Book Review: Food Freedom Forever by Melissa Hartwig

When I bought the audio copy of Food Freedom Forever by Melissa Hartwig, I intended to listen to it at work. At the time, I had a work neighbor who was a bit noisy and the book was a welcome distraction. I wasn't real consistent with listening to it regularly, especially after my noisy neighbor moved down the hall, but I’ve finished. Finally.

Audio books have not really been my thing because I tend to read much faster than I listen. However, I’ve not been reading, and finishing, as many books as I would like in recent years so I’ve been exploring audio versions of books I have in my Kindle library. I was not disappointed in the reading Melissa did of her book. It was entertaining. Listening to her read the text was like having her sitting next to me at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee chatting about life. I also discovered after eye surgery that audio books can give you back some of the freedom you lose when you are unable to use your eyes.

As I listened to the last bit of the book, I realized that I may not have finished the last chapter for months, but I had been practicing my food freedom since I first started reading the book. I even used some of the concepts to develop my own surgery recovery plan.

I knew the Whole 30. I’ve done several of those, even helped a few friends get through a Whole 30 this year. When I discovered I needed surgery, I did some research on how nutrition impacts recovery and developed my own plan for the days and weeks both before and after my surgeries. The point wasn't to do a Whole 30 around the time of my surgery to ensure quality food and nutrients in my diet, although that is a good idea if it works for you. The point was to be deliberate with food choices that would specifically benefit my recovery from both eye surgeries.

Unfortunately, these surgeries were not corrective vision surgeries. They were to deal with an ongoing disease, slow its progress, and preserve my vision. I've written about it in more depth on my blog so you can search for those posts if you want to read more about it. I didn't get to choose to have this eye disease, but I did get to choose how to approach surgery and recovery when that time came. It made a big difference on my anxiety to focus on things I could control, develop a plan that worked for me, and execute that plan with the confidence that I was doing good things for my body to promote healing.

That is food freedom. That is being in control of the food you eat instead of food controlling you. That is making the right choices for yourself in the moment with no guilt, no recriminations, or unrealistic expectations. That is what Melissa Hartwig describes in the book.

Read it. You will not be disappointed.

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