Healthy As F*ck: The Habits You Need to Get Lean, Stay Healthy, and Kick Ass at Life

Author: Oonagh Duncan
Genre: Self-Help, Health and Wellness, Canadian
Type: Trade Paperback
Pages: 269
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada
First Published: September 17, 2019
Opening Lines: Have you ever heard of gluten? It's this protein that's found in wheat that … just kidding! It's the 2020's, and even your weird survivalist uncle is gluten free. I bet you can name three people off the top of your head who would rather eat nuclear waste than gluten.

Book Description from GoodReads: Join the Movement. Ditch the Diet.

Who's ready to stop thinking about weight loss? To free their brain from thoughts about ketones, calories, and fasting? Who wants life to be more effortless, energetic, and empowered?

Welcome to a refreshing and gloriously unapologetic conversation about health, fitness and habits. Award-winning trainer Oonagh Duncan cuts through the wellness clutter to drop some truth bombs: it might not be six-pack abs you're looking for - it might be happiness, confidence, and acceptance. But if losing your belly is what you want, don't let anyone - including yourself - stop you from going after it. And she'll show you how to make it happen.

There's only one major difference between those rare unicorns who have managed to lose weight and the rest of us: their habits. When you acknowledge that following a diet is not getting you anywhere, and you make a few small changes to your everyday routine, you'll find yourself happier and healthy as f*ck.

My Rating: 5 stars

My Review: I'm not a big Self-Help kind of reader but I am a woman in her mid-40's whose high metabolism left skid marks as it screeched to a halt a few years ago. This change left me with 25lbs of extra weight and, while I wanted to be healthier, I clearly lacked the chutzpah needed to actually accomplish my goals.

Enter Oonagh Duncan. 

Oonagh is a Canadian fitness expert and the author of Healthy as F*ck, a refreshing, entertaining and inspiring book that helps readers figure out their motivations and establish long-lasting habits, leading to a healthier life. By following her 7 Keystone habits and making small changes to your daily routine, you can build permanent, daily patterns to help you achieve your goals whether that involves weight loss or just living healthier. With her sense of humour, Oonagh motivates you, backs up her info with sciencey-stuff and speaks from a position of empathy since she has struggled with her own weight and making healthier choices herself. Duncan's sass, straightforwardness and humour spoke directly to the BS I've been slinging at myself for years.

"It's about doing your best absolutely every single day without letting your Bullshit suck 

you back into a relationship (with old patterns) that you've outgrown."

If you're not averse to cursing and a wicked sense humour (*hand held up hiiigh*) and want a book that's an encouraging conversation with a sassy friend, then this is the book for you. It is a no holds barred, honest approach that focuses on small successes, being healthy (physically and mentally) instead of being sucked into the shame spiral that never did anyone any good, evah. It's making the occasional concession (aka half-assed attempt) while keeping your eye (and self love) firmly on the prize - a healthier you.

"If you can't do something right, do it totally half-assed."

If you want a quick fix, this book isn't for you. But if you're willing to do the work, Duncan's hi-larious humour and common sense approach will help you develop a long-lasting, habit-based method that will help you ignore that negative talk in your head and focus on being a healthier version of the awesomeness that is already YOU! 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.