Quantum Wellness

by Kathy Freston

Quantum Wellness is the idea that you can achieve a significant increase in the health of mind, body and spirit through small focused steps, which will, in turn, yield extraordinary changes in your life. None of us makes perfect choices all the time so, in this "New York Times" bestseller, Kathy Freston shows how small steps regarding how to eat, how to work, how to live in our imperfect bodies and how to stay positive can add up to significant breakthroughs in overall well-being. To do this, Freston advocates setting manageable goals - achieving a little one day a week, then two, then more - and building up to a complete programme that can incorporate all or some of the eight pillars of meditation, visualisation, fun activities, a diet of whole foods, exercise, helping others, considering yourself and spiritual practise. In combination, these will take perfect care of your mind, body and spirit, raising you to the pinnacle of wellness.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Food, Self Help, Nutrition, Personal Development, Spirituality

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 20, 2008

About the author

Kathy Freston is an American author and promoter of plant-based nutrition. Her books include The Lean, Veganist, Quantum Wellness, Clean Protein and 72 Reasons to Be Vegan.

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book on a day when I was feeling anything but well. I'll admit it, I was impressed that Dr. Oz did the forward and Dr. Dean Ornish had a comment on the back jacket. The book was interesting and made some good points but what I found the most interesting were the author's credentials or lack thereof. Make no mistake folks. This is just one person's philosophy on how to live a better life. She has written articles for some major magazines and has appeared on national television (most notably the Oprah show). But she is not a doctor, a nutritionist, a dietitian, a personal trainer or even a certified life coach. She is just a woman who believes whole heartedly in the vegan lifestyle and "conscious living." Read it but don't think she's an authority on anything other than her own life.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry Oprah, I'm not a huge fan of this book. Freston does incorporate some solid concepts: "conscious living", which includes thinking about where your food is coming from and what you're putting into your body, as well as eating fresh, organic food whenever possible. HOWEVER, I can't get behind the whole vegan thing. I don't think it's even close to the healthiest route to go. I'm a big believer in eating (almost) everything in moderation, and that includes animal fat. Call me crazy, but I think most of Freston's ideas are a little crazy...

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give this book three and a half or even four stars for readers who are just starting out on their journeys to health. It meshes well with what I've learned about meditation and with what other Oprah guests have said (people like Eckhart Tolle, Dr Oz, Louise Hay, and so on): live mindfully and increase your awareness to what is happening within and without, "leaning into wellness." I greatly appreciate how Kathy Freston breaks healing down into "The Eight Pillars of Wellness"--meditation, visualization, fun activities, conscious eating, exercise, self-work, spiritual practice, and service--and then further breaks those down into activities to try. She encourages readers to make conscious choices to be healthier in body, mind, spirit, environment, community, and the world.

The part I resisted the most was in the chapters on food. I already eat a very healthy diet, so that wasn't a problem. However, Kathy is very passionate about being vegan, and I am really not there yet. It didn't help to be reading this section while eating my lunch which included chunks of chicken. I completely agree that the appalling conditions under which most food animals are raised are unacceptable and must be stopped already! But I KNOW where most of my eggs come from, and those chickens are quite pampered, so I have no plans to turn vegan just yet. Lean into vegetarianism, maybe, but not veganism. Besides, quite a few of the meal plans & recipes she includes in the appendix are foods/ingredients I can't eat because they contain gluten. (And some because I just don't like them and/or they are impractical to prepare in my circumstances.)

