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Book review: Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?
Peter Walsh doesn’t sugar coat anything, and the title of his latest book is testament to his style. Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? takes his “creating the life you want” message from his previous book, It’s All Too Much!, and applies it to food, eating, and the body.
Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? will help you examine how your emotions, your home, your kitchen, and your pantry are working for — or against — the life you want for yourself.
Walsh doesn’t talk calorie counting or delve into the ills of preservatives, instead he offers a philosophy for change as his solution for weight loss. In my opinion, he really only discusses three things to change to lose weight: stop watching tv, start eating meals at home at a table, and get rid of clutter in your life. Although my statement of his process sounds simplistic, I actually agree with his premise.
At the start of 2007, I made a resolution to stop eating meals outside of my home. I had been eating out seven to 10 times a week throughout most of 2006. In the first five months of last year, I lost 20 pounds. I didn’t change anything else in my life except for where I ate meals. Sure, it’s anecdotal evidence, but my personal experience tells me that Walsh’s advice isn’t off base.
Walsh’s book is intended for a mass audience, so if you’ve read more scientifically detailed health books or even Walsh’s colleagues’ You: On a Diet, this book may not have anything new to share with you. However, for what it is, Walsh’s book is well written, full of straightforward advice, practical, and sincerely helpful. If you need to lose a few pounds and your house is cluttered, Walsh’s book will be perfect for you.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
- From page 2, “As a nation we are reveling in an orgy of consumption and it shows no sign of letting up. We can’t get enough of anything. The American mantra has become ‘more is better’ and we are applying that motto with gusto to almost every aspect of our lives. If consuming is good, then consuming more is better.”
- From page 47, “The math of weight is the same as that of clutter: You can only have as many books as you have room on your shelves or only the number of shirts that can hang comfortably in your closet; if you eat more calories than your body needs, they will be stored as fat. Of all the possessions in your home, your body should be most treasured. Treating your body with honor and respect means you are treating yourself with honor and respect.”
There are a few things that confuse me about the book — like how he tells you not to watch television, but television is certainly a large factor in how he made his name — but on the whole I think it’s a worthwhile self-help book. As I mentioned above, if you need to lose a few pounds and get your house organized at the same time, Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? is a great place to start. The book is available Feb. 5, and Walsh will be doing promotional appearances for it on The Oprah Winfrey show Feb. 7 and on The CBS Early Show Feb. 11-13.
Popularity: 19% [?]
