As usual long time to no speak, I know its been awhile since I have created a new post. I am pretty busy these days so I won't be making posts too often. Since its been awhile I decided to create a new post and not only that but I felt inspired to do a book review on this audio book I just finished listening to called "Pleasurable weight loss" by Jena La Flamme.
Now you may be wondering why I was reading a book on weight loss when I already lost tons of weight well heres whats been going on, ever since last year I was dealing with lot of stress and anxiety and it lead me back to eating unhealthy and I sought to seek help from other sources be it books or magazines. Even though I have lost tons of weight which I have managed to keep most of it off I still have an unhealthy relationship with food which I am trying to overcome I am in no way saying that I am anorexic, I really am NOT its just that sometimes I turn to a bar of chocolate for comfort and sometimes I restrict myself too much or I feel guilty for overindulging, this however has been a result of stress as I was most of the time in a negative mind set which EVERY woman goes through, that of course can trigger someone to have weight problems back when I started my journey I was less stressed so therefore I found it a lot more easier to lose weight plus I was also struggling to find time for exercise which I have finally found the time for as my schedule changed and am now happily back in routine for as remembered that its never good to make excuses.
You guys need to understand though that being on a weight loss journey is not only a journey where you are losing weight it is also a learning journey. I am still learning to lose weight despite my massive weightloss so I have decided to read books about this topic which could help me to develop new and healthier habits which I would recommend you to do too! :)
Ok on to the review now
I stumbled across this book when I went to the Mind, Body Spirit festival here in Sydney. I went to the book stand and found the book there, however I didn't purchase the book, I found it interesting but chose not to purchase it at that time. I came across it again when I went to a website called soundstrue.com and figured I'd purchase the audio book. And that is how I stumbled across this book.
I will just briefly summarize what the book is really about.
First of all it is NOT a diet book, it does not tell you what you should and should not eat its more based on respecting your own body and how to enjoy your food in a pleasurable manner by referring to your body as an animal and that you should think of your body as a "She" It sort of does tell you what to eat but it also tells HOW to eat as in eating slowly and mindfully, the book also gives advise on how to reduce stress and how stress triggers weight gain as well as live a pleasurable life. The author's main point though is that the more pleasure you have the more easy it will be to lose weight as stress is one of the main causes of weight gain. It also tells you that you can lose weight enjoying less as in eating less. As you can see its more of a self help book.
My Pros on the book
I really love how compassionate the author Jena La Flamme is and also love the idea of weight loss being pleasurable not only because I like it but also because I find that it makes sense as weight loss doesn't have to be hard and it can be enjoyable even I knew that before listening to the book! Plus it does make sense how stress is the main cause to weight gain as it is the thing that causes many people to eat more in order to feel better and also stress interferes with the metabolism which causes high cortisol levels which brings me to another thing that makes sense is that when you want to lose weight sometimes you may feel stressed out about it because you may feel intimidated by how someone else looks and you may constantly think that you must look a certain way to be more appealing which can cause a lot of stress which on top of that creates more stress! I really like how the author advises you to be at peace with your body not judge yourself or compare yourself to others and how you should be thankful for the body you have. I also like the advise on enjoying your food and how you should never think of food as your enemy or your weakness plus the advise on how unhealthy and useless it is to body shame yourself and how loving yourself is important. I also really enjoyed listening to her own story with her struggles and how she overcame her problems on the issue of weight loss as well as self acceptance. Another pro is that if you are the kind of person is sick and tired of counting calories and you just got out of it than this is the book you will want to read as this book teaches you how to enjoy food by eating less.
My Cons on the book
I really love the overall message of this book however there was one small thing that threw me off a bit heck I think this was the only thing I didn't like about the book. There are a few chapters in the book where she advises Vegans/Vegetarians to give meat a try! I felt really offended and slightly put off on that part as I found that it made no sense! OK here's the thing whats the point in eating food that doesn't give you pleasure? Meat does NOT give me pleasure, the author however mentions that she used to be a vegetarian and that when she ate meat she felt active and that it made her feel better. I STILL have my disagreements on this subject because I have had my fare share of how eating meat gave me/her NO pleasure whatsoever as I don't like the taste of it and I don't like the amount of cruelty there is around it as a lot of these poor animals are suffering every day in those farms. I'll stick to my beans, quinoa and tofu thanks, My animal agrees! If you are vegan or vegetarian I understand if you are turned off however I am not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater on this one as almost all the advice in this is still useful and all women at the end of the day should learn to love their body. Now another con would be that men won't be able to relate to this book as it is more geared towards women so sorry to all the men reading this blog :(
Another con would be that some might find it a bit carnal, as in sometimes she will talk about how to be sexual or feel sexy etc I'll admit there is a lot of talk about sex in this book well I don't see that as much of a con as I can see how sexuality and weight loss goes in hand in hand as many people want to lose weight to appear more sexy or to feel sexy I would assume that that is what the authors point is on discussing that subject in the book the only reason I am mentioning this is because I stumbled upon some comments on amazon that mentioned this which I can understand as for some people weight loss has more to do with non sexual issues such as health and feeling your best plus sex isn't the only reason most people want to lose weight the reasons can vary for different people.
