Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder


Arianna Huffington - 2014
    Arianna Huffington's personal wake-up call came in the form of a broken cheekbone and a nasty gash over her eye -- the result of a fall brought on by exhaustion and lack of sleep. As the cofounder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group -- one of the fastest growing media companies in the world -- celebrated as one of the world's most influential women, and gracing the covers of magazines, she was, by any traditional measure, extraordinarily successful. Yet as she found herself going from brain MRI to CAT scan to echocardiogram, to find out if there was any underlying medical problem beyond exhaustion, she wondered is this really what success feels like? As more and more people are coming to realize, there is far more to living a truly successful life than just earning a bigger salary and capturing a corner office. Our relentless pursuit of the two traditional metrics of success -- money and power -- has led to an epidemic of burnout and stress-related illnesses, and an erosion in the quality of our relationships, family life, and, ironically, our careers. In being connected to the world 24/7, we're losing our connection to what truly matters. Our current definition of success is, as Thrive shows, literally killing us. We need a new way forward. In a commencement address Arianna gave at Smith College in the spring of 2013, she likened our drive for money and power to two legs of a three-legged stool. They may hold us up temporarily, but sooner or later we're going to topple over. We need a third leg -- a third metric for defining success -- to truly thrive. That third metric, she writes in Thrive, includes our well-being, our ability to draw on our intuition and inner wisdom, our sense of wonder, and our capacity for compassion and giving. As Arianna points out, our eulogies celebrate our lives very differently from the way society defines success. They don't commemorate our long hours in the office, our promotions, or our sterling PowerPoint presentations as we relentlessly raced to climb up the career ladder. They are not about our resumes -- they are about cherished memories, shared adventures, small kindnesses and acts of generosity, lifelong passions, and the things that made us laugh. In this deeply personal book, Arianna talks candidly about her own challenges with managing time and prioritizing the demands of a career and raising two daughters -- of juggling business deadlines and family crises, a harried dance that led to her collapse and to her "aha moment." Drawing on the latest groundbreaking research and scientific findings in the fields of psychology, sports, sleep, and physiology that show the profound and transformative effects of meditation, mindfulness, unplugging, and giving, Arianna shows us the way to a revolution in our culture, our thinking, our workplace, and our lives.

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual


Michael Pollan - 2008
    In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice, Food Rules brings a welcome simplicity to our daily decisions about food. Written with the clarity, concision and wit that has become bestselling author Michael Pollan's trademark, this indispensable handbook lays out a set of straightforward, memorable rules for eating wisely, one per page, accompanied by a concise explanation. It's an easy-to-use guide that draws from a variety of traditions, suggesting how different cultures through the ages have arrived at the same enduring wisdom about food. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat buffet, this is the perfect guide for anyone who ever wondered, "What should I eat?"

Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the Root Cause of Your Health Problems and 5 Surprising Steps to Cure It


Josh Axe - 2016
    Josh Axe delivers a groundbreaking, indispensable guide for understanding, diagnosing, and treating one of the most discussed yet little-understood health conditions: leaky gut syndrome.Do you have a leaky gut? For 80% of the population the answer is “yes”—and most people don’t even realize it. Leaky gut syndrome is the root cause of a litany of ailments, including: chronic inflammation, allergies, autoimmune diseases, hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, diabetes, and even arthritis.To keep us in good health, our gut relies on maintaining a symbiotic relationship with trillions of microorganisms that live in our digestive tract. When our digestive system is out of whack, serious health problems can manifest and our intestinal walls can develop microscopic holes, allowing undigested food particles, bacteria, and toxins to seep into the bloodstream. This condition is known as leaky gut syndrome.In Eat Dirt, Dr. Josh Axe explains that what we regard as modern “improvements” to our food supply—including refrigeration, sanitation, and modified grains—have damaged our intestinal health. In fact, the same organisms in soil that allow plants and animals to flourish are the ones we need for gut health. In Eat Dirt, Dr. Axe explains that it’s essential to get a little “dirty” in our daily lives in order to support our gut bacteria and prevent leaky gut syndrome. Dr. Axe offers simple ways to get these needed microbes, from incorporating local honey and bee pollen into your diet to forgoing hand sanitizers and even ingesting a little probiotic-rich soil.Because leaky gut manifests differently in every individual, Dr. Axe also identifies the five main “gut types” and offers customizable plans—including diet, supplement, and lifestyle recommendations—to dramatically improve gut health in just thirty days. With a simple diet plan, recipes, and practical advice, Eat Dirt will help readers restore gut health and eliminate leaky gut for good.

