Tuna Breath Review

Synopsis:

Written from the unique experiences of Doug Pedersen, this self-improvement book--disguised as a memoir--is at once funny, poignant, and generous, while offering genuine advice. Providing intimate insights into being a "super fat kid," an insecure teenager, and an over-aggressive, angry, and ironically arrogant Marine who was full of self-pity, Doug shares the negative emotional drivers and responses that drove him through a "binge eating life" before finding physical health, emotional balance, and spiritual wholeness. Tuna Breath invites us to intimately observe a troubling life journey in which the lessons to be learned are truly visceral and inspirational.

Review:

Although not wowed by this book I didn't hate it. In all honestly I didn't feel all that inspired while reading Tuna Breath, but I appreciated Pedersen's honesty and how he put himself out there, even when he came off as an ass at times. You can't ask for much more than honesty in a memoir. Tuna Breath kept my attention and was a fairly quick read. There is some politically incorrect humor through out the novel. Rating: 3/5 About the Author: Doug Pedersen was born in Greeley, Colorado. As the youngest in a family of two boys, he was raised in Burbank, California by his youthful parents who traded in the farmland of Nebraska for the smog and sunshine of the big city. He currently resides in the Washington, D.C. area where he and his wife run a staffing company. According to his writings, he’s a deeply sensitive guy that overcame childhood obesity only to struggle with the same emotional imbalances that lurked in his shadow into adulthood. While in California his father became ill and lost his job. For the first time in Doug’s life things felt uncertain. He quickly discovered that food was the one thing he could control. He learned how to mask his emotional reaction to any situation by consuming massive amounts of food, exploiting this lesson he swelled to 275 lbs. This understanding started him down a destructive path where emotions dictated compulsive reactions. It took him twenty years to reverse the affects of that lesson and learn what real balance and true peace of mind is really all about. A self proclaimed slacker way before Attention Deficit Disorder was commonly diagnosed, Doug mastered the ability to focus his incessant daydreaming and turn it into something productive. He lost the weight and devoured nutrition and exercise books. While finding his body’s natural happy spot, he discovered that the obesity was just a symptom of an emotional imbalance that manifested in every aspect of his life. His hope is that through his writing people will be able to learn to look inward and diagnose the emotions that accompany living with any amount of unwanted turmoil and become proactive in the mastery of their own response to those emotions. Doug’s path to writing has been an unconventional one. He has held many odd jobs – cafeteria worker, security guard, Marine, Investment Banker, Technology Salesman – all of which has helped him hone his voice and natural ability to communicate and connect with people. Doug’s writing is funny, sarcastic, serious, and always honest. He understands that in order to help his readers he needs to reveal everything, even if it is painful or uncomfortable, so that they can learn from his mistakes and grow in a positive direction