05-19
By: Audrey Coulthurst, and others
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30 Before 30
- How I Made a Mess of 20s, and You Can Too
- By: Marina Shifrin
- Narrated by: Marina Shifrin
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Something was nagging Marina Shifrin. As a freshly minted adult with student loan payments and a “real” job she hated that paid her enough to get by if she also worked two other jobs, something needed to change. Marina and her friend each made lists of 30 things they’d do before the age of 30. The first thing on Marina’s list was, “Quit My Shitty Job”. So she did, and just like that the List powered her through her twenties. Told with humor and heart, 30 Before 30 will entertain, motivate, and challenge listeners to get out of their comfort zones and live their best lives.
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Inspiring read
- By Chris Gledhill on 12-18-18
By: Marina Shifrin
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Fat Girl Walking
- Sex, Food, Love, and Being Comfortable in Your Skin...Every Inch of It
- By: Brittany Gibbons
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Fat Girl Walking is a collection of stories from my life, my thoughts about the issues that I have faced as a woman, wife, mom, daughter, daughter-in-law, and Internet personality in regards to my weight. I have tried to be as honest as I possibly could - apologies in advance to my husband and parents, but hopefully any discomfort you feel is quickly replaced by laughter.
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One Woman's Body; One Woman's Story
- By Meghan Matt on 06-03-15
By: Brittany Gibbons
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Everything Is Awful
- And Other Observations
- By: Matt Bellassai
- Narrated by: Matt Bellassai
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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From the break-out star of BuzzFeed and the People's Choice Award-winning comedian comes a collection of hilariously anguished essays chronicling awful moments from his life so far, the humiliations of being an adult, and other little indignities. Matt Bellassai has no idea what he's doing. Well, to be fair, he did become semi-Internet famous by getting drunk at work, making him a socially-acceptable - nay - professional alcoholic. He's got some things figured out. But the rest is all just a terrible, disgusting mess.
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Best Audio Book I’ve heard ever.
- By M on 11-23-17
By: Matt Bellassai
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Nearly Normal
- Surviving the Wilderness, My Family and Myself
- By: Cea Sunrise Person
- Narrated by: Cea Sunrise Person
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In her best-selling memoir North of Normal, Cea wrote with grace about her unconventional childhood - her early years living in a tipi in Alberta with her pot-smoking, free-loving counterculture family. But her struggles do not end when she leaves her family at the age of 13 to become a model. Honest and daring, Nearly Normal reveals the many ways that Cea's unconventional childhood continues to reverberate through the years.
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This one is just not for me
- By Pamela Plimpton on 03-15-19
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Pretty Much Screwed
- By: Jenna McCarthy
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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For Charlotte Crawford, the worst part about being dumped after 20 years of marriage is that her husband, Jack, doesn't want another woman; he just doesn't want her. Forty-two and clueless, Charlotte is a fish out of water in a dating pool teeming with losers. Just when she thinks she's finally put her failed marriage behind her, it comes back to bite her in the ass...hard. Without warning, Charlotte finds herself staring down the barrel of a future she wouldn't (she would totally) wish on her worst enemy.
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Meh
- By Miss Bishop on 10-31-16
By: Jenna McCarthy
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The Meaning of Maggie
- By: Megan Jean Sovern
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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As befits a future President of the United States of America, Maggie Mayfield has decided to write a memoir of the past year of her life. And what a banner year it's been! During this period she's Student of the Month on a regular basis, an official shareholder of Coca-Cola stock, and defending Science Fair champion. Most importantly, though, this is the year Maggie has to pull up her bootstraps (the family motto) and finally learn why her cool-dude dad is in a wheelchair, no matter how scary that is.
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Wonderful narration
- By M. Jackson on 04-17-24
What listeners say about Living Full
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Olivia
- 09-29-21
great recent story
narrator did a beautiful job! loved listening to this, I was always rooting for Danny! it's amazing how different our lives are but how eating disorders can give us a lot of the same experiences. thank you to the author for writing this. a lot of other memoirs don't take place so recently, and it's relieving to know that people are still going through things like this even in 2013. it's hard to relate to someone with an ed when at the time you were just a baby. I enjoyed the societal context
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- Megan L. Arndt
- 08-26-19
Recovery
As someone who has been trying to recover from an eating disorder since 2012 this book really hits home. It’s written extremely well and it really sends a message of hope and healing.
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- Kim
- 02-02-21
Really Good
I've read a few books based on eating disorders and found this one to be one of the better ones all around.
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- Elizabeth Gooden
- 07-16-21
Soooo helpful
This book gives me hope that disordered eating can be transformed to a more orderly way of life.
