Making Peace With Your Thighs: Get Off the Scales and Get On with Your Life [Paperback]

Dr. Linda Mintle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

Get your thighs off your mind and lose the lies that bind.

Women of America, it's time to stop obsessing and start making peace with your thighs, your waist, and any other body part that leads you to feel inadequate.

Everywhere we turn-magazines, movies, television-we are bombarded with images of what a woman "should" look like. And every image makes body acceptance and confidence harder to achieve. So author and therapist Dr. Linda is inviting all members of the sisterhood of the dissatisfied traveling pants to discover how we arrived at this discontent and how to change our attitudes-and our lives-when it comes to liking our bodies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson; annotated edition edition (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591454263
• ISBN-13: 978-1591454267
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Hip & Thigh Workouts

More About the Author

Dr. Linda is a nationally recognized author and speaker with an impressive list of television and radio credits.

She is an Approved Supervisor and Clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and a Diplomat in Social Work. Licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist and Clinical Social Worker, Dr. Linda has been in clinical practice for over 20 years with specialties in eating issues and relationships.

Dr. Linda is an assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School. She has served as an adjunct in the School of Psychology and Counseling at Regent University and in the Graduate Psychology Department at Wheaton College. She also served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Eastern Virginia Medical School and held a clinical research position at the University of South Florida's Florida Mental Health Institute.

She writes professionally and for the mass market and hosts her own web site, www.drlindahelps.com. A regular columnist and contributor to several magazines, Dr. Linda has published numerous print articles as well as written for academic journals.

Dr. Mintle is the author of sixteen books: Kids Killing Kids, a book about preventing teen violence; Getting Unstuck, a book to help free women from depression, anxiety and eating disorders; Divorce Proofing Your Marriage, a divorce prevention book endorsed by Dr. Laura and recently re-titled, I married You, Not Your Family; Breaking Free, a six booklet series covering the topics of depression, anger and unforgiveness, negative self-image, stress, anorexia and bulimia, and compulsive overeating; A Daughter's Journey Home: Finding a way to love, honor and connect with your mother, a book designed to help mothers and daughters develop more intimate connections; Lose it for Life, a book co-authored with Stephen Arterburn that presents a holistic plan for losing weight and keeping it off; Overweight Kids, newly retitled, Raising Healthy Kids in an unhealthy world, written to help parents deal with the current epidemic of childhood obesity and overweight; Making Peace With Your Thighs, a book designed to help women accept their bodies, get off the scales and on with their lives; and her latest Press Pause Before You Eat, a book to help you say goodbye to mindless eating and hello to the joys of eating.

Dr. Linda is a regular speaker at national and local conferences. In addition, she lectures at colleges and universities as a Staley Distinguished Scholar Lecturer. She has appeared many times on national television and radio programs and was the resident expert for ABC Family's Living the Life television show for seven years. She is currently a national news contributor.

Dr. Linda received her Ph.D. from Old Dominion University in Urban Health Services and Clinical Psychology. She has a Masters degree in Social Work and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Communications, both from Western Michigan University. Married for 31 years and the mother of two, Dr. Linda currently lives in Virginia with her family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lighthearted but helpful look at body image, January 6, 2007

By 

Helen Hancox "Auntie Helen" (Essex, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Peace With Your Thighs: Get Off the Scales and Get On with Your Life (Paperback)

I loved the cover artwork for this book and the impression it gives (a fun read about a potentially serious subject) was accurate. Dr Linda Mintle explores many of the common issues of self-image that women have - dissatisfaction with face, stomach, breasts, thighs, hair etc., and how flawed our model of what we should be achieving can be. She looks at the dieting obsession that is so prevalent, along with eating disorders and the root causes of some of these problems. She talks about ageing and how this can affect a woman's physical body and self-awareness, along with unhelpful portrayals of ideal bodies on TV, in magazines and newspapers and in shops.

Linda Mintle's writing style is very readable with many personal illustrations, some humour and, at the end of each chapter, relating the issue to the reader's relationship with God. Her illustrations are rather American-centric, as is her use of situations and regular comments on very pervasive elective plastic surgery (less common in the UK) but her overall points are valid wherever we live and in whatever Western culture.

This book covers a broad range of topics and 230 pages don't allow her to delve really deeply into any of them but this is certainly a worthwhile introduction to an important subject for many women and gives some theological insights into our own views of our image and our physical attributes.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete head to toe image makeover from inside out!, October 8, 2006

By 

Sharon Davis (Virginia Beach, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Peace With Your Thighs: Get Off the Scales and Get On with Your Life (Paperback)

I am a professional image consultant and have been listening to women lament about their imperfect bodies for decades! Dr. Linda's words were full of compassion and truth wrapped in humor. She obviously has been through the struggles many women face at some point in their lives. Her style of writing informs as well as entertains. She enables us to laugh at unrealistic views of ourselves while offering a godly perspective that sees hope in our mirror of life. She helps us come up with a more realistic focus of who God created us to look like from the inside out.

I think every teenage girl should read this book to get started off in the right frame of mind about what true beauty is all about and how to enjoy the skin she's in at every age! Every adult woman should read it to inspire her to be all God created her to be without fear of flaws or the future. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me and my thighs! Thanks Dr. Linda!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stretch your thinking into the perfect size!, July 26, 2006

By 

Christian Book Previews "Christian Book Previews" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Making Peace With Your Thighs: Get Off the Scales and Get On with Your Life (Paperback)

The pages in this book flutter like tiny white flags calling for a truce! While most women are waging war with various body parts that they consider less than perfect, the wisdom of Dr. Linda Mintle can negotiate a lasting peace.

Body dissatisfaction is an epidemic, affecting women of all ages. Yet, these pages clearly show that this discontent goes more than skin deep; it reaches into the mind where it does the most damage. While the media bombards us with images of flawless female bodies, women are falling prey to slick advertisers and specialized cosmetic surgeries. Thankfully, there is a solution to this mindset.

Dr. Mintle, one of the nation's leading authorities on food, understands the thinking behind the disappointment with our bodies and starts from that point. She leads readers around the minefields of media-inspired misconceptions to the liberating truth of God's Word. Balancing medical facts with spiritual principles provides readers with a multi-dimensional look at this subject. Causing women to examine the real underlying motivation behind their perceptions uncovers lies that lead to erroneous and sometimes dangerous beliefs.

Writing with a conversational tone, as well as a delightful touch of humor, the author gently comes alongside readers in an honest and humble attempt to change their thinking. Facts and faith dovetail perfectly, reinforcing the clear principles set forth. While this subject lends itself to a more physical perspective, there is a wonderful emphasis on the soul and spirit as well. Women will be encouraged to look to their Creator for power and positive reinforcement. Cultural misconceptions will fade as the Light of the Word shines with a steady and searching intensity.

Dr. Linda Mintle offers readers some mental calisthenics that stretches their thinking to the perfect size! - Joyce Handzo, Christian Book Previews.com