Apologies as this review is long overdue, but I have been letting Jackie's info marinate in my mind for the past few weeks and put a few of her ideas to practice to see if I saw any results of my own. For those of you who are unaware, Jackie Warner is a fitness celebrity, having had her own show on Bravo a few years ago and apparently has a new show, Thintervention (love that name), slated to air on Bravo in the near future. She has released two successful DVDs, one of which I use religiously and has just recently forayed into the literary world with her debut book entitled This Is Why You're Fat. The title alone is enough to suck you in and want to read this, regardless of how "fat" you may be.
The book is divided up into four parts: This is Why You're Fat, This is How you Eat to Get Hot and Healthy, This is How You Exercise to get Hot and Healthy and finally This is How You Stay Hot and Healthy.
This is Why You're Fat basically breaks down the reason behind why so many Americans suffer from weight problems, and the bottom line in Jackie's world is that we are addicted to sugar. That happens to be the recurring them throughout the novel, sugar being the trigger for weight gain and inability to lose weight. Much like Jillian Michael's many books Jackie also goes into the science behind what makes us fat, including such things as how hormones play a vital role in how our bodies store excess energy as fat and how we can utilize our hormones to our best interests. Definitely interesting if you haven't been exposed to this kind of information before, but nothing I haven't read in a few other diet books.
How To Eat basically breaks down what your diet should look like. Jackie believes in eating 4-6 smaller meals throughout the day to stabilize blood sugar and keep the metabolism going. If you are a Jillian Michaels fan you will know that this is in direct opposition to Jillian's "3 Meals, 1 Snack" mantra as Jillian believes eating too frequently can make one insulin resistant. However, the jury remains out and the prevailing idea today is that the 4-6 small meals throughout a day is the way to go. I say do whatever works for you, I happen to subscribe to the 3 meals, 1 snack idea as I like eating substantially as opposed to graze, but I digress. Jackie goes into detail as to what foods one should add to their diet for atleast two weeks including such things as eggs, oatmeal, certain detox vegetables, fresh fruit, protein shakes, water with lemon and herbal tea among other things. She also suggests supplementing with vitamins. Again, nothing groundbreaking but solid information presented well and with forethought.
One thing I do like about this book is that Jackie goes into great detail listing hundreds of specific foods from which to choose to help balance your hormones as well as the foods that one should try to avoid. She gives tips as to how to fit all these different foods into your everyday diet because variety is the key to making sure all of your dietary needs are covered, however she understands that it can be overwhelming to try to get all the right foods in a day, which again is why supplementation is recommended. She also goes into detail on how to eat right in the "real world" which includes things like going out with friends, hitting the Starbucks and the conundrum of how to get your drink on without packing the pounds on!
The How to Exercise section is pretty straightforward in recommending a mixture of cardio and strength training 3-4x a week for optimal fat loss. Again, this is nothing that none of us haven't heard before. There are dozens of pictures of Jackie performing recommended workouts, but I would recommend just getting her Personal Training DVD as many of those moves are demonstrated in the DVD and to me mimicking an exercise off a DVD is much easier than copying one out of a book.
The Stay Hot and Healthy part basically breaks down what your diet should look like, with sample days and menus so you know exactly what to eat and how to prepare it. Standard fare with a diet/fitness book and there aren't really any groundbreaking recipes in the book but definitely will be beneficial for a novice cook or somebody who is unsure about what to eat when they are trying to lose weight. I did appreciate though that the recipes included how many sugar grams per serving, again highlighting the "sugar is evil" mantra as seen throughout the book.
All in all this is a solid diet book clearly written by a passionate and likeable author. If you are immersed in the world of fitness and health as I like to think I am, you probably won't have any epiphanies while reading this book but you will strengthen the knowledge you have on how our bodies react to certain kinds of food. I was really interested in her anti-sugar stance without being a low carb advocate, in fact she goes into detail about why low carb is so bad for you, which again is refreshing. Anybody these days who is recommending a low carb diet should NOT be trusted! I would say that this book would make a great addition to anybody's fitness and diet library, but again it isn't anything groundbreaking. If you are looking for a straightforward and easy to read book which will hopefully motivate you to drop those last couple lbs though, this is the way to go!
