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A Life Unburdened: Getting Over Weight and Getting on with My Life
**FIRST PRINTING, November 2005** A Life Getting Over Weight and Getting on with My Life, My 10 steps for success without doctors, diets or drugs. By Richard Morris. Foreword by Sally Fallon. Miralibri Press, Wonderful Books & Media. {A.10,wht+blu}
- GenresNonfictionHealth
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
3 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Richard Morris
510 books13 followersLibrarian Note:
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There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 20, 2022
Another food tracking book
Yes he does advise you to eat healthier.
But actually he lost weight by fastidiously tracking everything, keeping his calories under 2,000 a day, calculating his body fat percentage, and doing his own nutrition index.
He says he's not into counting calories, but that's exactly what he was doing.
Yes he does advise you to eat healthier.
But actually he lost weight by fastidiously tracking everything, keeping his calories under 2,000 a day, calculating his body fat percentage, and doing his own nutrition index.
He says he's not into counting calories, but that's exactly what he was doing.
March 31, 2020
Very interesting book to read with a lot of good advice. The nutritionist at our local community college recommended this during a seminar I attended. Glad she did.
March 7, 2012
This is a well-written, witty and inspiring book that also offers REAL health advice and information about what we should be eating and not eating, and not just silly fads or the usual popular misinformation.
This book busts the following myths:
1. Eating fat makes you fat
2. There is no such thing as good and bad foods
3. Nobody has time to cook anymore
4. A calorie is a calorie and whether calories come form protein fat or carbs doesn't matter when it comes to weight loss
5. Exercise cures disease
6. Junk food in moderation wont hurt anyone
7. People that lose weight become healthy
8. The best diet for health and weight loss is a low-fat and high-carb diet
The author explains that eating real food is the key, both to improving your health and to improving your health. We need to eat satisfying foods, foods with natural fats in. Health and weight loss is all about food quality, not quantity. Exercising more is not a way to lose weight, as lots of exercise makes you lots more hungry, although it has many health benefits in moderation.
This book explains that we also need to match the size of our commitment to the size of our problem and really work to educate ourselves. Just blindly following the advice of any one person is not enough, we need to know the basic facts ourselves.
The author eats a diet with very little grain in, and that includes lots of free-range/pastured.grass-fed meat including organ meats, raw dairy, animal fats, cod liver oil, and organic fruits and vegetables. Nuts and seeds are soaked and dried first to deactivate enzyme inhibitors. You can read more about this way of eating, and the research behind it, in books such as Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats, Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life, Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food and the WAPF website.
This book must have taken a lot of guts to write. The author is very open about his own life and struggles with obesity in a way you just don't see in lots of books about losing weight. He describes his experience as one of misery and humiliation. Part of the problem, he explains, is that obesity is seen as a moral issue rather than a nutritional issue.
The book is funny. For example, popcorn with unhealthy vegetable oils on it and served with a big suagry soda/soft drink at the movies is described as a 'diabetes starter kit.' The book also never takes a preachy tone so it is very easy to read.
The book has an excellent introduction by the brilliant Sally Fallon and the author mentions experts such as Nestle, Enig, Schlosser, Taubes and most of all Weston A. Price in the main text.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that is overweight and feels like they have tried every diet there is, and is sick of always being hungry and feeling tired. The author knows what he is talking about and offers genuine good advice - not just for losing weight but for making your life as good as it can be and focusing on what is important, and feeling better and more healthy. This book ends on the message that nobody can do it but you, but you can do it. It is hard to argue with that.
I hope this book is widely read and that this message can get out there to lots of people. People being given absolutely terrible dietary advice that just wont work for most of us no matter how hard we try and is based on consensus rather than facts, and then being blamed and seen as having moral weaknesses when they inevitably stay overweight just has to stop! It is the medical advice that is lacking here, not the moral fibre of overweight people!
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E.
This book busts the following myths:
1. Eating fat makes you fat
2. There is no such thing as good and bad foods
3. Nobody has time to cook anymore
4. A calorie is a calorie and whether calories come form protein fat or carbs doesn't matter when it comes to weight loss
5. Exercise cures disease
6. Junk food in moderation wont hurt anyone
7. People that lose weight become healthy
8. The best diet for health and weight loss is a low-fat and high-carb diet
The author explains that eating real food is the key, both to improving your health and to improving your health. We need to eat satisfying foods, foods with natural fats in. Health and weight loss is all about food quality, not quantity. Exercising more is not a way to lose weight, as lots of exercise makes you lots more hungry, although it has many health benefits in moderation.
