How Much Does Your Soul Weigh? by Dorie McCubbrey

McCubbrey, Dorie. How Much Does Your Soul Weigh? Diet-Free Solutions to Your Food Weight and Body Worries. New York: HarperResource, 2002.

Dr. Dorie McCubbrey calls herself the “Don’t Diet” Doctor. McCubbrey has a real doctorate in bioengineering. She bases her approach to better health and life from not dieting more on her work as a licensed professional counselor.

Success in weight management and overcoming eating disorders is an inside job. Throughout the book, this is contrasted with the external sources of weight problems and attempts to deal with them.

According to McCubbrey, weight problems have their source in trying to fit ourselves to standards that come from the world around us. Even seemingly healthy people can have weight problems and eating disorders that come from this external orientation. To deal with these, people play “games” which are strategies and behaviors for controlling weight that don’t deal with the real problems.



McCubbrey herself suffered these problems and played many of these games. Her struggles with body image and perfection led hear into anorexia, bulimia, excessive exercise and periods of being overweight.

The solution to these issues, and to the broader issue of living well, is intuitive self-care. Practicing intuitive self-care involves getting in touch with one’s inner wisdom about what is good in eating, exercise and living. It is living from the inside out instead of the outside in.

McCubbrey offers strategies for practicing intuitive self-care. She describes them as feeding the soul. This “diet” for the soul involves learning to love, listen to, and express your true self. To help readers practice this soul diet, she offers several recipes, which are exercises to practice. Some of these deal directly with the way people eat and think about eating. Others are directed toward meditation and discovery of one’s true desires.

The book is in many ways more of a self-help book that a diet plan. It doesn’t focus on changing behavior of lifestyles (lifestyle change is one of the games), but on living from the soul.

Happiness is a Choice by Frank B. Minirth and Paul D Meier

I’ve been reading a lot about anxiety and depression lately, and it has led me to some older books, such as Happiness is a Choice by psychiatrists Frank B. Minirth and Paul D. Meier. The book appears to be written for a mixed audience of therapists who may be treating patients with depression and people who may pick up the book as a self-help guide. If depression is affecting your life, I recommend you talk to your physician or reach out for appropriate counseling; there are effective therapies and in some cases drugs may be appropropriate.

The book may be broken into three major parts. The first deals with the symptoms of depression. Though it is fairly widely know now (thanks largely to drug advertising), it was probably less known in 1978 when this book was published, that there are physical symptoms to depression. Feeling bad emotionally can make us feel bad physically and vice-versa.

The second part deals with the causes of depression. These are particularly stress and trauma. We all face trauma in life, and it does not have to be “major” to result in depression. We all grieve losses, get angry over the way we or others are mistreated, face dysfunction in relationships and countless other stresses and traumas. Any of us may suffer a blow that leads to depression.

“Who gets depressed? At some period of life, nearly everyone does!” Frank B. Minirth and Paul D. Meier, Happiness is a Choice

Finally, they deal with the treatment of depression. Much of Minirth and Meier’s advice deals with thinking and relationships. Therapy may occur at a counselor’s office, but healing takes place in everyday life, thoughts and relationships.

The book also contains appendices that deal with things that may be of more interest to therapist. These include a few very brief case studies, a short chapter on the biology of depression and additional information on various types of treatment.

Minirth and Meier are known as Christian counselors who discuss faith alongside medicine. This book is no exception. The authors reference the Bible and draw lessons from it. Though many may find useful advice in this book, I think it would especially appeal to Christian who are seeking help that is consistent with their faith. Their advice on overcoming depression and anxiety is rooted in their religion.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado

The Mindful Way through Depression by Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindal Segal & Joh Kabat-Zinn

Rewire Your Anxious Brain by Catherine M. Pittman & Elizabeth M. Karle

The Solution by Lucinda Bassett

Think 4:8 by Tommy Newberry & Lyn Smith

12 “Christian” Beliefs That Can Drive You Crazy by Henry Cloud & John Townsend

Minirth, Frank B., and Paul D. Meier. Happiness is a Choice: A Manual on the Symptoms, Causes and Cures of Depression. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker House, 1978.

