Until I read this, I didn’t know much about Mariel Hemingway, other than she’s Ernest’s granddaughter.  But she’s also a self-proclaimed health nut, and in this book she describes her methods. Divided into four quadrants, Food, Exercise, Silence, and Home, the book details how she maintains her health and sanity by integrating those four components into a unified whole. She explains that the body naturally wants simple, healthy food, and that by listening to the body and avoiding "noisy" foods, you can greatly increase your health. I like the idea, but her diet seems very restrictive (no bread, no sugar, no alcohol, no processed foods) and she eats a lot of pureed vegetables. Fortunately, she offers tips on how everyone can modify the diet to suit their own needs, which is helpful. She also explains that it isn’t necessary to exercise to extremes in order to be fit. She stays in shape by walking and doing yoga, and the trick is to really be present and pay attention to the breath. She touts the benefits of silence and meditation, as well as having a soothing home environment in which to do it. Hemingway offers this all in a convenient four week package: try her methods for one month and see how you feel. If you don’t like it, no harm no foul, but if you do, it could certainly change your life.

All of this has a potentially very high "woo woo" factor; it could easily come across as new age or granola. But Hemingway keeps it real, and for me, the book is inspiring and powerful. I’m definitely going to integrate some of her practices into my daily life. In fact, I’m already changing.

I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for ways to find calm and balance in their lives, or who might be searching for healing practices beyond conventional medicine. For more info, click here.