Cover Image: Savor Every Bite

Savor Every Bite

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This turns out to be a book about mindfulness in general, then somewhat related to food and eating. Not really what I was expecting from this book, as I was hoping it would show the applied mindfulness more...

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This is a beautifully written book that serves as a great resource on how to mindfully approach eating and appetite.

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“In an age of acceleration, nothing can be more exhilarating than going slow”.
— Picolo Iyer

Modern society, conditioned largely by diet culture, has reconditioned our Inner knowing and replaced it with ever changing advice about how to eat, how to look, and how to succeed in being the “perfect self”. Modern society functions on a belief system that promotes being thin as the only healthy size, endorses weight loss as the road to happiness, dictates foods you should and should not eat, and harshly judges people who don’t match a particular image of beauty. But the diet culture’s motto could well be “seek but do not find”, as there is always something more or different you need to do in order to be okay. It is the mindset of “not enough”, no matter what you do or how you look.

What does it mean, to savor? “When one savors, one is aware of pleasure and appreciates the positive feeling one is experiencing.” The important ingredients for savouring are both your presence and your appreciation when pleasant sensations arise.

‘Savor Every Bite’ is divided into five steps that, taken all together, will help you eat mindfully with pleasure and embrace yourself with kindness and compassion. Step One is ‘Slow Down and Explore Your Senses’; ‘Step Two, Soothe (Instead of Eat) Your Emotions; Step Three is ‘Surrendering Limiting Thoughts’; Step Four, ‘Smile and Create Your Own Happiness’, and Step Five, ‘Savor Every Moment’, which teaches you the art of appreciation.

Rossy advises that you may wish to look through the sections and chapters and see which one calls out to you first. The “savouring practices” in each short chapter are designed for you to try in your own life.

‘Savor Every Bite’ is both an engaging, well-written guide to awaken our senses and transform our relationship with food while we learn to nurture our spirit and joyfully celebrate our life.

A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @NewHarbinger for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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When I first started this book, I wasn’t a fan. I love the book “Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life” by Thich Nhat Hanh, and the book “Eating Mindfully: How to End Mindless Eating and Enjoy a Balanced Relationship with Food” by Susan Albers; and these would probably still be my go-to books about mindful eating. But this little book grew on me, and I actually ended up liking it more than I thought I would.

If you or your clients are completely new to mindfulness at all, and you want to apply that to eating as well as generally, this would be a good book for you. One of the things I didn’t like about it at first was that it was so basic; but I realize that not everyone is well-versed in mindfulness at all, much less about eating. The other books I mentioned might require more knowledge about mindfulness in general.

Rossy is a yoga teacher as well as a coach teaching mindful eating, and she does a good job here of starting at the most basic level. Much of the book is simply about basic mindfulness, breathing and movement exercises that will help you in any endeavor. Rossy then ties these to eating, and how you can apply the skills she is teaching when it comes to choosing your food.

If you are looking for a diet, this isn’t it. Rossy is one of the camp that there is no good and bad foods; and when we label them as such, then we become good or bad when we partake of them. She believes that if you mindfully practice knowing if you are hungry; knowing if you are full; and then assessing what it really is that you want – that you will have a much healthier relationship with food.

All in all, this is a useful book to have if you – or your clients – have no knowledge of mindfulness or yoga and are looking for an introductory book that explains how to eat mindfully.

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This is a great book! I loved the powerful and practical strategies for coping with things that make a person deal with life by eating comfort foods. Details about eating in a mindful way. Exercise is also stressed, but rather than 1-2-3-4 of exercises we don't like, move in ways that appeal to you, whether it's walking, yoga or something else. I feel like I have a better plan to deal with these aspects of my life. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

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This book brings the technique of mindfulness to eating, which is something that I think so many people need to work on. I think knowing about mindful eating will be helpful to many--it certainly was for me. This book provides a number of techniques that can help improve a poor relationship with food, body, and eating, and it's certainly something that I am taking into account now when I sit down for a meal--or when I make the decision to not go for the bag of chips.

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Savor Every bite
I had a hard time deciding whether to rate “Savor Every Bite” with four or five stars. Once I brought it up and started reading, I couldn’t exit. Finally, I fell asleep with the laptop still open, waiting for me to go to the next page.
When I got back to it, I didn’t want to read it. Why not? More thinking. My reaction was strange. What finally came to mind is that there is so much content and so many action items that I just couldn’t handle any more. My mind was full. It seemed rather like a set of encyclopedias (do you remember those?) This book contains pretty much all one would need to know about “Mindful Ways to Eat, Love Your Body, and Live with Joy.”

Pick any chapter, for example: 5. Belly Check and Belly Love
“Now that heading is just funny. Subtle, suspenseful. What is she talking about?

Lynn Rossy, PhD states, in part. “My general rule is Eat when you’re physically hungry, and don’t eat when you’re not. While that might sound pretty simplistic, take a moment to consider how that would change how you eat.” She fills that out with understandable reasoning and scientific data.

There is an entire series of books in Savor Every Bite. I’m going to read a chapter, take time to absorb it, then move on to the next. So, could I dock a star from my review due to too much high quality, well spoken information? No. This is a 5 star book.

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