Saturday, October 29, 2016

Who's The New Kid?

Book: Who's The New Kid?
Basic Information : Synopsis : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References

Basic Information:
 Author:   Heidi Bond with Jenna Glazer
Edition: Read on the Nook
Read:October 29, 2016
185 pages, including three appendixes
Genre:   Biography, Diet
Rated: 3  out of 5

Synopsis:
Breanna has a weight problem which is something like calling a tsunami a wave. This started out when she was a toddler. With a doctor's poor advice and direction, Breanna's weight problem only grew until she could not breath or walk very much.

At this point Heidi Bond realizes that she has a serious problem on her hands and scrambles to do something about it. Through a combination of hard love, discipline, diet and exercise, she is able to  drive her daughter, and son, into dramatic weight loss.

This is a story about how that happened, along with advice for others in this situation.

Thoughts:

Chp 5: News Flash: Kids Can Be Cruel
Bond states that she would give anything for a “do over”. The idea would be that not only would it save her child from the physical affects of obesity, but also the social embarrassment. But would would a person really change? Recently I read Jesus story of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man when he died went to hell, but Lazarus went to heaven. The rich man begged God to send Lazarus to his family to save them from the torment he was experiencing. God said they have the law and the prophets to steer them and they are ignoring them so why would they believe Lazarus? Isn't that what we experience today? We have all of this information on how to live healthy and we ignore this information. Why will we  pay attention if we have a do over?

Children do not want us to meddle in their affairs. But they are not experience enough to handle everything. This is part of the parents role to determine when is something over a child's head and when the experience can build them up.

Chp 7: Resistance Training
… I didn't let my lack of knowledge stop us from making a start... That's one thing I've learned along the way: you just start. You dig in and start someplace, and then as you learn more, you revise your plan and fix your mistakes. Sometimes you just need to start something to figure out a plan of attack. This is why a pilot project can be effective. Also hindsight gives you much insight about things you did wrong.  In reality it should also give you thoughts about what you did right.

Interesting family dynamic. Heidi Bond telling her husband not to walk with them. Wonder about the background to that discussion. You can tell Heidi Bond does not feel supported by her husband, or at least she feels he isnot on the same page as her.

The Mom sets the goals for the daughter without any buy in from the daughter.

Bond realizes that God has given her her daughter even if Bond is not up to taking care of her properly. This realization that we are not up to a situation is the same thing as what her daughter did not realize earlier-God had given her a mother and father to take care of her as she matured. This is a lesson for us all. We are inadequate.

Chp 9: Peaks Plateaus and Valleys
Two principals: We need to be there with the person we are trying to help and we cannot let ourselves “go” to aid someone else.

Bond set a goal weight-in the middle of her daughter's weight range and what she felt was right. While this worked out good, I am not sure that is really a good way of doing it. Shouldn't there be a better way of measuring this besides just putting your finger in the wind and guessing?

Hard ==> Hardest ==> Easier ==> Under my feet (piece of cake)

Chp 10: So This is What Its Like to Be Healthy
Who is Dr Mark Hyman? I am thinking this is a doctor which my brother reads. He has written books like: 10-Day Detox Diet,    Eat Fat, Get Thin, and Blood Sugar Solution. Bill Clinton endorses him.

Chp 11: The New Kid
Look up references to Heidi and Breanna Bond on the Internet. She states that there was countless stories written about them. In my experience, this is a matter of perspective. Such as when I post something on Facebook, I think 50 people responding to a post is good. But when there are 100's of separate articles to some that is normal. In doing a brief scan on Google, there are a good number, but there are also other Heidi Bonds which makes counting difficult. She has been on Biggest Loser, CNN's Good Morning America!, and various print articles.

Whenever you do something good, there will be someone ready to pull you down.

How do you handle situations where someone gives you bad advice or counsel. That is what happened to them. Their pediatrician said that Breanna would grow into her size, do not worry about the weight. Also losing weight would slow her growth. This is the opposite of what the medical advice should have been. When Breanna went in for her checkup, the doctor was frosty. The Bonds changed doctors.

Chp 12: Just the Beginning
Don't be tied to the numbers, but look at the objectives.

Bond says that losing weight and maintaining weight are not two different objectives, rather an extension of the same goal: a healthy, sustaining lifestyle.

Small indulgences can add up.


Evaluation:
 This is a book which can be used to encourage the parents of overweight children that there is hope. The author walks you through her daughters and hers story of weight gain and loss. Also both the social harm done to an obese person and the limits to acceptance after weight loss. Bond is open to her here contributions to her daughters problems, as well as the starts and stops in this struggle. She also shows that once she grabs the tail of the obesity tiger, she does not let go.

The book as a memoir is what you would expect  from a first time author. But I do not think that is why the author wrote this book. It was to help others with the problem of childhood obesity. In that respect, I think she helped to give parent tools to fight this problem.

 
Notes from my book group:
Dinner with Heidi Bond on November 10, 2016. She was very open that she was not the author who wrote the book, Jenna Glazer put the words on the page. But Glazer was the one who was able to make her story cohesive.Not many questions were asked in the form below and many other questions was asked from me and the group.
  • Jenna Glazer co-wrote this book. Do you intend to write another one? On your own or in partnership? If so, thoughts on the topic?
  • What skills do you need to have to write a book like this? To work with a co-author?
  • Did the book effectively reflect your voice or a commingled voice?
    • It was Heidi's voice.
  • Chp 5: Are do overs effective, or desirable?
  • Chp 7: Could you talk a bit more about the dynamics between your husband and you and how to address your daughter's weight? It sounded like you two had the same goals for your children, but different approaches. How did you two work it out?
  • Chp 9: You make a statement: ...goals aren't really worth having if they're not big and audacious.  Can you elaborate on this a bit? One of the things which I have heard from Dave Rasmey is to take baby steps to reach your goal.
  • You talk about how after Breanna lost her weight, there is the bigger goal of living a healthy life. Would you like to talk a bit more about this stage of growing up? 
  • Has being in the spotlight helped or hindered Breanna's continued goal of living healthy?
  • I am not sure how to ask this question, but it seemed like most of the drive towards being healthy was your doing, not Breanna or your husband. Has this been transitioned or are you still the big push towards the family being healthy? (Did I mis-read the book on this part?) 
  • I noticed that you blog ends on Sept 1, 2015. Is there a reason why you have stopped publicly recording your journey? (But your are still on Facebook)
  • Were people of faith supportive of her and her family? What kind of reactions did you get from them? How can we be supportive of people who are struggling with health issues, particularly weight issues?



Good Quotes:
    • First Line: Mommy! He called me fat!
    • Last Line: My daughter is living proof that with a pair of tennis shoes and some motivation, you can choose a bran-new life.
    • ...goals aren't really worth having if they're not big and audacious. (chp 9)
    • The difficulties made the rewards that much sweeter. (Chp 10)
      Table of Contents:

      •     She'll grow into it
      •     Bad habits start early
      •     Childhood lost
      •     Sugar fix
      •     News flash: Kids can be cruel
      •     180
      •     Resistance training
      •     Tough love
      •     Plateaus, peaks, and valleys
      •     So this is what it's like to be healthy
      •     The new kid
      •     Just the beginning
      •     Yes, you can!
      •     Appendix 1: Forty-day meal and exercise plan
      •     Appendix 2: Recipes
      •     Appendix 3: Shopping list
      •     Appendix 4: Q&A with Breanna.


      References:
      Posted by at
      Labels: ,

      No comments:

      Post a Comment

      Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)