Real Thoughts, Real Food and Real Life – Book Review
Book Title:
Real Thoughts, Real Food and Real Life
Click here to purchase this book.
Book Author(s):
Ashley Sara Dekam
Overview of Book:
Real provides clear, concise and easy to understand and apply information, logic and courses of action for those dealing with eating disorders.
Who This Book is For:
This book is for anyone who is concerned they, or someone they know, may have an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise as it relates to food. While the book touches on what might be called traditional eating disorders, it also discusses the author’s personal relationship with food which to her, felt unhealthy.
Favorite Technique:
The book is not long and I like that the information contained in each chapter is brief and succinct. The author uses bullet points and brief quotes to get her main messages across, rather than attempting to wow the reader with in-depth stories or lengthy technical discussion.
Top 3 Chapters:
Chapter three is a must-read for anyone, whether they have an eating disorder, know someone who does, or just want to have a better understanding of the body’s function as it relates to required fats, habits and changing behaviors. It seems there is always an ongoing dialogue about fat that results in major shifts in the way people eat and in what they seek from grocery stores and restaurants. Trends lead us to low fat products and diets that avoid fats, to new gimmick eating plans and to extreme exercise programs that can do the average person more harm than good. An understanding of fat on this basic level should clear up any confusion and set you on a straight path of eating for life. The added bonus is that many of these healthy fats are also available as supplements which provide an opportunity for healing, even among those whose issues prevent them from healthful eating habits at the beginning. By healing the brain, by providing the body with the natural fats it craves, the author suggests many eating disorders can be eliminated at their root.
I also like Chapter four for its reminder to us to be ‘mindful.’ So much about what we do, how we live and how we relate to ourselves and others comes down to attitude. While perhaps the hardest to change, attitude it is so important to feeling good, to feeling strong enough to achieve what we want in our lives, and to pushing past the bumps along the road to achieving our final goal. The simple tips and suggestions the author provides may not be an instant cure-all but can help get us thinking in the right direction, considering our lives more consciously and more deliberately to achieve the change we need to make.
Finally, in Chapter ten: The Story of Recovery, the reader receives what they have been looking for – proof that things can change, that recovery is possible and that there is always hope. The author shares with us her personal struggles, her failures and the determination she finally found to turn her life around. Anyone who has struggled with an eating disorder or an unhealthy obsession with food will understand her struggles and can find hope in her eventual success.
Tweetable Quote:
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About Heather Seftel-Kirk: Not a physician or nutritionist, Heather came to her understanding of food and health through parenting three children, now teens, who seemed not to fit the ‘norms’ of health and through questions…so many questions.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for free for review purposes. I received no other compensation, and this review is based on my own opinion. Note that some links on this page (and throughout this website) are affiliate links.