Book picks similar to
You Don't Look Sick!: Living Well with Invisible Chronic Illness by Joy H. Selak
health
non-fiction
chronic-illness
nonfiction
Food: What the Heck Should I Eat?
Mark Hyman - 2018
Mark Hyman sorts through the conflicting research on food to give us the skinny on what to eat. Did you know that eating oatmeal actually isn't a healthy way to start the day? That milk doesn't build bones, and eggs aren't the devil? Even the most health conscious among us have a hard time figuring out what to eat in order to lose weight, stay fit, and improve our health. And who can blame us? When it comes to diet, there's so much changing and conflicting information flying around that it's impossible to know where to look for sound advice. And decades of misguided "common sense," food-industry lobbying, bad science, and corrupt food polices and guidelines have only deepened our crisis of nutritional confusion, leaving us overwhelmed and anxious when we head to the grocery store. Thankfully, bestselling author Dr. Mark Hyman is here to set the record straight. In Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? -- his most comprehensive book yet -- he takes a close look at every food group and explains what we've gotten wrong, revealing which foods nurture our health and which pose a threat. From grains to legumes, meat to dairy, fats to artificial sweeteners, and beyond, Dr. Hyman debunks misconceptions and breaks down the fascinating science in his signature accessible style. He also explains food's role as powerful medicine capable of reversing chronic disease and shows how our food system and policies impact the environment, the economy, social justice, and personal health, painting a holistic picture of growing, cooking, and eating food in ways that nourish our bodies and the earth while creating a healthy society. With myth-busting insights, easy-to-understand science, and delicious, wholesome recipes, Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? is a no-nonsense guide to achieving optimal weight and lifelong health.
Pain Free: A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain
Pete Egoscue - 2000
Developed by Pete Egoscue, a nationally renowned physiologist and sports injury consultant to some of today's top athletes, the Egoscue Method has an astounding 95 percent success rate. The key is a series of gentle exercises and carefully constructed stretches called E-cises. Inside you'll find detailed photographs and step-by-step instructions for dozens of e-cizes specifically designed to provide quick and lasting relief of: Lower back pain, hip problems, sciatica, and bad knees Carpal tunnel syndrome and even some forms of arthritis Migraines and other headaches, stiff neck, fatigue, sinus problems, vertigo, and TMJ Shin splints, varicose veins, sprained or weak ankles, and many foot ailments Bursitis, tendinitis, and rotator cuff problems Plus special preventive programs for maintaining health through the entire body.With this book in hand, you're on your way to regaining the greatest gift of all: a pain-free body!the help of Pete Egoscue's revolutionary program of quick stretches and strength-building exercises, you can cure chronic pain, and do it naturally. Pete Egoscue has shown thousands of individuals, corporations, schools, and championship sports teams how to eliminate pain without investing in expensive ergonomic devices or resorting to surgery or drug therapies. His groundbreaking book, with nearly 50,000 hardcover copies sold, shows readers how to:Relieve lower back painImprove hip problems, sciatica, and bad kneesRelieve migraines and other headaches, stiff neck, fatigue, sinus problems, vertigo, and TMJRelieve painful problems, like carpal tunnel syndrome, often misdiagnosed as arthritisPrevent injuries and maintain health through stretching programs for the entire bodyFilled with easy instructions, photos, and line illustrations throughout, this book will provide quick, effective pain relief. -->
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause
Izabella Wentz - 2013
Most patients with Hashimoto's will present with acid reflux, nutrient deficiencies, anemia, intestinal permeability, food sensitivities, gum disorders and hypoglycemia in addition to the "typical" hypothyroid symptoms such as weight gain, cold intolerance, hair loss, fatigue and constipation. The body becomes stuck in a vicious cycle of immune system overload, adrenal insufficiency, gut dysbiosis, impaired digestion, inflammation, and thyroid hormone release abnormalities. This cycle is self-sustaining and will continue causing more and more symptoms until an external factor intervenes and breaks the cycle apart. The lifestyle interventions discussed in this book aim to dismantle the vicious cycle piece by piece. We start with the simplest modifications, by removing triggers, and follow with repairing the other broken systems to restore equilibrium, allowing the body to rebuild itself.
All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, and Only Slightly Enlightening Headache
Paula Kamen - 2005
While she was putting in her contacts, the left lens disturbed a constellation of nerves behind her eye. The pain was more piercing than that of any other headache she had ever experienced. More than a decade later, she still has a headache-the exact same headache. From surgery to a battery of Botox injections to a dousing of Lithuanian holy water, from a mountain of pharmaceutical products to aromatherapy and even a vibrating hat, All in My Head chronicles the sometimes frightening, usually absurd, and always ineffective remedies Kamen-like so many others-tried in order to relieve the pain. Beleaguered and frustrated by doctors who, frustrated themselves, periodically declared her pain psychosomatic, she came to understand the plight of the millions who suffer chronic pain in its many forms. Full of self-deprecating humor and razorsharp reporting, All in My Head is the remarkable story of patience, acceptance, and perseverance in the face of terrifying pain.
