10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl by Amy Parham

10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl: Living with Less of You and More of Life by Amy Parham

Copyright 2010

Harvest House Publishers - Healthy Living

189 pages

Amy Parham, the author of 10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl, was a contestant on The Biggest Loser. I've never seen the show, since I very seldom watch television, and I'm not even sure I knew she was a contestant on The Biggest Loser when I signed up to review the book. I was just interested in reading about the principles that helped one person lose weight and keep it off.

10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl isn't specifically about her experience on the television show; it's about how she had to face up to some misconceptions about weight that she'd lived with all her life and change her way of looking at food and exercise. She does so from the perspective of a Christian, peppering the text with Bible verses about health and emotions and how the "fat girl" inside must alter the way she thinks about food in order to bring out the "fit girl".

When you say things about your lack of control over certain foods, you are practically admitting defeat before you even begin to wage war on the battle of the bulge. The Bible tells us, "For whatever is in your heart determines what you say" (Matthew 12:34 NLT). What you really believe in your heart will come out of your mouth!

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. --Voltaire

--p. 34

She talks about the fact that we all have a "God-shaped hole" in our hearts that some people try to fill with food or other obsessions and makes suggestions for filling your life with living (particularly in a Godly manner) rather than focusing on what and when you're going to eat, emphasizing that God wants us to be healthy.

In 3 John 1:2 (NKJV), John tells us, "Beloved I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." Our health is important to God. He wants to help you in your fight against the fat girl.

--p. 45

Mostly, though, the book is about learning to change the way you think about food and change your habits by finding alternatives. The author gives some great examples but I was most fascinated by her way of winding down at night. After work, she would relax in front of the TV and munch on a bag of chips. She'd had this same nightly ritual for so many years that it was particularly difficult when she returned home from the isolated ranch where The Biggest Loser is shot and there was that couch. Sofa, TV, chips. They went together for Amy Parham.

Now back at work, she had to find ways to incorporate what she'd learned during her intense training into her real life. And, the couch was one of her problem areas. She discovered that exercising before spending time in front of the TV helped to change both her thought process and her craving. After exercising, she loses her appetite for a while.

There were other occasions she found needed a great deal of work because they were tangled up in either emotion or tradition.

God created us with a soul, which consists of our mind, will, and emotions. Therefore, we feel things like guilt, sadness, happiness, and fear. While we don't have control over an initial feeling, we can control how we manage our emotions. . . . The difference between being a fit girl and a fat girl is how you deal with your emotions.

--p. 66

Going home for the holidays was one example. The author has a mother who spends days cooking and baking before major holidays and she makes quite a few sugary treats. The author talks about healthy alternatives and how to kindly decline certain foods and fight the expectations as well as the envy of others after losing weight.

Obviously, that portion of the book is best to hold and reread after one has lost weight, but it doesn't hurt to read it in advance. I've actually been through similar when I lost a great deal of weight running, about 10 years ago. Suddenly, people who have always ignored you look at you with approval and those who knew you as an unattractive chubby girl may react in unexpected ways, snubbing you or trying to sabotage your efforts to keep the weight off. Many people will even sabotage their own success by eating out of guilt.

What I Loved about 10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl:

I think the author does an excellent job of hitting many aspects of the mental process that leads people to gain weight and then keep it on. She really delves into emotions and how to remove emotion from concept of nourishing the body. She nicely backs up her principles with well-chosen scripture. There are some additional little tidbits I liked, such as this bit:

7 Stress-Busting Foods (the value of which the author elaborates upon in the book, pp. 86-87:

Oatmeal, oranges, salmon, spinach, almonds/pistachios/walnuts, avocados, skim milk

I just love having a list of foods that are good for you to tack up on the refrigerator as a reminder. There are lots of questions to ponder and space to write your thoughts. I've mentioned before that I tend to not want to do the work in books like this, but this time I thought, "I want to go back and do the work after I've done a read-through."

What I disliked about 10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl:

While I understand that the entire concept is based on changing a thought process in this book, I really get weary of repetition and the "fat girl" vs. "fit girl" concept was a bit annoying. I had to pep-talk myself a bit to not allow that to frustrate me and it worked. It's really about how those who eat out of emotion due to specific triggers and/or to fill something missing in their lives think -- that's the "fat girl" thought process -- contrasted with that of the way "fit" people think. It may be repetitive, but it would take a lot longer to describe it any other way.

Like any book in which an author talks about his or her own journey to fitness, there are things that simply don't apply. I don't associate television with food, for example, and I kind of hate holidays that are centered around eating because I've never felt any need to stuff myself for the sake of celebration. In other words, the reader will have to ponder what will best work for him or her (the book is directed at women, but I think men might also enjoy the book if they can tolerate the fat girl/fit girl references) and what areas of his or her life need attention.

