Common Sense Just Got a Little More Common, Thank Goodness
June 10, 2007
By willowgerl (Longmont, CO)
I've been looking for this book for about two years now, and am thrilled to have finally found it. It is short enough to read over and over again, and you'll want to because it's chock full of common sense ideas that are ridiculously easy to digest. You will be shocked at how much they fly in the face of conventional diet and weight loss "wisdom" that is bandied about continuously in popular TV programs, magazines, radio and books. The reasons why you seem to have no control over food or over your own weight will become crystal clear and you will understand how to reestablish control of both while enjoying your life.
The basis of this book is 15 simple "New Rules" intended to help you finally create a healthy relationship with food - with ALL food, not just "healthy" food. This means you will actually be eating things you enjoy, and ONLY things you enjoy, for every single meal. They teach you how to pay attention to and trust your body's signals about what it's craving, and how much it needs to sustain your level of activity. They teach you how to really love food again. And the best part is that once your relationship with all foods is healthy, you will naturally eat only what your body needs and your weight will normalize.
So the big question hot on any reader's mind obviously is...so does this really work? Yes. And then some. I have gone down a pant size since incorporating these ideas (May 5, 2007) and I'm just getting warmed up. That's the "yes." The "and then some" part is that I have only eaten my favorite foods for every single meal I have had since I've started. The "and then some" part is for the first time in my adult life I can accept invitations from friends to go out for dinner without the slightest trepidation about how I'm going to keep myself under control. The "and then some" part is I have been more satisfied with every meal I've had in the last month than I have ever been. The "and then some" part of this is I am finally off the endless, terrible roller coaster ride of fads and trends perpetuated by the diet and fitness industry and am enjoying life fully again, employing timeless, common-sense tactics to get my body to a weight and shape that is ideal for me. It's ironic that the only way I've been able to successfully lose weight is to jump off the weightloss bandwagon and concentrate on truly enjoying food, but when you read this book you'll understand why that happened.
I have to admit that I considered giving this book four stars because it could use a good editor to wordsmith some of the awkward turns of phrase and correct the spelling errors peppered throughout. I considered not addressing this, but it wouldn't be a totally truthful review if I left it out. I also know that there are some grammar-picky readers out there (I'm one of them!) who sometimes dismiss the validity of ideas in book because of editorial oversights, even if the ideas are sound. If you're one of those people, get the book anyway! You'll be thrilled you did, trust me. Susanna's a great writer, but I think she needs an equally good editor. And I ultimately chose to give it five stars because I want the book to be rated highly -- the ideas it contains deserve it!
This book will be best loved by people who:
- haven't quite been able to achieve their weight loss goals, in spite of feeling like they've been on a diet their entire lives;
- feel like failures because they haven't been able to stick to any weight loss diet or program (folks, that's about 99% of the population);
- suspect that the diet and weight-loss industry somehow depends on dieters' failures for their financial success;
- feel that there is something inherently wrong with the idea that to achieve permanent weight loss, one must give up their favorite foods and eat from a only limited range of foods (be it "clean" foods, "low glycemic" foods or whatever);
- are ready to take on the responsibility of making their own food and exercise choices - without having to rely on the weight loss industry's fad du jour;
- are ready to shed the notion that losing weight and achieving the body size you want needs to include pain and deprivation.
In closing, Susanna successfully turns around the "No pain, no gain!" adage touted by the weight loss industry, and if you're ready to embrace her "No pain! No gain!" common-sense wisdom then you need to check out this book.