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Best Book Ever
May 14, 2007 by Renee @ 12:06 PMOne of the pleasures I've indulged in during the last few months of working out has been…no not Oreo McFlurries…or bacon stuffed shrimp…. It's been audio books. I've listened to quite a few from this time last year to now. Originally, I used them for walking workouts, something to pass the time and preferring to run or elipp to faster paced tunes, but as my overall routine took a dive in the last few months and life in general has gotten more hectic, I've settled for less is more outlook: a chapter or so a workout, no matter what type of workout.
The last few weeks I've been listening to the best story ever. Not just the story, the reader, he sounds GAWGEOUS! But before I reveal my fave story and the sole book I gave 
to, let me share some other good and not so good listens:
Sugar Shock!
May 09, 2007 by Renee @ 11:33 AM
For the past month or so, I've been keenly aware of how my body reacts when I eat lots of refined carbs vs. whole unprocessed foods. It's like night and day. A feeling that I hadn't noticed, or perhaps was numb to, 5 years ago. Immediately after eating fast food, I'd cough and/or feel queasy. No matter if I got the child or regular size. I felt stuffed.
When I eat unprocessed foods, even to the point where I feel I can't take another bite (which is rarely if ever) I don't feel that way. I feel satiated, but light. When I eat refined carbs, late at night, the next morning I wake up ravenous, like I haven't eaten in weeks. When I end my night with a balanced meal, I feel a twinge of hunger, but I can still get my AM workout done on an empty stomach. For all the extra fat burning and all.
So I was happy to get a copy of the book Sugar Shock. Perhaps this book could tie in all the reasons my body felt out of whack. And tie in it did. The cover of the book states, "How sweets and simple carbs can derail your life - and how you can get back on track"
Who amongst us doesn't want to get back on track?
Continue reading Sugar Shock!Think Yourself Thin
April 24, 2007 by Renee @ 09:39 AM
It's so funny, in a kismety sort of way, that I got this book. Though, based on the way I think and view life, perhaps it wasn't so much of a coinky dink as it was just meant to be. I'll marinate on that a bit more. In the meantime, I had just downloaded some self hypnosis mp3s. Did I do it b/c I believe it works 100%? I don't quite know. I do know that 99.9% of my thoughts when it comes to weight are 100% negative. And that's just the thoughts I'm conscious of, the things I catch myself saying to and about myself. I don't even want to imagine what's being said in my subconscious.
Tank Top Arms, Bikini Belly, Boy Shorts Bottom
April 17, 2007 by Renee @ 08:54 AM
For the past few weeks, when it comes to weights, I've been winging it @ the gym. I have a few books w/weight lifting routines, but they are all packed up in my aunt's garage. I've gone online and pieced together a few routines and just never remember to get myself to a library and check out a book or two, so I was quite happy to receive a copy of Tank Top Arms, Bikini Belly, Boy Shorts Bottom by Minna Lessig. Yes I raved about LL Cool J's Platinum Workout, but truth be told, I spent more time than not gawking and his FINE body than absorbing the words. This book however, is quite girlie, and I like it.
You Can't Lose Weight Alone
March 08, 2007 by Renee @ 09:48 AM
I know, I know. In recent days I've been bombarding you all w/book reviews. I just got a glut of book sent my way, to which I'm extremely grateful, and out of courtesy I try to get the book read and review posted in a timely manner. This book was given to me courtesy of Dr Fitness and The Fat Guy.
The Four Day Win: End Your Diet War and Achieve Thinner Peace
March 06, 2007 by Renee @ 08:13 AM
Full disclosure: I ♥ Martha Beck! If you subscribe to O Magazine, she's a columnist there. That's where I found her a few years back. She writes the way I think. Both her style and POV resonate w/me. While Oprah is my favorite person in the whole wide world, don't tell her I read Martha's column first. I'll deny it.
That said, I leapt at the opportunity to get my greasy mitts on her new book.