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- Monica
- 02-25-21
Misleading title and summary
If you have or had eating disorders and are looking for a way out or inspiration, I do not recommend this book. The only reason I gave it 3 stars is I actually listened to the entire thing. I do admire Danielle for getting past her horrible ED and if I were her friend, family member or someone who knew her, I would give this 5 stars because she has overcome the seemingly impossible.
As a recovering bulimic, anorexic, over eater and binge eater who still struggles with some of them still a bit, this story was really hard to read. Her story of her disorders lasted 10 chapters too long. If you want to know how lonely, sick, untruthful and horrible ED can be, then you may enjoy this more than I did. Or if you want to know what it’s like for someone in your life who has an ED, this book will show you.
I was originally looking for a book that would inspire or help me with tricks, tips or a path that someone had taken to get them out of this horrible disease. This was not it. I kept reading it because I thought she would get to the solution sooner and have good information I could take from her.
I felt there was way too many details about things that could have easily been summarized in one or two chapters. But it was 10 or 11 chapters that just kept going and going. I felt sad and depressed reading this book and just wanted it to get better or finish already. I did like the last chapter though. The rest of it was depressing. I ended up drinking a bottle of wine, bingeing and purging last night after I was half way, or more, through the book. Not Danielle’s fault I did that, it was fully my choice. It put me right back into how seemingly hopeless this disease is, and the lonely, sad and secretive life we face as people struggling with ED. It just was not positive, uplifting or showing a light of any tunnel.
Danielle said a lot of things I think were supposed to be funny, but this story was so far from funny that the remarks, jokes and supposedly witty comments fell short for me and were awkward and out of place. She may be funny an full of jokes as a person, but I felt it was weird in this story with the content and tone of the book.
I also think she was a bit contradictory with some of the things she said. She mentioned that people with anorexia don’t see themselves as fat, or they do see how skinny they are (or something similar to that). When I was anorexic I did see myself as fat, as many others have told me the same about themselves. She said she didn’t think she was fat, but then not too long after she mentions her ‘fat ass.’
I felt she was absolutely and completely selfish about her decisions when she went to get help and sought treatment. I went to treatment for my ED and would never have put the burden of being my caretaker on anyone who wasn’t trained and currently working and getting paid to do it. I feel it is so selfish and unfair for anyone to ask someone, especially your parents to take on that roll. First of all, they have watched your downhill spiral and they love you more than anyone so they are going to be so sensitive to everything you are going through, they are going to feel responsible and you are going to be an ass hole to them and get mad at them for trying to control you and make you do or not do things you want or don’t want to do. Anyone going through any type of detox is going to be difficult. It is so not fair to ask your parents or loved ones to deal with you in that state. I was so mad at her for that. And she did that because she didn’t want to go to a hospital?! WTF? Who of us trying to deal with any addiction for he first time actually wants to go into an inpatient program? I sure didn’t. I was so scared and I hated it for the first few weeks, but I did it.
If you or someone you know needs help for any addiction, please seek professional help outside of your family and/or house. Missing work, your family, responsibilities and friends is hard, but we all struggle with that. Hospitals and addiction centers know what they are doing and they also get you away from a lot of your triggers. You are not different from the rest of us addicts. We are all individuals, but we are all the same in so many ways.
Danielle has been through a lot and has come through a lot. It takes courage to share with others our deepest secrets and the parts of us we think are ugly or despise. For that, I applaud her. Personally, I just did not love this book.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Penmen
- 03-18-21
This book helped me save my daughters life
The ED monster is an enemy trying to kill my daughter. As a former Marine, one key to battle is to know your enemy. This book did that, thus instrumental in helping me - help my teenage daughter into recovery. I did audible over 4 days (a few f bombs. ~ loosen up, it’s worth it)...
Good luck and God Bless
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3 people found this helpful
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- Linda
- 07-13-21
Insightful introspective story
I loved it and didn't want to stop reading. Six more words are apparently needed.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-28-21
What is the hardest thing you have done so far?
Loved the insights and the raw emotion expressed by the author, there is no fear in sharing her thoughts at each stage of her life.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Andalusia
- 01-04-21
Amazing
I finished listening to this book in just a few days. It was so captivating. Loved authors humor and how she told the story. And narrator was just perfect, never monotonous, always reflecting perfectly the mood of each scene.
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- Samuel Waldron
- 05-18-20
Fully Satisfied
I was in love with the whole book, from beginning to end. Just now about to listen again for the second time! The recollections of Dan's life are vivid, moving, and have you screaming, "come on, fight this!" with the author.
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