Book Review: Start Here

Quick plug for a friend's book, but I promise, I wouldn't do this if it wasn't worth sharing. 


After I'd been reading her blog for at least a year, Megan Lyons became perhaps the first blog person I met in real life.  I invited her to boot camp with me one day, and years later, we still see each other at 5:30 a.m. a few days per week.  As frequently happens with someone you talk to consistently in such a vulnerable state (early, no makeup, sweating), it was easy to connect and she quickly became a friend.  Anyway, she has her first book going on sale today! 


Here are two links where it is available:


http://www.thelyonsshare.org/starthere/


http://www.amazon.com/Start-Here-Diet-Free-Ultimate-Happiness/dp/0986133205/


I've gotten to read it already.  My thoughts:


It's a good book that distills a lot of research and theories about health into concise and practical tips.  It's well-researched, but reads conversationally and in a straight-forward manner.  It's clearly targeted toward people who are starting a journey toward getting healthier, but I feel like I've been on the "healthier" path for nearly a decade, and I felt like there were a lot of points I was able to take away from the book as well.  Suddenly, I'm looking at sugar grams on labels now.  And I'm standing at work more frequently.  These were things I certainly knew were smart before, but the book has inspired me to actually DO them.  I'm thinking more about vegetable variety.  I've been great about getting more than my share of veggies every day, but at the same time, every single day I think I eat beets, spinach, kale, peas and carrots.  This book reminded me that I'd benefit from subbing those out for different veggies, giving me different nutrients (and the magical things she calls phytonutrients), at least on occasion, even if those 5 veggies stay in pretty regular rotation.  Husband and I have been doing a "grateful list" of 3 things each before bed for some time, but I'm making a point to think about it more during the day now.  I feel like there are lots of aspects of the book that resonated with me.  As with most blogs I read and most healthy people I know, Megan advocates a healthy lifestyle over any type of "diet."  So the suggestions she makes have a goal of being simple and sustainable habits.  I would say it's a quick read, but at the same time, I'm certain I will continue to re-read parts of it. 


Highly recommended, so if you're interested, please check it out.  There's a kindle version available (I don't actually have a kindle, but I was able to read the kindle version on my computer), and of course a paperback version.  Plus, of course if you buy it, I expect that there's some good karma for supporting a good person who deserves success!