Healthy Eating & Living Book Recommendations

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Aside from the two Michael Pollan books, In Defense of Food & The Omnivores Dilemma, which got me started on this new way of eating, readers have recommended a few other great looking books. I have not yet had the chance to read any of them, but several have been suggested more than once!

The China Study

by Colin Campbell

Amazon Editorial Review:

Referred to as the "Grand Prix of epidemiology" by The New York Times, this study examines more than 350 variables of health and nutrition with surveys from 6,500 adults in more than 2,500 counties across China and Taiwan, and conclusively demonstrates the link between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. While revealing that proper nutrition can have a dramatic effect on reducing and reversing these ailments as well as curbing obesity, this text calls into question the practices of many of the current dietary programs, such as the Atkins diet, that are widely popular in the West. The politics of nutrition and the impact of special interest groups in the creation and dissemination of public information are also discussed.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

by Barbara Kingsolver

From Publishers Weekly: 

Kingsolver has the ear of a journalist and the accuracy of a naturalist. She makes short, neat work of complex topics: what's risky about the vegan diet, why animals belong on ecologically sound farms, why bitterness in lettuce is good. Kingsolver's clue to help greenhorns remember what's in season is the best I've seen. You trace the harvest by botanical development, from buds to fruits to roots. Kingsolver is not the first to note our national "eating disorder" and the injuries industrial agriculture wreaks, yet this practical vision of how we might eat instead is as fresh as just-picked sweet corn. The narrative is peppered with useful sidebars on industrial agriculture and ecology (by husband Steven Hopp) and recipes (by daughter Camille), as if to show that local food—in the growing, buying, cooking, eating and the telling—demands teamwork.

Anticancer

by David Servan-Schreiber

From Publishers Weekly:

After a lucid introduction to cancer and its causes, he points out studies indicating that a poor diet, unhealthy habits (like smoking), some hormones, and environmental toxins increase risk. But as his advice grows more specific, evidence dwindles that these steps work. Eating organic foods, avoiding red meat and processed food, and eliminating household chemicals seem reasonable, but readers curious about how much turmeric or garlic to consume and how much it lowers their cancer risk will find no answers. Servan-Schreiber also advocates a positive, life-affirming attitude, illustrating with anecdotes of patients whose cancers disappeared when they attained inner peace.

Younger Next Year

by Chris Crowley

From the Amazon Customer Reviews:

Of all the anti-aging books I've seen, this is one of most laid back and entertaining....
The book is centered around "Harry's Rules." These are seven rules for the reader to follow. They include such things as "Quit eating crap" or "Exercise six days a week for the rest of your life." While they might seem to be basic pieces of information, they are sound advice and have some science behind them.

All-in-all, I found this to be a very informative and amusing book and I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking for a book on aging. The realistic key here is not to go into things thinking you're going to STOP the aging process, rather think of SLOWING DOWN the aging process.

Blue Zones

by Dan Buettner

From the Amazon Editorial Reviews:

The Blue Zone is one of the most important and engaging stories you will ever read! With Dan Buettner as your intrepid narrator, you will visit locations where people are living the longest, healthiest lives anywhere on the planet. More importantly, you will learn how to immediately incorporate those lessons from faraway places into your very own life.

If you have read any of these books, or have others you'd like to recommend, please let us know in the comments!

Has anyone read The China Study?

Sunday, August 17, 2008

A reader of mine suggested that I would love this book. Apparently it goes into a lot of the actual science behind what is suggested in The Omnivore's Dilemma. As soon as I have given it a read, you can be sure that I'll be throwing around statistics, figures, and new ideas.

Interestingly, after recommending The Omnivore's Dilemma to a few people who are already serious foodies, I realized that it makes far more sense to recommend it to someone who doesn't think about what they eat.

Are there any other related books or magazines you guys would recommend? Think about who would benefit more, the foodies, or the non-foodies.

Red meat: a rare occasion

Monday, August 11, 2008

I don't eat much red meat at all, due largely to the enormous strain our industrialized beef places upon the environment. (For for information, check out the New York Times article 'Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler'). Many estimates of the way we raise cattle here in the US put the figure at 10 to 1. That is, we could feed 10 people with grain, or we could feed that grain to a cow, whose meat would feed 1 person. Just 1.

(photo courtesy of Farm Sanctuary)

However, as detailed in The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (referral link), there are many small farms out there producing beef in ways that do not impact the environment (and almost seem to enhance it?), notably Polyface Farm (150 miles outside of D.C.).

One of the key distinctions is diet. Grass vs. Corn. For a variety of reasons, all industrial beef in the US is fed with corn even though this is not a natural food for the cows. They get fatter faster, but literally cannot properly digest it, which leads to antibiotics, etc. Cows were designed to eat grass, which turns out not only to be far healthier, but also far more environmentally sustainable.

(photo courtesy of eekim)

So we bought some ground beef for $3.99/lb from Natural Homestead Beef. As you can see on their website, the beef was not entirely grass fed, but rather dined on a combination of grass and grain feed. Not ideal in our minds, but certainly better than what we had been eating.

Using a Weight Watchers recipe which included adding carrots and scallions to the patties, as well as lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and chopped cucumbers on top, and some buns from the local Wild Oats (which has been acquired by Whole Foods), I could hardly wait to start eating. The result?

Frankly, I think there was too much going on in this recipe. Much like my french toast, the burgers needed no fancifying (which we proved the next night by having them again without all the dressings. And they were fantastic!). The greatest benefit was that even after eating two burgers (and salad), I felt ready to leap from my chair and take on the world! (Sadly, I cannot remember what I actually did, but likely carried my chair upstairs and typed out another blog post!). Afterwards, we agreed that seeing a little bit of pink in the middle was far less troubling than it might otherwise have been.

But seriously, I've felt light as air after both meals so far. Is it just me, or did you also think that food coma was natural?

The Reluctant Eater

Saturday, August 9, 2008

There isn't a problem with food in America, unless you look into it. I just finished reading In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (referral link), an eye opening account by Michael Pollan of the current state of food in this country and let me tell you: it may forever change the way I eat.

To be honest, for a few years I've felt a bit of superiority (limited solely to inner monologue and the like) in regards to my eating habits. I don't eat out much. I don't eat a ton of "bad" food. And especially no fast food. Buying the "healthy" stuff at the grocery store gave me a guilt free pass to eat whatever I wanted, silently snickering at the people who filled their carts amongst the rows of frozen foods, the meat department (I am not a vegetarian, but have cut back on meat dramatically in the last few years), and the chips & snacks isle.

(photo courtesy of dce)

Anyway, as it turns out, most of the food in the supermarket is so processed that we should hardly consider it food at all.

Basically, up until now, food has served a more utilitarian role in my life. I am not reluctant to eat by any stretch of the imagination (I don't have the unhealthy love/hate relationship that many do), but basically I eat for no other reason than because I know I need nourishment.

But it stops now. I am going to clean up my act which means:

• Eating locally grown food whenever possible (which sadly means some adherence to the seasonality and whims of mother nature)
• Eating responsibly grown food (grass fed meats, organic is good, but doesn't trump local)
• Eating real food (no boxed foods that were created in a General Mills lab somewhere)
• Enjoying food!

(photo courtesy of .michael.newman.)

This blog will be an account of my journey into the world of natural, local food. Don't worry, it won't be preachy. Stick around...you might even be inspired to adopt some new eating habits you didn't know you needed...