I recently had the opportunity to review the new book Wellness, Not Weight: Health at Every Size and Motivational Interviewing. The book, edited by Ellen Glovsky, PhD, RD, LDN, brings together experts on the topics of motivational interviewing, mindful eating and Health at Every Size to author the various chapters.
While I don’t consider myself an expert in these three areas, I have done a fair amount of reading in each:
  • I was introduced to motivational interviewing almost two years ago in my Nutritional Counseling class, and we used one of Molly Kellogg‘s excellent books as one of our texts (she contributes a chapter to this book, as well). A year ago, I participated in a day-and-a-half workshop on motivational interviewing.
  • I own several books on mindful eating (and have read most of them), and have been working to incorporate mindfulness into my meals, and other areas of my life (I started a formal zen meditation practice in September).
  • I have done enough reading in the areas of obesity and eating disorders, and had enough experience with patients/clients through my dietetic internship, to know that weight is not the be all, end all of health, and that obsession with weight and dieting is harmful both mentally and physically. I’ve also attended a handful of educational sessions and workshops on Health at Every Size. 
So, not an expert, but not a rank beginner, either. It was from that point of view that I eagerly dug into this book, and I was happy I did. Here’s the review I will be posting on Amazon when the book is available there:

Wellness, Not Weight is a well-written, content-rich introduction to three vitally important topics. Integrating mindful eating, motivational interviewing and Health at Every Size into one volume makes perfect sense, and this book flows beautifully from broad theoretical overview to science-based supporting details to real-world ideas for putting these ideas into practice with clients. Wellness, Not Weight does not try to be the be-all, end-all source on these topics, but it lays a substantive, well rounded and inspiring foundation, then offers robust resource lists that make it easy for readers to explore further. 

Each chapter was written by experts with hands-on experience in these topics by way of research, teaching, clinical practice or all of the above. As such, this book was immensely useful to be as a nutrition and dietetics student and will continue to be a valuable resource as a registered dietitian nutritionist. A must read for nutrition and health professionals who work with patient/client populations that struggle with obesity, eating disorders or chronic dieting and for students of nutrition and dietetics.

While portions of this book repeated information I already knew, much of it was new to me, or it was discussed in a way that enhanced and reinforced what I already knew (this is why I like learning from multiple sources–every person explains things a little differently). I have no doubt that I will refer back to this book often, both for the content itself as well as for the resource lists. There are several cited articles and books I am looking forward to reading. I can only imagine what a revelation this book would be to someone who was less familiar with these topics.
I know that there are many dietetic students who read my blog, and I encourage you to consider investing in this book. It does cost more than a consumer-oriented book, but it is far less expensive than many textbooks. If you plan to work with patients/clients and really want to help them find their own motivation for getting healthier, all three topics covered by this book are important.
Dr. Glovsky tells me the book should be available on Amazon soon, but until then you can purchase it at www.wellnessnotweight.org. Through this month she’s offering book + DVD package deals (a little holiday gift for yourself, perhaps?). Dr. Glovsky also offers training on motivational interviewing. You can learn more at www.trainingwithdrellen.com.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for a review, but my opinions, as always, are completely my own.