I have access to a great service that allows me to read books before they are published. This service is called Netgalley and I love being able to get a sneak peek at books from my favorite authors or even books from new authors that happen to catch my eye. This book caught my eye because I am always interested in how food affects my body and trying to fuel it with healthier foods.
Synopsis
P90X creator Tony Horton, the Old Spice Man, and hundreds of others lost weight, boosted their immunity,and increased their energy levels—undeniable proof that The Clean in 14 Detox really works!
Millions of people are embracing cleansing because it rids the body of accumulated slow poisons that cause a sluggish metabolism, inflammatory and digestive issues, a host of chronic diseases, and unwanted weight gain.
The Clean in 14 Detox is a whole foods, vegan- and juice-based cleanse that not only flushes the body of toxins, but frees the mind of negative patterns, allowing the entire system to reset itself to a place of balance.
From leading successful group and private cleanses,Melissa Costello pulls no punches: She explains that the key to kick-starting health is to eliminate the CRAP (Caffeine, Refined Sugars, Alcohol, Processed Food) and the SAP (Sabotaging Addictive Patterns). Costello encourages readers to make the commitment, teaches them how to prep their minds and kitchens, and shares practical tips to succeed through the program with minimal withdrawals or cravings. The best part of this cleanse is that it’s user friendly and the participant will never feel deprived, unlike most other cleanses out there. A wide variety of delicious, unprocessed foods are allowed and there are no diet pills or chalky shakes. The Clean in 14 Detox features 14 days of mix-and-match meal plans and more than 75 irresistibly fresh and simple recipes, including Baja-style fajitas,chopped salad with creamy pepita dressing, coconut yam soup, oven-baked sweet potato fries, and more.
The Clean in 14 Detox is a proven program that will set anyone on a course to increased immunity, a more efficient metabolism, better digestion, glowing skin, and revitalized health.
Review
There are all sorts of detox/cleanse books out there but this one is highly recommended by people that do Beachbody. The detox is vegan which I find interesting and while I’m not sure I’m going to do this, some of the recipes sounded delicious and I plan to try a few out. Or at least some of the salad dressings!
The book offers sound suggestions and incorporates some exercise and journaling to clear the mind along with the body. I do like how she tells you to prep the week before you actually start and gives you the steps to carry that out.
We give this book 4 paws and is one you should consider if you are looking to do a detox!
About the Author
Melissa Costello (Santa Barabara, CA) is the founder of Karma Chow and the personal chef to celebrity fitness guru Tony Horton, creator of the highly popular fitness system, P90X®. A certified nutritionist and wellness coach, Costello is constantly finding creative ways to keep Tony and her many other clients happy, fit, and healthy through a whole foods, plant-based way of life. She works one-on-one with clients and leads food-based cleanses with large groups, teaching how to implement changes that will yield a lifetime of great health.
Title: Through the Withering Storm Author: Leif Gregersen Publisher: Createspace Genre: Self-Help Memoir Pages: 186 Language: English ISBN-10: 1480205346 ISBN-13: 978-1480205345
Synopsis
Mental illness is something that is a great deal more common than many think. Statistics show that 1 in 5 North Americans will require treatment for a major disorder at some point in their lives. This means either you or a family member or friend close to you are very likely to be stricken down by a failure of our most essential and complicated organ in our bodies.
When I was first treated for a mental health issue there was so much stigma and misunderstanding about mental illness that I completely denied I had a problem. Despite that mental health issues ran in my family, no one talked about them, everyone shunned those who were different, and as a result I wasted years of my life not understanding that there was help available and that I didn’t just have to ‘tough things out’. My denial and pain was so bad at one point I tried to join the military during the first Gulf War just to find a way out of life, I thought I would either gain the discipline needed to overcome my illness or die trying. I needed neither.
Some find my story funny, some find it sad, but it is a story that is being played out among more people than you may think right now, right around all of us. Depression, Schizophrenia, Anxiety, Addiction. It‘s something we can no longer avoid, especially with America now deploying and redeploying troops en masse to combat zones where even the strongest among us can succumb to the pressure of such a situation. It is my hope that those who read this book can walk away from it having had a look inside the mind of someone who lost his mind and one day regained it, but not without first going through incredible pain and suffering. This suffering doesn‘t have to happen. What has to happen is that attitudes and knowledge have to improve.
