A great place to start.
I’ve recently been getting a lot of people asking for my favorite books and resources on health and nutrition. I want to emphasize that they are thousands of books out there on health and nutrition, and they all have a different focus and take on what we should eat. It can be overwhelming when we read something one day that tells us all carbohydrates should be avoided and the next read a book about the critical importance of whole grains in the diet.
So, while I always encourage learning, reading and expanding your nutritional knowledge, let’s take it all with a grain of salt and remember that the most important thing is to tune into our own bodies and discover our own unique bioindividuality. Research, learn and take in information but remember that we must experiment on ourselves and ultimately do what feels right for our own bodies.
That being said, there are some amazing resources out there for those starting to get interested in nutrition and learning more about how what we put into our bodies affects us, and here are some of the books and practitioners that have influenced me the most:
The Immune System Recovery Plan by Susan Blum
This is a great overview for those suffering from autoimmune related conditions. It gives a nice overview of how diet can affect symptoms and lays out easy steps to follow.
The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook by Mickey Trescott and Angie Alt
When I first read this book I was nodding my head and saying “yes” out loud so much I knew it was going to be a winner. It’s a beautiful summary of how to manage symptoms and live an active and productive life with autoimmune disease written by two ladies who have gone though it all themselves. I highly recommend this for anyone dealing with an autoimmune issue!
Digestive Wellness by Elizabeth Lipinski
Liz Lipinski is such a wealth of knowledge and writes about all facets of our digestive system (and really our bodies as a whole) in a way that’s easy to understand. This book is great for health coaches and anyone working with individuals with digestive issues.
Why Stomach Acid is Good For You by Jonathan Wright
This book blew my mind when I first read it because it goes against a lot of things we think we know about stomach acid, digestion and acid reflux. It’s really worth a read to understand how medications like proton pump inhibitors and antacids affect our digestion, and how we can get to the root of what’s really going on inside our guts.
Eat, Drink and Be Healthy by Walter C. Willett
This book has been around for a while and is a great introduction into the theory of eating a whole foods, low carbohydrate diet. Walter Willett also delves into the politics of our food system, and how government influences our food supply. A super interesting read and a good first book to get into!
The Abascal Way: To Quiet Inflammation for Health and Weight Loss by Kathy Abascal
This was the book that first got me into the world of holistic nutrition and food as medicine and it has a special place in my heart! Kathy Abascal lives in Vashon Island, WA and created a healing diet that spread around the Pacific Northwest. She writes a lovely summary of how food affects our bodies and can cause inflammation in the body. She presents her “to quiet inflammation” diet and gives recipes and tips and tricks to reduce inflammation and start feeling great.
Body Respect by Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor
This book blows notions we have about weight and dieting out of the water. It tell us what conventional health books get wrong, leave out and just plain fail to understand about weight.
Mind Over Medicine by Lissa Rankin
While this book does not speak directly to nutrition, it is really important in addressing holistic health and the way chronic stress manifests in our bodies as illness and disease. As a medical practitioner who got burned out herself, Dr. Rankin speaks to our conventional medical system, the way we currently treat disease, and alternative factors we should consider to achieve optimal health
Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford
This is a big book, don’t be intimidated! I use it more of a reference guide to understand how particular foods act in the body and how we can use food as medicine. This one is probably better for practitioners or people getting into Chinese Medicine and the more specific uses of food as medicine
Total Renewal by Dr. Frank Lipman
I love any book by Dr. Frank Lipman because I align so much with his overall approach to health and wellness. In this book he covers diet, lifestyle and exercise and lays out a plan for an elimination diet to get you started on the process of healing your gut and transitioning to a whole foods diet.
That should be good a good list to get you started. Let me know if you read (or have read) any of these and want to continue the discussion. Happy reading guys! If you want more information to answer the perpetual question “what should I eat today?” read my blog post here for a simple answer >>
Originally published at www.christinatidwell.com.
Originally published at medium.com