One Size Fits All and Other Fables

by Liz Curtis Higgs

Dieting is all the rage in today's society. Thin is in! How many people continue to diet even though they yo-yo, gaining pounds, losing them only to gain them back. Instead of continually trying to be thinner, Liz Curtis Higgs introduces a unique love your body just the way it is. Prepare to be encouraged and look at our bodies in a whole new light, God's light!

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian

183 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1993

About the author

Former Bad Girl, grateful for the grace God offers. Happy wife of Bill, one of the Good Guys. Proud mom of two grown-up kids with tender hearts. Lame housekeeper. Marginal cook. Pitiful gardener. Stuff I love? Encouraging my sisters in Christ—across the page, from the platform, online, in person. Unpacking Scripture. Traveling wherever God leads. Listening to His heart. Leaning into His embrace.

Reviews

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book for women of all sizes. An empowering book for large woman.

[Michaella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Liz's other books, but this one didn't hit for me.

[Rebecca Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a woman who has been overweight my whole life, I have struggled with self-acceptance and self-love. (And when I say I've been over weight my whole life, it's true. I dieted down to a size 16 while I was dating my husband, and that's the smallest I've ever been in my adult life.) So, as I was reading Liz Curtis Higgs's books, I knew that One Size Fits All was a book that I could not skip.

In this book, Higgs takes on several myths that surround fat people and losing weight. She offers her own refutation for each of these myths. For example, she tackles the idea "All it Takes is a Little Willpower" early in the book, showing how, even with willpower, many people can not loose weight and keep it off. Several of these myths hit home and are myths that I have been guilty of believing. I have often felt guilty of some dread, mortal sin, merely because I have had a lifelong struggle with my weight, and this book has helped me gain some freedom from that. This has been a joy to me.

This book is 20 years old and out of print. Some of the research that Higgs discusses is out of date, and I have no way of gauging what she's discusses with current nutritional ideas and practices. (which is one of the reasons why this book is not a five star book) In other words, I am not abandoning my doctor's idea of a soda-free, low-carb eating plan. However, I think that as I have read her book, I have realized that I need to not shame myself for being fat. Instead, I need to focus on healthy eating, and realize that if I do my responsibility for eating, then whether or not I lose weight is not totally in my control. I need to learn to be happy the way that God made me. That is easier said than done, but Higgs book is an important piece in the puzzle of self-acceptance for me.

[Apryl Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was exceedingly American, and easily applicable to every modern nation. We are so caught up in our image that we forget that we are merely a reflection.

All-in-all, this book was hard to swallow. Look around at all the grossly overweight people, and try to convince yourself that we aren't in denial. But Higgs keeps reminding us to keep looking to the plank in your own mouth before you point out the plank in someone else's mouth.

This book was trying to make the difficult balance of rationalization and justification with truth and grace. I'm not sure if she achieved it.