The Tapping Solution: A Revolutionary System for Stress-Free Living
Nick Ortner - 2013
. . but you don’t know how to change? The Tapping Solution offers a new technique to deal with seemingly impossible situations. Tapping, also known as EFT, is a powerful tool for improving your life on multiple levels: mental, emotional, and physical. It has been proven to effectively address a range of issues—from anxiety, chronic pain, addiction, and fear, to weight control, financial abundance, stress relief, and so much more. It’s also one of the easiest and fastest practices to learn. You can learn it in minutes, do it anywhere and on virtually any issue, and oftentimes experience immediate results. How does it work? Based on the principles of both ancient acupressure and modern psychology, tapping concentrates on specific meridian endpoints while focusing on negative emotions or physical sensations. Combined with spoken word, tapping helps calm the nervous system to restore the balance of energy in the body and rewire the brain to respond in healthy ways. In this book, you’ll not only learn how to start tapping, you’ll also get the history and cutting-edge science behind it. Featuring step-by-step instructions, exercises, and diagrams, The Tapping Solution shows you how to tap on a variety of issues and identify practical applications. Plus, throughout the book, you’ll find unbelievable, real-life stories of healing, ranging from easing the pain of fibromyalgia to overcoming a fear of flying. Find out how to release your fears and clear the limiting beliefs that hold you back from creating the life you want.It’s time for . . . The Tapping Solution!
Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers
David Perlmutter - 2013
Perlmutter, the devastating truth about the effects of wheat, sugar, and carbs on the brain, and a 4-week plan to achieve optimum health.In Grain Brain, renowned neurologist David Perlmutter, MD, blows the lid off a finding that's been buried in medical literature for far too long: carbs are destroying your brain. Even so-called healthy carbs like whole grains can cause dementia, ADHD, anxiety, chronic headaches, depression, decreased libido, and much more. Groundbreaking and timely, Grain Brain shows that the fate of your brain is not in your genes, it's in the food you eat. Dr. Perlmutter explains what happens when your brain encounters common ingredients in fruit bowls and bread, how statins may be erasing your memory, why a diet high in "good fats" is ideal, and how to spur the growth of new brain cells at any age. And his revolutionary 4-week plan will show you how to keep your brain healthy and sharp while dramatically reducing your risk for debilitating neurological disease -- without drugs. Featuring a blend of cutting-edge research, real-life stories of transformation, and accessible, practical advice, Grain Brain teaches you how to take control of your "smart genes," regain wellness, and enjoy lifelong health and vitality.
Spontaneous Happiness
Andrew Weil - 2011
But what does that really mean? Increasingly, scientific evidence shows us that true satisfaction and well-being come only from within. Dr. Andrew Weil has proven that the best way to maintain optimum physical health is to draw on both conventional and alternative medicine. Now, in Spontaneous Happiness, he gives us the foundation for attaining and sustaining optimum emotional health. Rooted in Dr. Weil's pioneering work in integrative medicine, the book suggests a reinterpretation of the notion of happiness, discusses the limitations of the biomedical model in treating depression, and elaborates on the inseparability of body and mind. Dr. Weil offers an array of scientifically proven strategies from Eastern and Western psychology to counteract low mood and enhance contentment, comfort, resilience, serenity, and emotional balance. Drawn from psychotherapy, mindfulness training, Buddhist psychology, nutritional science, and more, these strategies include body-oriented therapies to support emotional wellness, techniques for managing stress and anxiety and changing mental habits that keep us stuck in negative patterns, and advice on developing a spiritual dimension in our lives. Lastly, Dr. Weil presents an eight-week program that can be customized according to specific needs, with short- and long-term advice on nutrition, exercise, supplements, environment, lifestyle, and much more. Whether you are struggling with depression or simply want to feel happier, Dr. Weil's revolutionary approach will shift the paradigm of emotional health and help you achieve greater contentment in your life.
Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease―and How to Fight It
Benjamin Bikman - 2020
Around the world, we struggle with diseases that were once considered rare. Cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes affect millions each year; many people are also struggling with hypertension, weight gain, fatty liver, dementia, low testosterone, menstrual irregularities and infertility, and more. We treat the symptoms, not realizing that all of these diseases and disorders have something in common. Each of them is caused or made worse by a condition known as insulin resistance. And you might have it. Odds are you do—over half of all adults in the United States are insulin resistant, with most other countries either worse or not far behind. In Why We Get Sick, internationally renowned scientist and pathophysiology professor Benjamin Bikman explores why insulin resistance has become so prevalent and why it matters. Unless we recognize it and take steps to reverse the trend, major chronic diseases will be even more widespread. But reversing insulin resistance is possible, and Bikman offers an evidence-based plan to stop and prevent it, with helpful food lists, meal suggestions, easy exercise principles, and more. Full of surprising research and practical advice, Why We Get Sick will help you to take control of your health.
Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior
Jeffrey M. Schwartz - 1996
The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat
Stephan Guyenet - 2017
And certainly no one wants to overeat for years, become overweight, and end up with a high risk of diabetes or heart disease--yet two thirds of Americans do precisely that. Even though we know better, we often eat too much. Why does our behavior betray our own intentions to be lean and healthy? The problem, argues obesity and neuroscience researcher Stephan J. Guyenet, is not necessarily a lack of willpower or an incorrect understanding of what to eat. Rather, our appetites and food choices are led astray by ancient, instinctive brain circuits that play by the rules of a survival game that no longer exists. And these circuits don’t care about how you look in a bathing suit next summer.To make the case, The Hungry Brain takes readers on an eye-opening journey through cutting-edge neuroscience that has never before been available to a general audience. The Hungry Brain delivers profound insights into why the brain undermines our weight goals and transforms these insights into practical guidelines for eating well and staying slim. Along the way, it explores how the human brain works, revealing how this mysterious organ makes us who we are.
The Relaxation Response
Herbert Benson - 1975
When Dr. Benson introduced this approach to relieving stress over forty years ago, his book became an instant national bestseller. Since that time, millions of people have learned the secret—without high-priced lectures or prescription medicines. The Relaxation Response has become the classic reference recommended by most health care professionals and authorities to treat the harmful effects of stress and high blood pressure.Discovered by Dr. Benson and his colleagues in the laboratories of Harvard Medical School and its teaching hospitals, this revitalizing, therapeutic tack is now routinely recommended to treat patients suffering from stress, including heart conditions, high blood pressure, chronic pain, insomnia, and many other physical and psychological ailments. It requires only minutes to learn, and just ten minutes of practice a day.
The Undying
Anne Boyer - 2019
For a single mother living paycheck to paycheck who had always been the caregiver rather than the one needing care, the catastrophic illness was both a crisis and an initiation into new ideas about mortality and the gendered politics of illness.A twenty-first-century Illness as Metaphor, as well as a harrowing memoir of survival, The Undying explores the experience of illness as mediated by digital screens, weaving in ancient Roman dream diarists, cancer hoaxers and fetishists, cancer vloggers, corporate lies, John Donne, pro-pain ”dolorists,” the ecological costs of chemotherapy, and the many little murders of capitalism. It excoriates the pharmaceutical industry and the bland hypocrisies of ”pink ribbon culture” while also diving into the long literary line of women writing about their own illnesses and ongoing deaths: Audre Lorde, Kathy Acker, Susan Sontag, and others.A genre-bending memoir in the tradition of The Argonauts, The Undying will break your heart, make you angry enough to spit, and show you contemporary America as a thing both desperately ill and occasionally, perversely glorious.
The End of Illness
David B. Agus - 2011
David Agus tackles these fundamental questions and dismantles misperceptions about what “health” really means. Presenting an eye-opening picture of the human body and all the ways it works—and fails—Dr. Agus shows us how a new perspective on our individual health will allow us to achieve a long, vigorous life. Offering insights and access to powerful new technologies that promise to transform medicine, Dr. Agus emphasizes his belief that there is no “right” answer, no master guide that is “one size fits all.” Each one of us must get to know our bodies in uniquely personal ways, and he shows us exactly how to do that. A bold call for all of us to become our own personal health advocates, The End of Illness is a moving departure from orthodox thinking.
The Autoimmune Fix: How to Stop the Hidden Autoimmune Damage That Keeps You Sick, Fat, and Tired Before It Turns Into Disease
Tom O'Bryan - 2016
The root cause of most weight gain, brain and mood problems, and fatigue, autoimmunity can take years—or even decades—for symptoms and a clear diagnosis to arise. Through years of research, Dr. Tom O’Bryan has discovered that autoimmunity is actually a spectrum, and many people experiencing general malaise are already on it. And while autoimmune diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, osteoporosis, diabetes, and lupus, have become the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer, many people affected are left in the dark.The good news is that many autoimmune conditions can be reversed through a targeted protocol designed to heal the autoimmune system, 70 percent of which is located in the gut. The Autoimmune Fix includes two comprehensive 3-week plans: In the first 3 weeks, you’ll follow a Paleo-inspired diet during which you cut out gluten, sweets, and dairy—the three primary culprits behind autoimmunity. Once the dietary changes have been addressed, The Autoimmune Fix focuses on the other causes of autoimmunity such as genetics, other dietary issues, and microbiome. The Autoimmune Fix provides a practical and much-needed guide to navigating these increasingly common conditions to help you feel better and develop a plan that works for you.
Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease
Robert H. Lustig - 2012
Now, in this much anticipated book, he documents the science and the politics that has led to the pandemic of chronic disease over the last 30 years.In the late 1970s when the government mandated we get the fat out of our food, the food industry responded by pouring more sugar in. The result has been a perfect storm, disastrously altering our biochemistry and driving our eating habits out of our control.To help us lose weight and recover our health, Lustig presents personal strategies to readjust the key hormones that regulate hunger, reward, and stress; and societal strategies to improve the health of the next generation. Compelling, controversial, and completely based in science, Fat Chance debunks the widely held notion to prove “a calorie is NOT a calorie”, and takes that science to its logical conclusion to improve health worldwide.