The author does not tell you what to eat, although she mentions a few foods that she's substituted in her own life, what she eats for breakfast and why many small meals are better than skipped meals followed by a large meal eaten out of fierce hunger.

The bottom line:

Definitely recommended. A solid book that helps those who need to lose weight dig deep into their thought process in order to alter it and lose the weight, then keep it off. Very spiritual, with lots of Bible verses and references to God, yet I think non-Christians can definitely benefit from reading the principles and delving into their emotions to figure out where change is needed.

Total change of topic:

I had the coolest dream, last night. You can skip this part if you hate reading about dreams. You know how some make sense when you describe them but others are just come out as complete nonsense when you try to share them with people? Well, last week I had what is known as a lucid dream. I was aware I was dreaming, so when someone in my dream said something that was total nonsense, I actually woke myself up and wrote it down. It reminded me of the reporter whose temporary aphasia, brought on by a "complex migraine" aura, was broadcast on the night of the Grammys. Here's what the person in my dream said:

"They're not playing swift down is number 2 cuckoo."

I woke up, wrote it down, laughed and went back to sleep. But, that's an aside. Last night, I had one of those exciting dreams in which there were spies and people pursuing me for no apparent reason -- a movie-like dream involving airplanes and car chases, which ended with a final run down a neighborhood alley. The person chasing me claimed to be on "my side" (whatever that means) but then when we reached our destination, he pulled out a huge knife.

At that point, I slipped back into lucid dreaming. I don't like scary nightmares and it's not unusual for me to recognize them and either alter my dreams or wake myself. In this case, I decided to make something materialize. I told the person with the knife that if he was going to kill me, he ought to use a gun so it would be a little less painful. The bad guy replied, "I don't have one," and I said, "Well, I do." I'd created a gun in my pocket after the dream wasn't headed in a direction I liked.

I'm still replaying some of my favorite scenes from that dream. The airplane chase and the cocktail party that ended in a dash out the door and a car chase are my favorites. Do you ever have lucid dreams or simply dreams so vivid that when you awaken you feel as if you've had a fun night at the movies? I find dreams utterly fascinating. And, in fact, I believe the airplane bits came from my reading of a scene in Cutting for Stone, just before I fell asleep.

Okay, back to the housework. Our weather has been darn near perfect and that's keeping me busy, indoors and out. The fat girl side of me would rather sit and read but my fit girl side enjoyed cleaning the garage! :)

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Cheating Death by Sanjay Gupta, MD

Cheating Death by Sanjay Gupta, M.D.
Copyright 2009
Wellness Central - Nonfiction/Health/Medicine

(for the layperson)
282 pages, incl. substantial notes

I don't think Dr. Gupta needs a whole lot of help from me, since it appears that CNN.com has been telling stories directly connected to his book (Poison Gas, New CPR), but I really enjoyed Cheating Death. Ominous weather is shoving me into quickie review mode, so this should be a brief one. How many of you are laughing? Okay, yeah, not good with brevity.

Cheating Death is subtitled "The Doctors and Medical Miracles that Are Saving Lives Against All Odds" and Gupta focuses on the new, the bold, the surprising treatments -- often those that are so unusual or go so wholly against the intuitive that the doctors who are trying to make lifesaving practices mainstream in the U.S. truly are having to battle to get approval or just to get people to listen. Take the new version of CPR (one such story of a life saved can be read by clicking on the "New CPR" link, above). I remember reading about the new guidelines for CPR and thinking, "No way." It seems counterintuitive that doing nothing but compressions -- not even bothering with a single pause to breathe air into a patients lungs -- would work, doesn't it? But, in states where the new form of compression-only CPR has become standard procedure, survival rates of heart attack victims have tripled. Tripled!! That's pretty amazing.

Gupta also talks about deliberate hypothermia to slow the bodily processes and buy time before a patient can arrive at medical facilities -- how it works, the dangers and how doctors who use hypothermia are trying to get it approved for cardiac patients. Other chapters describe attempts at mimicking the bodily processes that allow certain animals to hibernate and how applying those processes using gas to create a form of suspended animation may also buy time for a patient.

He talks about Near-Death Experiences, the different theories about how they can be explained scientifically rather than spiritually and why some physicians still believe in life after death. The story about a comatose man who remembered which doctor took out his dentures is quite an eye-opener. Gupta discusses surgery on fetuses and the controversy wrapped around the practice, how procedures have improved and the dangers.

