The Happy Body: The Simple Science of Nutrition, Exercise, and Relaxation
There are enough books on diet and health to fill the Library of Congress several times over, so each new one that comes out stands against a gauntlet of test before making it through to become an accepted method of weight loss, muscle gain, or general health. The Happy Body by Aniela and Jerzy Gregorek, like most diet books, claims to do all three. But where most dieting books are selective in the scope of their plans (either they're all about eating right or all about exercise) The Happy Body successfully widens the lens of proper dieting to include everything necessary to be in shape, eliminating the guess work of trying to find a proper meal dieting book to go with the kind of exercise book you bought, which both need to match up with the fitness journal you have. The Happy Body is all inclusive. While you're not going to find any special tricks here that will make you instantly fit. What you will find is all the central information necessary to make what you want possible. The Happy Book& is the size and weight of a text book, and it's has a hard jacket that makes it easily accessible for writing. You won't be able to carry it around in your gym bag without making special arrangements, but you will feel like you have a fitness instructor waiting at home. All of the exercises, meals, and formulas for calculating body proportions are made so that they can easily be done at home, so you can shove that Wii balance board in the closet. Face it, you never used it anyway. The Happy Body is also one of the first dieting books that I've ever seen which takes into account the type of body you have. Rather than assuming you are meant to be as thin as a orange slice, or that you're already obese, the Gregoreks devote a lot of time to teaching you how to gauge your body according to what is healthy for you. Learning this alone is a massive step toward understand what it takes to be healthy, since often diets just tell you flatly what to do rather than helping you to understand exactly why you're doing it. After devoting so much time to understanding the root causes of malnutrition the Gregoreks show you how to devise and implement your own 8-week workout and diet program. The system works in the 3 parts. The first is mainly devoted to study of the human body and of health in general, which most dieting books only gloss over. The second is actually a workbook that gives you the tools you'll need to build the body you want. The final part is a cookbook that you'll definitely want to use while you go through the Happy Body experience. Afterward, once you understand how to nourish your body, you can step outside of the range of foods given and become your own happy body cook! In short, The Happy Body is exactly what it says it is. It's everything you need to sculpt your body toward achieving the best that your body has to offer. This isn't a fad, and it's not a crash course diet. It's a fifty dollar school of body development that you can take on your own time without the hassle of schedules and appointments and ruthless regulation. You are your own trainer, and The Happy Body teaches you how to use the best exercise machine available, your own will and determination, to achieve a great body. Review by Eric Jones --Book ReviewThe Happy Body: The Simple Science of Nutrition, Exercise, and Relaxation by Aniela & Jerzy Gregorek Jurania Press reviewed by Jeanette J. Jennis "Athletes focus on what they do, not on how they look, although beauty comes along anyway. The same principles that work for athletes also work for ordinary people of all ages." The Gregoreks, world weightlifting champions, produced a practical and personal book that exemplifies the outstanding accomplishments of these two Polish refugees who sought a better way of life by coming to the United States in 1986. Realizing that people of all ages desire good h --San Francisco ReviewThe Happy Body: The Simple Science of Nutrition, Exercise, and Relaxation by Aniela & Jerzy Gregorek Jurania Press reviewed by Jeanette J. Jennis "Athletes focus on what they do, not on how they look, although beauty comes along anyway. The same principles that work for athletes also work for ordinary people of all ages." The Gregoreks, world weightlifting champions, produced a practical and personal book that exemplifies the outstanding accomplishments of these two Polish refugees who sought a better way of life by coming to the United States in 1986. Realizing that people of all ages desire good health, including a universal goal to extend an aura of youthfulness, they found their mission as professional coaches. After thirty years of study and implementation, a system called The Happy Body program emerged. This elegantly illustrated book contains three parts: The Philosophy of the Happy Body, Designing Your Happy Body, and Nourishing Your Happy Body. As outlined, there are six primary qualities of youthfulness: flexibility, strength, speed, leanness, ideal body weight, and good posture. All the How to" is comprehensively covered: achieving desirable body weight proportions with measurement guides for body fat and muscle weight, charts for thirteen body types, exercises that include stretching, weightlifting, and yoga-type postures for developing a strong yet flexible physique, sound nutritional guidelines, and relaxation and breathing techniques to decrease stress. Tables to record your progress are also included. Written explanations of the various exercises, with full-page photographs take you step-by-step through each process. Artistically rendered, colorful pictures of unique recipes supplied by clients from soups, stews, salads, eggs, and free-choice dinners will have you shopping for ingredients and savoring the aromas. Additionally, inspiring stories from people ranging in age from 17-71 are scattered throughout the book, along with quotes from Aristotle to Norman Vincent Peale. The Gregoreks promise, "The Happy Body program will teach you everything you need to know to be your own coach." Are you ready to rethink and reshape your body? --The US Review of BooksThis is a great book for summer or anytime fitness with a holistic approach to becoming more youthful, fit, and energetic. Giving a lie to the no pain, no gain mantra, the Happy Body approach is sensible, well-presented, and easy to implement. The authors feel that the customary approach to diet and exercise is punitive and not conducive to a Happy Body. Using a tried and true approach from working with professional athletes, the book presents an easy-to-follow regimen. The authors present a very convincing case that there are six elements which build a healthy body without the strain or stress of an impossible regimen. Their approach features a self-assessment phase, which seems reasonable and easy. There are easy calculations to determine ideal body weight and body fat. With the assessment step and the exercises that follow, there are nice and clear sequential pictures of the authors demonstrating their exercises. The client testimonials are believable and motivating. Relaxation and self-paced repetitive routines are stressed. This seems eminently sensible. The recipe section alone is worthwhile. The photographs are beautiful, the recipes simple, well organized, and appetizing. The directions are uncomplicated. The full-page photographs encourage the reader to try the Paneer Jalfrezie or the less exotic Seafood Stew. The authors stress organic foods, but ingredients seem readily accessible. It is altogether a beautiful, well-designed book with a clear, thoughtful approach to the process of fitness and health. The authors are interesting. Not only did they flee Poland as political refuges to become world weightlifting champions, they also earned MFA degrees and are published poets. This book benefits from the elegantly simple writing which speaks to their craftsmanship. Happy Body comes highly recommended as a source for motivation, healthier living, and joyful approaches to energy and fitness. --San Francisco Review