If book reviews ain't yo thing... sorry! Come back later! :P I'll be doing mini reviews for this awesome little book program I'm a part of. The first one up is a book called Trim Healthy Mama Plan by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison! (You can read what the back cover says here.) This review ended up being a little longer than what my reviews will usually be, but hey, I'm excited to put what I've read into action.
Trim Healthy Mama kind of reminds me of the sugar detox I did about half a year ago and how I realized that it's better to eat to feel healthy than to eat to lose weight. The gist of the THM Plan is that you get to eat foods from every food group, and you don't have to count calories or measure portions; you just get to eat! The trick is balancing what you eat, and knowing how to combine the foods in a way that makes you lose weight, feel satisfied and healthy, and still allows you to eat cheesecake and chocolate! Score!
I could write a whole separate post about that plan itself because I love it, but this is a book review so... in regards to the book itself: (what do you say about a health book, anyways??!? I'm used to fiction books...)
BIGGEST POSITIVE: It was very informative. In order to eat right, you have to know how your body functions and why certain eating habits are helpful or harmful for your body; the book describes functions such as insulin production, fat storage, blood sugar levels, etc. in relation to what you eat. Knowledge is power! The book also goes into detail about the qualities of different types of food, and how to combine them in ways that promote good health (and as a result, weight-loss). I feel like an expert now, and it was nice to read an explanation that wasn't tied up in a bunch of scientific/academic jargon. The style of the book makes it easy to follow along and keep up with all this nutritional info.
A close runner-up in the positive category is that the authors provide several week-long meal plans for you. I hate meal planning, so I was happy to see that they did a bit of thinking for me. They even include the websites of several bloggers who have tons and tons of meal plans and recipes on their websites. I have a feeling I'll be visiting those blogs a lot!
THE BIGGEST NEGATIVE: It was often too wordy. The authors published the original version of this book a couple years ago as a 600+ page monster... so they just barely released this shorter, simplified version last fall. Sure, it's shorter than the original, but I still think it could have been shortened even more... but Barrett and Allison really love their banter and repetition. Their jokes and anecdotes kept the tone of the book witty and conversational, but I think they could have reigned it in. I found myself skipping some explanations that seemed repetitive or unnecessary.
The only other negative is... the cookbook comes separately. Just a heads up, for people wanting to try the plan... a lot of the recipes they mention in this book come from the companion cookbook. Sure, you can use your own recipes, but then you'll have to figure out how to tweak those recipes to make them "on-plan" and whatnot. Or... just comb through Pinterest. There are lots of THM recipes on there.
I'm actually going to jump right into this plan next week, so I'll let you guys know how it goes. The THM cookbook should be arriving on my doorstep any day now, so I'll also make a little post about that in a day or two, and then you can expect a follow-up post in a month or so on how the plan is working for me.
The THM movement has really exploded over the past couple years, and there are many women testifying of it's benefits. The biggest thing holding me back is that I don't want to have to think about my food and my meals... can't I just destroy my arteries and metabolism in peace?! ;)
**I received this book from the Blogging for Books program for review. All thoughts and opinions are completely my own!
All pictures belong to the Trim Healthy Mama website.