The Chemistry of Calm: A Powerful, Drug-Free Plan to Quiet Your Fears and Overcome Your Anxiety


Henry Emmons - 2010
    Henry Emmons offers a proven plan to combat anxiety—without medication—that has helped tens of thousands gain inner peace and start enjoying life. The debilitating effects of anxiety can affect your sense of well-being, health, longevity, productivity, and relationships. In The Chemistry of Calm, Dr. Henry Emmons presents his Resilience Training Program—a groundbreaking regimen designed to relieve anxiety and restore physical and mental strength. This step-by-step plan for mental calmness and emotional wisdom focuses on ways to create resilience as a key to resolving anxiety in everyday life, incorporating the latest science on: -Diet—you’ve got to eat good food to feel good -Exercise—it’s proven: moving makes you less anxious -Nutritional Supplements—boosting your natural anxiety resistance -Mindfulness—including meditation techniques to calm your body and brain Using this program, Dr. Emmons has helped countless patients reduce their anxiety and reclaim the resilience that is their birthright. Now, with The Chemistry of Calm, you can be anxiety free too!

Rising Strong as a Spiritual Practice


Brené Brown - 2017
    Brene Brown helped us realize that vulnerability is the birthplace for trust, belonging, joy, creativity, and love. Yet a willingness to be vulnerable means accepting that life will sometimes knock us down. Where do we find the strength to get back up? In her research for her breakthrough book Rising Strong, Brene discovered a key factor. Without exception, she says, the concept of spirituality emerged from the data as a critical component of overcoming struggle.On Rising Strong As a Spiritual Practice, Brene offers an in-depth exploration of this critical and oft-misunderstood aspect of wholehearted living. Here she defines spirituality as something not reliant on religion, theology, or dogma rather, it is a belief in our interconnectedness and in a loving force greater than ourselves. Whether you access the sacred through traditional worship, solitary meditation, communion with nature, or creative pursuits, one thing is clear: rising strong after falling is a spiritual practice that brings a sense of perspective, meaning, and purpose to our lives."

Life is Hard, Food Is Easy: The 5-Step Plan to Overcome Emotional Eating and Lose Weight on Any Diet


Linda Spangle - 2002
    Over the past 15 years, Linda Spangle has helped thousands of clients to learn to cope with their emotions, thereby allowing them to lose weight successfully and keep it off -- permanently. In this book, Spangle shares her fool-proof method for beating emotional eating -- the method that accounts for her clients' 90% success rate! Spangle reveals how you can cope with your feelings of frustration, boredom, or loneliness, and offers her proven step-by-step program to stop your emotions from interfering with your eating habits. These 5 simple steps teach you how to identify the emotional void the food is attempting to fulfil and empower you to break your self-destructive behaviour. According to Spangle, your weight-loss success rate increases dramatically only when your emotional coping skills become stronger and incorporated into your daily life.

The New Health Rules: Simple Changes to Achieve Whole-Body Wellness


Frank Lipman - 2015
    A leading expert in the field of functional medicine, Dr. Lipman focuses on the root causes of illness and guides his patients to the deepest, most lasting sources of wellness. In this book, he and coauthor Danielle Claro make life-changing health advice available to all. Their book offers the cutting-edge secrets to optimal health in a stylish, lushly illustrated format—a spoonful of beauty to help the wellness tips go down.The New Health Rules wades through the often contradictory information that bombards us daily and delivers more than 100 actionable tips that will improve every aspect of our health—body, mind, and soul. Readers will learn simple rules for getting a good night’s sleep, why a daily dose of sunlight is crucial, and which toxic cosmetics and kitchen products should be tossed. Here Lipman and Claro teach us which foods help prevent Alzheimer’s, why sugar is so destructive, and how to bring “good bacteria” into the digestive system—providing an arsenal of easy-to-process tips and guidelines to make us stronger, healthier, and happier.

