Review Body & Soul by Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Hamilton, world-champion surfer, has written a new book that I love! Today I share a review of Body & Soul: A Girl’s Guide to a Fit, Fun, and Fabulous Life (co-written with Dustin Dillberg.)

You may remember Bethany as the 13-year-old young lady whose arm was taken by a tiger shark off the coast of Hawaii where she lived. She had been surfing all her life, and even after losing her arm, couldn’t wait to get back in the water. She wrote an autobiography called Soul Surfer (which I also enjoyed reading) that was turned into the movie Soul Surfer. Through the years Bethany has learned techniques for exercising and eating well to keep her body in top-notch condition for surfing competitions. Bethany recently married and is a believer in Jesus. I found this book to be a wonderful opportunity to share a role model with my daughters.

Body & Soul is written specifically for teen and tween girls. It is a 155-page paperback book that is beautifully graphically designed. I just love looking through the book! The photographs of food and exercises, the fonts and graphics–it’s all gorgeous! But the content is even greater.

Here is the list of the chapters (with explanations and highlights):

1. In Total Confidence: This first chapter presents the challenge. Do you really want to get healthy? Lots of encouragement from Bethany and from Scripture (verses are sprinkled throughout the book).

2. Your Body is a Gift: You’ll learn how God made your body for a purpose and it’s our responsibility to take care of it. We are made in His image.

3. Have an Amazing Outlook: Change your mindset in order to make healthy changes. No using the word “can’t.” Set goals.

4. Get Your Eat On: Understanding about how food affects our bodies. Learning about protein and carbs, whole foods, where to buy them, portion sizes, creating meal plans, what healthy snacks to take with you, how much water to drink (and how to spice it up), and recipes for green smoothies and sun tea.

5. Surfer Secrets For Your Best Bod: First, Bethany shares about why posture is so important. Then there are four workouts–with full instructions and pictures.

6. Tackle Your Challenges: Q and A, like what other fitness options there are, identifying your fitness style, making eating healthy fun, and not getting burned out.

7. Go the Distance: More encouragement to persevere.

8. Clean Green Recipes: An awesome chapter with tons of recipes: breakfast (mango muffins, poached eggs with kale), juices/smoothies, lunch (chicken nori wrap, summer rolls), theme salads, dinner (macadamia nut crusted chicken, grilled veggie salad), side dishes (oven-roasted broccoli, guacamole), desserts and snacks (kale chips, banana “ice cream”).

9. Your Perfect Plan: Another favorite chapter of mine with the meal selections for every meal and every snack for a whole week!

One really fun thing about this book (that I know the teens will love) is that they can use the HarperCollins Unbound app to scan throughout the book to get multimedia and interactive content on their device! I especially liked seeing videos of a couple of exercises and Bethany and a friend making the recipe for a Green Smoothie.

Overall, I recommend Body & Soul for anyone who has a teen or tween girl they would like to inspire to get healthier. It will also encourage them in their walk with God!