I have been thinking a lot lately about food. I have changed the way I eat, but i am not really ready to talk about this yet (it’s funny how a blog about what you read really tells so much about how you live. I mean, I guess in my case I am a teenage love-sick vampire, but you get my point – it’s hard to write about how you feel about what you read without it reflecting about well, how you feel).
But, this was a self-help book I picked up on the Strand Annex for 70% off (they are closing the downtown location). I bought it because I felt that I needed a diet book, or something to give me some sort of structure – but to my surprise, the book ended up being exactly the opposite. The premise is essentially – stop dieting and just eat. Not a fat-acceptance book, but the idea that diets make you fat, and you always regain and feel like a failure and continue the cycle, but if you just give yourself permission to NOT diet, then you will lose weight because your body will find its natural rhythms and you will stop the cycle of binge eating.
It makes sense to me, and its actually kind of what was going on during the beginning of the summer when I lost a good deal of weight (and have kept most of it off.) The book itself was kind of a “well, duh” but sometimes I think you need to read something and have it codified before it kicks in. I had a conversation this weekend that really struck me. My issues with weight don’t just effect me, they effect those that love me. And I am holding myself back my being so obsessed with my size.
All in all, a decent book for people who struggle with weight or always feel like they are dieting. I particularly liked the portions of the book that talked about doing something with your life that is meaningful and focus more on who you are as a person rather than what your thighs look like. It also had some cool tips and ideas for raising healthy non-fat conscious kids and that’s something I worry about a lot – putting my own neuroses on kids. Also, without being New Age hippie-dippy, it recommends massage. How can you not like a book that recommends massage?