Dr. Michelle Lelwica is currently an associate professor in the Religion Department at Concordia College where she teaches classes that deal with embodiment, mindfulness, religion, gender, and cultural critique. Her publisher, Gurze Books, has been dedicated to providing quality information on topics related to eating disorder recovery, research, education, advocacy, and prevention. With these credentials and backing behind her, Lelwica certainly possesses the knowledge to present this difficult material with expertise.

I found her book compelling and filled with passion. Her desire to nurture the idea that women should feel at home in their own bodies, no matter what the size or shape, has given meaning to her life.

Lelwica believes that women are filling the void in their life through dieting. Her title, The Religion of Thinness, is in fact a practicing religion that attempts to teach women that by controlling their weight they can gain control over their lives. Obtaining the perfect body gives one a feeling of superiority and salvation comes from being thin.

By devoting our time and energies to being thin, we are disguising the real issues and burying deeper issues beneath the surface. In her book Lelwica relates how religion plays a deeper role in these false messages and she teaches women to awake, practice mindfulness, and find peace.

I enjoyed the book because of its deeper interest in how to change one’s life to accommodate the bombardment of the media, including all the attention paid to being thin and having the perfect figure. The author teaches how to meditate and find meaning behind all the smoke screens that teach us dieting is the answer to everything. She talks about eating disorders, ritualistic eating, violence and other conditions that stem out of the illusion of thinness.

The book gives clear cut practices to find the body within and let that out by using exercises in mindfulness. I would recommend this book to all women who are struggling with the idea that they have to be perfect on the outside to find peace and happiness. Lelwica gives good credence to the idea that it just isn’t true.