The Hungry Years: Confessions of a Food Addict

"Leith has some interesting points of view about the wheat/carbohydrate conspiracy which fails to look at the whole picture. Nevertheless I am cutting carbs for the time being!! I feel he has a great capacity for self-delusion as all drug takers do. Blaming the world for his selfish attitudes and indulgent behaviour...and then of course his parents. OK so we all need to 'find ourselves' sometimes, but come on this is old news.....nothing more than some of the seven deadly sins....gluttony and lust for example. Sort yourself out, you have a privaledged background....go and help some people in the third world if you think your life is so bad."
~ Written on 2007-11-20

"This is a personal memoir of what it means to be an addict. Leith starts off the book defining his issue as an unhealthy relationship with food, bread in particular. He then spends considerable amounts of time researching and eventually participating in the Atkins diet, with some success. When he finds that this does not lead to ultimate personal happiness, and that he has simply channelled his addictive personality traits into other, and equally harmful past times, his world starts to fall apart. The hunger he refers to in the title of the book has very little to do with food, and everything to do with the unquenchable need that he identifies within himself to be fixed in some way. This is moving and fascinating, although not a 'finished' work in any way. I recommend it highly as both a tremendous piece of journalism, and as an intimate insight into what it means to be addicted to just about anything you care to mention."
~ Written on 2007-11-19

"I think you can only really laugh out loud in this book if you too have experienced the donut syndrome. But Leith says it oh so well. The description of walking around downtown New York was superb. I also found it emotionally compelling, cringeful and startling. His candour is remarkable. Now excuse me whilst I finish off this box of french fancies..."
~ Written on 2006-08-18

"I'm three quarters of the way through this book. It appears well researched with lots of facts about the growth of the food industry in the western world some of which you know, some of which you guessed and some really question the human psyche that exists in our civilised world. I don't know how it will end but when I get to the end I will change my relationship with food. I am a man 40 years old, 202 pounds waist size 34 inches - larger after eating fluffy white bread!"
~ Written on 2006-06-13

"I bought this book because I wanted to get a glimpse of everyday life from a man's prespective who was struggling with being overweight and his food addiction.

The book is well written with the reader given an insight into the daily battle of avoiding copious amounts of fatty food. A decent read."
~ Written on 2006-05-19