Reading Lately...

-Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman. A book about an American journalist who becomes a parent while living in France. She realizes that, among other things, French babies sleep through the night earlier and that French children are better eaters and more well-behaved than American children. She also notices that French moms lose the baby weight more quickly and are generally happier and more relaxed. This book is her assessment of what they do differently and why it works. It definitely made me think differently about what children are capable of and how I want to raise Noah. I would never try some of the things French parents do (it's apparently normal for five-year-olds to go on a week-long trip with their classmates, no parents, just a teacher and one or two other adults to supervise), but it was still interesting to read about parenting in another culture.

-The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. This book is chalked full of research on how habits are formed an how to use that information to your advantage. A few interesting things I learned:

• 40% of our daily activities are based on habit.
• A habit cannot be permanently eliminated unless it is replaced with a new habit.
• All habits involve 3 things: a cue, an action, and a reward. If you can identify the cue and reward, you can use that information to help change/replace the habit (the action).
• Case studies of people who have made huge life changes (think overweight, divorced, unemployed smoker to marathon-running, happily married, non-smoker with a stellar career) have found that the key to changing your life is setting and achieving very small, manageable goals. Accomplishing these small goals gives you a boost of confidence, which encourages you to set and achieve more small goals. Eventually, all of these little things add up to big changes.

-Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr. This book covers the basics of a plant-based diet and also includes information on juicing, dry brushing, detoxing, probiotics, why the pH of the foods you eat is so important and so much more. She also shares her favorite vegan and raw food recipes. It's interesting, informative, and easy to read.