Book Review: Everyday Detox

After 5 years of struggling to understand the complicated environment of my husband's digestive process following a major surgery, I'm excited to see more and more books on the market attempting to address the all-important gut.

Everyday Detox by Megan Gilmore seemed to be just the book I needed! It promised recipes to heal the digestive process and - added bonus - help you lose weight! The intro sounded promising, with phrases like "crowd-pleasing" and the familiar reassurance that you don't have to live a life of deprivation to be healthy.

This book may well prove to be the solution for someone. And if so, I'm happy for them! Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people. I don't know what crowds Gilmore is feeding with these "crowd pleasing" recipes, but they aren't the crowds I know. In addition to that, some of the advice sounds sketchy (only eat from one food group per meal?) and definitely wouldn't work for my husband (the last time I tried to feed him fruit for breakfast, we got in a fight 20 minutes later that didn't resolve until he flopped onto the couch and admitted his real problem: "I'm SO HUNGRY!") Other advice in the intro contradicts everything I've learned about my husband's gut in the last five years through a combination of trial/error and research. I haven't gone through the program Gilmore received her certification for, but I know what doesn't work for my mister - eating lots of high-fiber or high-sulfur veggies like cauliflower, for example - and this book contains most of it.

I feel like I wasn't able to give this book a fair shake because I was hoping so much for it to be a piece in the solution puzzle, and it turned out to be such a disappointing collection of things I've already tried and set aside.

The book is written well from a technical standpoint; it flows well, reads simply so it's understandable, and the recipes seem easy to follow. Even though the author is asking for a big change - switch totally off dairy, processed foods, refined sugars, and most meat - it's possible that someone who's already more used to these changes will find this book to be a great resource for healthy meal recipes. I personally didn't receive any such benefit, making me glad that this book was sent to me for review by Blogging for Books - and that I didn't waste any money on it.

Book Review: Better Than Before

Have you ever looked around and thought "Why can't I get organized?"

Or maybe, "Why am I always late?"

Or even, "Why can't I stop snacking?"

Gretchen Rubin set out to discover why we have the habits we have, and what we can do to change them, after a conversation with a friend who just couldn't seem to "get into the habit" of exercise. The result of her research is this gem of a book that will always hold a treasured spot on my shelf.

I wrote in the margins, I lost track of time, I jabbered on to my husband about it until he almost knew the book better than me. Better than Before, Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives may well be the catalyst you've been looking for. To me, it was like putting on a pair of glasses: All the things I thought I was seeing before suddenly became radically clearer.

I received this book for review from Blogging for Books. If you'd like to get your own copy, click here.