Breakfast Green Smoothies by Terry Hatfield BOOK REVIEW

Breakfast Green Smoothies 40 Easy Delicious Green Smoothie Recipes for by Terry Hatfield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Breakfast Green Smoothies is written by Terry Hatfield. Terry is a culinary trained chef, who has worked in a number of upscale restaurants, and has been focused on healthy eating for the past 15 years. He is currently a personal chef and has two other healthy eating books published.

The first major plus of this book is that Chef Terry explains why we all need to eat more green, leafy vegetables. Not just the plain bullet points you hear on the news, but explains the different vitamins and nutrients that we get from them, and why they are important. For instance, the fact that our body can not make or absorb the vitamins from any other source. It is a great start to the book, and focuses on why this is important, which is better than any book out there I have seen.

The second major plus is that Chef Terry explains the different leafy greens to you, what you get from them, and differences in tastes. I really loved this part because I am not familiar with some of the greens, and this really helped me to know which to start with and which to save for later. He also explains about starting slow, with things you are used to eating and then branching out. This is good advice, too many people jump into the smoothie revolution with both feet and find it hard to swallow. Taking small steps makes it a lifestyle change for good.

The recipes and pictures were great. The pictures done well, making you want to try them. In fact there are a couple I think I might be able to sneak in on the kids tomorrow. Although the title says breakfast smoothies, these can be drunk at anytime of the day. There is an apple pie one that would make a great desert after a meal.

This is the first smoothie book that has made me want to try them, and since I have kids, this is something that is important to me. Getting a better, more healthy diet into my children. Couple that with the fact that it was written by a real chef, and this is just an overall winner in my book.

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Practical Belly Fat Cure - 4 Weeks To Lose Belly Fat & Get a Lean Tight Belly

Book Review If you are looking for another fad diet, a body wrap, or weird and strange exercise that will just wash the belly fat away while you sleep, then put this book back down and walk away. You won't find it here, what you will find in here is good, honest truth! Imagine that! Believe you me, as a mom of three, I know belly fat, and I know all about the gimmicks out there, so I on my guard when I picked up this book. This book is well written, not too overly educated, almost anyone can understand it, and it is written so that anyone can follow the instructions, understand why they are following them and change their life. I think that last part makes it so much different, she explains, why we need to do this, why just doing crunches don't work and what to do instead. Covering diet and lifestyle, it addresses the reasons and things that got us to this point in the first place, and the lack of motivation keeping us here, and how to change all that to move on to a new life. If you are serious about making a change in your life, then this is the book for you. Come join me in the revolution to lose the baby belly forever!

A Cancer Prevention Guide for The Human Race by Robert A. Wascher

A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race by Robert A. Wascher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got a copy of this book through the Goodreads First-Reads program.

I entered to win a copy because it seemed like so many people in my life had recently been diagnosed with cancer, but at the same time I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I mean, it says lower your cancer risk by 60% on the front cover, and I thought oh this is probably some guy telling me the latest fad to prevent cancer, it's not going to be worth it.b So I put off reading it for a bit, but I can't stand having such a large pile of to-be-read books, and having so many of them that were First-Reads that i needed to read and review, so I picked it up and started reading.

The book was not what I thought it would be. it was not some kook telling me the latest fad to prevent cancer, it was actually someone who did what we all want. He found all the studies, both highly scientific, moderately scientific and even non-scientific, and he took all that information and complied it into useable information. He summarized the research, and told you that this is the gist of what the highly scientific research is showing and this is what the other research is showing, and based on all that, this is what I think would benefit you in your life to reduce your risks.

For each thing that he notes as possibly helping to reduce your risk of cancer, he provide research to back up his claim, and he even tells you that this item has been talked about, but there is no research to show it is effective, and he even tells you if the research has shown something to be non-effective or even harmful.

I was pleasantly surprised, and glad that I read the book. It was not a fad book, but a compilation of the research out there, including footnotes with the exact study information and where to find the study so that you can check it out yourself. It is written so the common man or woman can read and understand it, without a bunch of overused medical terms.

For anyone with a family history of cancer, this is a good book to read. I think it gives good information and it is spot-on and worth the time. it is also a quick read, well organized and helpful.

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Which way is up?

For years now, I have been so in tune with my own body. I could tell you when I was starting to get sick, I could tell you what each and every little pain was and when I was going to get a headache. I knew it. I understood it, and I had to. Starting at age 21, I was diagnosed with PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome) which is basically just a big pain in the butt, but it effects every woman who has it just a little bit differently so we had to learn, as women with it, to understand our bodies. To understand how the differences in hormone levels effected us each and how to make it all work better, or at least closer to normal.

2009 was a rough year, first emotionally because I lost my grandfather, and second physically because things started changing, and although it was acting different and causing me more problems, I could still explain them to you and tell you what was going on, why I was in pain and about how long it would last. I knew there was going to come a time that I would have to consider the hysterectomy, I had known that for a long time, probably since the first diagnose, and I was fine with that, I just expected it to be a simple fix. Take out the parts causing all the problems and I will be up and felling great in no time at all! Right?

WRONG!!!

Here it is a little over a year after the surgery, and I feel completely upside-down! I no longer understand my own body! I have no clue what it is doing! Everything I have known for so many years is gone and I am floundering in the same body but without the instructions!

Ever since the surgery I have been dealing with horrible headaches. I went back to the OB/GYN and she gave me estrogen, which is normal for most patients, and without thinking I acceped because I expected that, but then I had to remember that my body isn't normal, it has PCOS....which by the way, never goes away, yes I no longer have my ovaries, but everything else associated with PCOS still exists in my body, so they change the name to Androgen Deficiency or something else, but it all mean the same thing. So for me, the estrogen just made them worse, and so we added more estrogen and more thinking I was too low, which seemed only natural since my body has never had a normal level of any hormone, but it just made it worse and finally it came to a point that I lost it....I bottomed out!

I got so depressed from the headaches and the general not feeling right that I took to my bed for three days, and in that I forgot to take any medicine. At three days, I guess the estrogen was out of my system and I started feeling better. The lack of estrogen allowed my mind to clear enough for me to realize that something needed to change. I decided that I had to start taking charge again. I found a family doctor that I like and we are starting the process all over again from the beginning. We have discovered that the headaches are related to my blood pressure. I had preeclampsia with all three kids, so the effects of that are that I might start running high blood pressure now. Although my blood pressure still mainly stays in the normal range, when it does rise, I have headaches. So I am taking blood pressure medicine, although only a small dose, and I still have the k from the doctor to monitor it myself, to take an extra pill it it is high, to skip a pill if it is getting too low.

The problem for me is that this is a re-learning experience. I am having to re-learn my body, and it is not easy. I am still trying to figure out what high blood pressure feels like beside the headaches and what low blood pressure feels like so that I can get the medicine regulated. I have a home blood pressure cuff, and i take my blood pressure daily and multiple times a day, and slowly I am getting to understand it, and this is just the first step. There are still so many other issues to deal with, but taking one issue at a time, instead of dumping 50 medicines into my body for each issue at one time is much nicer.

The trouble is that I feel like I wasted a year...I should have been better prepared for this and I should have taken control sooner, but I didn't. I feel guilty about that, at the same time, I feel like everything is upside-down because I can't understand this new body yet, and it is not a pretty sight!

I must have a saint for a husband and cherubs for children, because how they have put up with all this, I have no idea! And it's not over yet!