Book picks similar to
Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth about Health and Exercise by Gina Kolata
non-fiction
fitness
nonfiction
health
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ
Giulia Enders - 2014
Gut, an international bestseller, gives the alimentary canal its long-overdue moment in the spotlight. With quirky charm, rising science star Giulia Enders explains the gut’s magic, answering questions like: Why does acid reflux happen? What’s really up with gluten and lactose intolerance? How does the gut affect obesity and mood? Communication between the gut and the brain is one of the fastest-growing areas of medical research—on par with stem-cell research. Our gut reactions, we learn, are intimately connected with our physical and mental well-being. Enders’s beguiling manifesto will make you finally listen to those butterflies in your stomach: they’re trying to tell you something important.
The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer
Gretchen Reynolds - 2012
With the latest findings about the mental and physical benefits of exercise, personal stories from scientists and laypeople alike, as well as researched-based prescriptions for readers, Gretchen Reynolds shows what kind of exercise—and how much—is necessary to stay healthy, get fit, and attain a smaller jeans size. Inspired by Reynolds's wildly popular “Phys Ed” column for The New York Times, this book explains how exercise affects the body in distinct ways and provides the tools readers need to achieve their fitness goals, whether that's a faster 5K or staying trim.
ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running
Danny Dreyer - 2004
This new edition is fully updated with fresh insights and innovative training techniques from one of the sport's leading voices. Danny Dreyer teaches us how to heal and prevent injuries and also to run faster, farther, and with much less effort at any age or ability.With more than 150,000 copies in print, this groundbreaking program makes running safe and fun for beginning and seasoned runners, while also giving competitive runners the edge they seek. ChiRunning employs the deep power reserves in the core muscles, an approach found in disciplines such as yoga, Pilates, and in this case T'ai Chi.
Make knee pain and shin splints a thing of the past
Experience the natural efficiency of the midfoot strike
Dramatically reduce your potential for injury
Transform your running with our new 10-step training program
ChiRunning provides powerful insight and transforms running from a high-injury sport to a body-friendly fitness phenomenon. Join the revolution!
The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet
Nina Teicholz - 2014
She documents how the low-fat nutrition advice of the past sixty years has amounted to a vast uncontrolled experiment on the entire population, with disastrous consequences for our health.For decades, we have been told that the best possible diet involves cutting back on fat, especially saturated fat, and that if we are not getting healthier or thinner it must be because we are not trying hard enough. But what if the low-fat diet is itself the problem? What if the very foods we’ve been denying ourselves—the creamy cheeses, the sizzling steaks—are themselves the key to reversing the epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease?In this captivating, vibrant, and convincing narrative, based on a nine-year-long investigation, Teicholz shows how the misinformation about saturated fats took hold in the scientific community and the public imagination, and how recent findings have overturned these beliefs. She explains why the Mediterranean Diet is not the healthiest, and how we might be replacing trans fats with something even worse. This startling history demonstrates how nutrition science has gotten it so wrong: how overzealous researchers, through a combination of ego, bias, and premature institutional consensus, have allowed dangerous misrepresentations to become dietary dogma.With eye-opening scientific rigor, The Big Fat Surprise upends the conventional wisdom about all fats with the groundbreaking claim that more, not less, dietary fat—including saturated fat—is what leads to better health and wellness. Science shows that we have been needlessly avoiding meat, cheese, whole milk, and eggs for decades and that we can now, guilt-free, welcome these delicious foods back into our lives.
