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


© Heather Mudgett.

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.

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The copyright of the article Tracey Gold's new book: Room to Grow: An Appetite for Life in Eating Disorders is owned by Christina Alwan. Permission to republish Tracey Gold's new book: Room to Grow: An Appetite for Life in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

5.   Dec 24, 2003 7:27 PM
It is truley a great book. People who suffer from an ED may benifit from this book because it is so insprirational.I have come very close to having an ED of my own, maybe I have had a minor ED but rea ...

-- posted by baby100


4.   May 29, 2003 4:03 PM
Hello. None of you know me because this is my first post here. I just want to say that to me Tracy really is one of the biggest inspirations to me. I am currently 16 and am fighting myself a battle wi ...

-- posted by chrissybabby


3.   Mar 11, 2003 11:27 AM
I always have kept up on the latest w/Tracey Gold and her anorexia. I, too, can relate to what she went through (not in the spotlight sense). I used to always admire her when I was going through my ...

-- posted by darlie73


2.   Feb 9, 2003 6:04 PM
In response to message posted by Tery:

I think it is very courageous for Tracy to let the world in to her troubled and painful e ...

-- posted by SUSSE


1.   Feb 9, 2003 7:44 AM
I think this is great that you are focusing on this. I have three teenage daughters myself and image is so important to them. Thank Goodness that they don't have eating disorders, but a lot of our tee ...

-- posted by Tery





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