So 2025 is almost 1/12th over. How are those “lose weight, eat less” resolutions coming? If it didn’t work for you (again), might I suggest changing your goal? Instead of always trying to lose weight, maybe instead aim to be healthy and celebrate your body for what it wants to be. That doesn’t mean you get to sit on the couch and eat nachos every day (if only). But let’s focus more on eating healthy, real food (sorry Funyuns) and finding an enjoyable way to move your body. If you need help, I’ve got a collection of items to show you how to cook smart, be positive, move more, and enjoy your life.

My husband had a health scare last year and we had to change the way we were eating. Since I’m the cook in the house, it fell to me to figure this out. NPL has a huge collection of cookbooks, so I went to work. Out of all the ones I tried, this one is by far and away my favorite. I recently made the Seafood Enchiladas, and my husband said he liked these better than my “regular” enchilada recipe. (They were pretty good.) It has great recipes that we both love with ingredients that you can afford to buy at Kroger or Publix. No need for fancy, expensive stores. Plus I really liked the portion sizes. If you want a healthy cookbook that doesn’t feel like you’re “dieting”, I recommend this one.

I found this book a few years ago and remember enjoying it. This was one of the first books I read that focused more on being healthy as opposed to a number on a scale or BMI. If this is something you struggle with and need some guidance on how to reset your brain, maybe start with this one.

I like these Gaiam videos. They not only show me how to exercise my body, but they are calming, which helps ease any anxiety I might have. (We all do.) There are lots of options for yoga videos at NPL. Find your fave and jump in. 

Alright. We made it this far. We’ve gotten one good cookbook to get us eating healthily and another nonfiction to help retrain our brains to think differently about weight. Now it’s time for an entertainment break. Willowdean Dixon has never been skinny, which drives her pageant obsessed mama nuts. But Willowdean isn’t ashamed of her body, so she jumps into the Clover City (Texas, natch) pageant and shows what she’s made of. I loved Willowdean so much and wish I’d been as brave as her when I was in high school. If you have the Netflix, they made a movie about it. There are also two book sequels, Puddin’ and Pumpkin, if you don’t want to leave Wilowdean’s world behind. 

Ok, back to work. This was the second-best healthy cookbook I found in my travels. Let me just say that any time you can cook at home, with real food, and avoid eating restaurant foods or processed foods, you are automatically lowering your salt intake. Our doc recommended no more than 2000 mg of sodium a day and this book can actually get you in under that. Again, the ingredients here are easily sourced at your local grocery and there were some yummy options. If you need/want to reduce your salt, you can’t go wrong with this one.

For as creative and right-brained I am, I love me some logic. Campos is an attorney and he treats this like a court case. He has facts to back up his argument and he drills through the common misconceptions about weight that have been sold to us by society backed by the billion-dollar weight loss industry. I loved his mantra of “fitness not fat.” If you want to read a scientific argument for not basing your whole life on a scale number or BMI, this is your book.
 

If yoga isn’t your best workout go-to, might I recommend TaeBo? I know it’s a little dated and perhaps not as cool as CrossFit, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. And when I need to tone my buttockle region, or wherever, TaeBo is not a bad option. Find what works for you and get after it. 

I think this is the first romance/chick lit (whatever you want to call it) that featured a zaftig woman as the main character that I read. (Zaftig - that’s my favorite word for not skinny.) Most romance books have some tiny little waif that the handsome hero can toss over his shoulder. But when Cannie Shapiro finds out her ex was chronicling their sex life, mostly because she wasn’t skinny, she gets mad. Then she gets even. This is still my favorite of Jennifer Weiner’s books. I always wish I could go back and read it again for the first time. And now you can.

Ok friends. We cooked good food. We sweated good sweat. We changed our mind about how weight controls our life, and we enjoyed some stories about chicks who have junk in the trunk and are not ashamed. I wish you a year filled, not with weight yo-yos and diets, but with body positivity and health.

Happy Getting Healthy…
:) Amanda

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. If you have serious issues with food, eating, and/or weight, please seek help from a medical professional. My goal is to get everybody eating healthy, finding an enjoyable way to move, and to be happy(er).