Fabulous!!!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young woman in search of a husband must be on a strict diet. Right? Well, hardly. That is, not according to Jane Austen. This absolutely brilliant book marries the best of modern health research with the ideas of Jane's own health philosophies from the Regency period. A match made in heaven, no doubt. Whether you are fascinated with the Regency era, or just want to know a little more how you can bring the ease and simplicity of Jane Austen's lifestyle into your own fast-paced life, this book will grab your attention from the very start and keep you a friend till the end.

8 people found this helpful

Intelligent, sound advice, in modern terminology

Take 20 ounces of water, 9 tablespoons of sugar, place in a plastic bottle. Pay $2 and enjoy being sick, overweight, and vitamin deficient. This horrible stuff requires 1/3 more sugar than Jane Austin would have eaten in a day, and we pay the price for it. Even poor people drink it. That would be our modern soda, or bottle of cola. That 9 tablespoons of sugar, in a single drink , contains 1/3 more sugar reccomended by health advice by governments and experts for daily use today. Then we delight in calling good, upstanding butter fat, and refuse it a place on our thick slabs of sugar laden "bread". I'm certain Jane Austen would have called it cake. Even current laws in Europe define bread as wheat flour, yeast, water and salt. Adding fat and sugar requires defining such edibles as confections.

Our modern idea of a healthy diet is described by the books of Jane Austen as health destroying, and, rightly so. Having to subsist upon a diet of bread was for the poor, and even the poor would have made free use of available fat and meat. The author clearly explains our modern scientific efforts confirm what Jane Austen knew! A vegetarian diet is not just bulky and deficient in calories, when we eat raw veggies, we are actually paying a fortune for what amounts to Styrofoam for our bodies. It makes me think of air-popped corn, which we eat without butter and salt for "good health". Modern studies prove that adding fat and cooking your veg makes the vitamins available to our bodies. We're familiar with fat soluble vitamins, A and E, which we can't get from the carrots and mushrooms unless we cook them and add a tasty sauce. Jane Austen sure wasn't going to waste money by serving a salad of raw lettuce and carrots. she would have boiled them well, and dressed it with meat drippings, butter, cream, or a sauce of all three.

I also like the author's assertion that we need to be more active, but in a common, effective, normal way. Stop driving across the parking lot to get to the store. Make it a habit to bounce out of bed into your shoes and hit the door to start the day out in the morning light. Seven miles walked daily do not account for the activities required for each day- walking to the dining room. Walking from the parlor to the washroom. Pacing about the room, going back upstairs to get your shawl, none of it counted as unneeded, but it did not figure in one's daily activities! If it wasn't considered activities then, why do we think it counts now?

This book has really made me think about how lazy I really am. How spoiled. Food is so available, I can take a box from my freezer and stick it in the microwave, and then gorge on a day's supply of energy in a portion which wouldn't satisfy a 10 year old, and I can easily eat an entire cake alone, never able to fill the void caused by loneliness. Jane Austen writes frequently of dinners, all taken early in the day, and always a public and therefore, social event. This author points out how unusual snacking was! Low blood sugar levels are not a malady to be avoided, but, really, it's normal! And when you eat your breakfast matters. Two hours after rising is good, because you can easily fast twelve hours overnight. Eating your main, and largest meal after noon, but before early evening is smart, because we have enough time to use up our energy, possibly by walking! And then, a light supper, a couple hours before bed. Modern research tells us to not go to bed on a very full stomach, but not hungry, either. Huh. What else can I learn?

Definitely get this book if you are fed up with diets. Or, if you just want to know what and how to eat to make the best use of your time and resources. I never would have thought to think about how people in the past thought about food, but this author does very well to show us how very different our habits really are.

6 people found this helpful

Past Eating Practices Learned

The author and narrator made me laugh during the reading of this book! The compilation of references was amazingly put together to explain the Regency Era's eating style. This was not the typical "diet" book!

3 people found this helpful

I loved it.

I really enjoyed listening to the narrator, and the information was a great reinforcer to diet tips that I recently started implementing.

1 person found this helpful

Great easy read

Very nice, great for elevating your mood, easy listening which makes you feel good. Relaxing and entertaining.

1 person found this helpful

Excellent book!

I really really enjoyed the content of this audiobook and it was narrated well enough I could listen but he was somewhat monotone for most of it. The book was great but I wish the narrator was the author, although I generally wish that of any book that's not a classic (as in the author is alive.)

1 person found this helpful

Funny and insightful...

I think this might be the last health/diet book one would ever need! It’s funny witty and well written...it will have every austenite nodding along in agreement.

1 person found this helpful

Very enjoyable

An informative and entertaining perspective on the life philosophy of Jane Austen drawing upon all her works. I particularly enjoyed the author’s application of what we know today vs. The historic view. Very glad I listened… and I immediately went and bought a copy to send to a friend! For people who love Austen, this is a treat and opportunity to re-think her work; for those unfamiliar I could see this work as a fun introduction.

Timeless Wisdom

This is a great reminder of the common sense and timeless wisdom we often forget about and ignore in our modern quest for data, scientific evidence, and the next "pill" or supplement to tackle our physical and mental woes.

I've listed to this book twice and will continue to listen at the beginning of each new year as I work to consistently build better and healthier long lasting habits.

Examples and evidence from Jane Austen novels illustrating both good and bad health habits are supported with modern scientific studies and facts to create a doable and sensible approach to living healthy and well.

I always follow a listen of this book up with a reading of a Jane Austen novel, who I've loved since high school. last time it was Sense and Sensibility. This time I think it will be Persuasion.

Gimmicky But Surprisingly Wise

I found the relentless quotation of lines from Austen's novels and letters, and the liberal peppering of Austen puns, cringey. I thought I was also going to cringe at the health advice. On the contrary; I could agree with almost all the author's advice about human well-being.