You Are Not a Before Picture

Happy U.S. publication day!

Where do I start?! This is a book I didn't realize I needed to read until I began. Though I've been fairly fortunate not to get stuck in the diet cycle, that hasn't taken away the feelings of inadequacy I've felt about my body for most of my life. This book is an eye-opener. 

Growing up in a family riddled with various eating disorders, I'm no stranger to the harm body image issues do to mental and physical health. On one side, I grew up the fat cousin, and comments and attitudes toward me were between the lines. On the other side, I was the thinnest, and yet I was constantly subjected to blatant body-shaming. Sometimes it was directed at me despite being the closest to the ‘ideal' weight, but more painfully, I had to witness it happening to people I loved. My body image issues have resulted in overall low self-esteem even if my weight hasn't been the main focus of this. I just accepted I was the ‘ugly duckling' and the result was, and still is, letting myself be walked over. It didn't stop at family, either. Being the heaviest of most of my friends as a teenager was damaging as well.

I wish this book had been around for me then.

Along with a history of how we've arrived at the ‘thin is good, fat is bad' mentality we've been groomed to believe, Alex Light debunks the myths we've come to accept as fact. ‘Skinny people can't be unhealthy', ‘Fat people can't be healthy', and in general the moral issue that has become different food groups. She provides sets of healthy, reasonable, and achievable guidelines to live your best life in the natural body you were given. Her own story and battle with self-image are intertwined through all of this providing so much inspiration. 

In the time that I've been reading this book, I've found myself more aware of the toxicity in the media surrounding weight. There have been so many red flags all along that I've been blind to because the diet culture mentality has become such an accepted part of life. While I personally swore off diets quickly, the trade-off was/is thinking I'm not good for much and will never achieve anything because I lack the willpower to do what I need to do to be ‘successful'. After reading this book, I'm already starting to question my own thought process. I eat when I'm hungry because I feel miserable if I don't... I can't believe it took seeing it in ink to realize that's not a bad thing. 

No matter what your personal struggle is with weight and/or body image, I highly recommend reading this book. I learned so much and have felt inspired since the first chapter. My point of view on these matters will never be the same.

A huge thanks to HarperCollins/Harper360 for providing me with a free ARC to read and review.