2 winners, 1 loser

Welcome to the weekend!  I’m sure glad it’s Saturday.  Time to relax… 🙂

Ever since reading Between Interruptions I’ve been very much into reading. I fell out of it for a while and am so glad I caught the reading bug again.

I love it when I can learn something from a good book (they’re usually health and fitness related) or to just be entertained for hours on end surrounded by quietness and words on a page.

In the past month I’ve gone through 3 books, although I only truly *finished* one.

Instead of getting into a long winded review of each book, I’ll share my thoughts (good and bad) for each. Think of it as a little glimpse into the book, but different than reading the back cover.

A note on where the books came from: the library!

I was not sent these books to review, I simply picked them out because I thoughts I’d enjoy them. Plus I love getting books from the library… I am a girl on a budget!

Here they are, in order of books read.

Belly Laughs

I picked this book up because I thought it would be entertaining… Jenny McCarthy does make me laugh.  And did she make me laugh? Oh yes.

Belly laugh is basically her story of pregnancy through child birth. It was very entertaining to read, but during certain parts of the book I though she might have been exaggerating a bit. Really, who had every single pregnancy ailment? It made for a funny tale, but again probably exaggerated a bit (or a lot).

What I didn’t like: her philosophy (if I should even call it that) on giving birth. I do not agree that just because medicine has come a long way that we have to use drugs to dull the pains of childbirth… just because it’s there. That’s so not a reason to do something.

So, I disagreed with her thoughts on that, but really did enjoy reading the book. I zoomed through it in about 1 week and would definitely recommend it as a fun read for pregnant ladies.

Real food for mother and baby

I don’t know why I waited until I got an email from the library telling me my book was past due to start reading it. I *loved* this book. I didn’t get a chance to read the entire book because it was already pretty past due already (sorry next person in line!), so the only section I skipped was on the fertility diet… I figured I’m already pregnant so I don’t need to worry about that right now.

Real food for mother and baby is written by the same author as Real food, another book I really want to read. The basis of the book is simple enough – eat real food. A similar message that Michael Pollan touts and a good one at that.

The importance of fats and proteins were talked about, with a section outlining really good foods for each trimester.

The last part of the book goes into foods for your baby. The best point I got out of that section is you don’t need baby food… you don’t even need to make or buy special food for your baby. Feed them what you’re having (when they get to the stage of eating solids), just in small pieces or mashed that they can eat.

I think this is genius for 2 reasons:

1) Easier for mom, as in less work in the kitchen. No separate meals to make or expensive foods to buy.

2) Baby gets real food I would want to feed myself! I’m not into the thinking that your baby need rice cereal to supplement their diet, which is what I seem to hear most often. Just like adults don’t *need* special food, either does a baby so long as their getting real foods.

The only dietary change I’ve made since reading this book is increasing my dairy. Since I’m no longer lactose intolerant (thank you baby!), I’m happy enjoying plain yogurt, real cream in my coffee and even milk. Oh and a lot more cheese. 🙂 I was going through a lot of soymilk, which I still drink, but now it’s a bit more in moderation than large portions.

Would I recommend this book? A big heck yes! I’d even read it again.

Sugar Nation

After 2 good reads there’s bound to be a bust, right? Sadly, yes.

I saw this book, thought it might be an interesting and informative read, but I never made it to interesting and informative. What I did read was a story of the author’s past dealing with diabetes in him family and his own health issues.

I can probably guess the outcome of ‘the hidden truth behind america’s deadliest habit and the simple way to beat it’ from the cover – eat less sugar and eat real foods. I kind of want to say duh, is that bad?

Unfortunately I’m not going to find out if I was right. After 40 pages of trying to get into the book, I just couldn’t take another one.

Sorry book, but I wouldn’t recommend you to a friend. Maybe once you get to page 100 it gets good, but I’ll never know.

So what am I reading now?

So far interesting! I love a good fitness book.

What’s the latest book you’ve read?  I’m always on the look out for a great book!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Heather