The other book I read last weekend was Shape Your Self: My 6-Step Diet and Fitness Plan to Achieve the Best Shape of Your Life by Martina Navratilova. Short review: I LOVED this book.
Why?
It was practical, doable, healthful, enjoyable, readable, relatable, oh you get the point. All L's you can think of. Now I've never been much of a Navratilova fan. I've heard her name, but my only interest in tennis came from the Williams sisters, just like my brief interest in golf came from Tiger Woods, what can I say, I'm a sucker for media sensations. So I've heard Martina's name bandied about but had no clue about her tennis history and the records she broke.
This book too me a bit longer to read, mostly b/c she gave such sound advice, I had to pause and let it absorb. She approaches being healthy, with a side benefit of weight loss I might add, from a holistic point of view. She tackles the food, eating healthy, cutting out processed foods, eating organic and making it affordable, and she also gives a 28 day meal plan. She tackles exercise, I get the impression we are very similar, she too gets bored quickly and likes to shake up her routines often and always pushes herself. And she tackles the mind aspect, not getting stressed and touches on emotional eating.
The book is filled w/lots of sports anecdotes, she rattles them off the same way I refer to Seinfeld, The Simpson and/or any movie in the last 10 years to elaborate my own tales. So if you are a sports fan, you'll dig that aspect. She also starts each chapter off w/a quote *swoon* and the last ½ of the book, in addition to the 28 day meal plan, contains exercises. She gives workout plans for beginners, intermediates and advanced levels. Completing each 4 week stint gives you a solid 12 week workout routine.
I can go on and on and on about all the good stuff in this book, but you'll have to pick it up yourself to get the full experience. It's an easy read. She's very passionate about the overall health of Americans and the poor eating/lack of exercise epidemic that now has children not only obese, but contracting diseases normally seen in their parents.
But it's not a doom and gloom book, I finished it feeling motivated and inspired. She not only looks fantastic for her age, but she's an excellent role model for all age groups. I am looking forward to trying out her recipes sometime next month or in July. I'll be sure to have reviews and pictures of each dish I whip up.
Renee's Rating: 
Comments: 4
05.11.06 | Moody commented: Sounds like a great book to me. I'm definitely going to check this one out.
Thanks for the review!
05.12.06 | renee commented: Cool...if y'all pick it up, and like it enough to try the recipes, let me know how they are. In or around July, maybe even June, I'm going to start testing them out 
05.12.06 | Tamara commented: Will do, Renee. I am sure I've seen the book at Target for 20 or 30% off, but it's gone now. I've been to two stores so far. Grrr. I want to get a discount, but for some reason Borders hasn't sent me any coupons lately. And I'm too impatient to wait for it to come from Amazon. Maybe I'll see if they're stocking it at Costco...
Have a great weekend!
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Hey, thanks for the recommendation! I've been eyeing this at Target but hadn't committed to buying it yet. I will now.