RESHAPING IT ALL [Paperback]

This book is amazing. It came in the mail and I read most of it in one sitting. I cannot get over the physical/spiritual connection that I've missed out on for so long. As a Christian, I pray for my husband, children and my own relationship with God however, I've never truly committed my physical issues to the Lord. This book opened up a new way of thinking for me. I love all of the verses Candace weaves into her stories. These verses are great for memorization as I journey towards physical/spiritual health.

I also appreciate that Candace offers real advice. She is honest about the cost of getting healthy. It's not an easy, fix-it in 10 days diet book. I believe this book will help millions of women get healthy once and for all. Congratulations Candace! This book is amazing. And thank you Jesus for sending Candace to help us all.

I will be buying it for all of my girlfriends.

Many of the other reviewers already said it all. Just want to add my 5 star review. I wasn't going to buy the book. I mean, do we really need another celebrity diet book? Ugh. NO! But decided to take a chance and give a try as it seemed more personal in nature. LOVED IT! It's not a diet book--it's personal stories, guidelines, etc. on how to lead a healthy life (body and soul). Some of it was "old advice" to me but still valuable as it served as a great reminder of what a healthy, balanced life should be. Would recommend to friends!

I've been hearing a lot about this diet motivational book by Candace Cameron Bure, yep, the Candace Cameron from Full House. I decided to read it for a few reasons. First of all, I was intrigued to hear Candace used her Christian faith as motivation for weight control. Second, I watched Full House on TGIF and when I was young I thought that if anyone ever made a TV movie about my life that Candace should play me (LOL!) I was also interested in how she maintains her weight, plain and simple. She seemed to be advocating health and not starvation yet she still seemed to have a Hollywood body. I certainly wanted to know how she accomplished that!

Part autobiography, part diet book, part motivational speech - I dove into the book and absolutely loved the first few chapters. I read the first 50 pages in one day, which with three kids means I was REALLY into the book and made it a priority.

Reading about her childhood and how she got into acting was interesting enough. She discussed her troubles trying to maintain her weight and regularly advocated healthy ideas like not drinking your calories in the form of soda and sugar drinks, and that dieting isn't about denying yourself but learning some self control.

She wrote about having a plan for your weight loss and sited scriptures to back this up (and I love quotes from scripture!). She said that just "cutting back" wasn't enough that you had to know when and how much you were going to indulge. This all sounded like wonderful advice and I really got a lot out it. Sometimes when I feel like I'm "cutting back" I find I'm not losing any weight because I'm not actually taking stock of what that number should look like day to day.

Candace gives sound advice about "breaking up with food" which was very helpful to me. I turn to food for comfort in emotional times and the idea of "breaking up" with it really stuck with me and has helped me on a few occasions from using food as comfort.

The notion of eating until one is satisfied was another terrific idea. Candace recommended eating half of your meal and then checking in with yourself. Are you satisfied? Then stop eating. It didn't realize how prone I was to overeating simply because I was in the habit of clearing my plate. I"m sure I've avoid countless calories by checking in with myself half way through every meal.

It wasn't until pages 46 and 47 that she started to get under my skin. In the book she uses her fan letters to address certain topics. In one letter a woman wrote that she was breastfeeding her 8 month old. She asked if Candace had breastfed and if she had any advice for moms who want to lose weight but cannot go on a radical diet.

Candace responded with "Eight months and still breastfeeding, huh?" Like this was an odd thing to be doing. She then skips the question as to whether or not she breastfed, which we can all take as a no. That struck me as oddly unhealthy for a woman who was promoting health. Of course, maybe Candace has a medical condition, that's fine, but she didn't choose to reveal that, instead she goes on to be critical of the breastfeeding woman.

Candace tells her that Candace's sister is breastfeeding and just called to tell her that she had dropped another pond. "Surely you can shed a few pounds" Candace tells this fan as though breastfeeding were some magic weight loss bullet and this woman obviously isn't trying hard enough.

Candace tells the woman to watch her daily intake of cream and cheese based foods. However numerous studies have found how good cheese can be for you as well as cream, especially for a breastfeeding mother. Studies have shown how milk and milk based products are healthful especially for growing children, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Cheese itself has also been shown to help prevent tooth decay. [...]

