Introducing Food Mad: Why Eating Disorders Are Brain Disorders First

Food Mad: A book about how EDs drive us mad.

I’ve been quietly working on something for a long time. Now it is ready to step into the world.

Food Mad is the book I wish had existed years ago, for the people living inside an eating disorder, for the parents and partners trying to help, and for clinicians who feel like the usual explanations don’t quite explain what they’re seeing.

At its core, this is a book about the brain.

Why this book needed to be written

Eating disorders are often talked about as if they’re choices, habits, or beliefs that need correcting. But anyone who has lived with one, or supported someone who has, knows that explanation falls apart quickly.

When the brain is under-fuelled, it does not function normally.

Decision-making narrows. Flexibility disappears. Anxiety ramps up. Fear feels rational. And recovery advice that might make sense on paper becomes impossible to act on.

This book starts with a simple but often overlooked truth: a starved brain cannot recover using willpower, insight, or motivation alone.

What Food Mad focuses on (and what it doesn’t)

This is not a meal plan. It’s not a mindset workbook. And it’s not a book about “learning to love food.”

Instead, Food Mad explains, in plain language, what prolonged undernutrition does to the brain and body, and why nutrition must come first for anything else to work.

Inside the book, I explore:

• How inadequate nutrition alters brain chemistry and structure

• Why anxiety, rigidity, and distress escalate with restriction

• Why people can appear “resistant” or “in denial” when their brain is simply under-fuelled

• Why recovery requires more food, for longer, than most people expect

• Why support systems matter, and why recovery cannot be done in isolation

The science is there, but it’s written to be usable rather than overwhelming.

Who this book is for

If you’re living with an eating disorder and feel stuck, confused, or blamed, this book is for you. If you’re a parent, partner, or caregiver watching someone you love struggle, this book is for you.If you’re a clinician who wants a clearer, biologically grounded way to understand what’s happening, this book is for you too.

You don’t need to read it cover to cover. It’s designed to be dipped into, returned to, and shared.

Why I’m sharing this now

I have launched Food Mad, and I wanted to introduce it properly, not as a product, but as a resource.

This book is the result of years of clinical work, neuroscience learning, and sitting with people in the hardest parts of recovery. It exists because too many people are still being told they are “not sick enough,” “not trying hard enough,” or “just need to change their thinking.”

The brain deserves better than that.

Food Mad is now available via the link below. For now, thank you for being here and for being willing to think differently about eating disorders.

— Victoria

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