A useful manual that effectively opens the door to the underlying causes of eating problems.
A specialist in eating problems addresses how readers can change their relationships with food in this debut motivational guide.
Parente, who has treated hundreds of patients with eating disorders, focuses on a theme not often expressed in traditional diet books: “To change your relationship with food you must work through and grieve loss. A change in one’s eating presents an emotional loss, sometimes manifested in feelings of emptiness.” With this intriguing notion driving the content, the work is as much about psychological factors as it is about eating problems—primarily overeating and binge eating, as noted by the author. Parente approaches the challenge in a methodical way, leading readers through a logical process of understanding the problem and embracing the need to change. Most notable is the volume’s reliance on numerous case studies—self-contained anecdotes based on patients treated by the author. These stories are particularly impactful because they delve into the issues behind specific eating problems, pointedly depicting why a dramatic change in attitude is both difficult and empowering. “The Story of Angela,” for example, demonstrates the relationship of food to loss. Angela endured a 20-pound weight gain without realizing that it was related to the loss of her spouse: “The loss of her husband represented emptiness, fear, and anxiety; thus, she began to fill the void with food. You might identify with how Angela used food to cope with her loss.” Parente weaves these tales throughout the book to illustrate the six steps in her “Template for Change,” a tool intended to guide readers in overcoming any eating problem. The six steps—Acknowledgment of the Problem, Shame, Anger, Fear & Anxiety, Inner Voices, and Belief & Acceptance—are explained in individual chapters and tidily tied together in a Summary section at the end of the book. While designed to address eating problems, it seems as if this process could generally apply to any major change one may need to make; as such, the template has residual value. Parente writes compassionately and knowledgeably about a thorny subject.
A useful manual that effectively opens the door to the underlying causes of eating problems. (appendices)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982254-18-6
Page Count: 122
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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