The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds


Rip Esselstyn - 2009
     Professional athlete-turned-firefighter Rip Esselstyn is used to responding to emergencies. So, when he learned that some of his fellow Engine 2 firefighters in Austin, TX, were in dire physical condition-several had dangerously high cholesterol levels (the highest was 344!)-he sprang into action and created a life-saving plan for the firehouse. By following Rip's program, everyone lost weight (some more than 20 lbs.), lowered their cholesterol (Mr. 344's dropped to 196), and improved their overall health. Now, Rip outlines his proven plan in this book. With Rip as your expert coach and motivator, you'll transform your body and lifestyle in a month. His plant-powered eating plan is based on a diet of whole foods, including whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds. This invaluable guide features: Dozens of easy, mouthwatering recipes-from pancakes to pizza, Tex-Mex favorites to knockout chocolate desserts-that will keep you looking forward to every bite Pantry-stocking tips will take the panic out of inevitable cravings and on-the-fly meals Guidelines on menu choices that will allow you to eat out, wherever and whenever you want Rip's simple, firefighter-inspired exercise program that will boost your metabolism and melt your fat away. Medically approved, easy-to-follow, and amazingly effective, this diet is designed for anyone who wants to make heroic strides in his or her health, weight, and well-being-all without heroic effort. "Want to be as strong as a Texas firefighter? Or as healthy as a professional triathlete? Then follow the wonderful advice of Rip Esselstyn, who is both. His book can save your life--whether you're a man or a woman. Highly recommended!" -Dean Ornish, M.D., Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Clinical Professor of Medicine, U of California, SF, author, Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease

Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive


Marc Brackett - 2019
    Marc Brackett, author of Permission to Feel, knows why. And he knows what we can do. "We have a crisis on our hands, and its victims are our children."Marc Brackett is a professor in Yale University's Child Study Center and founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. In his 25 years as an emotion scientist, he has developed a remarkably effective plan to improve the lives of children and adults - a blueprint for understanding our emotions and using them wisely so that they help, rather than hinder, our success and well-being. The core of his approach is a legacy from his childhood, from an astute uncle who gave him permission to feel. He was the first adult who managed to see Marc, listen to him, and recognize the suffering, bullying, and abuse he'd endured. And that was the beginning of Marc's awareness that what he was going through was temporary. He wasn't alone, he wasn't stuck on a timeline, and he wasn't "wrong" to feel scared, isolated, and angry. Now, best of all, he could do something about it.In the decades since, Marc has led large research teams and raised tens of millions of dollars to investigate the roots of emotional well-being. His prescription for healthy children (and their parents, teachers, and schools) is a system called RULER, a high-impact and fast-effect approach to understanding and mastering emotions that has already transformed the thousands of schools that have adopted it. RULER has been proven to reduce stress and burnout, improve school climate, and enhance academic achievement. This book is the culmination of Marc's development of RULER and his way to share the strategies and skills with readers around the world. It is tested, and it works.This book combines rigor, science, passion and inspiration in equal parts. Too many children and adults are suffering; they are ashamed of their feelings and emotionally unskilled, but they don't have to be. Marc Brackett's life mission is to reverse this course, and this book can show you how.

The French Don't Diet Plan: 10 Simple Steps to Stay Thin for Life


William Clower - 2006
    Now, with The French Don’t Diet Plan, you can, too! In his groundbreaking book, The Fat Fallacy, Dr. Will Clower was the first to present a theory of how the French maintain low obesity and heart disease rates despite their seemingly “unhealthy” lifestyle. Dr. Clower learned that the French don’t worry about dieting but rather are more concerned with how they eat. That means paying attention to the taste, pacing, and enjoyment of meals, instead of counting calories, cutting fat and carbs, or taking guilt trips to the gym. With The PATH, his revolutionary weight-loss plan, Dr. Clower has helped thousands of people lose weight, lower cholesterol, and increase energy. Now, in The French Don’t Diet Plan, Dr. Clower shows how easy it is to incorporate his remarkably effective techniques and the French lifestyle into a busy American day.Dr. Clower has found that natural foods have overwhelmingly been pushed out of the American diet by what he calls “faux foods”: processed, additive-filled convenience products, often marketed as healthy with buzzwords like low fat and low carb. In addition, mealtimes should be a slow, sensual break for the body and mind—not a face-stuffing frenzy while standing up in the kitchen or sitting behind the wheel. As a result of such habits, Dr. Clower says, we are not eating what our bodies need, and we’re eating in a way that is not conducive to proper digestion. Science shows this precise combination of factors causes weight gain.The French approach is about taking the time to enjoy real food without guilt or deprivation. Not only a successful path to becoming thin for life, The French Don’t Diet Plan will help you put joie de vivre back into your relationship with food.The Most Delicious and Decadent Way to Lose Weight• Formerly forbidden foods, welcome back! Learn why butter, cheese, bread, and chocolate are health foods that keep hunger at bay. . . . See Step 2.• Spend more time eating! Discover why you should plan on having seconds and make meals last longer. . . . See Step 5.• Hate to work out? Find out why you don’t have to exercise to lose pounds—and how relaxation can help keep weight off for good. . . . See Step 10.• Now you’re cooking. Enjoy dozens of easy recipes for satisfying comfort foods, from Hot Artichoke-Cheese Dip to Creamy Alfredo Sauce, and Double-Almond Biscotti to Practically Flourless Chocolate Cake. . . . See Easy Recipes for Fabulous Foods.From the Hardcover edition.