This book explains that we also need to match the size of our commitment to the size of our problem and really work to educate ourselves. Just blindly following the advice of any one person is not enough, we need to know the basic facts ourselves.
The author eats a diet with very little grain in, and that includes lots of free-range/pastured.grass-fed meat including organ meats, raw dairy, animal fats, cod liver oil, and organic fruits and vegetables. Nuts and seeds are soaked and dried first to deactivate enzyme inhibitors. You can read more about this way of eating, and the research behind it, in books such as Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats, Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life, Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food and the WAPF website.
This book must have taken a lot of guts to write. The author is very open about his own life and struggles with obesity in a way you just don't see in lots of books about losing weight. He describes his experience as one of misery and humiliation. Part of the problem, he explains, is that obesity is seen as a moral issue rather than a nutritional issue.
The book is funny. For example, popcorn with unhealthy vegetable oils on it and served with a big suagry soda/soft drink at the movies is described as a 'diabetes starter kit.' The book also never takes a preachy tone so it is very easy to read.
The book has an excellent introduction by the brilliant Sally Fallon and the author mentions experts such as Nestle, Enig, Schlosser, Taubes and most of all Weston A. Price in the main text.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that is overweight and feels like they have tried every diet there is, and is sick of always being hungry and feeling tired. The author knows what he is talking about and offers genuine good advice - not just for losing weight but for making your life as good as it can be and focusing on what is important, and feeling better and more healthy. This book ends on the message that nobody can do it but you, but you can do it. It is hard to argue with that.
I hope this book is widely read and that this message can get out there to lots of people. People being given absolutely terrible dietary advice that just wont work for most of us no matter how hard we try and is based on consensus rather than facts, and then being blamed and seen as having moral weaknesses when they inevitably stay overweight just has to stop! It is the medical advice that is lacking here, not the moral fibre of overweight people!
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E.
July 26, 2012
This was one of the first in a long line of "health and wellness" books I've been reading over the past several months (and the last one I will be reviewing, because in some ways they are all the same ... ) So, to all of my Goodreads friends who have been wondering where I've been during that time period, the answer is "reading all of these books that I won't be reviewing."
With that out of the way, I will say that I really enjoyed this book. The author does a great job of telling his story in a way that I think just about anyone could relate to, even those who have never had to worry about their weight. In particular, one of his early chapters provides a riveting description of what it feels like, on a day to day basis, to be hundreds of pounds overweight. Although, thankfully, I've never "been there" by the time I was done with this chapter I had a perspective on obesity that I have never even thought about before.
I really don't have any criticism of this book, as I find it difficult to find fault with anyone telling their personal story. It's pretty well written, and a fast read. I think anyone on a health or weight-loss journey who is looking for some extra motivation would enjoy it.
With that out of the way, I will say that I really enjoyed this book. The author does a great job of telling his story in a way that I think just about anyone could relate to, even those who have never had to worry about their weight. In particular, one of his early chapters provides a riveting description of what it feels like, on a day to day basis, to be hundreds of pounds overweight. Although, thankfully, I've never "been there" by the time I was done with this chapter I had a perspective on obesity that I have never even thought about before.
I really don't have any criticism of this book, as I find it difficult to find fault with anyone telling their personal story. It's pretty well written, and a fast read. I think anyone on a health or weight-loss journey who is looking for some extra motivation would enjoy it.
December 1, 2012
Lent to me by a friend.
Book details how the author lost 200+ pounds by eating nothing but fresh foods instead of processed foods. He also exercised. His wife, who wasn't morbidly obese, also lost weight.
I didn't learn anything new -- I already knew that processed foods are terrible, hardly even food at all! The author is obviously not a professional writer, although the book was written in clear language. I have a suspicion that it's self-published.
I wouldn't recommend it.
Book details how the author lost 200+ pounds by eating nothing but fresh foods instead of processed foods. He also exercised. His wife, who wasn't morbidly obese, also lost weight.
I didn't learn anything new -- I already knew that processed foods are terrible, hardly even food at all! The author is obviously not a professional writer, although the book was written in clear language. I have a suspicion that it's self-published.
I wouldn't recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews