Your favourite books on health/nutrition

[Guest guest]

I've read Body for Life (original and Women's) cover to cover! Eating

for Life has a great first few chapters too. I was wondering what

other books you'd all recommend? I'm finding that health/fitness is

fast becoming my favourite topic and I'd love to know some other good

sources of information!

- Jacinta

[Guest guest]

None. I used to read fitness books all the time. Haven¹t touched a one

since I bought Body for Life.

> I've read Body for Life (original and Women's) cover to cover! Eating

> for Life has a great first few chapters too. I was wondering what

> other books you'd all recommend? I'm finding that health/fitness is

> fast becoming my favourite topic and I'd love to know some other good

> sources of information!

>

> - Jacinta

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I've found " Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle " by Tom Venuto to be

informative and motivating. For me, reading health and fitness boosk

and magazines keeps me geared up and excited about what I'm doing and

where I'm going. I'm not saying I swallow and follow everything I

read. I filter through information and figure out what works for me

and what doesn't. I know BFL does, so I like to search for information

that expands upon my current knowledge.

>

> I've read Body for Life (original and Women's) cover to cover! Eating

> for Life has a great first few chapters too. I was wondering what

> other books you'd all recommend? I'm finding that health/fitness is

> fast becoming my favourite topic and I'd love to know some other good

> sources of information!

>

> - Jacinta

>

[Guest guest]

I've especially enjoyed reading:

" Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle " by Tom Venuto

http://www.burnthefat.com/

" AbSolution " by (Bill's brother)

" Winning by Losing " by Jillian s

(coach from The Biggest Loser)

" A Week in the Zone " by Barry Sears

(little paperback with a week of BFL-friendly meal ideas)

" The Fat Fallacy " by Will Clower

(crash course in eating like the French and avoiding processed food)

I have those and quite a few others in my little store -

http://www.skwigg.com/id71.html

Ooh, and " The Quest for Peace, Love, and a 24 " Waist " by Deborah Low

is a good one for dealing with emotions and motivation.

Here's a little taste:

~~~~~

Remaining committed to self-improvement requires a level of discipline and

motivation that is not always easy to attain, yet the effort taken to better

ourselves most assuredly leads to satisfaction. Tapping into our intrinsic

source of motivation is the most important factor in making this trip more

successful.

Remember when, as a child, you were absorbed by your favorite game for hours? It

was rewarding on its own, without the need for parental coercion. You were

playing. It was effortless. Your own curiosity, excitement and interest

motivated you. You weren't focused on any particular reward; in fact,

participating in the activity was in itself rewarding. You were intrinsically

motivated to play.

As adults we still want to be intrinsically motivated. Instead of being

motivated to play, however, we want the effortlessness and passion to spill over

into all areas of our life.

Now, let's address the desire to lose weight. When we turn to personal trainers,

exercise videos, diet support groups, fitness classes and weight-loss books,

what are we primarily looking for? Motivation! Many of these external motivators

can, in fact, help us reach our goals, under one condition: we must be able to

associate intrinsic rewards to the actions we take.

Here is a simple example: if a father pays his daughter to get good grades in

school, she is extrinsically motivated by money. If during the process, she

feels a sense of mastery and competence she is likely to continue doing well

after her father has stopped paying her. At that point, she has become

intrinsically motivated to study and learn. Therefore, if changing a specific

behavior doesn't come naturally at first, using external motivation to

jump-start our own infinite source of motivation is key. However we usually quit

or drop out when we are unable to find anything intrinsically motivating about a

certain behavior, and, in time, external motivators become ineffective. If you

cannot find something enjoyable about exercising at your gym, at some point

you'll stop going. If you feel deprived when eating a restrictive diet, one day

you'll go off it. If each time you go running you experience pain, you'll

eventually quit.

At times, we all need encouragement and support to stay committed to our goals –

the goals that will allow us to feel fit, light, healthy and energetic. But as

long as we believe that the key to staying motivated lies outside of ourselves,

we will endlessly look for the fix – jumping into new diets, trends, and

trainers to keep us " pumped up. " It's as if we want someone else to direct us,

someone else to plant the desire within us, someone else to expand our

consciousness. Yet in order to achieve life-long weight loss, we must be

intrinsically motivated to stick to a healthier diet and exercise plan. Our

weight loss success actually hinges on our own ability to elicit those positive

emotions within ourselves. Although, outside support can nurture our growth, it

is ineffectual as long as we neglect to first plant our own seeds.

