Humble Pie

This is a book about cross-addiction, being human, and giving yourself grace. An intimate look into food addiction that will help you feel less alone, Bowman generously shares personal stories of her binges and healing in a way that invites you to step into your personal agency. – Katherine Morgan Schafler * author of The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control *Humble Pie is an extraordinary and fearless excavation of the second act of recovery—where the original addiction may be in remission, but the psyche, body, and spirit still crave, collapse, and, eventually, reconstitute. Dana Bowman writes with searing clarity about sugar, menopause, aging, relapse, invisibility, and the complex behavioral compulsions that often arrive to fill the emotional vacuum left by alcohol. As a therapist, I see this all the time: the symptom shifts, but the suffering remains unless we confront it with radical honesty and self-compassion. Dana does exactly that—and she does it with exquisite prose and biting humor that’s as therapeutic as it is literary. This book belongs on the shelf of every clinician, sponsor, and struggler who’s ever wondered why getting sober didn’t make everything easier. Bowman proves that healing isn’t about perfection—it’s about persistence, humility, and telling the damn truth! – Mark B. Borg, Jr., Ph.D * co-author of the Irrelationship book series and Love. Crash. Rebuild *Dana reminds us that ‘it’s ok to not be ok’ and gives the reader permission to free themselves from more labels and instead wear their authenticity like a coat of many colors. If you want to feel seen, understood, and travel through a journey of ups and downs but end up on higher ground then this book is for you. – Jenn Kautsch * author of Look Alive, Sis *

Menopause stories are having a moment, but menopause + sobriety + food addiction? Dana Bowman is early to market on that. More than a pioneering truth teller, in Humble Pie, she’s a mom who does her research, a master of digressions that make sense in a minute, and a writer whose wise cracks resonate whether you’re sober or not.In her Fear and Loathing in Las Dana voice, she makes it AOK to LOL about recovery, relapses, and swapping alcohol for sugar. Why not have a laugh about how to deal with hard things while making sense of the madness that is menopause and the chaos of midlife — and cozy up with a new friend while you’re at it.

Dana Bowman is the author of How to Be Perfect Like Me and Bottled: A Mom’s Guide to Early Recovery, which was selected as a Kansas Notable book. She teaches writing at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, and works as a librarian at her local branch. Dana lives in a sweet little town in the Midwest with her family and two cats.