Overall, though, I enjoyed the book and do recommend it.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book with a passion. This isn't my type of book but it had gotten such buzz that I thought I should check it out. Turned out to be just more schlocky diet and "spirit" crap. Also, I'm not giving up gluten, so shut up.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok... so, I was totally embarrassed to read this book in public, especially with the cheeseball glamshot of the author. Yikes. But that said, it wasn't too bad for a self help book. Lots of common sense advice packaged into bitesized chapters. Like many self help authors, Freston basically repackages Buddhist philosophy for the Oprah set, providing anecdotes about the benefits of mindful living. Her focus is extremely heavy on diet, of which she espouses veganism as the only option for mindful, evolved lifestyles. She proposes a somewhat radical six week cleanse to jump-start her wellness regimen, involving the elimination of caffeine, dairy, gluten, and sugar products. Somewhat dangerous, I would imagine, for someone who is not a nutritionist or medical professional to advise. That said, I did think she had some valuable insight into achieving balance in four key aspects of your life: relationships, daily routine, relaxation/rejuvenation time, and challenging, growth building activities. Her theory of wellness being "quantum," as in comprised of small, seemingly unimportant decisions that have the potential to accumulate past a "tipping point" is also provocative. Still, I couldn't hep but being distracted that this woman has no academic/professional credentials and continuously makes reference to her former career as a fashion model. Hard to read past that.

[planetkimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. I was already familiar with most of the material, but I did pick up two new ideas that I'm grateful for:
- The idea of "leaning in to" a change. Freston says that sometimes change takes time, that you need to roll a concept around in your head for a while before you're ready to act on it. This made a great deal of sense to me, and in retrospect I realize that it describes how I accomplished my more successful lifestyle changes.
- Balancing the "Four Rs": Regular (maintenance stuff), Relate (interpersonal relationships), Rejuvenate, Reach (self-improvement). She suggests that people need to make sure they're expending energy on each one to keep their lives in balance.

And I found two referenced works that I intend to hunt down and read:
- The Earth House by Jeanne DuPrau
- "The Comparative Anatomy of Eating" by Milton Mills

And she lists a lot of tasty-looking healthy recipes!

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who is Kathy Freston anyway? A former model/counselor who thinks she's a nutritionist and new age guru? I read her OPINIONS and understand them, but a lot of what she says she doesn't even bother to back up medically. If you decide to go vegan for moral reasons, I understand that, but if it's purely for "health" I think you're on shakier ground. The recipes in the back of the book are pretty good and I copied many of them down, so I'll give them a try. One thing I did take away from her is that it doesn't have to be all or nothing - you can lean into it - even one or two meatless meals a week is helpful...I will say I am currently doing her 21-day cleanse. I went out to dinner with my husband tonight and suspended the rules: no caffeine, no alcohol, no animal products, no sugar, no gluten - and my stomach feels TERRIBLE and that's only after 4 days on the cleanse. Maybe this stuff is really toxic after all...

[Marcella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some really useful ideas for dealing with stress and difficult situations. A little new age-ish for me as a Christian, but I could definitely apply many of her ideas to my own world view. This book also makes an excellent case for veganism as an avenue to persue compassion and mindfulness in, what is for most people, thoughtless consumption. I enjoy her tone however, in that it is not preachy; she allows the reader to make his or her own decision respectfully and without guilt.

[Chanelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Socrates stated that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. Many people are living by rote. This means not looking at what you really want, who you really are, how you truly feel, or what you truly believe in. It is doing and living without authentic thought, and it’s a recipe for a life of desperation. This book makes you examine all areas of your life in order to live on purpose and not by rote.

I found myself underlining many passages in this book to refer back to again and again. It is written and organized well. I just re-read this several years later, and its interesting how different things resonated with me this time around, because of where I’m at now on the continuum of life. The idea is to do some cross training with the mind, body, and spirit in order to achieve quantum wellness. Similar to the butterfly effect, just making small improvements every day over time will result in major shifts in your future self. Kathy focuses on the 8 Pillars of Wellness:

Meditation
Visualization
Fun/laughter
Conscious eating
Exercise
Self-work
Spiritual practice
Service

On spiritual practice.... Webster’s definition of worship is “a state or condition of worth”. Love that. The reason for worship is to realize the divine that resides within you. No religion has a patent on this, of course. It’s up to you to decide how to tap into this. Keep listening to your inner voice and decide if a teaching appeals to your core goodness or if it resonates with FEAR BASED THINKING. There is no need to commit to and stay in one religion or one way of thinking. Nuggets of wisdom are available wherever you look.


On service..... the purpose for service is to operate from our higher self rather than our ego. The ego will never be satiated. Instead of looking to the material, we have to look to the ways of the Spirit. Joy comes from giving things away rather than hoarding them. The illusion of the ego is that we alone are the center of the universe, but it is our Oneness and connectedness that is the ultimate truth. (Page 44-45)

On self work .... it’s important to let yourself feel every emotion. Don’t underestimate the power of talking to a trusted friend, or being that trusted friend when someone needs to just feel their emotions. Suppressed emotions manifest as a physical ailment, known as a psychosomatic condition. The pain or illness is real, but it’s origin is emotional or mental (page 54-55).

I agree with most of her ideas on quantum wellness except for the part about striving for a vegan lifestyle. The arguments for it are compelling, enough that I tried going vegan for about a year after reading the China Study. However, I came to the conclusion that veganism definitely decreased my overall happiness and the happiness of my family. My slight lean towards consuming less meat was not worth the amount of deprivation and resentment it caused my family to feel.

[Nichola Gutgold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful read that asks you to align your consumption with your values. Good, but not revelatory for me, a long time seeker and vegetarian.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick-read self help book. It actually had some really good points and ideas. Below are some of the things I took away from this book. She was a bit too much for me at times but I think I would like to re-read this book after incorporating some of it into my life. It was a bit too deep to take in all at once. I also appreciated the recipes in the back.

Eight Pillars of Wellness:
Meditation
Visualization
Fun Activities
Conscious Eating
Exercise
Self-Work
Spiritual Practice
Service

Meditation: "...state of quite comtemplation. It involves turning your focus inward for at least a few moments at a time so you can access a deeper reality. Practicing a daily ritual of meditation almost always leads to positive changes in your life in that you are more relaxed and "in tune" throughout the day and can better handle stress and adversity."

Visualization: "Visualization is more active than meditation. It is a way of mapping out the changes and upgrades you wish to make." "Visualization helps you rejigger the way you see things so that you can respond to life differently; it takes apart old images and replaces them with new and better ones. With these new images in place you will begin to think differently, and as you thing and behave differently, people will change the way they respond to you." "...solid action steps." Dream/vision board.

Cleanse
No sugar
No animal products
No gluten
No caffeine
No alcohol

"I also noticed that the more sweet stuff I ate, the more I wanted. I saw that I slipped into this cycle of blood-sugar highs and lows and it became an enormous distraction for me to try to control and manage the peaks and valleys. Because I was struggling with trying to get a handle on my diet and ballooning stomach, I didn't have time to deal with things in my life that were making me sad. Convenient."

"Get a massage, soak in a tub." "Yoga." "Colonic therapy" (look into this someday).

Addictive Behaviors: "We become enslaved to them. We allow them to dictate our lives; we revolve around them and make them our top priority, sacrificing everything to protect our access to them. Although we look to them to save us, they end up sucking the life right out of us."

"...common tactics to soothe frustration include shopping, obsession with tabloid fodder, watching silly TV shows, or engaging in anything that results in isolating you from the truth of what is. We are in a world that is largely asleep."

"One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. But today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and face the challenge of change." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Quantum Wellness" suggests that we focus on the "eight pillars" of wellness, which Freston refers to as "wellness cross-training". These are:

Meditation - use it to quietly contemplate, and focus inward, for at least a few moments at a time
Visualization - map out the changes and upgrades that you wish to make in your life
Fun Activities - to loosen up your energy and bring optimism, and should be made a daily part of our life
Conscious Eating - the author is vegan, and avoids chemicals, not only in food, but also in beauty and household products
Exercise - half an hour, six times a week, this one's a no brainer, benefits are endless, just do it!
Self-Work - look at where you are at, set goals for where you'd like to be, and chart the course on how to get there; helps us reach our full potential
Spiritual Practice - knowing we are connected to some sort of deep and unified source helps us identify with something larger, and increases our capacity to love and be kind to ourselves and others
Service - helps you trancend the small self in favor of the higher Self

This book was a terrific refresher about what is important, and how to achieve optimum performance and happiness in life. It was short, to the point, and at the end of the book there are a lot of resources, references, and yummy Vegan recipes and a full 21 day cleansing plan. Freston donates quite a bit of time to discussing nutrition, and suggests giving up alcohol, sugar, dairy, meat, caffeine, and gluten for 21 days, three times per year.

Lastly, what I liked about the book is that it encourages you to take small steps and these small steps eventually lead to a large shift. She states "quantum wellness is not about imposing big changes, but about leaning into wellness, comfortably, adding things here and there to the thrust and taking baby steps toward the changes we want to achieve". She compares these small changes to the "butterfly effect", a well-known theory that a small change such as the beating of a butterfly's wings can cause huge changes in weather. I love the idea and visualization that small changes that we make every day can drastically impact our lives. "The more we adjust or shift - even in tiny ways- the more we can look forward to sweeping changes showing up in our lives. We can cut one thing out of our diet, add a minute or two of meditation, or turn our attention just for a moment toward kindness, and before we know it we are different people creating a different world". So, we are all capable of making small changes and in the process we are capable of radically improving our lives, an optimistic message that I can relate to!

[Yoonmee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just like another reviewer asked, "Who the heck is Kathy Freston?" Not that a self-help author has to be well-known in order to be taken seriously, but in this case it seems fitting. A quick Google search (and a peek at the back of the book) tells me she's a self-help guru who promotes a vegan lifestyle. A quick peek at her website (www.kathyfreston.com) doesn't reveal too much more. She mentions having clients in the book and mentions a counseling career, but I can't seem to find information on her website about her being a certified counselor.

I say all of that because I wasn't a fan of the book. She has some good ideas and touts many common, useful self-helpy type tips, but so do a lot of self-help books. My main problems with her book were 1) she pushes a vegan lifestyle claiming it's the only way to live a conscious life, and 2) she drones on and on in an attempt to drive her point home but it felt more like driving a nail into my head.

I'm okay with vegans, but I don't think it's the only way to live a conscious, engaged, healthy life. Granted, she's very nice about pushing her agenda (not like those crazies from Skinny Bitch), but I still got a little bit aggravated with the slightly holier than thou attitude about being vegan/vegetarian. I'm all for being conscious, engaged, healthy, fit, etc. (heck, that's why I chose to read the book), but I don't agree that we shouldn't ever kill animals for food or that animal meat is bad for us. At one point in the book she says, "If you're wondering why I've spent such a great deal of time focusing on eating consciously, it's because it is the single most fundamental and simple thing you can do to create the most far-reaching and monumental shift. It is a shortcut to quantum wellness in every sense of the term." Right there we know the aim of her book is to convert readers into veganism. Okay, all that said, I shouldn't give the book a low rating simply because I'm a meat eater and she's a vegan. Kathy Freston and I can agree to disagree on this issue. That's fine.

My main issue is that the book is boring. As I mentioned, she drones on and on in an attempt to make a point. Her tone is open-minded and yet it seems a tad too calculatedly open-minded, if that makes sense. She mentions her eight areas of practice for living a conscious, engaged life, but I didn't feel as if she discussed them in the rest of the book in an organized, meaningful manner.

Two stars. It's not great. I don't recommend it for a self-help book.

