Title: FINDING IT — AND SATISFYING MY HUNGER FOR LIFE WITHOUT OPENING THE FRIDGE

Author: Valerie Bertinelli

→ Devour it

Nibble till it’s gone

Spit it out

First, is anybody cuter than Valerie Bertinelli? I can’t imagine so.

This is a fun read as I suspect the one before it was too. I never read her previous book LOSING IT, but my guess is if I liked one, I’d like the other too.

While LOSING IT dealt more with her original dieting, FINDING IT deals with the dreaded ‘maintenance phase’ of dieting. You know, the rest of your life while you juggle family and professional responsibilities. Although having Eddie Van Halen give your kid the birds and the bees talk probably isn’t something you have to deal with so consider yourself lucky there.

(Insert weird Eddie Van Halen coincidence here.)

Reading this is like having your best friend hold your hand while you diet. She’s been there and while she may have challenges, she knows what to do … just like we all do. But it’s comforting to hear her say it.

She’s funny and accessible and often says wise, heartfelt things like this:

“Change is a process; the key is to start. Obviously you can’t remake your life in a single day, but you have to begin someplace. It’s like giving yourself a day pass. And it’s not hard. You simply step out of your own way for a few hours. You put yourself in a different head space. You change environments and you tune in to your inner voice, the voice that tells you who you really want to be, and then you become that person. You visualize yourself in that role.

Try it for a day. Then spend the rest of the week figuring out how to be that person two days in a row, then three, and so on.”

That’s nothing you don’t already know. But isn’t it lovely to know someone else knows it too?

She confesses she’s been coloring her gray hair every 12 days (!!) since she was twenty, but eschews plastic surgery in all its forms. She’s absolutely correct when she points out the natural beauty of Jessica Tandy’s face.

Valerie Bertinelli may have a lifestyle not all of us can understand, but raise your hand if you can relate to what she said on page 196 …

“I craved an ice cream sundae. I was remembering how great the last one I ate tasted. Then I remembered how great it was throwing out my size 12s and 10s and 8s. Suddenly I lost my craving for ice cream.”

What’s your best wise advice to give about weight loss or healthy living or life in general? Did you watch Valerie Bertinelli grow up on TV? Did you, like me, want to be that cute?