Book Reviews: Intuitive Eating and Naturally Thin

I recently read Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch as well as Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel. Both books work from the same basic premise: diets are ineffective and listening to and respecting your body is all you need to reach a healthy weight.
I found many wonderfully useful tips in both books, some of which overlap:

• Intuitive Eating suggests the idea of honoring your hunger. This is incredibly and obviously the best advice ever. Think about it - you're on a diet - are you satisfied with your meals? Probably not. If you're always hungry there will come a time when you reach your breaking point and eat everything in sight. By honoring your hunger you are respecting your body by providing it with the nutrients it needs & is begging you for.

• In Naturally Thin, Bethenny advises you to think of your diet as a bank account. This is also groundbreaking to me. At home I am in charge of our personal finances and I am one of those nerds who always balances her checkbook. Thinking of my diet in the same way makes perfect sense. Overspent on dinner last night? Cut back on breakfast the next day, you may even find that you're not that hungry. If you really want that piece of cheesecake, have it and ENJOY IT but make sure to cut back on something else later on. Easy, right??? It's all about balance. If you're hungry - eat. But make sure it's worth the splurge. If you can't afford it, why eat it?

• Both books strongly advocate one rule that all "normal" eaters must follow: No foods are forbidden - EVER. Think about it, if you want a piece of chocolate and stop yourself because you're "on a diet" you and I both know the little seed has been planted and will soon grow so big so fast that at some point you WILL get your chocolate fix. And it probably won't be one little flavorful square, in my case I'd go for the gold - one huge bag of Lindt milk chocolate truffles. So, in the words of Bethenny "you can have it all, just not all at once". Think buffet style, take a bit of everything that appeals to you. That way no matter how fattening or greasy the food is, you know that you CAN have it. Just remember to balance.

• Naturally Thin suggests another great piece of advice: cancel your membership in the clean plate club. I love this one, when I was little - I ate like a bird. My parents always joked about serving me fake rubber food instead. I don't know how many times they had to make me take "just one more bite". So how does it get from forcing yourself to finish your meal to wolfing down your food and licking the plate?? We learn that we shouldn't be "wasteful" and there are starving children all over the world who "would love that piece of chicken" to eat. Well one phrase from Intuitive Eating really struck a cord with me: "...either way the food can be wasted; in the case of chronically eating more than you need, it becomes an issue of waist." Think about it that way - whether the food is left on the plate or stuffed into your mouth it all goes to waist/waste.

• Both books also mention that even though your initial cravings may be for junk food or bags of candy, it won't always be that way. Your body needs real food - not processed crap. Give in to your cravings - have a taste - but then really consider what your body wants. Have you noticed you feel better after having whole fruits, veggies, dairy and grains? Would you have more energy than if you were living on frozen dinners? Eat food as close to it's natural state as possible. Go for foods that live, die and grow. Plants and animals nourish us and when you eat real food, your body will respond. Bethenny reminds us to be picky when it comes to what you put in your body, eat seasonally, eat the rainbow and remember that variety is the spice of life.
  

Now for the cons on Naturally Thin:

• One thing I didn’t appreciate about Naturally Thin was the second half of the book - which is a 7-day program, broken down meal by meal. Don’t get me wrong, the recipes are still in that section which I love but the eating "plan" leaves something to be desired. I think she may have some food issues that could be passed on to people who take this book too literally.

• She doesn’t seem to really EAT. She snacks and "tastes" her food and takes bites of her friends’ meals but it never seems like she really takes the time to sit and enjoy a full meal. For a chef, I’m surprised at how often she goes out to eat. I consider myself a beginner cook and even I only eat out one or two times per week.

• Naturally Thin also has a chapter titled, "Taste everything, eat nothing" which scares me a bit. Bethenny reassures us that it's not black and white and that you can eat whole portions, because it's more about not being afraid to eat "bad" foods. Taste that cheesecake, taste those french fries, taste that deep fried Snickers bar but don't eat any of it! I kind of understood it when I read it but it still bugs me....it's like that episode of Sex and the City where Miranda's friend is "tasting" his food. But in all reality he takes a bite, chews it and then spits it into his napkin. Not my idea of a good time...

All in all, these books are 99% helpful. I really like the ideas they bring to the table and I think Naturally Thin is a great anti-diet book but only for those less impressionable readers. If you try to follow her diet (there's a 3 week food diary in the back) it would be incredibly difficult. She's all over the map with her eating/tasting. My favorite thing about Naturally Thin: the recipes!! There are some great ones, honestly and I've already tried 3 or 4 of her suggestions & have yet to be disappointed.
Finally - both of these books work well separately as well as together. I would recommend both of them to anyone interested in this way of life. They share a lot of the same views towards food, hunger and fullness.
Bottom line: respect yourself, nothing is forbidden, pay attention to your body, eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.