Guest Post
My Reasons for writing:
When I look back now at when I started writing, it is a bit hard to nail down the exact thoughts I had in my head about why I wanted to write. I think a big reason for me was that I had been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and was very sensitive about getting ‘stressed’ at a regular job and thus it was very hard for me to find ways to either make money or occupy my time. My first desires towards being a writer came from a very young age. When I was young, my parents exposed us to classical literature and that to me was almost a religion. I can remember being very young and my Dad gathering the family in the living room to read “Robinson Crusoe” and Faulkner’s “The Kite”. I quickly learned to read even before I was old enough for school. I pushed myself because I was the youngest and felt I was getting behind my siblings.
Early on in school I was set apart as a gifted child and put into special classes along with the regular workload of the grades I was in. I loved elementary school and all the yearly events and being able to play football after school every day with friends. When I got to junior high either my mental illness had begun to take its’ toll on me or I simply stopped caring because of the dramatic change in how my schooling was done. Soon after getting into junior high (or middle school) my parents bought a laser disc player and we would watch movie after movie every night of the week. I marveled at the people who wrote the stories sometimes more than the actors who played them out.
In junior high I was put into Air Cadets (civil air patrol in the US as far as I understand) and I felt that would be my career-become a military pilot or officer. When high school came, many of my ideas changed, but a love of literature and writing stayed. I took typing and academic English (which I failed later) and read all I could. By the end of high school I completed the hardest academic English course and got University entrance level marks, but needed other courses to get my diploma. That summer I spent many nights after work staying up reading everything from Julius Ceaser to Les Miserables. I could hardly wait to get to University and get the challenge of more English courses. But sadly I became extremely mentally ill and had to be put in a mental hospital twice. My family relationships broke down and seeking some anchor from my past I tried to join the military, which was impossible with my mental health record. I traveled out to the West Coast and lived in a traveller’s Hostel for some time and though I hadn’t started writing I often thought about and talked about becoming a writer. It took a few years, but I eventually returned to Edmonton and got my hands on a book called “The Writer’s Handbook” and tried to teach myself to write stories and poems. My reasons at first were to impress friends and family members, but then I found that there were many rewards to writing. One of the big ones was self-understanding and self-expression. I wrote and wrote and then one day I learned by accident that a letter I had sent to a newspaper had been chosen as the ‘letter of the week’. I was elated, but my life wasn’t going all that well. I would soon end up back in the hospital and I was put on medications that made me incredibly restless. All I had at this point was a few poems and some short stories and no ability to sit down at all to write any more.
I pushed myself hard and would read all the shortest short stories from a book I had bought just to feel in some way I was working towards bettering my situation. After some months, a new Doctor put me on a better medication and I struggled back to normalcy. I remember meeting a young woman at a church event and asking her if she was single and she said, “I have a boyfriend, he’s going to be a Doctor.” It kind of offended me in the way she said it and I said, “Well what if I become a great writer some day?” It was kind of silly, but I have known a few women that I had interest in who married Doctors and felt defensive about it. The truth of the matter is though, that a Doctor really would provide a more stable emotional and financial situations for a young woman, I just didn’t like the idea of being dismissed because of my career choices.
Back to why I write, I think that parts of me want to think that one day I will make a lot of money from my writing, but in the past few years that has changed dramatically. I now see writing as an incredible form of communicating with anyone with the ability to pick up a book and start reading. There are times when this is disturbing, like when people you don’t know at all have read your book and they come up to you grinning like idiots not realizing that though they may know my work, they don’t know me and I know absolutely nothing about them. Sometimes it is disturbing, but most of the time it feels kind of good. People read my work, they like it and they feel that I have certain talents and abilities that have eluded them. There are many rewards to writing something, but mainly writing is its’ own reward. Some people I have met are deathly afraid of dying, of not accomplishing anything, having nothing to leave the world. If I were to die at my age I would have dozens of short stories, a number of books and articles and all kinds of newspaper interviews. I will pass away with the feeling that I haven’t wasted this incredible gift of life we have all been given, and with my book “Through The Withering Storm” I have the extra hope that I have done something to ease the stigma and suffering of people like myself who are afflicted with mental illness.
