Publisher's Synopsis
In Real Is the New Natural health and wellness writer Julie D. Andrews takes a look at the confusing, overwhelming and often damaging messages flung at all of us in everyday life under the guise of promoting health. As she tunes in more closely to America's inescapable messaging, she consults an impressive arsenal of expert nutritionists, doctors, psychologists and food scientists to clear the mind-clutter keeping so many Americans from achieving the healthy lifestyle they crave. It just didn't make sense. That's how this book started: utter befuddlement. Julie had been writing about health, and researching health-related topics and reporting on health and fitness news and trends for nearly 10 years, ever since starting her journalistic career at Prevention magazine. All the research she read, and expert sources with whom she spoke, made it clear that healthy lifestyle boiled down to about three simple steps: (1) Eat healthy; (2) Exercise regularly; and, (3) Reduce stress daily. And, yet. And, yet, obesity and diabetes epidemics continued to plague the nation; and, heart disease remained the leading cause of death in the U.S. The fact that all three conditions are preventable just blew her mind. Where was the disconnect? What was the mix-up, hang-up or roadblock? She spent six months exploring the daily messages facing all of us in our society more closely and put the snapshots together in the fascinating mosaic comprising Real Is the New Natural. Doing so, she began to understand the deeper issues and barriers related to leading a healthy lifestyle, and to gain an understanding of the destructive and negative psychology, and cultural messaging, influencing trying-to-but-can't-get-healthy Americans. She observed the newsstand, read food labels more carefully and, most importantly, observed real people's actions while listening to their real comments, challenges and struggles. With each new message transmitted to her, Julie went to her network of trusted nutrition experts and psychology experts and food-scientist experts to ask them...but why do we say, "You look great....have you lost weight?"; and, how are we supposed to know what our actual healthy weight should be; and, does cleansing and juicing really promote wellness; and, is the waist on that cover humanly possible; and, how many calories should a breastfeeding woman actually consume; and, how long should it really take a woman to safely slim down post-baby; and, what does the vague word I see on this food label really mean; and, how much exercise is too much. She also dug up the simplest methods and systems you can put in place make building the healthy and happy lifestyle you crave possible. With these answers, the clutter vanished. What remained for her, and now for you: What is really health, what is really happy, what is really safe and what is really smart. Once you start to see the distracting, contradictory, confusing and negative massages parading as healthy constantly bombarding us, you can start to spot them (and disregard them) immediately for what they are: Distractions and detractors from simple truths (such as those three steps mentioned earlier). Real is the new natural. Read on and prepare to disarm the faulty messaging obstructing your path to well-being; or, as Julie likes to say, silence the noise blocking You from healthy living. Start where you're at. Start today.
