Book Review of The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper

Carrie and I are both fans of the Biggest Loser and Bob and Jillian's straightforward approaches to health and weight.  We have both been so engrossed with trying to learn more about being and staying healthy we have been reading anything we can get our hands on.  It was refreshing to find this easy read that gets right down to business. 

The book was about 250 pages, the first 100 pages were devoted to the 20 skinny rules, 50 pages for menus, and 100 pages for recipes.  I tagged at least 30 of the recipes, but I haven’t tried any of them yet, so look for those in a future post.  The “Rules” are easy common sense mantras.  I choose a few that really spoke to me and highlighted them below. 

The other day I was at an event and the only option was pizza.  I didn’t plan properly with a larabar in my purse and ended up eating 2 slices of pizza.  It wasn't filling at all, I was hungry an hour later.  For all the calories (and lack of vitamins and nutrients), I was floored that I was still hungry.  Bob address this very fact in to the introduction when he says “No wonder people get fat, it’s cheap and easy to get high calorie food.  If you want your body to be right sized, you have to stop ordering supersized."

He dispels the myth that all you have to do is exercise and the weight will come off.  Yes, exercise is great and has many benefits, but if you think your 4 mile walk every morning is helping you, just be aware that the small bag of French fries you eat at lunch has more calories than you burned during your 4 miles.  He is adament with the idea, if you want to lose weight and STAY that way, you have to change your life.  It’s even more damaging to your body to change your eating patterns, drop weight, and then go back to what you were doing.  You will put on the weight you lost, plus more, not to mention slow down your metabolism even more!

Rule 1-Drink a large glass of water before every meal-no excuses!  If you missed my post on the benefits of drinking water, check it out here  Water keeps your organs healthy, moves food through your body and makes you feel full. 

Rule 2-Don’t drink your calories.  We have covered the soda is satan topic on an earlier post  Here Bob talks about sports drinks.  Just because it’s marketed with a sports & fitness themed commericial does not make it a healthy option.  Unless you are training for a marathon you don’t need those extra calories and sugars.  Water will replenish your system more effectively. 

Rule 3-Eat protein at every meal-or stay hungry and grouchy

Rule 4-Slash your intake of refined flours and grains

Rule 5-Eat 30 to 50 grams of fiber a day

Rule 6-Eat apples and berries every single day.  Every. Single. Day!

Rule 7-No carbs after lunch

Rule 8-Learn to read food labels so you know what you are eating.  Great tips on evaluating the serving size, number of serving, calories, protein, sugar, sodium, fat, trans fat, carbs, fiber, net carbs, the ingredient list, chemical and the percent of daily value section of each label.  I don’t know what polysorbate 60, autolyzed yeast and caseinate look like and I certainly don’t want them in my body.    

Rule 9-Stop guessing about portion size and get it right-for good

Rule 10-No more added sweeteners, including artificial ones

Rule 11-Get rid of those white potatoes

Rule 12-Make one day a week meatless

Rule 13-Get rid of fast foods and fried foods.  If you haven’t bought into the dangers of fried foods, know that it also accelerates wrinkling of the skin, sleep apena, chronic diarrhea, smelly skin, irritable bowel syndrome, skin rashes and a host of other medical issues.  There is NO way you can eat highly processed or fried foods and be healthy. 

Rule 14-Eat a real breakfast.  You will FAIL at weight loss and weight control if you don’t eat a balanced breakfast every morning.  He then covers the details on some breakfast favorites like oatmeal, eggs and greek yogurt.  Brian and I have been eating 2 organic eggs every morning for over a year now.  There is enough protein to sustain us until lunch, and I really look forward to them when I wake up.  I guess it helps that Brian is the chef in the kitchen, but it really only takes about 3 minutes longer that preparing a bowl of cereal. 

Rule 15-Make your own food and eat at least 10 meals a week at home

Rule 16-Banish high salt foods

Rule 17-Eat your vegetables-just do it!

Rule 18-Go to bed hungry.  When you go to sleep without sluggish carbs in your bloodstream, you will burn fat like crazy.  And you will get better quality sleep, which will lead to muscle repair and increased energy the next day. 

Rule 19-Sleep right

Rule 20-Plan one splurge meal a week.  One meal, not a whole day of meals!  And don’t blow it on a fast food place that isn’t serving real food anyways.  Make it count, eat real food.  Make a recipe that uses more decadent ingredients than you would normally use.