Just the title alone made me want to read this book! Wouldn’t the world be a better place if there were more “Body Love” going around? I actually found this book because I was looking for some good green smoothie recipes on Pinterest. I was about 6 weeks postpartum and wanting to find a healthy breakfast that was easy to make and take on the go while still providing some solid nutrition to support my nursing body. Getting myself and two young kids up, fed, and ready with lunches packed in time for the bus, and nursing and pumping for a newborn all before I head to work at 8:30 a.m. makes for some early and crazy mornings at my house! I got the idea to start making green smoothies because I knew that I needed more greens and veggies in my life and thought that drinking them in the morning would be an easy and quick way to at least get one serving every day.

Anytime I want to find a new recipe for something I head to Pinterest and read a few and then make something similar with the ingredients that I have. While I was looking for green smoothie recipes I kept seeing the #fabfour and decided I needed to check it out and see what it was about. My research led me to Kelly Leveque and her book “Body Love.” I jumped on to Overdrive (How I get books for free!) and added this book to my waitlist. Because I wanted to get started on green smoothies ASAP, and I read that the book had a lot of great charts and recipes, I also ordered the book so I would have a hard copy of the recipes to make it easier to make a variety of smoothies each morning. 

This book DID NOT DISAPPOINT! Even before I completed my Master’s Degree in Exercise Science and learned the truth about a lot of the popular Fad Diets, I had never been a dieter. I really mean it, I don’t have the discipline to cut out my beloved carbs and I don’t believe in restricting calories or only eating one food group. When I got the hard copy of the book a few days later I tried to read it and only got a few pages in before a million little people needed a million little things that of course only mom could do. The first few pages were enough to get me really interested in Kelly’s “Fab Four” philosophy of eating fat, fiber, protein, and greens with every meal. Luckily, it only took a few more days for my turn to have the audiobook through “Overdrive.” I knocked out the audiobook during my “Happy Hour” time while I drove, worked out, cooked, cleaned, mowed the lawn, and did laundry over the next two days. I was quickly sold on the “Fab Four” philosophy and how it maintained glucose levels while keeping you full and curbing sugar cravings. Some of my favorite classes in my Master’s program were sports nutrition and bioenergetics, and I learned enough to know that these smoothies would be a great way to eat a balanced breakfast. 

I was prepared for the smoothies to be just okay at best and for me to try to have them at least a few times a week to help improve my nutrition. I wasn’t prepared for how truly amazing these smoothies tasted and made me feel, and was surprised that I already had most of the ingredients on hand! I was shocked that the smoothies actually kept me full and satisfied for around 4 hours and that I really enjoyed the taste of the recipes in the book. (My Fav FabFour Recipes for FREE!) Not only are these smoothies a healthy and balanced way to start your day or occasionally replace a meal, but they also taste good and are VERY friendly to your waistline. I couldn’t believe the difference on my body analyzer scale after the only change I made was having a smoothie for breakfast every morning for a week.   

I am on about week 4 of having a “Fab Four” smoothie pretty much every morning for breakfast and I feel great! These smoothies are not low calorie “diet” smoothies. They are a healthy blend of fat, fiber, protein, and greens that give you great energy, keep you full, help regulate multiple body functions, improve hair, skin, and nails, and that are full of nutrition. Smoothies are not the only recipes in the book as Kelly advises to eat the “Fab Four” model at each meal. She has delicious recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that follow her “Fab Four” philosophy. “Body Love” is a MUST READ that is full of great nutrition education where she addresses food allergies, vegetarian and vegan options, and gives advice on how to implement good nutrition into your life. I haven’t mastered eating the “Fab Four” at every meal yet but my morning smoothie has been a game-changer for me!