Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs in on Living Large, Losing Weight, and How Parents Can (and Can't) Help - Hardcover

"A thoughtful, provocative and valuable account of subject that is too often beset by prejudice and hysteria." -- Paul Campos, Professor, University of Colorado and author of "The Diet Myth" "Abby Ellin has written a necessary road map for parents and their children who struggle with eating issues." -- Betsy Lerner, author of "Food and Loathing" "Ellin's funny, intimate and unblinkingly honest book is sure to help parents and kids wrestling with this issue." -- Alissa Quart, author of "Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers" "Its straight-forward perspective challenges our current views about weight loss, body image, and the manipulative societal pressures on our children." -- "Emme" ""Teenage Wasteland" is not just about Ellin's personal experiences...It's about the emotional effects of the various solutions." --" Los Angeles Times", June 14, 2005 "Written with candor, curiosity, and compassion... [and]reflects our own grown-up and insecurities around body and beauty, health and happiness." -- Wendy Shanker, author of "The Fat Girl's Guide to Life" "[Ellin] addresses the situation from a psychological, medical, cultural, and most important, understanding standpoint." -- "Gotham Magazine", August, 2005 "A unique, empathetic perspective on this issue [Ellin] writes with compassion and humor about the trials of overweight kids." -- "Bookpage", August 2005 "An honest, grimly funny report from a world that's lost all sense of proportion about fat." -- "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette", June 6, 2005 "One part investigative journalism, one part self-help, and one part personal narrative, "Waistland "is intriguing...both eloquent and moving." -- "The Boston Globe", September 18, 2005

For five years, Abby Ellin wrote the "Preludes" column, about young people and money, in the Sunday Money and Business section of the New York Times. She also regularly writes the "Vows" column in the New York Times Sunday Styles section, as well as feature assignments for the New York Times Magazine. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, including Time, the Village Voice, Marie Claire, More, Self, Glamour, the Boston Phoenix, and Spy (RIP). She's an editor-at-large for Gotham magazine and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. But her greatest claim to fame is naming "Karamel Sutra" ice cream for Ben and Jerry's.