Customer Reviews

Fat Families, Thin Families: How to Save Your Family from the Obesity Trap

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Become a "Healthy Family for life". It teaches you the 4 P's, or the four habits of healthy families. This book makes it easy to slightly change your eating habits and how to watch your portion size. Everything you need to know about how many fruits and veggies to eat, or dairy,and proteins and whole grains. This book isn't just another diet book. This book is a lifestyle change for the entire family. I got scared when my son was diagnosed with hypoglycemia. I blamed myself for his poor diet and I knew that things needed to change. My husband and I are both overweight and considered obese. Since reading this book I am happy to report that we no longer eat fast food. We have an understanding of what yes and no foods that we can eat with every meal. The book goes into great detail about yes and no and maybe so foods. We have more energy and basically we are enjoying our new lease on life. My husband even cooks now and enjoys preparing the food. My husband and I together have lost 35 pounds the first month of following the guidelines in this book. We lost alot of weight but more importantly we have learned how to live a healthy fulfilled life. Anyone one can do it! Let this book change your life! Everyone wants what is best for there family. This book is the answer!

A theme of the work is to plan healthful food
choices. Food preparation is covered in detail.
For instance, proper food portions are discussed.
An increased waistline is associated with
myeloid leukemia.

Increased muscle mass helps to burn calories
more efficiently so athletics are critical.
Model activities include walking the dog,
gardening, painting, car washing, home repairs
and vacuuming. Readers are warned not to rely
on a good metabolism alone.

A variety of healthy choices are extolled. i.e.

o fruit
o non-fat yogurt
o baked potato
o plain aired popcorn, nuts and lentils

Food content is discussed at length. For instance,
pinto beans have selenium (Se. ) . Kidney beans have fiber.
Black beans contain magnesium (Mg. ). Chick peas
contain folate and black eyed beans are high in
calcium (Ca. ) content.

The author indicates how a single sugared soda a day
may add 15 pounds or more per year. The book is an
excellent reference for trim people and dieters alike.

"You'll always fail on a diet but you cannot fail on a life style change" were words spoken to me by Amy Hendel 3 years and 45 pounds ago. These words changed my life and my weight forever. I dared to believe her and put the HFL plan to the test. I had tried every diet out there with some initial success only to resort to my old style of eating which always resulted in additional weight gain. The HFL plan really does work. You will not feel hungry, you will have success, and your health will improve. You will love going shopping for clothes and will like what you see in the mirror - even the 3 way mirror in the store dressing rooms.

Amy Handel has written a very helpful guide for how parents can help their family adopt a healthier lifestyle. She really "gets it" when it comes to the challenges of modern family life and her book includes tons of helpful suggestions for overcoming obstacles to healthier eating and staying active.

The one area where I felt she seemed a bit stuck in the past is in her constant harping about fat and pushing fat-free this and lowfat that. The problem with most lowfat/nonfat products is that they have added sugar to make up for the reduced fat. Better to have a smaller portion of the real thing.

In general, the "Healthy Family for Life" plan is rather carb-heavy. Ms. Handel recommends 4-5 servings of fruit and 3 servings of whole grains/starchy veggies per day. That may be fine for active kids who are not overweight but whose parents simply want to help them eat better. However, for anyone with a weight problem, the daily servings should probably be limited to 2 fruit and 2 whole grains/starchy veggies. Even though these healthy carbs have lots of fiber, they still produce a bigger insulin response than proteins, fats, and non-starchy vegetables.

So far this book is giving really good advice. It isn't a page turner, however it does give you sound common sense advice about what should be in your families food choices. It makes you think, "well duh, I knew that but just wasn't applying it"!

I have been overweight most of my life and heard about this book on the radio. This book is so informative and very encouraging. I like that she doesn't make you feel like you have to do this strict plan to lose weight. She just shares a wealth of knowledge that helps you learn to make better choices. She also makes you feel like even with small changes you are making a difference for you and for your family. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend this.

There were so many seriously inaccurate nutrition claims in the first few chapters that I couldn't finish this book. Although some of the ideas are sound (menu planning and family involvement will certainly improve your ability to eat well), it is a disservice to people fighting for good health to provide them with wrong nutrition information! Accurate information can be found on the Weston A. Price Foundation's website at [...] or in Robyn O'Brien's book The Unhealthy Truth.

In the dedication of her book, Amy brought to light her mom, "who so struggled with her weight and her happiness."

She is very honest with the term, "Fat Families, Thin Families", however, she does look to our best life collectively with our family.

In March 2008 I met and spoke with Amy at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, California earlier this year. There she let me know I could pre-order the book on amazon.com. I ordered the book from Amazon and I'm happy that I did.

Do you think/worry about the future of your children/family based on your own health?

Amy challenges us to move the target to family team lifestyle rather than on the crisis of our own personal weight loss for a season. The book challenges us and re-challenges us to think tomorrow for ourselves and generationally.

The framework of the book is the 4 P's: Plan, Prepare, Portion, and Play. The book is a vehicle to help us move together in the right direction and shifting habits to Healthy Families for Life (HFL).

Request Amy's Health Pearl For The Day on the book's website, there's a lot of great information to keep you on track.

Toward A Healthy Family for Life (HFL),
Kevin Joe, DC
Joe Family Chiropractic Office
Fullerton, California