It Was Me All Along: A Memoir - Andie Mitchell

I'm not usually one for blog to book memoirs, and I'd never heard of Andie Mitchell prior to getting this book on a kindle deal, but I was pleasantly surprised with the book and Andie's writing. That's not to say it's elevated prose, but the narrative is clear and conversational and I can see how it would work well for a blog. 

To me, blog writer memoirs come off a little too self-important - this may have something to do with the blog world revolving around self promotion - but in this case, Andie balanced this well with her own personal story. The story fit just on the surface of her feelings; the dark parts never got too dark, and the light parts were all social media ready. 

I did enjoy Andie's journey to being comfortable with food and her own personal story of weight loss and self-acceptance. The thing I liked was that she was comfortable saying that it was still her, after all the changes. She was still herself, the same person with the same insecurities, but she'd been able to work through them. This was a process that took work and was not an overnight revelation. 

I'll be checking out her site (click here to visit) to get some new food ideas. I'm hoping her move to Seattle hasn't irrevocably hipster'd her food recommendations (see my review of a previous hipstery food book here) and is still making things you can make at home with two toddlers running around demanding to be picked up or alternatively crying because one has hit the other. 

The book was just the right length to avoid some measure of self-importance and overall a pleasant read.

3.5/5 stars

It Starts with Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways - Dallas & Melissa Hartwig

You are what you eat. Basically. It's hard to argue with some of the main precepts in this book. Added sugar is bad for you. Eating too much of the wrong thing is bad for you. Vegetables are good for you. I did enjoy the science background of the information. It's important to have that as well. Although I do think sometimes they emphasize the science that supports their conclusions and dismiss the science that does not rather summarily. 

My sister "discovered" the Whole 30 this year and I was at first skeptical. No wine? That sounds terrible. But I've had a bit of my own transformation with food this year and the Whole 30 takes it a couple steps past what I was already doing. So this doesn't seem quite as scary as it would have earlier in the year. 

You can check out their website for all the nitty gritty (click here). But I appreciate their "tough love" concepts that basically acknowledge our complicated and emotional connection to food. The Whole30 seems strict so it's probably not as accessible to some people. I think that's okay. Sometimes we need some tough love to look at what we've been eating and how we got that way. Taking a break from all that for 30 days is a great way to really examine what we put in our bodies. 

Here's a good quote from the book that's pretty hard to argue with: “There is no food neutral; there is no food Switzerland—every single thing you put in your mouth is either making you more healthy or less healthy.” 
― Melissa Hartwig

Here's the basics. 30 days. No dairy. No gluten. No alcohol. No legumes. No grains (not even rice or quinoa). Just meat, vegetables and fruits. And after 30 days, slowly reintroduce small amounts of these things to see how you do. What makes our bodies feel the way they do. There are apparently thousands of anecdotal good results with this program. And while I usually dismiss anecdotal evidence, large amounts of anecdotal evidence start to represent trends and more solid evidence in my mind. This is a way to address chronic inflammation, immune and bowel diseases and a host of other conditions. 

So after listening to the book. I'm not "sold" but I'm definitely going to try it starting January 1st (I'm realistic enough to know I won't make it through Christmas without eating a cookie) and I'll use my body as its own laboratory to figure out how the food I eat affects me. If it works for me, then it works and then I'll be "sold." I'll post an update January 31st.

4/5 Stars.