Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

Wholistic Food Therapy: A Mindful Approach to Making Peace with Food: A Workbook and Expressive Journal is a nonfiction self-help health and nutrition book written by Sarah Thacker. As indicated in her introduction, Thacker is an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach as well as a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Registered and Board-Certified Art Therapist, a Registered Yoga Instructor and a Certified Yoga Therapist. She uses all of her training and skills in fashioning an interactive program that teaches users how to make food choices mindfully and to take control over stress eating. Thacker does not recommend any sort of “diet,” stating that regimented food programs of that nature end. Rather, she shows her readers how to integrate healthy food choices gradually into their everyday lives. Each chapter includes space for journaling in response to the questions she poses, and there are a number of art exercises, including work with mandalas, to allow readers to chart their progress creatively. Thacker also includes a List of Additional Readings at the back of the text.

Sarah Thacker’s nonfiction self-help health and nutrition book offers the reader a fully integrated program that allows them to explore their relationship with food and experience other mindsets in approaching their nutritional needs. I especially liked the interactive aspect of this book and the fact that Thacker’s discussion questions are designed to help the reader fully understand the gist of her program. This is not a quick-fix book, but rather is best used as a long-term ongoing journal that will allow a dedicated reader to gradually ease into positive changes in their relationship with food. The art therapy aspects of this workbook are inspired and add an element of joy and creativity to the process, and the inclusion of meditation and breathing provides the reader with just about every tool needed to approach their optimal well-being. Wholistic Food Therapy is most highly recommended.