How the book benefited me
This book has really changed my perspective on weight loss even though I am still trying to fix my relationship with food I really am trying to take into practice most of Jena La Flemmes teachings. I am still trying to accept my body as it is, I'll admit that it is really hard when there are certain parts of your body that you really hate it will probably take time for me to practice these teachings. I have been trying to put into practice the art of chewing my food slowly as well as not watching TV while I am eating or reading as that leads to mindless eating which can trigger weight gain as your mind won't be aware that you have eaten. To be honest though I always knew that eating while multitasking was a bad thing I really found that this book was more detailed about it compared to other sources I had come across as this book went more in dept about how this sort of eating triggers weight problems as well as binge eating problems. This book has made me look more into intuitive eating as now I have decided on reading more books about intuitive eating. Now I know that I have encouraged calorie counting on this blog, I am not saying that calorie counting doesn't work or isn't useful it is but it can be exhausting as well as stressful and sometimes its nice to simply enjoy your food without having to worry about how many calories your're eating which is something along with learning to accept my body the way it is, I want to take into practice these things I have discovered through listening to this audio book. Again I don't like that this book encouraged me to eat meat I just ignored that part of the book I can't tell you how much that part of the book made me cringe! I really dread that part of the book that in no way benefited me I don't care if she used to be vegetarian that part of the book is not for me!
Would I recommend this book?
I would also recommend it to people who can't stand counting calories or like me sick of counting calories as it teaches you how to eat moderately without counting calories by eating slow and not multitasking for example it tells you that when you chew your food slowly and put your focus on what you are eating you will be able to enjoy your food more and you won't feel any need to eat more whereas if you eat mindlessly you won'y enjoy your food and you will feel the need to eat more. Overall if you really hate your body and are constantly body shaming yourself than I say you MUST read this book as you have no idea how much you are damaging yourself by doing that! I am being serious if you are doing that, than please save your money and buy this book it may change your life!
Would I recommend it to vegans/Vegetarians?
Now as far as recommending it to people who are vegan/vegetarian, I would still recommend it but I would suggest ignoring the part where she recommends you to eat meat and focus more on what the rest of the book says. The main advice of this book is to learn how to receive pleasure from your food. I know meat is not something that may give you pleasure so I would encourage that you continue your life style and don't let anything or anyone tell you to stop. You don't have to eat meat in order to follow what this book tells you. There are probably other books similar to this that won't discourage you from your vegetarian lifestyle. However I would not recommend throwing the baby out with the bathwater as this book still has a lot of useful advice.
My rating and where to buy it
I rate this book 4 stars for obvious reasons as you know I love the overall advice just not the eating meat part.
And that is it for my review on this book I hope you enjoyed this review, hope you found it useful whether you saw this book somewhere and was curious or whether you want to read a good book on weight loss. I do plan on reading more books similar to this one and might do reviews on those books in the future if I ever get a chance to read them.
First off I must I am not being sponsored just showing where you can buy the book.
I bought the audio book from this website which is the soundstrue website:
http://www.soundstrue.com/store/catalogsearch/result/?q=pleasurable%20weightloss
You can also purchase the book from amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasurable-Weight-Loss-Secrets-Feeling/dp/1622034147
Have fun and good luck on your your journey!
Love
Alice
Now as far as recommending it to people who are vegan/vegetarian, I would still recommend it but I would suggest ignoring the part where she recommends you to eat meat and focus more on what the rest of the book says. The main advice of this book is to learn how to receive pleasure from your food. I know meat is not something that may give you pleasure so I would encourage that you continue your life style and don't let anything or anyone tell you to stop. You don't have to eat meat in order to follow what this book tells you. There are probably other books similar to this that won't discourage you from your vegetarian lifestyle. However I would not recommend throwing the baby out with the bathwater as this book still has a lot of useful advice.
My rating and where to buy it
I rate this book 4 stars for obvious reasons as you know I love the overall advice just not the eating meat part.
And that is it for my review on this book I hope you enjoyed this review, hope you found it useful whether you saw this book somewhere and was curious or whether you want to read a good book on weight loss. I do plan on reading more books similar to this one and might do reviews on those books in the future if I ever get a chance to read them.
First off I must I am not being sponsored just showing where you can buy the book.
I bought the audio book from this website which is the soundstrue website:
http://www.soundstrue.com/store/catalogsearch/result/?q=pleasurable%20weightloss
You can also purchase the book from amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasurable-Weight-Loss-Secrets-Feeling/dp/1622034147
Have fun and good luck on your your journey!
Love
Alice
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