Blog Tour: Artful Eating: The Psychology of Lasting Weight Loss

Artful Eating by Karina Melvin
on October 26,2017
Goodreads

This book can change your life forever! Rediscover the magic of eating for pleasure and enjoy a life of balance with the freedom to eat the foods you want without dieting. Artful Eating will take you on a journey filled with stories, life lessons, practical tools and strategies all rooted in the most up to date scientific and psychological research. Learn how to reprogram your mind to lose weight and achieve the body you desire, by changing your thoughts, behaviours and approach to pleasure. Successful weight loss is not about what you eat, it's about why and how you eat. We are missing the most vital ingredient in the weight loss battle: the mind. It is our mind that fuels every decision we make about food and by focusing solely on the symptom, the excess weight, we have lost sight of the cause. There is no strenuous exercise regime, no food elimination, no strict meal plan, just powerful psychological tools and strategies which will create lasting change. You will be amazed at how easy it is to achieve the body you desire and truly deserve.

The very first thing I noticed about this book is how absolutely stunning it is! In addition to the gorgeous photos on the cover, the entire book is printed on heavy, quality paper and has a definitely gift-worthy feel. On the inside, the photography is just as beautiful. But if you’re expecting page after page of greens salads, you’ll be surprised. Yes, there are plenty of ripe, beautiful veggies, but it doesn’t end there. We’re talking gorgeous loaves of bread, soups, desserts, and mains that you will actually want to eat. If you’re like me, though, you might wonder, at first, how it’s possible to eat all of those things while losing weight.

As it turns out, Karina Melvin’s philosophy focuses more on the how and why of eating vs. the heavy emphasis on what that seems to dominate much of today’s current diet culture. If you, like me, have grown fatigued with hearing about no carb/gluten/fat/nut/seed/evil-food-of-the-moment diets, you’ll find Artful Eating to be a welcome departure.

This book doesn’t promise a one-size-fits all magic solution. There is work to be done. Much of the book is devoted to exercises and activities to help us understand why we develop unhealthy patterns and how we can change them. Ms. Melvin helps us connect all of those things with daily practices that make staying on track a little easier. She approaches this from both the psychological and practical sides.

I love that she covers some very basic, general cooking topics such as how to stock your pantry and “how to roast”. The recipes she includes are simple and look delicious. There is something to be said for a going back to basics. For most of us with busy work and/or family lives, it’s not practical to have to shop at six different grocers to obtain ingredients and then go home and spend two or three hours preparing a meal. I can’t wait to try the Roast Chicken and there isn’t a single recipe in the book that was unappealing or overly complicated. Almost all take under 30 minutes start to finish. (I’m currently recovering from hand surgery but BOLO for pics of recipes I try on my Instagram account after I can once again use both hands at the end of July.)

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to make healthy lifestyle changes. If you are open to exploring your relationship with yourself and with food, I think this practical, common-sense approach could be of great help.

Be sure to check out the other stops on the tour:

Many thanks to Black & White Publishing and Bookollective for providing me with a free copy of this book in change for an honest review.