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Anyone---indeed everyone---could benefit from reading "Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork", but the ideal target audience for this book is a demographic that has traditionally been left out of the diet book market---successful, busy, middle-aged men who don't read diet books, and who find it hard to be successful on traditional diet programs, even though they're successful in other areas of their lives. They don't know a whole lot about nutrition and the whole idea of dieting turns them off, but they are concerned about their health as they approach middle age. If this is you, then buy this book!
The author understands that most obese men are not looking for new recipes or detailed information about fat chemistry and metabolism, but eat out at fast food places, want someone who speaks to them who is not a young fit personal trainer or their wife, and who will make it possible for them to succeed at possibly the most important task they'll ever undertake---saving their own life.
It is a quick and entertaining read (I read it in an hour) but worth buying even in hardback because it is packed full of useable information and guidance. This is not a book of recipes or complex plans or information about nutrition. It's a motivational book AND an instructional book about a very easy way of eating that men actually can do. This book fills a perfect niche, and is the only one like it that I've ever seen.
It is written by Mike Huckabee, the governor of Arkansas, who is not a medical doctor, nor someone who is an expert in exercise or nutrition, but that is the great appeal of the book. He speaks as someone who has been ultimately very successful with weight loss and a healthy lifestyle, despite being very, very busy, and despite a past history of failure at controlling his weight. His tips and advice, indeed his whole program, is simple and workable.
The subtitle of this book is "A 12-Stop Program To End Bad Habits and Begin a Healthy Lifestyle". That's a 12-Stop program, not a 12-Step program. Mike Huckabee's 12 Stops are:
1. STOP Procrastinating.
2. STOP Making Excuses.
3. STOP Sitting on the Couch.
4. STOP Ignoring Signals from Your Body.
5. STOP Listening to Destructive Criticism.
6. STOP Expecting Immediate Success.
7. STOP Whining.
8. STOP Making Exceptions.
9. STOP Storing Provisions for Failure.
10. STOP Fueling with Contaminated Food.
11. STOP Allowing Food to Be A Reward.
12. STOP Neglecting Your Spiritual Health.
Best of all, the author tells you exactly HOW to do all these things, and how he did them given his lifestyle, what his struggles were, and what he does now to maintain his weight loss.
And he believes that if you will do this for JUST 12 DAYS you will be able to keep going, not primarily to lose weight, but to have a healthy lifestyle, and so importantly, to be happy---yes, happy---doing it, not miserable! In the appendix, he lays out day by day exactly what you should do.
It did help me, but I am quite excited about my husband reading it, as he recently had a heart attack and hasn't been able to follow either low-sodium or low-fat diets...I just got the book today, read it as soon as I opened it, and will give it to my husband tonight. Mike Huckabee understands the lifestyle and pressures men have, the interests they have and don't have, and writes for them.
I'd give this book my highest recommendation and thank Governor Huckabee for writing it. I know it will save lives and leave many men happier and healthier.
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