Book Review: Sleep Fat, Wake Up Thin by Kenn Kihiu

Continuing our 'healthy day' of reviews- I have a diet/non-diet book review for you,
that continues the theme of being AWARE of what we are eating 
and that we are being told to eat!

Synopsis: Sleep Fat Wake Up Thin is the first nutrition book that clues in consumers on some of the misleading profit generating practices and ideas pushed by the diet and food industry that end up making consumers fatter & unhealthier. “Awareness is power and we have to be aware that unfortunately money is what makes the world of food and nutrition go round. The diet and food industry spend more on marketing than on research and development because they are more interested in their bottom line rather than consumer’s waistline” says Kenn Kihiu. His goal is to arm the consumer with the right tools and knowledge on how to make better decisions when it comes to their nutrition habits.

Those who follow the Sleep Fat Wake Up Thin way will regain power and control over their life by discovering how easy it is to drop unwanted pounds, burn fat, significantly reduce their cravings, gain energy, and feel healthy while feeling the best they have felt in years. Kenn Kihiu says that even though Sleep Fat Wake Up Thin goes against the current food and diet industry recommendations,he has created a course that is backed by science but even more importantly by a little common sense.

“Many of the diseases we face today - obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol - are not true diseases but symptoms of underlying conditions brought on by the things we eat that are marketed to us by the food industry. These conditions are easily fixable with a few changes and a little education about the simple choices we make everyday” insists Kenn Kihiu

Review: I hate to call this book a 'diet book, as it really is a more of a healthy lifestyle/healthy eating/ nutrition book, than a weight-loss book. because, if you follow his healthy principles, you will loose the weight- naturally. There are NO  limited number of allowed recipes, complex point counting charts, or strict dieting rules. “My goal is to make losing weight simple and easy to incorporate into the average person’s daily life” says creator Kenn Kihiu. “Where someone can eat almost anything they want without ever feeling deprived but still make small changes to their current diet. Small changes that add to their current diet. Small changes that add up to big results”

The book is set up into 5 modules and an 'ending' (which is your beginning) - like a seminar course, but where you accomplish one module and move on to the next. This is ideal as it allows for achievement of goals and positive reinforcement! The modules are:

1. Ending- if you start with the end in mind you will be more focused. Here Kenn tells you how to use the course and how to start taking control. He 
2. Module 1- Your Philosphy- the secret of your success! Kenn gives us 5 mindsets including Take 100% responsibility for your life- stop being a victim and reacting to life. You need to respond, to not have the stress from reacting causing issues in your body. And my favorite- Think Progress, not Perfection. Think about that one for a minute- guilt=stress=stopping the plan. If you skip a workout, acknowledge your responsibility and plan for a better time for you to do so. You have to crawl before you can walk. So loosing 2 pounds and working out every day is better than not having lost ANY and sitting on the couch. 
3. Module 2- Sugar and Fiber-  Did you know the taste for sugar is a genetic weakness? I didn't! But ti makes sense, why else would fruit be sweet? In fact as a whole we know consume more 130 pounds MORE sugar a year than our ancestors did 200 years ago. And yes, you can thank processed foods for that amount! Did you know that a sugar burning metabolism  is hard work for our bodies and usually leads to little results? In fact, it tells the body to burn sugar, and store food as fat. Oops, that's not what we want What you want is fat burning metabolism. Fiber can be your friend, by filling you up and giving your body something good to burn.Examples are fruit,s vegetables, nuts and legumes. You need about 40g of it daily, andmost people only get 10g!  Kenn also gives you a great sugar intake calculator in this module.A good example of overdoing the sugar is sports drinks- most have 3 TIMES the amount of what should be our daily sugar intake. Scary, huh?
4. Module 3-  Alkalinity and Water-If your body is not a good environment for healthy fat burning, it just won't happen. Our ph balance can actually affect whether we loose weight or not! I did not know that, did you? Most of us have too much acid in our body and our body keeps fat to protect our organs and tissues from that acid! When we eat food, it's acid level leaves remnants in our body, and these can increase our acid levels! Which seems like common sense doesn't it? So how do you alkanize these acids? Use foods that help- like lemon or lime juice in your water (did you know the accurate amount we need per day, is half our body weight in ounces?), almond milk is better than cow's milk (and much less in sugar), free range beef or chicken, vegetables, a daily intake of wheat grass,  and good fats (like walnut oil, flaxseed oil and extra virgin oil) all help to bring down the ph level to make your body a better environment..
5. Module 4- Short and Intermittent Fasting- Don't freak out- he's talking about a natural way to fats here! Think for a second- if you burn more calories than you take in, you loose weight, right? It is the basis of ANY diet. Our bodies are made to eat, then take a break. They need time to digest, absorb,use and eliminate the food we intake. It is hard work, and if we constantly feed our body, it can't keep up. And you actually fast EVERY day- you sleep! When you are sleeping your body is repairing, growing and rejuvenating itself. How long do you sleep without food? 8 hours? How often have you skipped breakfast? yup- there you go- you did a 12 hours fast with no problem, right?  We have to listen to our bodies- sometimes it wants us to fast because it is still working on the previous food intake! And the fast allows it to BURN fat! Sometimes up to DOUBLE the normal amount! Kenn walks you through all the mental and physical steps for 20-24 hours fasting as well.
6. Module 5- Taming Appetite, Behavior and Cravings-  the basics of weight loss- and the ones most of us have the most problem with, but if you can control them you WILL loose weight! We have a deep emotional connection to food- think birthdays, holidays and special events, like weddings, WITHOUT food. You can't can you? For this reason we need to be aware of what is real hunger, and not an emotional response to it. Kenn helps us learn HOW to start shrinking our stomach, naturally, by choosing to STOP eating, and what foods to make us full, and not crave more (cut out the diet drinks for instance, which increase your hunger). 

Trust me when I say that you might not look at processed meat the same way ever again after reading the last chapter on what you should NOT eat! But Kenn has given you plenty of healthy guidelines in the book to make smart, aware choices. You just have to be RESPONSIBLE and make them!

I highly recommend this book to anyone ON or thinking of starting a diet. It will help you make intelligent choices and hopefully help you loose weight!
 

About the Author: Success coach Kenn Kihiu is a fitness expert and the creator of the Fun Dance Exercise workout DanceX. Kenn's innovative and cutting edge workouts such as DanceX and the "8020 Body" have been featured in numerous newspapers and media outlets around the country. Kenn has a real love for people and is well known for his high energy, sense of humor and passion for health. Kenn teaches fitness classes on a daily basis and also serves the community as an expert who speaks on topics related to fitness, body image and making healthy life choices.



 Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, from the author, via Bostick Communications, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it