Continue reading The Four Day Win: End Your Diet War and Achieve Thinner PeaceLL Cool J's Platinum Workout
February 13, 2007 by Renee @ 10:13 AMNow, I am aware that 99.9% of my audience is women. Save for the sole 
guy, well it now may be two guys so lets make that 99.8% of my audience is women, that read my site, I'm doing what I do for the girls. This review, of LL Cool J's Platinum Workout is especially for the ladies. Yes I know his program seems to be catered to men, but TRUST me when I say you want to get a copy of this book. It is a page after page of glossy color photos of the delectable Mr. Todd Smith.
One thing you must do though, you have to open the book. Don't be tempted, like I was, to just gaze at the front cover. Lovingly studying all the indents and ripples...and...veins...and tattoos...and dimples...and girth...and...wait...where was I?
Dammit...reviewing a book. Fine. Review I shall...
Continue reading LL Cool J's Platinum WorkoutThe Feel Good Diet
January 11, 2007 by Renee @ 09:29 AMOver the holiday, I got my grimy mitts on this book. Time got away from me and I only got around to reading it last weekend. This months review is The Feel-Good Diet by Cheryle R. Hart & Mary Kay Grossman. 
It's a fairly large book, over 250 pages, and unlike the last two books I reviewed, it takes time to read. Mostly because of the size, but mainly because it's written by doctors. As it relates to dieting, they use lots of medical terms like serotonin, neurotransmitters, enzymes, 5-HTP, tyrosine, etc etc. It also goes into extensive details about the chemical components of the body and foods, which makes it feel like you're reading a textbook.
The premise of the book is that, for women especially, the way we've been approaching weight loss, depriving ourselves of certain food, extreme low-carbing, extreme exercise, has short circuited our brains natural feel good chemicals. What usually happens is when a woman has been successful using that approach, within a few months she's back at her old weight, or more.
Each time she goes through this cycle, it makes it that much harder to lose weight the next time and easier to pack on more pounds. It's not uncommon for depression to set in.
Here's the kicker, the more a woman diets, the more her serotonin drops. Which results in low motivation, loss of focus, weak willpower, drained energy, increased fatigue, bad mood, challenging cravings and increased appetite.
They go on to explain why low carb diets may be good for weight loss, as they control the fat making hormone, insulin, but wreak havoc on the brain hormone.
Continue reading The Feel Good DietShape Your Self
May 11, 2006 by Renee @ 09:10 AMThe 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.
The Shangri-La Diet
May 10, 2006 by Renee @ 01:11 PMIn mid April I was sent this and another book. Being w/o a computer for a few days last week was a good excuse to get them read already.
Today's review is The Shangri-La Diet by Seth Roberts.
Firstly an overview, the Shangri-La diet is a method of eating, more like not eating if you ask me, that netted it's author and a few others staggering weight loss. I wasn't sure if I could reveal the methods, that's what buying the book is all about, but even if they poked me in the eyeballs w/toothpicks to force me to repeat his methods, I seriously couldn't so here's the short version:
Drink Sugar Water
Or
Drink Extra Light Olive Oil
Or
Do both.
As for what I think of the book? Let's put it this way. If I read it, oh 5 years ago, as a weight loss newbie, I'd prolly give all 3 methods a shot, the only thing stopping me, is the knowledge I know have about the human body. Today I wouldn't do it.
Not to be harsh, but it reads too gimmicky. I was repeating some of his methods to my mother and @ one point she told me she ate a bunch of leeks and it was so bulky she wasn't hungry for 3 days, I smirked and told her write a book. Apparently anyone can and does. I mean, why not have the college students guide to losing weight? The ramen noodle diet? The Po' People from the Projects meal plan? Sheesh.
So that's my beef. There are TONS of ways to drop weight, quickly, it doesn't mean any of them are safe for the long term. And I won't call out this book for being unsafe, I'm no doctor, barely got my Associates degree, this dude is a PHD so take from that what you may, but I do know this, his writing about drinking sugar water and having no appetite for 2 days...
From page 27: "I ate about one meal every two days. I was never unpleasantly hungry."
...troubled me. His tip, and maybe it was snark, to eat supermarket samples, was, well, odd. And his claim that when he got down to 150lbs people thought was sick was enough for me.
Continue reading The Shangri-La Diet
