Product Description

Between the ages of 20 and 30, Rachael Oakes-Ash lost 60kg and gained 76kg on a rollercoaster of body image problems and food obsession. She went through anorexia, bulimia, bulimarexia, gym obsession, strict dieting and binge eating before finally she figured out how to stop torturing herself and hating her body. This is the black and funny story of her downfall and recovery. Rachael might have taken things further than many of us, but this is a story every woman can relate to. In Australia, 75 per cent of women think they are too fat and 95 per cent of women have dieted (even though dieting is the best way to put on weight). You might not have rescued food from the bin in a moment of binge-madness but if you've ever felt lousy and reached for a chocolate biscuit for comfort this book is for you. "What the diet promised, I got," writes Rachael. "I got the body that can wear the clothes. I got the job I love, I got the man I want. But I only got it for keeps when I stopped dieting. "Good Girls Do Swallow" shows how she did it. And how you can, too.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124160 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 189 pages

About the Author
Rachael ate her first solids at ten months, said her first word a month later and has been talking between mouthfuls ever since. Rachael has worked in Australian radio and television as Sydney location host on Blankety Blanks, as a beauty on Beauty and The Beast, and comic reporter on Foxtel's Entertainment News, Fox Fashion, Just Us Blokes and On The Road. She is currently waxing lyrical about the joys of womanhood on The Morning Shift's Girl Talk for Channel Seven. After her 'thirty-is-the-new-twenty' crisis, Rachael began freelancing as a writer and has contributed to publications including Marie Claire, New Woman, Australia's Women's Forum, Cleo, The Sunday Telegraph, Minx and Women's Health. Rachael was awarded The Australia Council ASA Mentorship for 1999 and was mentored by Anne Deveson for Good Girls Do Swallow, Rachael's first book.

Customer Reviews

You WILL find yourself in this book.
I read this book in one captivated stretch on a flight from Sydney to Singapore only pausing as an extremely thin air hostess swooped to pick it up. .. much to my amusement\dismay she did not return it for 10 minutes.

This sharp, witty and poignant biography was a genuine eye opener. Rachael presents us with the spiraling basic mockery of self image and perception that is fundamental to every eating disorder... in her words; "The Perfect Body" - She delivers her excellent story in parallel to the speed at which we are bombarded by the media everyday to what we should aspire to look like.

My experiences of eating disorders are personally limited - from a very distant cousin who died of a heart attack after spending several years as a recovered bulimic to a college flat mate who spent her entire last 2 years in college hating herself and dieting, I did however find myself relating to situations in this book on countless occasions exposing to me the sneaky nature of any eating disorder. In my opinion this book works extremely well to expose the unnatural perception of what way too many of us aspire to be (Perfect Body) and need to recognize as a fallacy. The best part of the book is of course dispelling this myth, which in my opinion is done by Rachael both rationally and wonderfully.

A friend passed this book on to me and I have since read it twice and it will remain permanently on my bookshelf to be used as a reference at anytime.

A Fantastic Book!
A darkly comic look at the tragic world of eating disorders. Books on this subject often tend to lean towards melodrama, but Oakes-Ash writes in a less serious, lighter way, thst helps to make the words more accesible to the reader. Any woman who reads this, whether they have an eating disorder or not, will certaintly recognize aspects of their own personality in Rachael's story. The fact that Oakes suffered anorexia, bulimia and copulsive overeating means that the story fundementally covers all basis on the eating disorder spectrum, and provides a range of varied perspectives.

The most impressive aspect of the book is the sheer frankness of the author's writing. She is refreshingly honest, telling her story in graphic detail whilst resisting the urge to 'sugar-coat' her biography in order to make herself look better. It is this openness - this baring of the soul - that makes the reader immediately warm to Rachael, a factor which helps to make her words & her underlying message seem so much more genuine than the usual crop of 'Self-help' books that are dominating the market at the moment.

Spot on!
This book tells it like it really is. Thank god Rachael had the guts to share her story. This is a fantastic book, I have read thousands of self help books on this topic and this is the first that I have related to. As a former bulimic and anorexic Rachael tells most girls stories between the pages of this brilliant book. It has truly changed my life to know I am not the only one who has stolen food or eaten till I was sick. A round of applause to Rachael Oakes-Ash - when's the next book, I can't wait!