Small Changes, Big Results: A 12-week Action Plan to a Better Life - Softcover

Krieger, Ellie; James-Enger, Kelly

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0307335879 ISBN 13: 9780307335876

Publisher: Three Rivers Press, 2005

Synopsis

An easy-to-start, simple-to-maintain, scientifically sound, and eminently usable twelve-week program of small steps on the road to better health

Small Changes, Big Results is not about cutting all the carbohydrates out of your diet. Or replacing every single gram of sugar with omega-3 fatty acids. It s not about doing one hundred sit-ups a day, or getting on the treadmill whenever you have a free second. In fact, it s not about any of the total lifestyle-replacement gimmicks whether diet, exercise, or pop psychology that have swept our culture in recent years, putting untold millions of Americans on the risky roller coaster of success and failure that defines fad diets and programs.

Not here.

Small Changes, Big Results is about reality the reality of what you can do, the reality of what you want to do, and the reality of what works. It s about introducing a series of small changes each week for three months in the three core areas of diet and nutrition; exercise and fitness; and emotional wellness. For each of the twelve weeks, nutritionist Ellie Krieger introduces a very finite, completely practical action plan for the week and not only are these tasks incredibly doable, they re in fact so accessible that it s tough not to be inspired.

For example, in Week 1 the nutrition task is merely to go shopping, buy some healthful pantry items, and start keeping track of what you eat; the exercise consists of taking three twenty-minute walks; and the wellness aspect is to do a five-minute breathing exercise. That s it. And it doesn t really get any harder.

But these small changes do in fact lead to big results. At the end of twelve weeks, a totally unhealthy diet has been overhauled: armed with easy, delicious recipes and tips, you ve removed unhelpful munchies and replaced them with healthful snacking, you ve cut down on lethal trans fats while adding beneficial fat choices, you ve replaced refined grains with whole grains, you re eating more fish and less red meat, and so forth. Yet you ve never been forbidden to eat a single thing: instead of prohibiting entire food groups, Ellie categorizes foods as Usually, Sometimes, and Rarely and now you should be eating more from the Usually choices, less from the Rarely category. Furthermore, you ve integrated physical activity into your life, and you ve developed a set of tools to help you deal with stress you re not only eating better, but you re also exercising better and feeling better.

The beauty of this program is that none of these action steps is remotely intimidating, because they re not a full immersion into a totally new lifestyle. Instead, it s a series of incremental changes removing bad habits one by one, while at the same time adding good ones. There s nothing to scare you off on the contrary, here s a whole book full of small changes that produce big results.
From the Hardcover edition.

About this title

About the Author

Ellie Krieger received her undergraduate degree from Cornell and her master’s in nutrition from Columbia, and is a registered dietitian who teaches nutrition at New York University. Ellie was a fashion model for Wilhelmina, then turned her attention to a TV career as host of the nationally syndicated Living Better in 2001 and 2002. She had a New York City–based nutrition counseling practice, and she’s been an on-air fitness expert for, among other outlets, Today, CNN, Food Network’s In Food Today, and CBS’s The Early Show. She has been featured or quoted in print outlets from Self, Fitness, Prevention, Glamour, and Ladies’ Home Journal to GQ and Men’s Journal. Ellie is in her late thirties, married to an Outward Bound expedition leader, and the mother of young Isabella. This is her first book.
From the Hardcover edition.

Synopsis

Presents advice on losing weight and keeping it off, offering a program that emphasizes three small changes a week over the course of three months--small steps in diet, exercise, and emotional wellness--that provide lasting benefits.

About this edition

• Publisher: Three Rivers Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0307335879
• ISBN 13: 9780307335876
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256