Scan Artist by Marcia Biederman

When I want to find some information, I can pull my cell phone out of my pocket and search for it using Google (or some other search engine, but probably Google). I can remember a time when that was not an option. If the information I needed wasn’t in the dictionary or encyclopedia I had at home (which was already of date in some areas), I’d have to go to the library for additional references or—heaven forbid—the morgue of a newspaper office. Getting useful information was not a trivial affair. The generation before mine that saw a pre-Internet explosion of printed information after World War II especially felt the difficulty of keeping up. Evelyn Wood was there with an answer; Marcia Biederman tells her story in Scan Artist.

Evelyn Wood did not invent speed reading. She did not even like the term. However, for decades her name and face was more strongly associated with it than any other person. Though she built her reputation on being a school teacher, she never was not a regular classroom teacher (she was a school counselor) and she was not a reading specialist. She had a master’s degree in speech, earned under the direction of a professor who a studied theater.

Theater may be the lens for looking at Wood’s career. She started writing and staging plays when she was in high school and a college undergraduate. Many of these had religious themes related to her Mormon faith. When she was in Germany, where her husband served as president of the Mormon mission in Frankfurt as the Nazis began their aggressions, she fell in love with the opera and cajoled her way into back stage of the opera house. She began bringing what she learned of stagecraft into her own productions.

Back in the U.S. the Woods put Evelyn’s theatrical skills to work as lecturers on their European experience. They changed their focus as American sentiments shifted from Germany to Britain. They also put a pretty heavy spin on the Mormon relationship with the Nazis and greatly embellished the dangers they face leaving Germany.

Evelyn Wood’s success as a seller of her speed-reading system was largely built on such theatrics and embellishments. She claimed student could read thousands of words per minute; the faster one read the better their comprehension. (The fastest people can actually read is about 900 words per minute. Anything faster is skimming, and comprehension suffers when one skims). She managed to get endorsements from senators and she encouraged, or at least never corrected, the misconception that she was tied to John F. Kennedy and his reportedly fast reading speed. (Ted Kennedy took her course as a senator, and staffers in the Kennedy, Nixon and Carter administrations took the course, including Jimmy Carter himself, though Wood was not the teacher.)

The company she started changed hands and business models several times. A lot of money was made with her name and methods, and in the sale and resale of the company, but the Woods received only a small portion of it. Even so, she was ready to promote herself, her methods and the company that still paid her a consulting fee. She slowed down, but continued to make appearances and accept interview requests even after suffering cancer and a stroke.

While one may sympathize with her, especially in her illness later in life, the Evelyn Wood presented by Biederman is not easy to like. The Wood adopted a teenage girl largely to have a live-in nanny for their natural daughter when they moved to Germany; they never really acknowledge their adopted daughter or even saw her much once she was an adult. Wood was in some ways a con artist who played on the insecurities of her marks, some who were never knocked in spite of the mounting evidence that her program was at best an overprice lesson in skimming.

Wood found a way to take advantage of the insecurity of her day. She built a brand on it. While primarily a biography of Wood, Scan Artist reveals interesting things about America of the time and the obsession with self-improvement. It has not disappeared. Speed-reading apps still claim to greatly increase both speed and comprehension. TED-talkers claim to read a book or more a day. The Internet makes it easy to acquire a shallow knowledge of almost anything quickly, so perhaps people have become satisfied with what they can learn from skimming hundreds of books a year. Deep learning and understanding remains slow and effortful.

Biederman, Marcia. Scan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World that Speed-Reading Worked. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2019.

12 “Christian” Beliefs That Can Drive You Crazy by Henry Cloud & John Townsend

Cloud, Henry & John Townsend. 12 “Christian” Beliefs That Can Drive You Crazy: Relief from False Assumptions.  Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994.

Henry Cloud and John Townsend are Christian counselors.  In their practice, they found that many Christians have little knowledge of what the Bible says about their problems.  They often had been taught religious beliefs that not only were opposed the Bible, or misconstrued it, but were detrimental to their recovery.  They address a doze of these maddening traditions in 12 “Christian” Beliefs That Can Drive You Crazy.

I won’t go over all twelve beliefs.  They’re all things I’ve seen or heard, or even thought myself, at some point.  You probably have run into them, too.  Some concepts recur throughout the chapters:

• Denial of neediness,
• Legalism,
• Over-spiritualizing,
• Underestimating God, and
• Underestimating the importance of people.