The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance
David Epstein - 2013
In college, I ran against Kenyans, and wondered whether endurance genes might have traveled with them from East Africa. At the same time, I began to notice that a training group on my team could consist of five men who run next to one another, stride for stride, day after day, and nonetheless turn out five entirely different runners. How could this be?We all knew a star athlete in high school. The one who made it look so easy. He was the starting quarterback and shortstop; she was the all-state point guard and high-jumper. Naturals. Or were they?The debate is as old as physical competition. Are stars like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams genetic freaks put on Earth to dominate their respective sports? Or are they simply normal people who overcame their biological limits through sheer force of will and obsessive training?The truth is far messier than a simple dichotomy between nature and nurture. In the decade since the sequencing of the human genome, researchers have slowly begun to uncover how the relationship between biological endowments and a competitor’s training environment affects athleticism. Sports scientists have gradually entered the era of modern genetic research.In this controversial and engaging exploration of athletic success, Sports Illustrated senior writer David Epstein tackles the great nature vs. nurture debate and traces how far science has come in solving this great riddle. He investigates the so-called 10,000-hour rule to uncover whether rigorous and consistent practice from a young age is the only route to athletic excellence.Along the way, Epstein dispels many of our perceptions about why top athletes excel. He shows why some skills that we assume are innate, like the bullet-fast reactions of a baseball or cricket batter, are not, and why other characteristics that we assume are entirely voluntary, like an athlete’s will to train, might in fact have important genetic components.This subject necessarily involves digging deep into sensitive topics like race and gender. Epstein explores controversial questions such as:Are black athletes genetically predetermined to dominate both sprinting and distance running, and are their abilities influenced by Africa’s geography?Are there genetic reasons to separate male and female athletes in competition?Should we test the genes of young children to determine if they are destined for stardom?Can genetic testing determine who is at risk of injury, brain damage, or even death on the field?Through on-the-ground reporting from below the equator and above the Arctic Circle, revealing conversations with leading scientists and Olympic champions, and interviews with athletes who have rare genetic mutations or physical traits, Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism.
Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition
T. Colin Campbell - 2013
They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn’t nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.And that’s just from an apple.Nutritional science, long stuck in a reductionist mindset, is at the cusp of a revolution. The traditional "gold standard” of nutrition research has been to study one chemical at a time in an attempt to determine its particular impact on the human body. These sorts of studies are helpful to food companies trying to prove there is a chemical in milk or pre-packaged dinners that is "good” for us, but they provide little insight into the complexity of what actually happens in our bodies or how those chemicals contribute to our health.In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell (alongside his son, Thomas M. Campbell) revolutionized the way we think about our food with the evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. Now, in Whole, he explains the science behind that evidence, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven’t changed.Whole is an eye-opening, paradigm-changing journey through cutting-edge thinking on nutrition, a scientific tour de force with powerful implications for our health and for our world.
Running Like a Girl
Alexandra Heminsley - 2013
When she decided to take up running in her thirties, she had grand hopes for a blissful runner’s high and immediate physical transformation. After eating three slices of toast with honey and spending ninety minutes on iTunes creating the perfect playlist, she hit the streets—and failed miserably. The stories of her first runs turn the common notion that we are all “born to run” on its head—and expose the truth about starting to run: it can be brutal.Running Like a Girl tells the story of how Alexandra gets beyond the brutal part, makes running a part of her life, and reaps the rewards: not just the obvious things, like weight loss, health, and glowing skin, but self-confidence and immeasurable daily pleasure, along with a new closeness to her father—a marathon runner—and her brother, with whom she ultimately runs her first marathon.But before that, she has to figure out the logistics of running: the intimidating questions from a young and arrogant sales assistant when she goes to buy her first running shoes, where to get decent bras for the larger bust, how not to freeze or get sunstroke, and what (and when) to eat before a run. She’s figured out what’s important (pockets) and what isn’t (appearance), and more.For any woman who has ever run, wanted to run, tried to run, or failed to run (even if just around the block), Heminsley’s funny, warm, and motivational personal journey from nonathlete extraordinaire to someone who has completed five marathons is inspiring, entertaining, practical, and fun.