[Amy Formanski Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freston presents a lot of helpful ideas on how to look inward and improve our lives. We live in a world where everyone wants to blame other people (and sometimes sue them!) for their problems. But really, the problem is usually ourselves. I'm beginning to realize that a big part of adult life is taking responsibility for our own behavior and trying to become the best version of ourselves in order to help others. We're no good to our families, friends and strangers if we don't work out whatever lingering issues we have going on beneath the surface. So Freston recommends cleansing your diet, connecting to sprituality, examining what issues are holding us back from becoming our best selves, and working on whatever addictions we have. I'm still on the fence about doing cleanses. I'm not sure it's necessary if I'm already eating a fairly healthy diet. Oh, let's face it...I'm probably just not willing to give up coffee and booze for 21 days. But even a week of getting off these things, and animal products, does make me feel a lot better. And doing things like getting rid of the clutter in your home can really change your outlook for the better too. Sometimes we need to get rid of unhealthy relationships, too. I don't have anything so serious as a drug or alcohol addiction, but her suggestions on how to make small changes gave me a lot to ponder. It's a lifelong process, becoming a better person, but she offers some great tools to start on that path.

[Becka · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED...THIS...BOOK

Although a pretty large chunk of the book discussed "conscientious eating" (i.e. vegetarianism) and I'm not quite there yet since I love my meat, I thought this book was excellent and recommend it to everyone. She discusses the 8 pillars of wellness and incorporating an all around positive change and transformation in your life based on self work, spiritualization, meditation, service, visualization, fun activities, conscious eating and exercise. Applies principles from every religion/spiritual group and quotes from everyone: Buddha, Jesus, Einstein, etc. Did you know Einstein was a vegetarian and thought it was really the only way to live? If he says that, and being right on so many other crazy concepts that we can't even get our minds around (black matter, E=MC squared and such) well then he must be onto something! My favorite quote "If God is smart enough to have created the universe and keep the planets revolving around the sun, He certainly can handle the details of your little life" -Marianna Williamson

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to read this book because I am always looking to improve my health and well-being. I was disappointed in the lack of quantitative information in this book. The author does not have a degree in the medical field and has no co-writer to endorse her theories. The first half of the book on general well-being, healthy eating and so forth kept my interest, however, when the author approached to subject of veganism the tide turned. Personally, I don't care much for meat so I ultimately end up eating like a vegan and incorporating fish, poultry and red meat very sparingly. The author goes on and on and on about how our meat is meat is killed (in gruesome detail) and while her version is pretty repulsive, I will continue to follow the Word of Wisdom in dictating my diet. Worth reading as long as you don't take it too seriously.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really, really like this book. I have read many, many, many self help kind of books because of my major in college (family counseling) and my main complaint is that a lot of the authors are crazies or it is too research based or it isn't practical/useable advice. This book didn't have any of that crap. :o) I felt inspired to become a better person AND had specific ways to do it. I particularly like how she talks about "leaning" into change. It is so much more forgiving and hopeful than "you have to be a great person right now and do all of these things right now or you are a failure." And yes, I have drastically cut back on eating so many animal products and lost 5 pounds. (Except for cheese, which I will never give up.) And yes, I also feel like I have been "filled with energy and a creative spark" since reading this book. (Which is the promise on the very first page.)

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is thought provoking and contains some helpful and interesting wellness activities. However, the delivery was weird. Sometimes it was clear and straight forward, then others it was almost mystical and poetic. That made some of the advice hard to understand.

Also, note that a large portion of the book is dedicated to food, specifically vegetarianism/veganism. Readers should note there are slightly graphic details about the treatment of animals in commercial farms. It was all interesting; however, I felt that it went on too long. I did probably got the most out of this section of the book.

The audiobook was very nice to listen to and I loved that the author read it herself. It ended with a five minute interview with Kathy, which wasn't especially enlightening, but was interesting.

[David Rubenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best general-purpose self-help book you can find. The advice on nutrition and compassion for living creatures is absolutely 100% correct. Freston's endorsement of Colin Campbell's The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health is spot on. The advice about finding a cause that gets your juices flowing and working toward it is a benefit to oneself and to society.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredible. It offers a wealth of knowledge about a healthy eating lifestyle. It is not strict or demanding. You "lean into" this style of conscious eating and living. It was absoultely life changing and helped me learn how to take some of the guilt out of eating. The middle section is more for "unhealthy emotions" which didn't pertain to me particularly and the last secion is devoted to an unhealthy world...on a global level and how to be the change you want to see in the world. She gives a TON of recipies at the end which are lovely.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to live a postive conscious life.

