The power of words
Books can bore, enchant, educate or scare you. They can also inspire you — and more. “Books saved me and gave me the lessons, the teachings and father that I didn’t have,” says Dr. Lawrence Peacock, a psychiatrist in West Hartford, Connecticut, who credits books — from the seemingly dull dictionary to “every self-help book on the shelf” — with giving him the tools he needed to turn an impoverished, traumatic childhood into a rich, successful life. Other people cite books as eating disorder treatments, self-doubt antidotes, weight loss tools and beyond. Here are their stories:
The dictionary
When Peacock was 16, he decided to kill himself. He had grown up in poverty, frequently witnessed his father beating his mother and was expelled from ninth grade. “I couldn’t live like this anymore — filled with panic and depression and suffering from PTSD,” he says. But thanks in part to “a big, red Webster’s dictionary,” which he used to make and study vocabulary flashcards, he healed. “I knew that if I could sound and speak like a different man, I could become a different man,” says Peacock, who eventually earned bachelor’s, master’s and medical degrees. “The dictionary … gave me the belief that I could be more.”
‘Intuitive Eating,’ by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
Reading “Intuitive Eating,” a book about respecting your body’s hunger cues, was “a revelation” for Emily Flowers, a 33-year-old marketing manager in the District of Columbia who read the book in her early 20s after years of struggling with an eating disorder. “By listening to my body and trusting that it is telling me what it needs, I have been able to stay healthy for nearly 10 years with no dieting whatsoever,” she says. The book was a game-changer for registered dietitian Marci Evans, too. “I have given myself the gift of self-trust and gotten off the restrict-binge roller coaster,” she says. “[I] share that gift with my clients every day.”
‘Small Move, Big Change,’ by Caroline Arnold
After becoming a mom, “improving anything seemed impossible” for Sandra Biagini, a marketing representative in Queenstown, Maryland. But she wanted to try, so she picked up “Small Move, Big Change,” which demonstrates how tiny changes add up and promote long-term commitment. “Before this book, I was thinking that because I no longer had time for my 90-minute workout routine, I could no longer work out,” Biagini says. “When I listened to this, I realized I could adopt a 30-minute routine but promise to never ever miss it.” She soon cut sugar from her coffee, omitted fries from her Chick-fil-A order and stopped drinking soda. In four months, she’d lost 35 pounds.
The Bible
Steve Reynolds, 58, the senior pastor of Capital Baptist Church in Annandale, Virginia, had read the Bible countless times, but it wasn’t until he faced the truth about his health habits that he looked at it as a health book. “One verse … commands us to eat and drink to glory of God,” says Reynolds, whose weight had ballooned to 340 pounds. “It causes me to think before I eat or drink and ask myself, ‘Can I do this to the Glory of God?'” Now, Reynolds eats healthier, moves more, weighs 100 pounds less and helps others follow suit through his keys to health, outlined in his book, “Bod 4 God.”
‘Spirit Junkie,’ by Gabrielle Bernstein
Amrita Singh, 33, stumbled upon “Spirit Junkie” before she realized how much she needed it. The book, which details how the author changed her life and overcame drug and alcohol abuse, helped Singh recognize — and challenge — her internal voice of self-doubt. “This book helped me realize that I could shut that voice down and that it was fear fueling that voice,” says Singh, a lawyer in the District of Columbia. “Sometimes, that voice does pop back up, but now I feel like I have the awareness and the tools to quiet it.” As a result, her stress and anxiety levels are down. “This book has made me a healthier person,” she says.
The ‘Outlander’ series by Diana Gabaldon
If anything, Rebecca Gerber thought plowing through all eight novels of the “Outlander” series in 32 days would derail her health, since it demanded hours of sitting. But because the series, which became a TV drama, connected her to My Peak Challenge — an online health program developed by a star of the show that raises money to fight blood cancer — it did just the opposite. “I am much more conscious about making sure I … [move] my body every day,” says Gerber, 44, a marketing consultant in Paradise Valley, Arizona, who met her goal of walking 500 miles in 98 days thanks in large part to the support of fellow “Peakers.”
‘The Conscious Cleanse,’ by Jo Schaalman and Julie Pelaez
Between work, grad school and a regular weightlifting routine, Aleek Kahramanian couldn’t afford to run her body on low-quality fuel. So she took a friend’s recommendation to read “The Conscious Cleanse,” a 14-day program co-developed by a former professional athlete who had fallen into unhealthy habits after getting hit by a truck. The book taught Kahramanian, a 30-year-old health care policy analyst in the District of Columbia, “that your nutrition and diet can have so much more of an impact than any workout regimen,” she says. She now relies less on coffee and protein bars for energy and more on unprocessed, balanced meals that she plans ahead of time.
‘Dietland,’ by Sarai Walker
As a registered dietitian, Aaron Flores had read plenty of self-help books on weight control and dieting. But “Dietland” — a novel that follows a woman’s weight struggles through a feminist lens — was different. “I’ve already been working to change the way both me and my clients see their bodies within this society that emphasizes the ‘thin ideal,'” says Flores, who lives in West Hills, California, “but this book has helped me bring more feminist ideas into my work, which I’ve found resonates deeply with my clients.” He recommends the book to anyone “who wants to understand why I think we all need to say ‘no’ to diet culture forever,” he says.
‘Winning in the Middle of the Pack,’ by David Richman
One of the most important achievements of David Fuehrer’s life was finishing a 5K in 1,600th place. After all, just 50 days prior, he was a 240-pound man who hadn’t jogged in 20 years. What inspired the change? The book “Winning in the Middle of the Pack,” in which the author describes his transformation from a 40-year-old, overweight, overworked smoker to a 100-mile marathon runner. “[The author has] never taken home a trophy or stood on a podium, but he has become the man he only dreamed was possible,” says Fuehrer, 40, a two-time cancer survivor in Rochester, New York, who works in health care. “I thought, ‘If he can do that, so can I.'”
More from U.S. News
10 Healthy Habits of the ‘Naturally’ Thin
Celebrity Weight Loss: Tales of the Scales
How to Lose 50 Pounds Without Really Trying
These Books Can Actually Transform Your Health originally appeared on usnews.com