Anticancer. A New Way of Life
David Servan-Schreiber - 2007
Now, a new edition addresses current developments in cancer research and offers more tips on how people living with cancer can fight it and how healthy people can prevent it. The new edition of Anticancer includes: � The latest research on anticancer foods, including new alternatives to sugar and cautions about some that are now on the market � New information about how vitamin D strengthens the immune system � Warnings about common food contaminants that have recently been proven to contribute to cancer progression � A new chapter on mind-body approaches to stress reduction, with recent studies that show how our reactions to stress can interfere with natural defenses and how friendships can support healing in ways never before understood � A groundbreaking study showing that lifestyle modification, as originally proposed in Anticancer, reduces mortality for breast cancer by an astounding 68 percent after completion of treatment � New supporting evidence for the entire Anticancer program
Run for Your Life: How to Run, Walk, and Move Without Pain or Injury and Achieve a Sense of Well-Being and Joy
Mark Cucuzzella - 2018
Mark Cucuzzella explains the simple mechanics of how our bodies have evolved and adapted to run. Despite our natural ability and our human need to run, each year more than half of all runners suffer injuries. Pain and discouragement inevitably follow. Cucuzzella's book outlines the proven, practical techniques to avoid injury and reach the goal of personal fitness and overall health. His book--the first running book to be written by a professor of medicine with the credibility of the Air Force behind him--gives us a straightforward, easy-to-follow look at the anatomy, biomechanics, nutrition, and/or clinical medicine with clear drawings and black-and-white photographs. The book provides illustrated exercises designed to teach healthy running, along with simple progressions, a weekly/monthly schedule detailing common mistakes, and cautions that allow the reader to tailor the training regime to individual needs and abilities. With an annotated list of videos and other innovative, book-Internet links. The proceeds from RUN FOR YOUR LIFE will go to support Mark Cucuzzella's community work through his non-profit organization, Eastern Area Health Education Center/Freedoms Run.
Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body
Michael Matthews - 2012
then you want to read this book. In this book you're going to learn something most women will never know: The exact formula of exercise and eating that makes losing 10 - 15 pounds of fat and replacing it with lean, sexy muscle a breeze..."and it only takes 8 - 12 weeks." This book reveals things like... -The 5 biggest fat loss myths & mistakes that keep women overweight, frustrated, and confused. -The real science of healthy fat loss that makes losing 1 - 2 lbs of fat per week not only easy, but guaranteed. -The HORRIBLE lies women are told about how to "tone" and "shape" their bodies, and what you REALLY need to do to have sexy, lean curves. -How to develop a lightning-fast metabolism that burns up fat quickly and leaves you feeling full of energy all day long. -The carefully-selected exercises that deliver MAXIMUM results for your efforts. This is how you quickly get a firm, round butt, toned legs, a flat stomach, and sculpted arms. -A no-BS guide to supplements that will save you hundreds if not THOUSANDS of dollars each year that you would've wasted on products that are nothing more than bunk science and marketing hype. -How to get lean while still indulging in the "cheat" foods that you love every week like pasta, pizza, and ice cream. -And a whole lot more! The bottom line is you CAN achieve that "Hollywood babe" body without having your life revolve around it-no long hours in the gym, no starving yourself, no grueling cardio that turns your stomach. SPECIAL BONUS FOR READERS! With this book you'll also get a free 75-page bonus report from the author called "The Year One Challenge." In this bonus report, you'll learn exactly how to exercise, eat, and supplement to make the most of your first year of training. By applying what you learn in the book and in this report, you can make more progress in one year than most women make in three, four, or even five (seriously!). Buy this book now and begin your journey to a thinner, leaner, and stronger you!
Mastering the Zone: The Next Step in Achieving SuperHealth and Permanent Fat Loss
Barry Sears - 1996
Barry Sears, author of the No.1 New York Times bestseller and health phenomenon, The Zone (more than 600,000 hardcover copies sold!), is back with an exciting new book teeming with tantalizing recipes and insightful information that will deepen readers' understanding of this revolutionary health and fitness program that has become the regimen of the '90s.Flying in the face of conventional dietary thinking, and after years of comprehensive scientific research, Dr. Sears discovered that "eating fat doesn't make you fat." His phenomenally successful first book, The Zone, introduced the world to to groundbreaking health plan that for hundreds of thousands of readers has become the magic key to maintaining a consistent level of physical and mental well-being -- a healthful state known as "The Zone." Now Dr. Sears takes his breakthrough scientific discoveries and stunning success a step further with Mastering the Zone, which not only presents delicious, completely original Zone-favorable recipes that are easy to prepare and taste as good as they are good for you, but also offers a practical guide to fine-tuning your place in the Zone.From entrees to appetizers to desserts, there is something here for every taste and every occasion. Appearing throughout is Dr. Sears' enlightening new information for readers interested in educating themselves further about the Zone -- the health regimen that succeeds where millions of others have not.
