I’ve always liked Cameron Diaz and since I’m passionate about nutrition and overall healthy lifestyle, I knew that I had to get my hands on her book written with Sandra Bark: The Body Book: the law of hunger, the science of strength, and other ways to love your amazing body. In it, Diaz talks about everything from nourishment, how our kidneys work to vagina and poop. Really.
When I tell you that I could not put this book down once I picked it up, I am not lying or exaggerating. I read the whole book in two evenings and I intend on reading it again, again and again. The Body Book has three parts: Part One: Nutrition, Part Two: Fitness and Part Three: Mind.
When I started reading the first and second part of the book, I realized that most of the information contained therein I already knew. You may not know this, but I was a Biology major for two years in college and also took a whole bunch of nutrition classes, so the first parts of the book didn’t really introduce me to anything new, but rather refreshed my memory. I have to say that when at first I skimmed through The Body Book, I thought to myself “Oh great, there are diagrams of body parts, she talks about anatomy, this is going to be like taking Anatomy or Human Biology all over again”. Nothing could be further from the truth. The way Diaz describes what macro and micronutrients are, the way she talks about water being life or the way she describes what rectus abdominis muscle is, is not only simple, but also very interesting and easy to understand. It keeps you wanting to know more, it makes you aware of all the hard work your body does every single second of every single day and it also makes you aware of what you put in it in terms of nutrition.
I think that the most eye-opening part of this book was Part Two: Fitness. Diaz talks about something I’ve been thinking about a lot for the past few days: our lives have gotten too convenient. We no longer have to do much around the house, we have dishwashers, vacuums, washers and dryers, we have cars, drive-through-s and the list goes on and on. We just got lazy and as a result of that, we got “soft” as Diaz describes, we’re out of shape, we’re always tired, but our bodies were not designed to lie on the couch all day. Our bodies were designed to be fit and strong and fast and lean. I remember how upset I was when I was a senior in High School and I didn’t have a car when most of my classmates already did (for those outside of US-it’s pretty much normal for teens to drive cars to school-most of them have been working since they were 16). I didn’t live far from the school that I went to; it was maybe a 25-30 minute walk, but I was just so upset at the fact that I had to walk everywhere. But, obviously, I did it anyway-I had no choice. And you know what? I had the most amazing legs, with lean muscle and definition and if I had to, I could walk for hours without feeling any discomfort. Now I wish I could walk to work. Unfortunately, it would probably take me about a week to get there if I were to walk :) .
In the final part of the book Diaz talks about the mind. She talks about loving yourself, your body, the skin that you’re in and not comparing yourself to others. The energy that us, girls, women spend on comparing ourselves (mostly our looks) to other women can be spent on working on ourselves. We can take that energy and put it towards something helpful like prepping our meals for the week, or going for a bike ride, hitting the gym or taking a yoga class. It may not be easy at first and you may feel weak, that little voice inside your head may can keep telling “you can’t do it”, but it’s up to you to find that strength within yourself and prove it wrong.
The Body Book is not the type of book that once read it finds its place on a shelf. As Diaz writes herself, this book is meant to be used; it’s meant to be marked up, written in, highlighted, etc. I’ve never felt more inspired to be healthy and strong. I finally admitted to myself last night, as I finished reading the last chapter, that I have gotten really lazy over the last couple of months. The winter has been super long and I’ve used the cold weather as an excuse to skip my workouts or not pay close attention to my nutrition. My body deserves better, I deserve better. The Body Book gave me a kick in the butt that I needed so badly, it made me realize how precious and important my body is and how it deserves to be treated with love and respect. I think that every girl/woman needs to read this book, especially if you’re not on best of terms with your body and need some inspiration and words of encouragement. Reading this book left me already feeling more confident and strong because of the knowledge and tools that it provides. I thought that I liked Cameron Diaz before, I can now honestly say that I love her.
Paula xx