Losing It by Valerie Bertinelli

I know what you are thinking...another celebrity tell-all autobiography, how droll.
Believe it or not, I am not usually a fan of celebrity ghost-written books, because I don't want to feed into the American fascination with the sleazy underbelly of famous Hollywood denizens. And don't get me started on the horrors of tabloid journalism, which isn't really journalism at all.
The subtitle of this book says it all "And gaining my life back one pound at a time."
This is a sincere story of the stresses and happenstance in Bertinelli's life that lead her to become an emotional eater who gained 50 pounds when things went awry in her life.
I can so relate to that, it's not funny.
I've been an emotional eater for most of my life as well, and when stress attacks, I turn to cookies and cake, pie and soy ice cream for solace.
Bertinelli starts the book with her journey as a teenager to stardom on the TV sitcom "One Day at A Time" which I dutifully watched with my family every week. The behind-the-scenes stories on the show's set, though few, are wonderful fun, and there are plenty of Van Halen stories to make up for any lack in the TV sitcom world. I found myself wondering how Bertinelli managed to stay married to cheatin' Eddie Van Halen for so many years, especially in light of his drug and alcohol abuse. But she doesn't just tell of his abuses, she fully discloses her own, including one affair she had after discovering her husband had many infidelities.
The Van Halen's son, Wolfgang (called Wolfie) eventually finds his way on to the stage with his dad, and Bertinelli finds her way with a new man and Jenny Craig's diet program, but she also finds something more important. She discovers that dealing with why you eat is as important as dealing with what you eat.
I highly recommend this book for any emotional eaters who have felt that there is no way out of the cycle. Bertinelli proves it can be done, and that there is light at the end of the tunnel in this surprisingly well written book.