To sum up this review- just go buy this book! If you found this book as part of a frantic search for another "diet miracle"...you may have just found it- only in a very different form! For me, the diet books and plans were part of my desperate search for the answers as to how I could manipulate the food, move my body and suddenly (and quickly) escape this burden of fat and unhealthiness.
I instinctively knew as I committed to each diet, exercised until I dropped and obsessed about food, something was very wrong with this entire drama. Was I just born with defective will-power? Was my metabolism so slow that a cookie meant no jeans for a week? I just could not find a medically sound explanation as what in the world was going on and why I kept failing. Being smart, well-educated and tenacious wasn't enough. Having tried so many plans and having purchased an entire library of books... nothing had changed and I was still lost as to how to fix it. The "fat experts" and medical community had let me down and I had no idea what to believe. Every Monday morning I would pledge a new insane plan of attack!
"Fight Fat After Forty" IS the answer to this dieting insanity and could be anyone's escape from "dieter's hell". Dr. Pamela Peeke has tackled this dilemma from a scientific- "let's figure this mess out" approach. She actually used "women" in her studies and has based all of her findings on what she and her associates discovered regarding the vicious cycle and patterns of weight management. You will learn exactly what is really happening to you and why the "dieting game" is so destructive and unproductive! This book is really for any woman or man interested in a healthy lifestyle regardless of age.
For me, this book explains so thoroughly and accurately the "whys and hows" of my body and why I was compelled to participate in the crazy rituals around food and exercise.(It is so liberating to finally get it!) Dr. Peeke refuses to merely reproduce a diet plan and exercise sheet. The food alone was never really the problem. There is no magic food plan or exercise regime. It is simply a balancing act dealing with real food, specific exercise, hormonal balance and stress management coupled with positive thinking that makes up a solution that actually works.
The subtle key to this book lies in how it teaches you the paths to changing one's thinking, eating, body movements as well as how to recognize and CHANGE how one deals with STRESS. Dr. Peeke guides you through the science as well as each part of the plan helping you design a new "lifestyle" that will meet your needs. Your finished plan will be a practical one that you can adhere to indefintely and will stay realistic far into the future. NO MORE FADS!
Through these chapters, you will learn so much about yourself. How many of the past "diet books" cared about your specific needs or explained the science behind their plans? Some common questions Dr. Peeke addresses include- why am I so tired all of the time? Why can't I stop eating after a meal? Why does food calm me down or keep me going? Dr. Peeke explains, for example, the complicated link between your chronically stressful day and that empty gaze into the fridge as one begins another evening "feeding frenzy". IS ANY OF THIS SOUNDING FAMILIAR?
The book goes into great depth regarding these links between stress, hormone changes and how we (especially women) cope with life's stressors. Can one really expect to be healthy, well fed and nurtured when many of us have put ourselves last on our priority list? We all need some sense of reward in our lives of a job "well done". For many of us that reward is food.
I caution you not to skip through the book and find the "diet plan and exercise regime". This is a packaged deal and without the UNDERSTANDING as to what is going on- this will become another diet book treating the symptoms without a diagnosis or solution. In fact, you will stay as stuck as before with no clue as to how to gain back your health and sanity permanently.
I sincerely thank Dr. Peeke for ending my "dieting nightmare" where I have been stuck for a very long time. I have already lost weight, have more energy, but most important, I have lost that insane panic driving me to decide what am I going to do next. I don't wake up every morning promising this time to stay on a new plan...for I now have one that works for me. Isn't that what we were all looking for?
