Friday 15 March 2013

Drinking Water To Lose Weight by Lexi Burke Alexander.


Drinking Water To Lose Weight is a very small 90 KB ebook published in 2012.  It has a very simple message, swap other drinks for water. By switching to plain water, your reduced daily calorie intake results in a weight loss. It is surprising how other drinks mount up the calories throughout the day. This book also explains how some foods contain a fair amount of water which lead to a fuller stomach but without the high calorie value. Lexi mentions also the importance of hydration to good health.

Lexi's writing style is rather happy clappy diet club and she does drone on about exercise. Her book is okay and I vote it 3 stars. Lexi gives some good advice and it could make a difference because that tasty latte is 200 calories and as she shows, the maths are easy!

Saturday 9 March 2013

Back Spin by Harlan Coben.


16 year old Chad Coldren goes missing and a telephone call claims that he has been kidnapped. Has Chad simply ran away and this is a cruel hoax? Myron Bolitar has a job to solve this mystery.

Back Spin has a very good plot with many possibilities of perpetrator, giving lots of avenues for Myron Bolitar to explore. There are plenty of suspects and this story has lots of twists that raise many doubts and suspicions. Harlan is very good at developing characters and each one has bags of personality. There is no drivel about someone wearing a blue coat but Harlan explains exactly what makes each character tick. Every character is described in depth. This is a people story with a diverse cast. As this story progresses, you do not know how it will end.

Back Spin has 343 pages and was written in 1997 but re-issued in 2007. This book is an enjoyable read that is enhanced by some lovely dry humour. Harlan Coben is a great storyteller. Back Spin refers to a move that golfers make but it does not matter to this mystery. The ending of this tale is okay and I shall be voting this novel 4 stars on Goodreads as it is a good book.

Sunday 3 March 2013

Stop Prediabetes: Eat S.A.F.E. and Don't Be a Sea Squirt by Robert Creighton.


Pre-diabetes metabolic syndrome affects 1 in 3 American adults, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. Look at your friends and workmates, even people walking down the street, because many of them have developed diabetes. You can see and hear about the problem of increasing diabetes within the adult population, so why not get the knowledge so that you can miss out on becoming a victim of diabetes?

Stop Prediabetes is a small 315 KB ebook that was published in 2013. This book is nicely put together, it is uplifting and provides a solution that is a light at the end of this very dark tunnel. I understand how petrol and diesel engines work but human biology is very different. The action needed to stop pre-diabetes is simple and the results are well proven. Making minor lifestyle changes is all you need to stop diabetes. This book explains the complicated biology involved and how metabolism actually works. The food you eat and the movement you make work hand in hand with each other. Get the balance right and you will not develop pre-diabetes. Human ancestry is very important and modern processed foods do not work well with our bodies. The best advice is to avoid all food that has a label. Robert explains very well how our metabolism works and he makes the complicated biology easy to understand. He explains why you should avoid processed foods.

The small lifestyle changes Robert describes are not strict or hard to follow. He is not recommending exercise, joining a gym or talking part in sports. He is supporting simple movement, where you muscles are contracting, simple everyday activity like walking or gardening - moving around! Although modern processed foods are bad for you, Robert's 80/20 rule means that you can enjoy the odd biscuit etc - provided it and other processed foods do not exceed 20% of your intake. This is not a strict diet, just intelligent eating when you know what modern processed foods are made of and how your body deals with them.

Robert also explains why after a good walk you feel good. Walking in the woods is a pleasure, not a chore. This is because of the way your body chemistry and metabolism works as you walk. Your food and movement work together, these small changes in lifestyle make your risk of prediabetes go away. Nobody is force feeding you and you are empowered to make intelligent food choices.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it is well written and his style is polite. Robert does not bully the reader and he is not a happy, clappy evangelist! I will vote this book the maximum score of 5 stars on Amazon as it is such a brilliant self help book. I urge you to take Robert's advice so that you don't become a victim of diabetes but grow old without the worry.