01 Sep 2010 | By Jaime
About the Book
Leading dietician Arlene Normand shares her no-nonsense, tough-love approach to dieting. Her 10 Commandments will give you the tools and the motivation to achieve your weight-loss goals.
This is not a fad diet. In fact it’s not a diet – it’s a practical lifestyle plan. With Arlene’s guidance and sensible advice, you can lose weight – and keep it off forever.
The Long Story
While I didn’t see this so much as a ‘tough love’ approach to weight loss, The 10 Commandments starts from a more practical standpoint when it comes to becoming healthy. Rather than setting you up with a plan you have to follow to the letter, she helps guide you to creating a healthier lifestyle.
Using her ten commandments – ‘eat slowly’ and ‘get organized’ among them – you get a solid base and start to sorting out your health life. While she mentioned a lot of things I already knew, it provided a good refresher for getting me refocused on my health.
One annoyance for me is Normand’s approach to sugar. First, it appears that she is fine with sugar and more concerned about fat. Then she later says that ‘lite’ products often have the fat content replaced with sugar, which isn’t good. This sort of back and forth irked me – especially in a book people who are looking for solid guidance might read.
That being said, this book also provided me with a beautiful light bulb moment when I read: “Your worst time for eating is your best time for exercise.” That small section gave me a completely different way at structuring my exercise time to cut off the urge to munch. (For me, this is late afternoon before my husband is home from work.)
Above all, though, I loved how Normand took Australia’s food culture into account and listed tips on what are healthy choices for Chinese, Indian, Thai, Japanese, etc. I found that quick guide very useful.
The Short Story
I highly recommend this book if you are just getting started on getting your healthy life going. And even if you’re not, this book can be a great refresher to get you motivated again.
Category: Books
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31 Aug 2010 | By Jaime
Cammy (yes, frequent source of inspiration) recently posted about visualizing what she and life would be like while maintaining a healthier lifestyle at a healthier weight. Starting at the end helped her to make the small changes she needed to get there.
I can attest to the positive things this kind of visualization can create. By looking at my goal, I already know that I am going to be more active. I am also going to cook more often and visit the shops for fresh ingredients more often. I’ll also still be eating pasta. 
Looking at things as a lifestyle has still continued to help me since I first talked about it. The biggest difference would have to be not getting so down on myself about mistakes. Oh, I feel really full, which means I ate too much. That kind of thing used to throw me into a depression where I criticized myself until I got distracted by something else. Now? I just remember that I don’t need to eat that much at dinner because I am satisfied with less.
I have a writer’s conference coming up this week. While it is only about five days (two of which I’ll be eating at least one meal at home anyway), I am a little nervous about eating. But, unlike before, it’s only a little nervous. This is perfect practice for healthy social eating (and drinking!), so I’m excited to see how I go.
All in all, I’m reeking of positivity most of the time. That’s a bit strange for me…
Category: Checking In
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30 Aug 2010 | By Jaime
Welcome to Mailbox Monday. This is where you pick up your weekly letter from yours truly, answer it either here or on your blog.
Leave a note here if you decide to answer at your blog so everyone who participates can read your response. Easy peasy! So consider this your first reader letter.
This week’s Mailbox Monday question is:
How do you handle people who like to ‘force’ food on other people?
Remember to leave your response or a link to your response on your blog in the comments section!
If you are going to participate on your blog and would like another graphic that is smaller, just let me know. I am happy to put some different sizes up.
Category: Mailbox Monday
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