~~~~~

She then goes on with a series of exercises to help you get intrinsically

motivated and discover your " soul food " (the emotional stuff you're really

craving when you start wolfing down cookies).

This woman is a personal trainer and a psychologist. She understands what makes

emotional eaters and failed dieters tick. She's not all foofy doofy stupid about

fitness and nutrition. She doesn't tell you to eat cookie dough to your heart's

content like that idiot Geneen Roth. She talks about the importance of " high

performance fuel " and getting enough protein. She wants to challenge your

beliefs, and help you see things more clearly. She has lots of great exercises.

I've been doing them all and making these big lists in my head.

She asks you to think about the times in your life when you felt carefree,

deeply connected, lost in the moment, energized, and happy to be alive. What

were you doing? To help you come up with ideas, she asks you to take a minute to

remember what you were doing when you last experienced each of the following

words:

freedom, excitement, joy, effortlessness, peace, gratitude, love, competence,

creativity, serenity, elation, empowerment, bliss, inspiration, connectedness,

happiness...

I went ahead and did it for every word. Trust me, sitting and thinking about

things like that shifts your whole focus. You start thinking in terms of how

your fitness program can help you be happy and live fully, not how you're going

to sacrifice and suffer. Cool stuff!

> I've read Body for Life (original and Women's) cover to cover! Eating

> for Life has a great first few chapters too. I was wondering what

> other books you'd all recommend? I'm finding that health/fitness is

> fast becoming my favourite topic and I'd love to know some other good

> sources of information!

>

> - Jacinta

[Guest guest]

Thanks for that motivational moment - something to think deep

about when the why do I bother moment hits you once in awhile. :-)

One book I noticed on your list is Dr Shapiros Picture Perfect

Weightloss - its a WONDERFUL visual book that I often refer back to

(his recipe one is also good too)But the first one really puts into

perspective how you really can eat more (much more) for the same

calorie bang of different foods. Like they will compare an EIGHTH of

a bagel is at whatever calories on one page (lonely on a small white

plate)and on the opposite page they show like a five item meal you

could be eating instead. Same calories - which would you choose? Its

like a litebulb duh moment! It instantly shows you how ones thinking

gets twisted by the 'dieting' mentality we all wrestle with. It shows

you that you dont necessarily have to eat less, you really just need

to make better choices, or the 'instead of this have that'. Its a

GREAT book - you all MUST browse thru it the next time you are

wandering in your local bookstore and I'm sure you will want to own a

copy of it!

Loved your other choices in both books/gadgets etc too. The Womens

Strenth Training by Delavier is a keeper and I also recommend this

one I have called 'Total Strength Training for Women' by Amazin

Lethi - its got alot of anatomy stuff in it plus all the basic

exercises with weights/machines and then some:

http://tinyurl.com/nj2d9

joni

----------------------------------------------------

*altho I have alot of books on fitness/nutrition/alternative medicine

etc I must confess that I am really am a magazine-aholic (but I do

recycle them to work/friends/offices when I can part with them)* :-)

[Guest guest]

WOW! Thank you all so much for your replies. I will definitely check

these out! I look forward reading up, and you're all right it is

important to keep an open but sensible mind.

Many thanks! xx

>

> I've read Body for Life (original and Women's) cover to cover!

Eating

> for Life has a great first few chapters too. I was wondering what

> other books you'd all recommend? I'm finding that health/fitness

is

> fast becoming my favourite topic and I'd love to know some other

good

> sources of information!

>

> - Jacinta

>