Tracey Gold's new book: Room to Grow: An Appetite for Life

In the late eighties and early nineties, Tracey Gold grew up in front of the world, as one of the stars of the popular television show Growing Pains. As her adolescence and teen years evolved on screen, Tracey found herself struggling - as so many do - with an extremely distorted body image, uncertain self esteem and in turn, anorexia. Through the years she struggled with the disorder and in the years since she began on the road to recovery, Tracey has learned a lot about eating disorders, and about herself. While I am not a celebrity and have never had to exist in the scrutiny of the spotlight, I was able to identify with her on many levels. She mentions early in the book that she was hesitant to be too detailed about specific aspects of her eating disorder. She recalls, as her own disorder was developing, looking to other eating disorder books as a sort of 'how-to' manual. I remember the very same thing. I can certainly understand not wanting to glorify all her secrets and tricks for the all the up and coming anorexics.

Following, is an annotation of the book, as listed at BarnesAndNoble.Com.

Room to Grow is the moving account of a trip to hell and back. It is a journey of self-discovery and a chronicle of the very difficult lessons Tracey Gold learned about coping in a society where emaciation is the ultimate ideal. In their February 3rd issue People excerpted her memoir saying "Battling anorexia, Tracey Gold writes, meant facing the pressure of family--and fame." In the accompanying article Tracey says she "wants to be remembered as a person who made a difference." She "wishes such a person had been around to talk to when she was 13." Room to Grow contains a wide assortment of personal photos of Tracey and her family from early childhood until now! Readers will also get a peek into the journal that Tracey kept during her long battle with anorexia nervosa.

Tracey Gold is a working actress well known to audiences throughout the world. Since the age of four she has appeared in feature films, television series and movies-of-the week. As a teenager she co-starred in the popular sitcom Growing Pains for seven years, playing wholesome, brainy Carol Seaver in a picture-perfect eighties American family. Tracey was a pretty and professional young star with a limitless future. But behind the smiles she was fighting the battle of her life against anorexia nervosa.

Ten years have passed since photos of a shockingly thin Tracey faced us from the cover of one of People magazine's best-selling issues ever. Today, an older and wiser Tracey Gold is ready to share her story.

"I always knew that there'd come a day in the future, when I was far away from the media glare surrounding my illness and I'd have the proper time and perspective to process all I went through. Now there are many more trained experts in the field of anorexia and eating disorders and there are a lot of girls who have struggled with it. My hope is that in sharing my experiences, battles and hard-earned knowledge, Room to Grow will be something people can turn to for help, a source of comfort and encouragement. It is for every sister, daughter, friend or boyfriend whose life has been touched by anorexia nervosa. This is my story. I hope it helps."

I appreciated reading this book, and do recommend it to anyone struggling with an eating disorder themselves, or concerned about a loved one with an eating disorder. It's a fast and easy read, with a message of hope and recovery.