I have been compensated for this review and the opinions reflected in this post are my own and do not, in any way, represent Blogher…
I am not one of those girls who enjoys sitting around and reading health books. In fact, when I fully realized exactly what type of book I had chosen to take on for the Blogher book club, I internally cringed just a bit. That was, until I cracked the pages of Why Women Need Fat by co-authors M.D. William D. Lassek and Stephen Gaulin. From that point on, I was hooked. Why Women Need Fat‘s authors take the time, (sometimes it may seem like a little bit too much time for me) to really break down why women store fat differently, seem unable to lose fat as rapidly as men and how we went from a butter and lard using nation of fairly fit people to the most obese nation in the world, in less than a hundred years… Informative, and written in easy to understand terms, Why Women Need Fat is really is a book for anyone who wants to get a better grasp on our food situation and weight crisis.
I found myself, more often than not, reading from this books pages to anyone who would listen. While quite a bit of the information shared was stuff I already knew, at least to some degree, I still felt like I learned with nearly every turn of the page. The very second that I turned the last page and closed the cover, my 12 year old and I were pouring through our fridge and cupboards. To say that the content in this book truly affected our family’s life would be an understatement.
One section, early on, addresses why girls tend to have fatter butt, thighs, and hips than boys. Somehow, rooting from what I don’t know, my youngest decided when she was around 10 years old that she had severely thunderous thighs. (she does not, by any means.) It has been her insecurity for the better part of two years, giving her an actual loathing for this part of her body. When I got to this section in the book, I called her over and we read the reasoning. For the first time, ever, I saw this freedom seep over her as she realized that this wasn’t some huge fault she had- but that it was simply a design for her that served an actual purpose. This blessed me ridiculously.
From my own perspective, I too found encouragement and peace with myself. We are programmed, not only as Americans, but as women, to strive for skinny and consume only the low fat. With low fat and light food sales being at an all time high, shouldn’t the weight of our country not also be at an all time high? Obviously we’re missing something… This book has the key. I’ve talked about this before, but after I had my hysterectomy in 2000, my weight shot up fast. In the 12 years, since then, I have had multiple nutritionists and physicians reaffirm that I will never lose a significant amount of weight due to my natural hormone levels and more significantly, the shock that my body went through when it was instantly plummeted into menopause at 24 years of age. While I have always believed there had to be a way, the information in this book reaffirmed to me that getting my body to the place of eating as it should- when it should- (and NOT how a government or bazillion dollar industry would tell me to) was more important than anything. From that point, my body will slowly regulate to be however it should be. Is that heavier? Maybe. But it doesn’t matter…
I whole heartedly recommend this book… (and actually, already have, to multiple people) It stresses the importance of WHOLE, REAL food and then goes on to back up WHY. My only complaint, if I had to have one, would be that it gets a bit repetitive… It didn’t really bother me though, because repetition is how we remember and I deeply need to remember everything I learned…
This was the PERFECT book for my year of Health!
Rainy Day in May... 
Sounds good… I will be on the lookout for this one!
I enjoy books like this. In fact I was discussing this book w/ Stephen last night. Health is much more than a size or number and that is what we should be teaching girls. Skinny girls can be just as unhealthy.
Ahhh, so this the book you were telling me about! I'll go reserve it online right now :)I can't believe how many lies we are fed, but I do because the diet and pharmaceutical industries thrive because of it. I can't believe how long I myself bought into it!Fat is good! People always giggle at me when I say it is … put cream in your coffee, eat the whole avocado, full fat yogurt. Whole foods all the way.
foods with 'fat' are always yummier! butter makes everything better!(found you via SITS)
So part of this Daniel Fast thing is Whole food. We've cheated a little bit with some granola cereals,salsa in a jar, and matzo, but we are doing fairly well. (except for the soy part. At least for me. Ohhhh, my tummy) The kids are doing it too, for 2 weeks I hope – but we might run out of food money at the rate they are eating -And I hope to see physical- mental results in my two sons who are (undiagnosed) on the autism spectrum.