Episode 276: Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat. Stephanie Covington

Stephanie Covington Armstrong is the author of, Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat, her memoir in which she vividly describes her struggle as a black woman with bulimia.

Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat, is the first book by and about black women and eating disorders, and in it, Stephanie answers many questions about why black women often do not seek traditional therapy for emotional problems.

Stephanie is a playwright and screenwriter living in Los Angeles. Her commentary on black women and eating disorders, "Digesting the Truth," was featured on NPR (click HERE for the full commentary), and she has written for Essence, Sassy, Mademoiselle, and Venice magazines, among other publications. She authored the plays “Three Stories Down,” “The Outside Sisters,” and “The Long Journey Home” which all have been performed in theaters in Los Angeles and New York.

Moving coast to coast, she tried to escape her self-hatred and obsession by never slowing down, thus being unaware that she was caught in downward spiral emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

Her essay on bulimia, "Fear and Loathing," is included in the forthcoming anthology The Black Body by Meri Danquah.

In her memoir, “Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat,” (August, 2009, Independent Publishers Group) author Stephanie Covington-Armstrong vividly describes her struggle as a black woman with bulimia.   Her battle with an eating disorder takes a unique perspective as this disease is consistently portrayed as a white woman's problem.   This insightful and moving narrative traces the background and factors that contributed to Stephanie’s eating disorder. Moving coast to coast, she tried to escape her self-hatred and obsession by never slowing down, thus being unaware that she was caught in downward spiral emotionally, spiritually, and physically.