Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover by Marilu Henner, Laura Morton

From Barnes & Noble

Actress Marilu Henner offers a ten-step program for adopting healthy eating and lifestyle habits in this warm and approachable book. Eating less meat, dairy, and processed foods and more grains, fruits, and vegetables is one important aspect of her plan; others include reducing stress, incorporating exercise into daily life, and even tapping into the mind-body connection and taking advantage of alternative therapies and preventive medicine. Henner writes that she looks and feels better today at 45 than she did in her 20s, when she tried "every crazy diet known to man" and her weight yo-yoed constantly -- she offers readers great advice on balancing a passion for good food with good eating habits to maintain a stable, healthy weight.

From the Publisher

Now's the time to create the healthy, balanced life you want—and become the truly vibrant, happy person you were meant to be. Combining good humor with solid science, Marilu Henner provides essential information on every aspect of health and fitness, including:

• Detoxing your body
• Preventing or alleviating health conditions from obesity to cancer
• The secrets of stress reduction

Real food and the organic way to fuel your body Free yourself forever from diets and disease-causing toxins, boost your energy, lower and maintain your weight—and change your life.

About the Author:
Marilu Henner is an actress who is best known for her roles on the hit TV series Taxi and Evening Shade. She is also the bestselling author of Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover and The 30-Day Total Health Makeover. She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, Robert Lieberman, and their two sons.

What People Are Saying

Fran Drescher
Marilu is my mentor. Her philosophies about health changed my life as well as my figure.

Tony Danza
If changing your body and looking great are qualifiers, then Marilu is definitely qualified to write this book.

• Read an Excerpt

Read an Excerpt

One Step at a Time


Approximately 400,000 Americans a year die as a result of an unhealthydiet and a sedentary lifestyle.
Now that I've got your attention: When was the last time you felt healthy?Do you think you feel healthy right now . . . this very instant? Look aroundyou. Take a look at who you see walking around the shopping mall or in lineat the movie theater. What do you see when you're at an airport? Do thesepeople look healthy to you? Really take a good look around, and I thinkyou'll be hard-pressed to find a truly vibrant, healthy person, someonewho has skin that's tight and smooth, alert eyes, positive mental energy,and a look of real physical fitness. As human beings, we have taken ourselvesso far away from our natural instincts. We don't walk with good posture,we carry excess baggage (physical and emotional) like it was designer luggage.We eat completely unnatural foods for our bodies, and basically live a verydifferent lifestyle from the one we were intended to live. When I watchthe Discovery Channel with my kids, I'm always so respectful of how animalseat and live the way nature intended. You never see a giraffe with a sparetire or a panther with cellulite. When I look around, I'm struck by howmuch less healthy human animals look compared with the animals I see onTV. And believe me, I'm not saying that we should all be naked, in factfar from that. (Would you want to see most of the people you see in a mallwith their clothes off?)
It's time to wake up and realize that on the whole, even if you think youfeel healthy and strong, you probably don't. The problem with knowing howyou're feeling is identifying what "healthy" feels like. How doyou look toeveryone else? Most people walk around a little slouched over,completely stressed out, and at least slightly overweight. We're not evenstaying the same shape that human beings were intended to be. As we gainweight, we actually distort our natural body outline and become a misshapenversion of the human form. If you are nodding your head in agreement rightnow, you are the perfect candidate for my program. Do you have the gutsto read on?
As a society, Americans eat a higher-fat diet than people in most othercultures, and we live a life of fast food and instant meals. Who has thetime to cook anymore? From a health perspective, we don't take care of ourselvesas we should. We ignore common ailments, put off that workout, completelyoverwork ourselves, and underestimate our need for sleep. Do any of thesesound familiar? Then it is time to make a change in your life! We know somuch more now than we ever have before about health and diet. I believethat many people are ready to make that change and are finally willing totake the right steps toward becoming healthy.
Most of us are very trusting people and believe what we're told and everythingwe read. We really buy into the idea that if something is available andwe're told it's good for us, it must be okay, yet we never look beyond that.The truth is, we're manipulated by the media and by food manufacturers.There's so much conflicting information out there, how can you possiblyknow whom to believe? Should we be eating a high-protein, low-carbohydratediet, or is it a high-fiber, low-protein diet? Does fat-free mean it's goodfor you? It's all so confusing. We certainly don't take the time to readfood labels as we should. I mean, if you can't pronounce it, why in theworld would you put it in your body? Anything with a food label that reads,"Continued on the next can" should not be a part of your regulareating habits. It's a good indication that it's not a "real" foodfor your "real" body. We have to educate ourselves so that wecan make a move to take that first step. That's why I have created thiseasy-to-understand ten-step program.
The plan in this book is a simple one, but it has the power to bring yourhealth and vitality to a new level, and add years to your life. My ten-stepprogram is really about liberating yourself from your old habits. It freesyou from learned behavior. Once you discover that you have a choice aboutwhat you eat and how you live your life, you will find that my program isthe opposite of deprivation. It is, in fact, a path to freedom. Take thisinformation and process it as if you were a computer updating an old program.It takes a little while to load in the information, but the upgrade is definitelyworth it. Suddenly, your computer can do things it never could before. It'sfaster and more productive. The upgrade just makes your life easier. Soundsgood, doesn't it?
Ask yourself one question. Am I the best version of myself? Most of youmay not even be able to answer that question honestly at this moment. Youmay not know the truth. Can you handle the truth? Well, I am certain thatby virtue of your having gone out and bought my book, you must be on a questfor a better life. If that is your goal, read on.
What are the ten steps? They're ten things that, over the years, and throughmuch investigation and experimentation, I changed about my life. I knewthat I wanted to get healthy and feel great, but I didn't want it to bea temporary change. I created a lifestyle that worked for me, and if youfollow just one of these steps, you'll definitely feel better. If you followmore than one, you'll feel better than you ever have. And if you followall ten steps you'll be your B.E.S.T. The overall idea is to reexamine yourrelationship with food, your lifestyle, and your health. Pick any one stepand decide if you want to try the beginner, intermediate, or advanced versionof that step. Try the version you've chosen for at least three weeks tofeel a difference. If you don't feel a difference after one week, you maybe ready for the next level.