Reshaping it all

 

Candace Cameron Bure of Full House fame wrote this diet advice book from a Christian perspective. The book has bits of advice and encouragement for women who are trying to lose weight and keep it off. There are recipes, scriptural references, and motivational quotes.

As a diet advice book, I found it pretty lightweight. There is not a whole lot of specifics as Candace encourages you to find the diet that works for you. Rather she focuses primarily on motivation and encouragement. Her intention was to write a book that you could pick up, flip through and read in moments when that extra encouragement is needed.

I admit that I picked this book up not so much for the diet advice but to read about Candace's life since Full House. I do respect that she has maintained a somewhat normal life for herself and family despite being a celebrity. But as for the diet advice, there are some things that really trouble me. Candace gives an example of her daily food intake which is truly alarming because of how few daily calories she consumes. Candace reveals in the book her life long trouble with food. In her younger years it is was over indulgence in fatty, high calorie foods which eventually led to some struggles with bulimia. So while she has overcome the bulimia problem, she stills struggles with food by swinging to the other extreme. Her current diet has too few calories and almost no fat of any kind with a few non-fat coffee lattes. She buys into the flavored water and lettuce leaves for lunch, with salad dressing on the side. Generally one must reduce calories and exercise more in order to lose weight. In her case, Candace has swung so far to the other extreme she is knocking on anorexia's door. (She does mention that she is still losing weight, but she is probably past the point of needing to lose any more).

So while the criticism sounds harsh, I think anyone that picks this book up for diet advice should be duly warned. The diet advice is not that helpful. The motivational aspect is ok if you feel that could work for you.


The books I select for review are books which I personally select from my local library. I do not receive any reimbursement from authors or publishers or free books. I do provide links to Amazon as a convenience to the readers of this blog. I do earn a small referral pittance which is not even enough to buy a soda.

Can it, bottle it, smoke it

 

This is not your traditional book on how to can or preserve food. Karen Solomon introduces some fun and funky twists to a sometimes lost art.You can try carrot almond jam or plum catsup. Some recipes sound very yummy, others a little bit strange, and some I may never try.

One strange inclusion for a book about food preservation is the bread recipes. The author includes recipes for bagels and pizza dough. While the recipes look yummy, they don't fit with the theme. I'm not sure they would have been missed if they were omitted.

I can't say if any of the recipes are good or not as I returned the book to the library without trying anything. There wasn't anything that I had to immediately try. It was fun to flip through it and that may be what most people do. It does have beautiful photography.

One recipe to be careful of is the alcoholic frozen treats. If you have little kids at home, you may have to hide these. I could just see the kids finding them and having a good time.



The books I select for review are books which I personally select from my local library. I do not receive any reimbursement from authors or publishers or free books. I do provide links to Amazon as a convenience to the readers of this blog. I do earn a small referral pittance which is not even enough to buy a soda.