Book Trailer
About the Author
From a young age I showed promise in writing and poetry, and did well in school. Even in grade five I used to draw and write stories for my own comic books and post them on the bulletin board in class. When I got to high school, I began to read voraciously, and though I failed my first academic English course, I took continually more advanced courses and got higher and higher grades in them. I was hopeful to attend University and study English, but before I finished school I was stricken with a severe breakdown and had to be hospitalized where I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. From that point, family and friend relationships broke down and I ended up sort of drifting until I signed up for Flying School in Vancouver, BC. In the middle of this training, I took off for the US with a friend and tried to join the US Army as a helicopter pilot. All of these adventures are detailed in my memoir, which covers my life from the age of 13 to 21 which was the point at which I decided I had to stay in one place (I had returned to Edmonton near my home town and where my parents lived) and I took treatment for my disorder and began to write seriously. I spent some years just studying and writing poetry and then moved on to short stories, and my book, “Through The Withering Storm” is actually partially short stories I wrote and collected at that time. Now, since I turned 30 I have been living in an assisted-living house for males with Psychiatric Disorders and life has gone quite well. I landed a great job doing labour work/stage hand/security work for the stage and screen Union, IATSE. I have seen many concerts, worked closely with some big stars, and made enough money to continue writing and self-publishing my books, which have already paid for themselves in sales for the most part.
Title: Shared Stories From Daughters of Alzheimers Author: Persis Granger Publisher: iUniverse Genre: Self-help/Alzheimers Pages: 163 Purchase at iUniverse
Shared Stories from Daughters of Alzheimer’s is a support group in print for those escorting a loved one on the Alzheimer’s journey.
Nine women map the passage of a parent through Alzheimer’s disease, describing the evolution of their own emotional responses to the disease and the changes it effects in the patient and in her relationship with family members. The book invites the reader to take a first step in healing from Alzheimer’s ripple effect by beginning to journal about the experience.
“Use the stories here as tools to understand your own painful situation. Employ them to help you empower yourself, sort through your emotions and begin to heal. Seize upon that which makes sense to you and disregard that which seems irrelevant. Then, pick up your favorite pen and notebook and ‘talk’ about what is going on in your journey with Alzheimer’s disease. We wish you well.”
-Persis Granger, Editor, Shared Stories from Daughters of Alzheimer’s
“An enthralling, ambitious and much-needed effort…most definitely the sort of work on Alzheimer’s that needs to get public notice.”
-Karla Morales, People’s Medical Society.
About the Author
The eleven contributors to this anthology hail from sites across the United States: Colorado, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Florida, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont and New York. Each of these women has experienced the loss of a loved one to Alzheimer’s disease.
Giveaway
$25 gift card to Amazon and 10 eBook copies of Shared Stories from Daughters of Alzheimers
Divorce is an emotional rollercoaster. And if you’re a woman going through a divorce, you may not be thinking about financial matters, such as how your assets might get divided, tax liabilities, and what your living expenses might be ten years from now.
But, here’s the problem: the decisions you make both before and during your divorce will directly impact the rest of your life, for better or for worse.
Thinking financially is not always easy. But, it is possible, especially if you have some help. Anyone, no matter how savvy, can benefit from expert advice when she is crossing through treacherous and unfamiliar territory. In this guidebook, you will learn how to . . .
Shore up your financial position so you enter the divorce process prepared;
Build a top-notch divorce team;
Negotiate alimony;
Determine if your husband is hiding assets;
Protect your business, intellectual property, and personal assets;
Deal with pensions plans, 401Ks, and other retirement accounts;
. . . and much more.
Begin your single life knowing that you have made the thoughtful decisions required to help establish your long-term financial security. Think Financially, Not Emotionally® as you look ahead to a bright future for yourself and your children.
Review:
The author, Jeffrey A. Landers, visited StoreyBook Reviews a few weeks back and shared some useful information to everyone. If you haven’t visited his website, know that a portion of all book sales will be donated to the Bedrock Divorce Fund for Abused Women, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity whose mission is to help female victims of domestic abuse and the organizations that support them.
This is an amazing book! I am lucky that I am not in the situation where I need to use all of the advice presented, but if you are ladies, then this is the book you need to pick up to make sure you are treated fairly in the divorce proceedings. The chapters are laid out well with step by step instructions on things you need to do to protect yourself. There is even a checklist in the back of the book to help you gather all of the documents you need to share with your attorney. There are reminders and tips at the end of each chapter to help you out as well.
The book isn’t long, less than 200 pages, but well worth picking up and reading if you do not know where to start. We give this book 5 paws and hope we never have to use the advice given by Mr. Landers.
