Book Review: 5 Nutrition Books That Will Change the Way You Look at Food

I don't know about you, but I love information.  I also love to read.  And eat.  And cook.  So that's why nutrition books are something I enjoy.  

If you are on a fitness journey, and you are trying to guess your way through it, you need to get another plan.  Information is power.  Power to change.

These are my five favorite books about food, nourishing our bodies, and eating for change.  There is an absolute truth that calories in < calories out = weight/fat loss.  But it also matters what you are eating for calories.  Here's what these books taught me:

1. "Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle" by Tom Venuto - this is basically a weight-lifter's book, but the method is sound.  It teaches the calorie equation: how many calories you need to eat each day.  It follows the "clean eating" model, which is basically high protein, veggies, fruit, healthy fats, & low/no sugar or bad fats.  It has a meal-assembly guide based on your metabolism type, which is figured out in an entire chapter.  Lots of math. Love.

2.  "The Eat Clean Diet" by Tosca Reno - Tosca's story is inspiring: around age 40 she changed her eating habits and exercise pattern & became a body builder/fitness model.  She sets out all the positives for eating clean & exercising from skin improvement to energy level and overall health, and every other reason in between.  She has a separate cook book with additional recipes that are all simple to follow and delicious.

3.  "Practical Paleo" by Diane Sanfilippo - Paleo is a gatherer diet, based on vegetables & fruits that have not been domesticated or genetically altered, high in protein, and avoids all legumes & grains, since those are "man-made".  She is heavy on the research based on her own experience with benefiting from Paleo, and provides several tweaks in the Paleo diet to combat diabetes, weight loss, systemic inflamation, IBS, and other issues that can be solved with Paleo.  

4.  "Shred: the Revolutionary Diet" by Ian K. Smith - this book promises big things, and again is based on eating clean.  The book outlines a week by week eating plan based on food groups.  The meal plan is filling, and I especially like the 8 or so pages of 100, 150, & 200 calories snack ideas.  

5.  "Thin Side Out: How to Have Your Cake & Your Skinny Jeans Too" by Josie Spinardi - this is a fun and eye-opening read about all the pitfalls of restrictive dieting & the reasons we eat or overeat.  It goes in-depth about the psychology behind why you reach for firsts or for seconds, & how to get yourself to stop, feel satiated on less, and get out of destructive eating habits.  Even if you aren't a binge-eater, this book provides the key to understanding why we eat beyond fueling.  

All of these books boil down to four things:

Eat clean: 

protein & veggies are the answer to long-lasting health & fat loss

Exercise: 

when combined with healthy eating it's the one-two punch that'll make a knock-out

Processed Sugar is bad: 

and we all need to eat less. it is the hard-work-eraser.

Results:

if you can stick with anything long enough, you'll get them

We are all different.  One book or author will speak to you more than another.  One eating plan will seem easier to you, and so you'll be more likely to follow it.  Find out what it is and do that.

Also, knowledge alone won't help you. Use your new-found knowledge and become wise.  Apply it.

And last, nothing will change unless you are willing and ready to commit.  It's like potty-training.  There's no point in starting unless there's interest.  Forcing leads to failure leads to lower likelihood of you ever trying again. 

I fall into the category of lots of lots of knowledge and a little application.  I have lots of room for change and improvement.  I've started and failed lots of times, but I know that when it's time I'll know.  Make sense?  I knew it was time when I kicked of the Summer Slim Down.  I felt ready to commit, ready to make it public, and ready to have a support system of women to come along with me.

Happy reading!

Book Review: Enjoyable & Humorous Reads

Nothing besides family brings me as much happiness as curling up with a good book.  Summer, Winter, Spring, or Fall, I love to read.  I loved it as a child, staying up late with a flashlight, finishing a whole book in one night, re-reading my favorites, like "Anne of Green Gables" many times over.

English class was an adventure for me, being introduced to classics, and exploring challenging books with fascinating meanings and lessons.  I loved dissecting the hidden meanings, symbolism, and plot twists.  

As a young mother I pretty much gave up reading, for my own entertainment and pleasure.  I read with my children at every opportunity, enjoying their joy & pleasure in children's stories, and the comfort they found in the repetition of their favorites.  I had "Little Miss Spider", "Everywhere Babies", "Fancy Nancy", & "Felicity Wishes" memorized.