Wired to Eat: How to Rewire Your Appetite and Lose Weight for Good
Robb Wolf - 2017
- One month to reset your metabolism for lasting fat loss - One week to discover the carbs that are right for you- With weekly shopping lists and over 70 fully-anglicised recipes In WIRED TO EAT, superstar US diet expert, Paleo sensation and New York Times bestselling author of THE PALEO SOLUTION Robb Wolf will show you how to change your eating habits for good, tailor your diet to fit your personal needs and shed weight fast – and never put it back on!
Secrets from the Eating Lab: The Science of Weight Loss, the Myth of Willpower, and Why You Should Never Diet Again
Traci Mann - 2015
And what she has discovered is groundbreaking. Not only do diets not work; they often result in weight gain. Americans are losing the battle of the bulge because our bodies and brains are not hardwired to resist food—the very idea of it works against our biological imperative to survive.In Secrets From the Eating Lab, Mann challenges assumptions—including those that make up the very foundation of the weight loss industry—about how diets work and why they fail. The result of more than two decades of research, it offers cutting-edge science and exciting new insights into the American obesity epidemic and our relationship with eating and food.Secrets From the Eating Lab also gives readers the practical tools they need to actually lose weight and get healthy. Mann argues that the idea of willpower is a myth—we shouldn’t waste time and money trying to combat our natural tendencies. Instead, she offers 12 simple, effective strategies that take advantage of human nature instead of fighting it—from changing the size of your plates to socializing with people with healthy habits, removing “healthy” labels that send negative messages to redefining comfort food.
Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss
Joel Fuhrman - 2003
In EAT TO LIVE, Dr. Fuhrman offers his healthy, effective, and scientifically proven plan for shedding radical amounts of weight quickly, and keeping it off.Losing weight under Dr. Fuhrman's plan is not about willpower, it is about knowledge. The key to this revolutionary diet is the idea of nutrient density, as expressed by the simple formula Health=Nutrients/Calories. When the ratio of nutrients to calories is high, fat melts away and health is restored. Losing 20 pounds in two to three weeks is just the beginning. The more high-nutrient food Dr. Fuhrman's patients consume, the more they are satisfied with fewer calories, and the less they crave fat and high-calorie foods. Designed for people who must lose 50 pounds or more in a hurry, EAT TO LIVE works for every dieter, even those who want to lose as little as 10 pounds quickly. No willpower required-just knowledge
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health
William Davis - 2011
As a result, over 100 million of them experience some form of adverse health effect, ranging from minor rashes and high blood sugar to the unattractive stomach bulges that preventive cardiologist William Davis calls "wheat bellies." According to Davis, that excess fat has nothing to do with gluttony, sloth, or too much butter: It's due to the whole grain wraps we eat for lunch.After witnessing over 2,000 patients regain their health after giving up wheat, Davis reached the disturbing conclusion that wheat is the single largest contributor to the nationwide obesity epidemic—and its elimination is key to dramatic weight loss and optimal health. In Wheat Belly, Davis exposes the harmful effects of what is actually a product of genetic tinkering and agribusiness being sold to the American public as "wheat"—and provides readers with a user-friendly, step-by-step plan to navigate a new, wheat-free lifestyle.Informed by cutting-edge science and nutrition, along with case studies from men and women who have experienced life-changing transformations in their health after waving goodbye to wheat, WheatBelly is an illuminating look at what is truly making Americans sick and an action plan to clear our plates of this seemingly benign ingredient.