Bronwyn “Fiber-Girl” Schweigerdt is the most entertaining authority on nutrition that you’ve ever heard. Bronwyn has a Master’s degree in nutrition from Tufts University, is an author, columnist but most of all, an amazing speaker. She has literally helped thousands of people learn how to lose weight with her seminar and previous book: The UnDiet: Painless Baby Steps to Permanent Weight Loss. People who hear her not only feel incredibly empowered and inspired, but relieved to learn how simple and fun weight loss can be!
Bronwyn is the author of Free To Eat: The Proven Recipe For Permanent Weight Loss. Free to Eat is what Americans are waiting for: simple secrets that will cause them to lose weight permanently—and painlessly. There is nothing to memorize, count or worry about, because it is based on years of scientific literature. Free to Eat empowers readers to change their eating behaviors by offering realistic and practical steps that work—including over 50 recipes and a 30-day meal plan.
As with many a great notion, the idea came to nutritionist Bronwyn Schweigerdt while she was doing something totally unrelated to her work.
“I was rock climbing,” Schweigerdt says, “and I was doing one where you’re basically horizontal. I’m hanging there upside down thinking, ‘There needs to be a female superhero. There needs to be Fiber Girl. That’s it!’ ”
“I saw myself wearing a cape and a unitard. I thought, ‘I need to be that woman’ “.
And so a superhero was born. Schweigerdt, who holds a master’s in nutrition from Tufts University in Massachusetts, has taught at Sacramento City College and has run numerous corporate dietary seminars, shed her academic persona and donned a cape and a blue unitard with a big yellow “F” emblazoned on her chest.
OK, so she only did it once – for an entertaining YouTube video promoting fiber and her self-published book, “Free To Eat” ($14.95, available at www.fiber-girl.com).
She credits increased fiber in one’s diet with everything from reducing diabetes risk by lowering blood sugar to improving the health of the digestive tract, lowering cholesterol, regulating gallbladder bile, retarding autoimmune diseases … you get the point.
Skeptics might ask, “Whoa – can fiber do all that?”
Then – Pow! – she delivers the knockout blow: weight loss.
“Fiber is filling, and soluble fiber binds with water and expands in your stomach,” she says. “You can’t overeat with fiber.”
And because fiber is a carbohydrate not easily absorbed in your system, “fiber calories go out the back door and, flush, they’re gone,” as Schweigerdt delicately puts it in her book.
BookBuzzr recently interviewed Bronwyn Schweigerdt who is the author of the book ‘Free To Eat: The Proven Recipe For Permanent Weight Loss’ which is among the The Top 10 Books of 2009 on BookBuzzr.
1. Bronwyn will you please share a little about yourself with us?
Sure. I have a Master’s degree in nutrition from Tufts University and my goal is to help keep Americans from obesity and chronic disease by changing their diets. Most people have no idea how powerful the effects of food are – for better and worse – on our health.
2. How and why did you become a writer?
I wrote my first book, The UnDiet, in 2002. I never considered myself a writer, and I didn’t necessarily want to write a book. I just wanted to get the nutrition information out to more people than those who took my college classes. After the UnDiet sold 13,000 copies and I had written a lot more nutrition content on my blog, I published my second book, Free to Eat (2010).
3. What has been your highlight of your career to this point?
The highlight of my career has been the testimonials of people I’ve met or who have emailed me, telling me they’ve lost 30+ pounds and discontinued their medications! There have been so many of these – it’s what keeps me motivated to continue my blog and promoting my book.
4. Do you have a specific place or time that you write?
On my dining room table, usually afternoons or evenings.
5. Please tell us about ‘Free to Eat’ and where it’s available.
Free to Eat about how to lose weight and avoid or reverse diseases like cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Half the book is my writing, and the second half is comprised of delicious recipes written by meal planner Jennifer Brewer. It’s available at my website: www.fiber-girl.com and at Amazon.com. Those bought from my website will contain a signed autograph.
6. Please share with us what you do to market your book?
Speak, speak and speak. I’m one of those rare and strange people that enjoy public speaking – the larger the audience, the more fun. I speak at businesses, community groups, conferences, moms groups, etc. I love being able to answer peoples’ questions directly and connecting with them on a personal level.
7. You are a Top 2009 author on BookBuzzr, did you do anything special to achieve this?
I just have it on my blog, so I suppose my blog gets a lot of traffic.
8. In college, what were your favorite subjects? What are your current hobbies?
I love to mountain bike and backpack. I enjoy being in nature as much as possible. I also love to read non-fiction.
9. What do you hope to achieve through your work?
I hope to save lives and end all the needless suffering from chronic disease and obesity in America.
10. Is there a message you would like to give all people?
Yes. What we put in our bodies is SO powerful to affect our health – for better and for worse. We have far more control over our health than most people believe. And most of what we’re told about nutrition is not helpful or relevant.
BookBuzzr thanks Bronwyn for such a marvelous interview. Connect with Bronwyn on fReado.