And, he talks about miracles and the fine line between life and death -- how difficult it can be for doctors to determine whether or not a person will ever recover from a coma, for example. Is there any such thing as a miracle, he asks? Can cases in which a serious cancer suddenly disappears be explained away by viruses or genetics? There are a lot of questions remaining. Dr. Gupta doesn't mislead you into thinking any doctor knows everything; in fact, he reminds his readers that medical science is still a mix of science, guesswork, standard practices that don't fit every patient, and luck. He even talks about prayer and hope.

4/5 - Very good, a quick read that is well-written and often quite exciting. Occasionally, Gupta stops one story to back up and describe a process and then continues with it later. In that way, it can get a little jumpy but this is definitely a fascinating read that I highly recommend.

Since the book is black and white, this post desperately needs some color. Here you go:

Don't forget, I'm giving away 5 copies of this book, thanks to the generosity of Hatchette Book Group. The odds are really terrific, at this point.

Thanks to Anna and Hatchette for my review copy of Cheating Death!

Also, as I'm writing, we're 4 hours away from drawing time for the 5-book Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration drawing. I will close that drawing at 6PM, weather permitting. Look for a winners' list tonight or tomorrow morning (again, this is weather dependent, although the situation appears to be improving).

if your kid eats this book, everything will still be okay by Lara Zibners, M.D.

if your kid eats this book, everything will still be okay: How to Know if Your Child's Injury or Illness is Really an Emergency

by Lara Zibners, M.D.

Copyright 2009

Wellness Central

306 pages, incl. index

Babies and little kids can be really frustrating. They don't listen, they are emotionally labile, they can't be reasoned with or even bribed. It's a tough job, policing a kid who doesn't know any better but seems to be on a permanent path to self-destruction. Older toddlers might have a better understanding of what goes and what doesn't and might respond to outright bribery, but they are still egocentric little beasts, determined to battle for control of any situation.

Ain't that the truth. This book isn't a parenting how-to. I just liked that paragraph and the following two, in which the author (a pediatrician) says she'd "rather see you in the ER at 2 a.m. because you can't take it anymore than see another shaken baby or knocked-around toddler." Not something I would have ever thought to do -- run to the ER because the kid was driving me crazy -- but I did once shut myself into a walk-in closet, where I took deep breaths until I thought I could cope with a colicky baby who just wouldn't stop crying. Then, I went right back out and walked him around some more.

If your kid eats this book (the uncapitalized title really makes me want to lock myself in a closet, by the way) is specifically focused on babies and toddlers, beginning with a head-to-toe assessment of babies, all the little marks on them and their soft spot -- basically a once-over to let you know what's normal on the body and in the diaper (and what's not). From there, the author goes on to describe the way babies are supposed to act, eat, sleep and breathe. Then she goes back over various parts of the body and describes what could go wrong, when it's worth calling your doctor and when you should call 911.

My youngest is 17 so I'm long past mommying little ones, but I love reading health books and I had fun reflecting on all the things I wish I'd known when mine were little. My eldest, for example, has a "stork bite" on the back of his neck. I had no idea there was a name for that little red birthmark and it never upset me or worried me, but it's nice to know there's a name for it.

Of particular interest, I thought, is the info about what's dangerous and what's not (and who to call if you're unsure) if the baby ingests something, since all babies stick things in their mouths. Also, the info on fevers is really great. The one question I wish I could have asked the author is, "What do you mean, exactly, when you say cold medicines don't work?" Because I think what she's trying to say is that they don't cure colds and they're not good for babies, not that they don't at least help dry older people up and help you cope. I'd like to know. Of course, the meth addicts have made it a whole lot more difficult to get your mitts on a decongestant, so that's probably a pointless question.

What this book doesn't tell you: What to do while you're waiting for an ambulance. If you have a gray, blue or droopy child and have called 911, there's no hint what you should do before the paramedics arrive. For that, you'll need either a good course or a book on first aid -- and I personally think everyone should learn CPR and basic first aid, anyway, so this serves as a great reminder. Also, this book is specifically geared to the little bodies of babies and toddlers. It's not about older children or husbands who chop off the tip of their finger with a fancy knife in a thwarted attempt to open the little individual-sized Propel fitness water dry mix (my fun of the week -- bandaged the husband and then watched him bleed into a paper towel for three miles).

3.75/5 - Very good, but with limited application (very specifically babies and toddlers) and points off for not at least mentioning some basic first aid tips.

I'll be giving away 5 copies of this book, very soon. Watch for my drawing post, probably Thursday evening or Friday morning. And, here, have a baby:

Aw, look at the sweet little thing! Mama saw me snapping away (at Gallup Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan) and very nicely held the baby up, for me. Little one should be about 2 1/2 years old, now.

I changed my mind about doing a mini-review of this book, primarily to keep the contest post small. Like you care, right? I'm just keeping you informed, here.