Chicken Soup to Inspire the Body & Soul: Motivation and Inspiration for Living and Loving a Healthy Lifestyle (Chicken Soup for the Soul) [Paperback] Canfield, Jack; Hansen, Mark Victor; Millman, Dan and Von Welanetz Wentworth, Diana

Product Description Need a physical and spiritual boost to kick the year off right? Need some extra power to reach goals and commitments? With hundreds of exercise plans, diet gurus, and spiritual advisors out there clamoring for airwaves, there's a noticeable void of inspiring stories to give people that extra push to get them started and keep them going This book is not a replacement for yoga or The Zone; it is a companion – a reminder that hard work and determination really do pay off, and that our bodies are gifts to be cared for and treasured through exercise and healthy living. About the Author Jack Canfield, #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, is a professional speaker who has dedicated his life to enhancing the personal and professional development of others. Mark Victor Hansen, #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, is a professional speaker who has dedicated his life to enhancing the personal and professional development of others. Dan Millman is the bestselling author of The Way of the Peaceful Warrior series (over 1 million sold). A former world trampoline champion, Stanford gymnastics coach and Oberlin College professor, his "peaceful warrior" seminars reach tens of thousands of people each year. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Matter of Weight Ever since grade school, when being the biggest girl in class landed me more than a fair share of snickers, I've had a difficult relationship with my weight. Kids called me all sorts of namesùPork Ball, Porcupine Rind, Jam Pudding, and worse. I pretended to laugh along with them, but went home and drowned my anger in food. It wasn't until I turned eighteen and fell in love with a tall, soft-spoken boy from Massachusetts that the weight slipped off. And when I married him six years later, I was a svelte 103 pounds. For someone who enjoyed food as much as I did, this was no small feat. Those were the Twiggy days, when being knitting-needle thin had become a cultural obsession; the fashion industry was relentlessly unforgiving towards natural bulges and buxom shapes. But ôskinny" didn't last long. Within two years I gained over ten pounds, and with the birth of our first child three years later, added another forty. The old grade school angst returned, and I decided to wage my own holy war against the bulge. I took up running, beginning with a brisk walk around the block, and then doubled my efforts until I was able to run comfortably for two miles without stopping. By the end of the year, I had shed thirty pounds and was permanently hooked on running. It made me feel brisk and clean, like a colt; it allowed me to eat what I wanted and still keep the weight manageable. As long as I pounded the pavement for fifty minutes, five times a week, I was able to keep my weight within an acceptable range. Still, I fretted over every bite. My husband, much more relaxed about body shape, said, "I wish you could just enjoy being what you are. You carry so much guilt about what you do and what you look like that you aren't enjoying life at all!" "But I feel so fat!" I countered. "I have a suggestion. Get rid of your scale." I did, and miraculously discovered that my body had its own way of finding balance. I moved from "how much I weigh" to "how I feel." For several years, I ate when I was hungry and ran not because I had to, but simply because I loved the sense of exhilaration it gave me. I didn't choose one activity to cancel out the other, but did both because they fed my soul. And even though I didn't know exactly how much I weighed, I was content because my clothes remained a comfortable fit. Then everything changed the year I turned fifty. My husband passed away after an eleven-month battle with cancer. Food became a different kind of issue during his illness, when his body refused to eat because the radiation had scorched his throat and he could