In each chapter, the authors describe the a false belief.  Sometimes they show its pseudo-biblical origins.  They then present the Biblical view on the subject.  They offer advice on how to put this knowledge into practice.

The overarching theme of the book is that growth as a Christian is a process.  God can change us in an instant, but more often He changes use over time.  The secondary theme is the necessity of the church.  Most of the crazy-making beliefs lead people to isolate themselves.  This is the opposite of what God intends.  It is often through our brothers and sisters in the church that God provides for our needs, and as we mature we have the privilege of helping others, too.

It would not be appropriate to describe this book as self-help.  Cloud and Townsend never assume that we can make on our own.  We’re not made to.  First, we need God and He is the prime mover in the transformation of our lives.  Second, the church is intended to be like a body, where the various parts aid, support, help, and heal each other.  God uses people and He has probably provided what we need through the church.  Finally, some people need professional help.  Whatever you need, powering through on your own is not the way to go.

This book may be useful to Christians at any stage, especially those struggling with ongoing problems.  I wish I had had it early in my Christian life, when its lessons might have save me a lot of struggle.

It is simple to read, too.  There is no technical, psychological material to wade through.  It is written to the person seeking help, not as a textbook or reference for the counselor or other professional.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The 4:8 Principle by Tommy Newberry

Fathered by God by John Eldredge

Have a New You by Friday by Kevin Leman

Into the Depths of God by Calvin Miller

Walking with God by John Eldredge

Why Good Things Happen to Good People by Stephen Post and Jill Neimark

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The Velveteen Principles by Toni Raiten-D’Antonio

Raiten-D’Antonio, Toni.  The Velveteen Principles: A Guide to Becoming Real: Hidden Wisdom from a Children’s Classic.  Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 2004.

In The Velveteen Principles, counselor Toni Raiten-D’Antonio draws lessons for living from the children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.  Raiten-D’Antonio found the lessons from this book to be helpful for her clients in living as real people rather than seeing themselves as objects.

The Velveteen Rabbit (you can skip this paragraph if you’ve read it) is the story of a cheap, stuffed bunny that wants to be real.  The rabbit has a rough time, especially when faced with comparisons to fancier toys that erode its confidence.  He is encouraged along the way by a toy horse that had already been made “real” by the love of a child.  The rabbit becomes a boy’s companion through a severe illness, and though it is a trial, the rabbit’s courage and love for the boy carries him through.  The boy loves him back and considers him real.  Even so, adults throw the rabbit out because they think it is riddled with disease.  A fairy rectifies the situation by make the rabbit a real, flesh-and-blood bunny.

Raiten-D’Antonio sees a parallel in the lives of people, who are encouraged by our culture to see themselves as objects.  Objects have manufactured perfection.  They are valued for how they fit an ideal.  Objectified people hide there flaws, obsessively follow fads, lose their uniqueness, become disconnected from themselves and others, and miss out on living.  It is easy to fall prey to objectification because our culture values and rewards its.

In contrast, real people are imperfect.  Their imperfections make them unique.  Reality isn’t simply a matter of accepting imperfections; it is about being perfectly yourself, a person with value because you are a person, with strengths and weakness, relationships, and a place in the world.  Reality is challenging.

A dozen principles of being real are described in the book.  Some are about the process of becoming real and some relate to what a real life is like.

The value carries through most of the principles is empathy.  We start with empathy for ourselves, acknowledging and accepting ourselves as we are rather than trying to become a perfect object.  This self-empathy isn’t about giving up or pretending everything is okay.  It’s about setting aside the illusions of the object-world and giving ourselves the grace and space to begin where we are.

Self-empathy gives us room of empathy for others.  Just as we stop trying to make ourselves into perfect objects, we show the same grace to others.  Love, honesty and ethics spring from empathy.

Real living has its own dangers and pains.  The truth can be uncomfortable, especially the truth about us, and letting go of object-ideals can be hard. However, the rewards or real living are a kind of contentment, peace, and inner wealth that can’t be achieved by having or being an object.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Self-Love by Robert H. Schuller

Wisdom from the Batcave by Cary A. Friedman

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