Cameron Diaz is known to many for her cute and funny movies, modeling, and general hotness. Her successful lifestyle is something to strive for, and in her book, The Body Book, she reveals some of her secrets.
When my mom gave me this book for my High School graduation, I decided to read it as the first step in my very optimistic plan to revolutionize my life and become super healthy and fit in my fist semester of college. Considering that at this time in my life I thought that all I needed to do to be healthy was play sports and eat a salad like once a week, this plan was pretty unrealistic. I read the book, because I was hopeful, but deep down I didn’t think that a health revolution was happening for me. But then it did.
I got to college and I was exercising more often and eating healthier than I had in all of my 18 years at home. It was pretty unbelievable, and I doubt I would have been able to find the motivation to pull it off if not for The Body Book. Here are a few reasons that you should make this book your new best friend if you are trying to create a health revolution for yourself.
Science of Health
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I seriously wish my AP Bio teacher had taken a few lessons from Cameron. This book discusses the biology of nutrition, fitness, and mental wellness in comprehensible terms. As a result, I understood more about (and was a lot more interested in) biology after reading this book than a whole year in class. While this might sound like a bore, it is actually hugely motivational health-wise. Everyone knows that preservatives are bad. However, once you understand that you shouldn’t eat preservatives because in addition to killing the bacteria that makes food spoil, they also kill the healthy bacteria that you need to live once they enter your digestive system, your desire for them goes way down. Many other specific descriptions of the effect that different carbs, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals have on the body serve as great inspiration to eat them- or not.
The Importance of Training
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Everyone knows that exercise is important, but even so, the prospect of doing it usually makes people feel like the above Cameron. However, what people don’t realize is just how important consistency is. Cam is here to shatter every casual barre class attendee’s sense of health and let us know that “if you don’t keep up with your training, your hard work disappears.” Um, I didn’t switch out the 8 lb weights for the 12 lbs today to lose that body progress by the end of the week! Conversely, if you do exercise consistently, your body experiences many positive results, both in and out of the gym. These include your heart delivering oxygen and removing waste products more efficiently, your body learning to rely on less carbs, and a huge increase in fat burning, even when sedentary, due to the production of mitochondrial enzymes that make your body better at mobilizing fat (again with the inspirational science.) Additionally, your college years are very formative health-wise. Consistently exercising now will lay down the foundation for a long and healthy life, so you better start working out while you still can! If these facts don’t make you want to go to the gym right now (and again tomorrow, and the next day…) I don’t know what will.
Cam’s Lifestyle
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Throughout the book, as Cameron teaches about nutrition, fitness, and mental health, she shares about her own life and experiences with these topics. Currently, she is a paragon of health to the point where I practically rolled my eyes, for example, when she mentions that she literally runs between trailers when she is on set (we get it, you work out in every second of your free time.) However, she didn’t always used to be this way. She discusses how she hated her body as a teenager (relatable) because she was string bean thin while practically living off of fast food (okay maybe not so much.) She didn’t start taking care of herself until her early twenties, which means that there’s still hope for all of us college students out here. Over time, Cam has perfected the healthy lifestyle. She gives tips on what to do if you want to live like her, for example, grocery shopping every sunday and planning meals for the week, hosting healthy dinner parties, and drinking tons of water (she chugs an entire bottle first thing every morning. A fellow Spoon put this to the test to see what drinking a gallon of water really looks like.) Cam notes that the most important thing for a healthy lifestyle is not a certain type of food or exercise, but discipline. While we may not have Charlie’s Angels level trainers like she did, at least we have Cameron Diaz to guide us through our journey to health.
You Will Be Healthier
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The last reason to read The Body Book is more subjective, because it is related to my own experience reading it. Disclaimer: I didn’t read this book all at once. Life is busy and sometimes it got left on the shelf for weeks at a time. However, while there may be no way to scientifically prove this, I am convinced that there is a direct correlation between when I am at my healthiest and when I am actively reading this book. The effect that reading just a few pages a day has on my motivation to stay healthy, levels of discipline, and overall well being has led this to become the one book that I read over and over, and is why you should make it yours too.
Also important to note: Cam’s team has created a website based on the book. Check it out here.