Candace does give the woman some good advice such as the suggestion to eat lots of fresh vegetables, warning her against soda pop, and advocating snacking on nuts but then Candace still hands out the old, out dated, advice of "lean meats" which again, for a breastfeeding woman and for anyone really, is not good advice. Saturated fat is an essential nutrient needed by the body to regulate hormone function and to prevent depression. [...]

I was feeling unnerved about her breastfeeding advice especially because up until that point I was in love with the book. I was devastated when I got to page 50 and read an example of what Candace eats everyday. I cannot express how sad I was to learn that this woman who promotes health and NOT starving yourself, who is seen on the back cover of the book eating a bowl of fruit loops, is actually STARVING HERSELF.

Her average diet is extremely deficient in key nutrients. She eats almost no healthy oils or fats. She only consumes lean meats and she eats no nutrient dense foods. She starts out her day with a huge carbohydrate and sugar binge of toast and a grande nonfat latte. She then proceeds to eat very little the rest of the day. She consumes salad for lunch but again with very little nutrients. She then goes on to eat a very small portion of lean meat in the evening with another serving of vegetables.

From Candace's dietary description we can see that she is starving herself of nutrients and allowing herself very small portions of filler foods. I applaud her consumption of lots of vegetables but man cannot live on vegetables alone.

She has no probiotics in her diet from foods like yogurt, kefir, kombucha, raw sauerkraut, etc. Probiotics are essential for a balanced and healthy gut. 80% of your immune system health happens in your gut. Candace is leaving herself, and others following this advice, dangerously vulnerable to disease. Without a healthy gut Candace is also benefiting very little from the vegetables she eats since without probiotics she absorbing less nutrients from all her foods. [...]

She consumes no animal fats or organ meats which as I mentioned before are essential nutrients the body needs.People in the world with the lowest risk of heart disease consume large amounts of animal fats. The Maasai, Inuit, Rendillie, and Tokelau peoples all eat a diet of 60-70% animal fat.

The hunter-gatherer diet of high animal fats built the modern brain and is still crucial for optimal brain functioning today as well as the functioning of other important body parts. Cell membranes require saturated fat to function as do your heart, bones, liver, lungs hormones, and immune system. Candace is setting herself up for leaky cell membranes, osteoporosis, liver damage, breathing disorders, hormone dysfunction, invading viruses and growing tumors from her lean meat and non fat dairy diet [...].

Her diet lacks oleic acid (for healthy cholesterol levels), potassium (for a healthy blood pressure), omega 3 fatty acids (for cancer prevention and heart health), beta-carotene (for eye health), and ergothioneine (to prevent free radical damage).

Candace's over all health would be greatly improved by adding some saturated fats in the form of chicken with the skin, beef liver, or full fat organic, pastured, dairy products to her diet along with some probiotics from foods such as yogurt, kefir or fermented vegetables. In addition I highly recommend she eat high nutrient foods such as mushrooms, orange and yellow vegetables, high fat fish, and avocados. [...]

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be Candace's kind of skinny. She might as well have a morning IV of sugar water and then a handful of rabbit food for the rest of the day. Her energy is coming from her morning binge which can lead to diabetes or at the very least blood sugar issues.

Candace's diet is unhealthy and as the years go by this sort of nutrient starvation is going to take it's toll on her body and mind. I cannot express my sorrow at this point of reading the book. I put it down for a few days and couldn't bare to pick it back up again. I really thought Candace had found a way to be healthy and control one's weight but like other Hollywood stars she's simply staving herself in a different way.

After a few days I tried to continue reading the book but at this point it lapsed into a lot of fan letters gushing about how beautiful she is, and how they want to look just like her. Her advice is ridiculously not original (like take a picture to your hair dresser of the style you want.) She goes on and on at many points about being "in the business" and how wonderful it is to be a famous actress. I understand that she loves what she does but it comes off as really snobbish and self serving.

The rest of the book was simply painful. Reading about her love of shopping and her "dining" on spinach salads with her dressing on the side (watch out for the brain building fat you might consume in that olive oil!). It turned my stomach.

Candace may have hit the ground running but all in all, I felt really duped by this book. It's not a terrible read, it has a few good points but check it out at your local library, I don't recommend actually paying for it.

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