Mark Hyman - The Archetype Diet: Reclaim Your Self-worth and Change the Shape of Your Body

The human body is one of the most complex systems on the planet, and not all bodies are the same. Anyone who has tried and struggled on a diet knows that what works for one person may not work for you; you have a unique body chemistry that needs to be addressed differently, and, without considering the hidden factors that may be affecting your ability to lose weight, you will continue to struggle. This is what functional medicine is all about: looking beyond the basics to determine what is right for each individual.

This, of course, presents an obvious problem with the vast majority of diets: by prescribing one set of specific recommendations for everyone, they fail to account for the multitude of factors that may be complicating ones ability to lose weight and rebalance her body. That is what makes Dana Jamess TheArchetype Diet so revolutionary: by offering four diets designed for four different body types, she gives women the tools they need to first identify their bodies specific needs and then follow a program that meets those needs completely.

I have known James for more than a decade, and this book beautifully captures the work she has been doing with her clients since she began her functional medicine practice. She has helped thousands of women reshape their bodies and reclaim their health, and now she offers a road map that anyone can use to do the same.

James also acknowledges that our diets affect more than just the shape of our bodies. Rooted in the principles of functional medicine, The Archetype Diet seeks to rebalance all of the systems that affect our health. Channeling the power of food as medicine, James understands that what we eat not only affects how much we weigh or what our body looks like but also how we feel and function overall. Diet plays a role in everything from digestion and immune response to skin conditions and hormone levels. Getting the balance right can be enormously tricky, but James cuts through the confusing, often conflicting advice that would-be dieters often encounter in favor of sound, pragmatic, and scientific facts about how food affects our health. Debunking the myths surrounding what makes a food good or bad, she encourages women to let go of their fears around food in order to embrace the power real food has to heal our bodies.

James also goes beyond the physical to explore the very real body-mind connection so often overlooked by traditional diet plans. Although we are still only beginning to understand the connection between our diets and our minds, its no secret that what we eat affects how we think and feel. Significant research has demonstrated how eating the right foods can increase our energy, boost the metabolism, combat depression and anxiety, and manage hormone levels, as well as a variety of other things that directly contribute to our overall mental state. As a functional medicine physician, Ive dedicated my career to helping patients uncover this link within their own bodies so that they can radically improve their physical, mental, and emotional health.

But as James reveals in The Archetype Diet, the mind-body connection works in reverse as well. Just as how we eat affects how we think and feel, how we think and feel affects how we eat. While anyone who has ever struggled with a diet is familiar with the concept of emotional eating, James shows how this cycle goes even deeper, beginning with some of our earliest memories and affecting our eating behaviors in ways we may not even notice.

Recognizing how our deepest, most ingrained thoughts and emotions influence our relationship with food, James developed her Archetype Model through her deep understanding that, just as womens bodies are different, so, too, are the reasons they eat the way they do. Without taking the time to explore the hidden motivations driving their eating behaviors, even the most motivated dieters will struggle. True, sustainable, lifelong health requires addressing the mind alongside the body and being compassionate with yourself as you seek to make meaningful change.

Ultimately, what makes The Archetype Diet so remarkable is not simply that it will help you lose weight (which it will). Its that it will help you attain a level of self-awareness and self-acceptance that will make it easier for you to not only stick to your diet, but to live the life you most truly want to live. Releasing yourself of the destructive emotions, habits, and behaviors will give you the freedom to move through the world with vitality in a body that supports your every move.

Mark Hyman, MD, director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and New York Times bestselling author