Monday, January 9, 2012

Book Review: The 7 Day Energy Surge

I'm reviewing this book because I am heading into a retreat training for maurices and this is a book that they ask their retreat participants to read. I like to be at least sort of up on the retreat topic (ha ha). So when I was given a copy of the book I decided I would look it over. I imagined I would just leaf through and pick out the good bits. Well, apparently I am not a "leaf-er."

I opened the book up at the beginning and read the entire thing. It was pretty easy reading with lots of good tips for living a healthy lifestyle. Once in a while I felt like I was in an infomercial because of the ALL CAPS TO MAKE A POINT style of writing but I am mostly past that. (As an editor, I do find all caps somewhat jarring.)

I found myself agreeing with the author on a number of points (yoga is good, repetitive exercise is bad for the joints, sugar is bad, fruits and veggies are good, sleep is good). I also found myself questioning his direction on a number of points particularly surrounding the issue of eating meat (how much "protein" to eat in a day, where does a vegetarian get their protein - he mostly advises eating meat and/or eggs, what are the ethical implications of eating so much meat - meat, fish and seafood every day for most meals).

That said, I am particularly healthy and should be surging with energy according to the quiz at the beginning of the book. Sometimes my answers weren't even options. I.e. The "best" answer for the question on Drinking Habits goes like this, "My drinking habits are [5 - really good] because I only have one cup of coffee first thing in the morning and drink more tea (he means caffeinated tea) and at least 75-80 oz. of water a day. I've also cut my alcohol consumption to 4 glasses of wine a week."

Really? I don't even drink coffee every day and I never drink tea with caffeine and I sure don't drink up to 4 glasses of wine a week. I realize his quiz questions are just to get an idea of your lifestyle and how that might affect your energy, but I was pretty surprised when on a number of questions his "best" option was not in line with what I would consider healthy. Makes me wonder if I am a total oddball.

Still, I always enjoy reading about health and I would recommend this easy-reading book.