Sexy Forever: How to Fight Fat after Forty [Hardcover]

It's true, Suzanne Somers saved my life. Let me begin at the beginning....First, I am 68 years old, no spring chicken but no dray horse ready to be put out to pasture or to sleep, either. On March 22, 2010, I weighed 267 pounds. My life was nearly unbearable: I was taking infusions once a month for rheumatoid and osteo-arthritis, I was using inhalers and nebulizers daily for COPD, my sleep was sporadic at best, and I was stuck like a hamster on a wheel between eating and thinking about eating, eating and thinking about my next food "reward." I believe if my life hadn't changed that day (why that day out of all the days of my life? I have no idea) if my life hadn't changed that day, I was destined to die a slow, miserable death, just as I had been living a slow, miserable life.

March 22 was the day I gave up, the day the worst part of me, the self-destructive part of me, died. It was on that day I began a life-altering change in thinking, nutrition and exercise that has given me life once again, that has brought me to better health than I enjoyed 20 years ago, and has restored my will, my confidence and my gratitude for the wonderful life we have available to us if we choose to live it.

On that day, after talking with Suzanne Somers, I committed to a complete overhaul of the way I lived. I began to take supplements to replace the life-giving and enhancing elements which had been absent from my diet, I stopped eating whatever and whenever I pleased and started eating 5 small meals daily, and I began to walk every day, at least one mile to begin with, as long as it took to complete. I got rid of the starches and carbohydrates that made me fat and sluggish. I shelved potatoes, rice, pasta and bread, all of which I dearly "love." I no longer eat sweets, including the ice cream that I consumed by the half gallon, if I bought it I ate it, and the candy and cookies I craved. And I haven't been deprived. I eat meat, vegetables, salads, berries, and more foods than I can name, and I don't spend afternoons and evenings partially asleep as my body struggles to digest the burden placed upon it as by those former meals eaten in a former time.

From a mile per day with three to four stops for pain and shortness of breath, I have increased my exercise to more than three miles per day, recently completing a 10 kilometer walk, 6.2 miles, at an average speed of four miles per hour, without stopping once. I am no longer receiving infusions, nor do I require a nebulizer or inhalers. My doctors are thrilled; they ask me what my secret is. I tell them: Suzanne Somers.

In short, I have reborn as the result of my efforts in implementing the suggestions so graciously and generously offered to me by Suzanne, the same general plan presented in Sexy Forever. What is that change worth to me? Beyond measurement in dollars and cents. I hit the lottery. And, if you're willing to make a commitment to your life and better health, you can, too.

Oh, by the way, on my birthday in November, I weighed 186 pounds. Down 81 pounds in 8 months. And I maintain that weight today. My commitment is firm.

If you're trying to decide whether to buy this book, buy it. It just might save your life.

*****
Suzanne Somers has written another book filled with cutting edge ideas about healthy lifestyle, this time about losing weight. The theme of the book is that the best way to lose weight is to get healthy. Her plan--which is for people over 40--but which is actually healthy for anyone covers:
(1) Reducing stress (including dealing with unhealthy beliefs, the need for intimacy, and unmet psychological needs),
(2) Sleeping enough (7-8 hours),
(3) Eliminating food cravings via good nutrition,
(4) Addressing any allergies (e.g., gluten, dairy),
(5) Caring for the digestive tract,
(6) Avoiding toxins,
(7) Exercising,
(8) Managing hormones naturally, and
(9) Avoiding insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome via management of the glycemic load.
She shows you what this all means and HOW to do it as well.

In the book, the author includes a diet based on Tuscan and country French cooking (which is most like a whole foods diet), an exercise program, and recommendations for supplements and weight loss products. The author does describe many of the products she sells, but I found this helpful and not overwhelming. She also doesn't limit her recommendations to items she sells--the book includes many varied resources. The diet does emphasize some light food combining; it also includes whole food carbohydrates in all phases (combined properly and at specific times earlier in the day).

The diet consists of a thirty day detox, followed by a weight loss phase and then a maintenance phase. The book includes a recipe section and many sample menus. The recipes look delicious, and easy enough for me to do as a non-cook; I like that they include interesting notes along with them from the author that are fun to read.

Appendices include: a Food Reference Guide, an appendix with skin care ingredients to avoid, an appendix that is a brief guide to bio-identical hormone replacement, and an appendix of other resources.

I bought the Kindle book and read it first. I liked it so much that I bought the hardback book too as a reference and to be able to use the recipes easier. I really found the information valuable enough to justify the extra cost.

Highly recommended.
*****

If you have read Suzanne's other books, I'm not sure what new information you'll get. I enjoy Suzanne's books and have read them. The information is spot-on and she interviews experts in their fields. This books seems to be a rehash of many of the books although Brenda Watson (GI information) is new to the list. If you have never read one of Suzanne's books, then this one will definitely help; if you have, probably not.

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