This book is short and sweet but is a nice guide for body positivity. It discusses the morality and shame that is so often associated with health and weight and helps the reader see that the body is much more important for the instrument it is and the things it can do, rather than looking nice. Amy repeata multiple times through the book how negative body image is not a problem with the body, but with other internal struggles. Overall, this was a nice book!

I like this philosophy a lot. I think people are way too hard on themselves because of the unrealistic images the media bombards them with from birth, pretty much on a daily basis. Many other reasons behind low self confidence ... organized religion denigrating adherents, abusive parents or partners, the list goes on forever, Good ideas contained herein, it’s just getting people to believe them is ultimately the most difficult part.

As an aside, I’d zhuzh up the cover a bit more. Ditch the wide empty space and compression of all the text into the bottom 1/3 of the cover.

All in all, a well written piece I wish people would take to heart.

I confess to going into this book with some apprehension. Body positivity, a movement started by the Fat Acceptance community, has so often been hijacked and weaponized into the same old diet rhetoric that I am always waiting for the moment when therapeutic strategies still become medical fatphobia. This book does not do that! It is a genuinely helpful text that embraces Health at Every Size (HAES), fat acceptance and body neutrality.

The examples of what constitutes body negativity, body positivity and body neutrality were eye-opening and helpful. Even as someone steeped in fat acceptance, I found many subtle ways in which I am letting the fatphobia creep in, and identifying them was extremely helpful. The in depth discussion of body neutrality (as opposed to the relentless construction of self love often foisted on fat people by the same industries that aim to capitalize on our self-hate) was very refreshing and helped me gain a new understanding of how to treat my body and my body image. The “exercises” were thoughtful and not overwhelming, it is clear that Harman is offering strategies from a place of genuine compassion and understanding.

This is an amazing read that quickly and concisely serves as primer for starting a good relationship with your body, your eating and your choices about movement.

Perfectly Imperfect, Compassionate Strategies to Cultivate a Positive Body Image by Amy Harman, LMFT, CEDS
Publisher: Callisto Media, Rockridge Press
Genre: Self-Help
Release Date: August 11, 2020

This book was packed with so many tips for developing a more positive body image. It was very eye opening to some of the ways I reinforce my own negative body image and there were tips to help work on that.

I'm so grateful for NetGalley and the publisher who provided me with a free copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This book is seriously a wonderful tool to helping anyone achieve a healthier body image.

If you're anything like me and get intimidated by serious, long and complex self-help books, you'll like that this one is the opposite - really short, yet effective in its simplicity. Amy Harman doesn't only talk about what a positive image is, why it's important and how to work towards it, but she also shows what it ISN'T. I like that she uses concrete examples of positive and negative body image views/behaviors/etc., especially in the visual format (colored tables).

While this book won't replace therapy, it is a very strong, simple toolkit to improving your body image - if your issues don't require immediate medical or psychiatric help.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.