When my kids went back to school, I picked up reading again...voraciously.  I can easily read a book a week, losing all track of time, space, and human interaction, burying my nose in pretty much anything with pages and a cover.  

That's not to say I'm not discriminating.  I won't read just anything, and I stick to my standards.  I really love to read from all genres, as well.  I've enjoyed a Dickens phase, a Tolkien phase, a Fantasy phase, a Period Romance phase, and a History phase.  Mostly concurrently.  I love recommendations from friends and family, belong to a book club, and keep a "to-read" list on my phone, as well as a Good-Reads profile. I really hate to lose titles that have piqued my interest, before I have a chance to read them. 

Here are a few of my recent favorites:

A couple years ago I read "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake", by Aimee Bender.  The main character has the ability to taste the emotions of her mother in her cooking.  As a mother I was fascinated!  And horrified at the implications! I couldn't stop reading it, and as it developed I was ever more intrigued.  By the time I finished, I called my sister-in-law and begged her to read it fast so I could talk to someone about it! I love books with unexpected endings.

I just finished this book last week: "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of The Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson.  My mom recommended it highly, to me and my brother.  She said it was crazy funny.  It is about a man who leaves his nursing home on his 100th birthday and begins a crazy adventure.  As the book progresses, however, you realize that this is basically par-for-the-course for Allan Karlsson, who over the course of his 100 years, has lived through every major world crisis from the Bolshevik Revolution to the Cold War and beyond.  The dry humor had me laughing from start to finish, and also reading passages to my husband, who willingly listened, and even laughed along sometimes.  Thanks, dear, you're a good sport.  

I have a penchant for non-fiction literature.  "One Summer" by Bill Bryson was an entertaining and fascinating read.  History is fascinating with all it's twists, turns, and when looked at as a whole is amazingly intricate.  Truth truly is stranger than fiction.  The book related events happening in and around 1927, and it reveals that this one summer was hugely important and changed the face of America.  Bryson writes about the nature of Americans at this period of history, daring, reckless, adventurous, and unstoppable, on top of the world.  He finds the humor in every story and makes reading history superbly entertaining.

The most recent epic fantasy book I've loved is "The Stormlight Archive" by Brandon Sanderson.  A writer from BYU, he is known for his intricate and involved universes.  I find the books intriguing and fascinating, stepping out of the world of rules we know, and into another place.  The series will be upwards of 10 books.  At two years per book, and being only finished with two books, I'll be an old granny by the time the series is complete.  Ugh.  If you're looking for a completed series in the same epic fantasy genre, "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan is also a fantastic read.  Thirteen books, totally done.  In fact, the last two books were basically written by Brandon Sanderson, because Jordan died before he could finish.  Hmm.  I really enjoy both of these collections. 

Call me a nerd, I can totally handle it. 

         

Hopefully these have given you some good ideas.  If you have any recommendations, leave a comment.  I'm always on the hunt for my next good read.

Happy reading!

Books for Teens

Okay, so to me finding a good book is IMPOSSIBLE. I've read a lot. I don't consider reading to be my regular hobby but once in a while I like to snuggle down with a good book. Some of the books I've read are; Harry Potter series (twice), Hunger Games series, Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities, Jane Eyre, Book Thief, The Giver, Turtle in Paradise, and many many others. Some of these I read in two or three days. For my Honors English class every term we are given a list of books and we have to pick one to read that term. I read them and I enjoy them. The last one I read was Jane Eyre, which I absolutely ADORE, but I still want to find more books to read. Being in Junior High makes it even harder to find books. We have to have a certain number of book points to get an "A", but we can only read books off the ninth grade book list. So of course wanting an "A" I read what I have to. I just recently finished The Book Thief and let me tell you it was AMAZING!I read it in two days and I cried sooooo much! This book had the right combination of sadness and joy to make it incredible. Although finding books seems IMPOSSIBLE there are really good books out there. The books I have read have become my favorite. To find good books you have to ask for recommendations and you don't have to read garbage, don't be afraid to stop reading when needed. When you find a great book it becomes  a GEM. 

Happy Reading!!!