[Ashblangford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book if you are someone who is interested in the mind body connection, and learning new ways of eating, exercise,thinking, etc to become a more vibrant, healthy person. I am not a vegetarian, but this book taught me a lot about what it means to be vegan and its many health benefits. Very educational, touched on animal cruelty in the U.S., definitely made me think about what I eat and how it got to me, some really shocking stuff occurs w/ meat processing, ALMOST makes me want to become vegan...

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The publisher of this title is not mainstream and it shows. There is no index (shame, shame) and there are a number of grammatical errors. And while I agree with the author on most counts and I found much of the information helpful, I have embraced a philosophy similar to hers for many, many years. For readers who are new to her way of thinking, they might take her ideas, etc. more seriously (or at least consider them more valid) if she had co-authored the book with a dietician or other healthcare professional trained in diet and nutrition.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most wellness books state how important it is to be healthy in mind, body and spirit but doesn't really tell you HOW to do that or relate it to the bigger picture. This book did that for me, finally! It is written like a friend speaking to you, which I really enjoyed. It is a lot of her personal experience but I found that I could take excerpts from her experiences and relate them directly to my life. I haven't gone Vegan and don't really plan to, but I am Vegetarian now. It was a personal choice anyway, but reading her reasons behind the choice empowered me even more.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Provided plenty of alternative views on health. The one thing that got me is how vegan-centric this book is. The author's veganism pervades almost every aspect of the book. I'm a vegetarian, so I understand where she's coming from -- I just thought it was excessive. She emphasised veganism so much it took away from the other parts of the book and other aspects of "wellness." It made you think unless you're vegan, none of her other suggestions would work!

Interesting, liked the different perspectives it offered, but a bit one-sided.

[Georgette Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book first made its way to me was in 2010. I recently read it a second time in March 2015. I enjoyed the book. There is great information within the pages. One thing I found surprising during my first read...I was surprised by the author's vegetarian agenda. As a writer, I have learned from various books and classes, a reader should never be surprised. If there is an agenda, the reader should know up front. I was encouraged to be more conscious of what I ate and encouraged in leaning in toward healthier ways.

[Wendy Rogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated Kathy Freston's view that the small, incremental steps we take toward wellness (what she calls "leaning into change") do make a difference. While it's hard to undertake major changes in our mental, physical, or spiritual health, in Kathy's view, making progress in the direction of wellness is what we should strive for. So we don't need to feel we have completely failed if we miss yoga class for a week (or six months!)

[Marilyn Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms Freston certainly makes a good arguement for making changes in your life. I seem to be at a crossroads in my life and I think some things are more clear. I did find the section about removing meat/fish/chicken from your diet difficult to read. I am thinking seriously about being more vegetarian. In addition to dietary changes I will begin my 'vision quest' this week using the beach at Hilton Head. This is a title I will certainly purchase for future reference.

[Ginger Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am LOVING this book! I have made many notes and highlighted excerpts that I want to be mindful of as I am shifting my approach and energy to life and my own well-being. This is my current bible that I reference regularly through the week. I'd already highly recommend it to anyone who wants to look deeply into their lives and work on the evolution of a wiser, more peaceful self; mind, body and soul.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty much a "beginner's" guide to wellness. She spent a lot of time writing about becoming a vegetarian, which I already am, so a lot of it was not new information to me. I also did not completely agree with some of the "health" tips she wrote about, however, I like that she is getting people to think about living every aspect of their lives in a very holistic way.

[Betsy]

In the interview with the author she addressed conscious eating and how we are effected by the energy from our food. If the meat from an animal we eat has been mistreated or killed violently, that energy is transferred to us. This is a reason to be a vegetarian that I can relate to. May be an interesting read in order to make improvements in health and well-being. I'll add it to my list.