Craving: Why We Can't Seem to Get Enough


Omar Manejwala - 2013
    They often describe the sense that something has sunk its teeth into them and is not letting go. The harder they tug to try to remove it, the deeper the bite. Many of my patients describe this as wanting what they cannot have.But we don't always want what we can't have... What you believe about the reason you can't have something affects whether or not you want it. If you believe that the primary power that controls your life is also the primary reason you can't have something, you want it more. This has significant implication when it comes to cravings, because it means that if you can develop a different perspective about why you are experiencing cravings, you may be able to reduce the depth of the bite. In my successful patients who believe in a higher power, when they experience cravings, they don't blame God. They simply describe it as a part of their illness that they can diminish or alleviate by talking with others and practicing their programs.

World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down


Christian McEwen - 2011
    Over the course of ten years training teachers to write their own poems in order to pass the craft along to students, McEwen realized that nothing comes easily when life is conducted at a high rate of speed. She draws not only on personal experience, but on readings ranging from literary anecdote and poetry to Buddhism, anthropology, current news, and social history, all supplemented by interviews with contemporary writers and artists. This is a real reader’s book, one that stands up as both sustained narrative and occasional inspiration.McEwen espouses the pleasure to be found in slowing down, both for the ease and comfort of the thing itself (taking time to go for a walk, to write down one’s dreams, to read, to talk, to pray), and for its impact on creativity. There are chapters on walking, talking, drawing, dreaming, on “making space,” on pausing/praying, on telling stories. World Enough & Time is aimed at the educated general reader, could be used as a creative primer, and will be of interest to creative writing students and artists in every genre.

The Supercharged Hormone Diet: A 30-Day Accelerated Plan to Lose Weight, Restore Metabolism and Feel Younger Longer


Natasha Turner - 2011
    The Supercharged Hormone Diet gives us the information we need to get our hormones back on track — in thirty days flat.The Hormone Diet taught us the ins and outs of how and why our hormones play the biggest part in our weight-loss woes — a valuable resource and diet guide to our hormones and how they affect our health. Now, The Supercharged Hormone Diet allows us to start losing weight as soon as we crack open the book.In this busy, fast-paced world, we don't always have time to research the science behind our diets. We want to lose weight sooner and faster. Turner has created an accelerated hormone diet with the same basic principles as the original (eating the right foods to correct your hormonal imbalances) and she's plucked out the most important information from The Hormone Diet. It includes the questionnaires and assessments to get you started, a higher protein detox than the original, the key tips for sleep and exercise, a handy food list, a new two-week meal plan, a work chart to help you stay on top of your goals and many new hormone diet-friendly recipes.The Supercharged Hormone Diet gives us exactly what we need — a quick-start diet plan with a thirty-day time frame.

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

Lose It Right: A Brutally Honest 3-Stage Program to Help You Get Fit and Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind


James Fell - 2013
         Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? The tortoise--slow and steady--won the race, right? So why, when it comes to weight loss and fitness, does everyone want to be the hare, speeding toward the finish line in a desperate attempt to drop pounds in record time? In Lose It Right, fitness consultant and writer James Fell offers the cold, hard truth about what you really need to do to lose weight and get fit.      In his trademark irreverent style, Fell offers a slow, steady and science-based approach to improving health that will motivate and inspire readers. He explains the critical role of exercise in adopting healthy eating behaviours, and provides a step-by-step road map for integrating exercise and making dietary changes. Through the Virtuous Cycle, a leveled eating and exercise program, Fell shows you how to gradually transform your health, the way your body performs, and the way you look.      With its big-picture approach to lifestyle planning, and its insistence that there are no quick fixes or miracle cures, Lose It Right will appeal to readers who suspect the tortoise was right: slow and steady really does win the race.