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The Body Book: The Law of Hunger, the Science of Strength and Other Ways to Love Your Amazing Body B
Readers' corner
bodybook

When I heard that Cameron Diaz was publishing a book, I was skeptical. "Another celebrity, another book deal," I thought. However, after witnessing her intrepid publicity campaign for the book, from social media to guest appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Network, she piqued my interest.

Look at Cameron Diaz: tall, blonde, leggy and tan. Cutting blue eyes and a big smile, she is one of the celebrities of which it is easy to find yourself envious. However, if you read her book, “The Body Book,” prepare to throw your notions of a charmed acting life out of the window because this has nothing to do with her career or her infuriatingly fortunate gene pool — this is about you.

“The Body Book” is an unexpected surprise in that Diaz aims to connect with her readers, mainly female, on a person to person level about health, wellness and living a well-cultivated and harmonious life. Broken down into three sections, “The Body Book” covers nutrition, fitness and mental health and in each category, Diaz explores smaller components of each section such as the importance of fiber, the basics of training and how to listen to your inner voice.

You might be as skeptical as I was wondering initially why Diaz of all people would be an authority on this subject and trust me, I did not imagine reading a book where she would wax poetic about the endosperm of whole grain or the smoking point of oils. However, after the first page, you realize that this book is more than a book deal. It is Diaz ushering her healthy and research-backed philosophy, a personal manifesto of sorts made public, without the didactic tone of an actress who skips meals to be skinny. By partnering with researchers and scientists, Diaz has informed herself of the importance of health and decided to share it with the world.

"If you are what you eat, I was a bean burrito with extra cheese and no sauce, no onions," says Diaz as she reflects upon her after school Taco Bell habit as a high schooler.

Diaz has had her own realizations about the importance of being healthy, having energy and feeling good by leading a fulfilling life. She colors her personal anecdotes about her former bad habits by using comical grammar like capitalizing points that she finds extremely important and ending her sentences with three exclamation points, leaving you with the desire to hear her read it out loud — you can tell it means that much to her. She encourages her readers to absorb the knowledge she has learned and even leaves room in the margins for readers to take notes. It is clear that “The Body Book” comes from a genuine place for Diaz and what's better is that you actually learn ways to help yourself by reading it.