The book As Thin as You Think by Kristin Volk Funk is the kind of self-help about which research and my experience make me very skeptical. The intention is for the book to offer “The Keys to Unlocking Your Weight Loss Power,” revealing both the path to success and the reasons that caused your weight gain in the first place. The book is meant to be positive, encouraging, and easy, but I am always skeptical about a “quick fix”.
A “quick fix” is offered within the preface of the book- and it’s trance. I have worked under an experienced therapist who practiced trance, a variation of hypnotism, with clients and observed more than one client undergoing a trance session. I do believe it can be a powerful technique, but it is still not a “quick fix” for any type of struggle.
Kristin offers several mantras that readers can adopt. However, it seems that she is forgetting the research that reminds us that such mantras cannot be given to us but must be something that we already believe and must be used simply as a reminder for the self.
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There are too many excuses as to why we aren’t fit as a country. Among those excuses are mentions of how pricey it can be to buy gym memberships or workout equipment for the home. Those excuses seem fair to most people, but what if you were told that some of the fittest people in the country have no money and no access to any standard gym equipment? An attorney found this to be true as he dealt with clients in California correctional facilities.
After seeing how incredibly strong and fit inmates became during their time in prison, attorney William Kroger and his friend, a trainer, Trey Tuefel, devised a workout plan called Felon Fitness. Now, they’ve written a book, Felon Fitness: How to Get a Hard Body Without Doing Hard Time. Now all can become prison yard fit without doing time.
In the 90’s, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation removed free weights from the prisons. Inmates looking to strengthen up had to resort to body-weight exercises. Exercises such as push-ups, cherry pickers, pull-ups, and burpees were done at very high repetitions to obtain extreme levels of strength.
The tough repetitive body weight workouts are exactly what the book promotes along with a no nonsense diet plan.
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I am generally fairly skeptical about self-help books, but I was very pleasantly surprised to read 8 Keys to Recovery From An Eating Disorder: Effective Strategies from Therapeutic Practice and Personal Experience by Carolyn Costin and Gwen Schubert Grabb. I am guessing they believe that simply using their names makes them more approachable to readers; however, it is clear that these are intelligent, educated, and experienced professionals. Perhaps I would have been less surprised by the expertise of this book if they had included their degrees and licensing (all those fancy letters after their names) on the title page.
By the time I got to the third key, I had stopped writing down highlights for this review because the value of this book is greater than than the sum of the eight individual keys. Not only do I believe this book can be extremely helpful to someone suffering from an eating disorder, but I believe it could be helpful for other practitioners who are not specialized in eating disorders in helping someone experiencing a mild eating disorder. (I still think it is important to refer to specialists for anyone suffering from a moderate to severe eating disorder.)
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Do you ever wish you could invite a registered dietitian into your kitchen during mealtimes to peer over your shoulder and help you modify your favorite meals into healthier options for your family?
If you do, then Janice Newell Bissex, MS, RD and Liz Weiss, MS, RD, of the award-winning website Meal Makeover Moms, have the perfect solution with their latest cookbook, No Whine with Dinner (M3 Press, 2011).
The book contains 150 recipes that were tested by their own families and offers advice on choosing “healthy basics” from the grocery store – from fresh fruits and vegetables to convenience foods like jarred pasta sauce and salsa.
“We don’t believe in ‘kid food,’” said Bissex and Weiss in the book’s forward. “All of our recipes are made with color and flavor in mind and incorporate nutritious ingredients into their essence.
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Something is not ripe with the tomato industry, according to Barry Estabrook’s book, Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. Estabrook examines the corruption and hardships of the red and juicy fruit that is often seen atop many salads.
The fruit best known for being fresh in the summertime finds its way to the produce section each winter thanks to warm, sunny Florida weather. Estabrook writes that approximately one-third of the U.S.’s tomato supply comes from a state where tomatoes do not naturally grow. Florida’s environment is often difficult with a lack of nitrogen in the soil, insect pests, and bacterial and fungal diseases that can threaten the life of a plant. To make up for these disadvantages, tomato growers often spray the tomato farms with chemicals and pesticides, according to Estabrook.
These chemicals are very harmful to the hard-working tomato pickers and their families, who can get sick or have children with several birth defects. Not to mention these chemicals are extremely harmful to consumers, who may be at risk when ingesting the tomatoes. In addition, tomato pickers work very long and taxing hours in the brutal sun. The workers get no paid vacation and no benefits, and some have even been forced into slavery.
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