About the Author:
Jeff Landers is the President and Founder of Bedrock Divorce Advisors, a divorce financial strategy firm which exclusively advises women throughout the United States before, during and after divorce.
The Giveaway:
The copy of Divorce, Think Financially, Not Emotionally that the author sent me to review. Open to US residents only.
Susan Bulkeley Butler is an accomplished business woman who shaped her own future at a time when women were not taken seriously as business profesionals. She joined Arthur Andersen & Co. as its first professional female employee in 1965, and 14 years later, was named the first female partner of its consulting organization, Andersen Consulting, now known as Accenture. In 2001, Upside magazine named her to its list of “The 50 Most Remarkable Women in Technology” who have moved the industry “beyond the glass-ceiling cliché.”
As the 100-year anniversary of women winning the right to vote approaches on August 26, 2020, the “Decade for Women” ahead will re-assess how far we’ve come—and how far we still have to go.
To become “women who count,” women must think of themselves, think of others, and think big, contends author Susan Bulkeley Butler. Before and since breaking barriers to become the first woman partner at Accenture, Butler has passionately championed the cause of equality for women in education, in the workforce and in society.
In Women Count: A Guide to Changing the World, she shows how the world can become a better place in myriad ways with more involvement from women. Today’s world—with its wars, corporate ethics violations, economic meltdowns and societal strife—needs the unique strengths and attributes of women more than ever, Butler contends.
Women make up about half of the country’s population and half its work-force, yet account for only a small percentage of the leadership roles in government, business and beyond. Butler brings her experiences and insights directly to readers by showing how they can collectively use their strengths to improve the world.
Together, women must envision equality, build teams, take action, and help one another through mentoring, philanthropy, education and public service, according to Butler.
Then, and only then, she asserts, can women truly change the world and become “women who count.”
My Review:
As a sidenote, this is a very short book, about 130 pages.
I have to say that I loved this book! While a compact book, there is so much information contained in these pages that made me realize how fortunate I am for women in history that have shaped the world as I know it today. This book also made me take a look at my own life and wondering how I am contributing to the world for future generations. What could I do in my life that might make a change that in 20+ years will be noted by others?
I enjoyed reading little bits about various historical women that paved the way for me and more than just those in the Women’s Suffrage movement. Did you know the cotton gin idea was created by a woman, Catherine Littlefield Greene? Knowing that she would never receive a patent for it that she shared that information with Eli Whitney who did patent the machine. This is just one example that Susan notes in her book.
I’d say that this book could be read by anyone of any age. There are some parts that might impact a woman that is older (18+) but there are many parts that younger women could take and work into their lives.
The Giveaway:
Leave a comment on my blog for a chance to win 1 of 2 copies of this book. The contest is open until Friday October 8th and is open to all US and Canadian residents.
Publisher – Atria Books (a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc) Dare to believe that marriage is good 4 out of 5 stars
The author, Mark Gungor, is a pastor at Celebration Church in Wisconsin, a motivational speaker, musician and CEO of Laugh Your Way America.
This book is about the differences between men and women and how it affects their relationship with each other. The concept is similar to many books out there but the author puts a slightly different spin on the principles by including scriptures when applicable and humor. He includes real life experiences, both his personal experiences and experiences of those that he counsels or that attend his seminars.
I will admit that the title is a bit misleading. I’m not sure what I was expecting, maybe how to laugh in your marriage and this book didn’t provide that information. It did, however, provide a lot of insight into men and women and how they think or process information and how it will affect their spouse. It gave me a lot to think about when I request things from my husband and how he might act or react. Overall it is a good book and one that was an easy read.
There is a section in the book called Sex, Lies and the internet that is directed towards men in particular. Sure men may read the whole book but he starts the chapter by welcoming the men and saying that if they are like most guys they flipped to this chapter first. I’d say that he is pretty accurate with that statement. Women will learn from this section too, so don’t skip it!
There are a few quotes and passages that really struck me from this book and made me rethink how I view marriage whether it is my own or someone else’s.
“…finding someone to journey with in marriage is the slenderest part of a life-long relational journey. Marriage is more about work than about divine luck, more about finding someone to love than about finding someone to meet your own laundry list of personal needs.”
“Dare to believe marriage is good, that the one you are in is good. Dare to ask God to help you treasure it, appreciate it, and stay committed to it…..”
I would recommend this book to anyone that is looking to strengthen their relationship or wants to ensure that it continues to be successful.
