Maggie Greenwood-Robinson

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I don’t usually read and review these types of books. I am not the kind of person that reads help books for pleasure. When I need information, I usually only read something I need at the moment, learn a lot about it, and then let go. I don’t go out and buy books for it.
But, with this book, it was different.

For some of you, that know me better, I used to train karate since I was a child. My father was my coach, and I trained hard, more than four days a week. I was a national champion for 8 years, I went on Balkan, Regional and European Championships, the sport enabling me to travel in more than 15 countries, explore the world and make countless number of friends along the way.

And in my whole journey, there were many experts surrounding me. Firstly, my father, who was my coach, showing me the karate world and teaching me everything I know today. Along his side, other coached, psychologists, gym experts, and nutritionists.

‘’The field of sport nutrition practice is both a science and an art.’’

When it comes to nutrition, it is so easy to get it all wrong, while you think you are doing something healthy to your body. It is so easy to mix good with bad fats, and thinking you eat healthy, to get away from your goal and become disappointed. And that is the sole reason why we need people that really know their nutrition, and dedicate their lives to learning what each ingredient does to our body.

This book focuses on nutrition for sports people. A way of life and healthy eating, while you spend a lot of energy exercising. I could easily relate to this, as I myself have been through all of these phases, of being dehydrated, of needing more fat, of needing more protein and vitamins in my body, without even realising it.

‘’When females perform high-intensity training, their need for carbohydrate is easily as high as that of a male athlete, and they have just as much capacity to utilize and store carbohydrate as a male athlete.’’

In this book, you will find explanations on all subjects that are often asked, you will know what builds muscle, what fuels it. Many popular issues will be covered as well, such as the gluten problem that many people face this days.

I loved the section about fats, as I have been introduced to the keto diet recently, and it was good to read and learn more about how fats work in your body, and what happens when you burn them.
I enjoyed the snack and workout plans, that are also split depending on what you want to achieve, whether that be building muscle, losing fat, or power eating.

‘’Research on sport nutrition in female athletes has long been neglected, but now there is breakthrough scientific knowledge that is changing the game of female athletes, including young girls.’’

If you love working out, and love your healthy food – this is a great book to have along your side, and come back to it from time to time, to remind yourself of everything your body is capable of doing, if you treat it right.

I highly recommend it – I enjoyed it a lot!

Thank you to Edelweiss and Human Kinetics for providing me a free copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

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I was disappointed. It is really just about the show and how the diet transformed the contestants' lives. I have read reviews of the diet itself (rather than the book) and nutritionalists gave it a thumbs up (something that rarely happens in diet land). I had never seen the show but bought it because the diet combined with exercise sounded interesting. It was filled with pictures and 'pull-out' quotes from people in exercise shorts! It reminded me of a special edition brochure of a teenage boy-band in style.… (altro)

Ok...so most people who know me know I have a slight obsession with this show....and I was surprised to note when I was getting the synopsis for this post, one reviewer didn't think that the diet was covered adequately...and in some respects I agree...because the diets for each person on the show is individualized with the help of a dietitian...so they can't really say *all* of the contestants did X, Y & Z and had X results. What the book does give you are some parameters as to what the best choices are and instructs you to go out with that information and make choices based on your own personal preferences and staying within the caloric guidelines. Since I've already begun my own "healthy living" adventure, I already had some firm ideas on what I wanted to do and I found that the book complimented what I already had planned and allowed me to expand the scope a bit. The version of the food pyramid printed in this book is surely more in line with what I think is proper and realistic, so it gets big kudos from me in that respect. The exercise program was brief in my opinion...but again, these were tailored to the specific contestants by professional trainers and they certainly don't' want t-o give away all their secrets either...but the info is good and I suspect you can get more out of it if your willing to buy the exercise DVD that goes with it (I'm renting from Netflix first...to see if it's worth spending the dollars on first). The bulk of the book was personal snippets about the contestants (which I could have lived without...but perhaps necessary for those who didn't watch the show, but are curious about it). There is a selection of recipes at the end which there are about 7-10 that I will try...they all look quite good and are not bad with the fat and calories...so for the price I paid for this book (12.89) I'd say it was definitely worth it...but for those looking for a set in stone, do X, Y & Z diet and exercise plan...this is not going to make you happy, you may want to look elsewhere.… (altro)