The Zen Diet Revolution: The Mindful Path to Permanent Weight Loss

Everything the authors say has been said before in many other books. The magic word for them is "Zen". Otherwise this book is just a run of the mill, so so, diet/exercise book. You could do better.

In The Zen Diet Revolution, Martin and Philippa Faulks talk about kaizen, the Japanese word for improvement that advocates small but permanent changes. With kaizen, the Faulkses tell us to start slowly and build gradually. If you have two sodas a day, exchange just one of them for a cup of green tea. If you take the bus to work, get off one stop early and add in a little exercise to your routine. By taking things incrementally, the change becomes permanent and serves as a sturdy foundation for the next healthy behavior.There are, of course, the expected recommendations of refraining from eating in the late evenings, cleaning out your cupboards, and being wary of the pitfalls of eating out--all of which are common-sense approaches to achieving our ideal weight. A lifetime of dieting already had me clued into these elements. What stood out, though, was their advocacy of visualization, meditation, and mindfulness. As an example of the power of our thoughts, they cited an Australian study that demonstrated lower rates of body fat storage in participants who ate their meal with the focus on the idea that they would lose weight. What we think matters.The importance of sleep was a large focus in the book, as well as the interference that light can have on our deep-sleep patterns. Excuse the pun, but I appreciated this illumination. The meditation techniques were sound, and the call to being present when we eat is clarion-true. The only area in the book that I disagreed with is its central concern of burning fat. I would caution against a hyper-focus on this as my experience has taught me that it's akin to trading one obsession for the other. There's a happy medium between eating healthy so that we can feel fit and being able to relax and enjoy what we're eating.Overall, the book is solid and is a good reminder to slow down. We're here for such a short time and we need to eat. Let's enjoy it. Make your food meaningful. Pay attention. Treat your body with respect.