Body of Truth: Change Your Life by Changing the Way You Think about Weight and Health


Harriet Brown - 2015
    You can't be a woman or girl (or, increasingly, a man or boy) in America today and not grapple with the size and shape of your body, your daughter's body, other women's bodies. Even the most confident people have to find a way through a daily gauntlet of voices and images talking, admonishing, warning us about what size we should be, how much we should weigh, what we should eat and what we shouldn't. Obsessing about weight has become a ritual and a refrain, punctuating our every relationship, including the ones with ourselves. It's time to change the conversation around weight. Harriet Brown has explored the conundrums of weight and body image for more than a decade, as a science journalist, as a woman who has struggled with weight, as a mother, wife, and professor. In this book, she describes how biology, psychology, metabolism, media, and culture come together to shape our ongoing obsession with our bodies, and what we can learn from them to help us shift the way we think. Brown exposes some of the myths behind the rhetoric of obesity, gives historical and contemporary context for what it means to be "fat," and offers readers ways to set aside the hysteria and think about weight and health in more nuanced and accurate ways.

The Clear Skin Diet


Alan C. Logan - 2007
    Many scientists have traced his upsurge to changes in the dietary habits of North Americans. The Clear Skin Diet is designed to help those who suffer from acne to understand:What it is Why they have it What it has to do with their eating habits And what they can do to prevent it or lessen its impact Modern research shows: That there is a strong causal connection between certain kinds of foods and acne. That certain fats, such as omega-3 fatty acids, protect against acne, while others, saturated or trans fats, can promote acne by increasing the level of inflammation and oxidative stress in the skin. Culinary herbs like ginger and turmeric are known to dampen acne breakouts. These same dietary stresses also influence the level of the hormones that cause acne. While fruits and vegetables, green tea, soy, fish, berries, and fiber-rich whole foods lessen these androgens, meat and milk promote these acne-related hormones, as do sugar and low-fiber carbohydrates. There also is a strong causal connection between the brain and the skin. When a person experiences anxiety and depression, acne-producing hormones are released, which can lead to poor dietary choices high in saturated fats and sugars. The Clear Skin Diet introduces the acne diet and lifestyle. Dietary requirements for protecting the skin are listed - along with suggested food supplements when they cannot be easily met - and summarized, as well as mind-body medical interventions that can influence acne hormones and lessen their impact. Also included are 50 acne-preventive recipes, along with information on how one can locate the ingredients that are not readily available in most grocery stores.

Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World


Jessica Snyder Sachs - 2007
    As a result, antibiotic resistance now ranks among the gravest medical problems of modern times. Good Germs, Bad Germs addresses not only this issue but also what has become known as the "hygiene hypothesis"-- an argument that links the over-sanitation of modern life to now-epidemic increases in immune and other disorders. In telling the story of what went terribly wrong in our war on germs, Jessica Snyder Sachs explores our emerging understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the human body and its resident microbes--which outnumber its human cells by a factor of nine to one! The book also offers a hopeful look into a future in which antibiotics will be designed and used more wisely, and beyond that, to a day when we may replace antibacterial drugs and cleansers with bacterial ones--each custom-designed for maximum health benefits.

The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force That Undermines Health and Happiness


Douglas J. Lisle - 2006
    A wake-up call to even the most health conscious people, The Pleasure Trap boldly challenges conventional wisdom about sickness and unhappiness in today's contemporary culture, offers groundbreaking solutions for achieving change, and provides a fascinating new perspective on how modern life can turn so many smart, savvy people into the unwitting saboteurs of their own well-being. Inspired by stunning original research, comprehensive clinical studies, and their successes with thousands of patients, the authors construct a new paradigm for the psychology of health, offering fresh hope for anyone stuck in a self-destructive rut.

Together: Why Social Connection Holds the Key to Better Health, Higher Performance, and Greater Happiness


Vivek H. Murthy - 2020
    The good news is that social connection is innate and a cure for loneliness. In Together, the former Surgeon General will address the importance of community and connection and offer viable and actionable solutions to this overlooked epidemic.

Super Genes: Unlock the Astonishing Power of Your DNA for Optimum Health and Well-Being


Deepak Chopra - 2015
    The leap into "radical well-being" is a promise waiting to be fulfilled.       "You are not simply the sum total of the genes you were born with," write Deepak Chopra and Rudy Tanzi. "You are the user and controller of your genes, the author of your biological story. No prospect in self-care is more exciting." Learning how to shape your gene activity is at the heart of this exciting and eagerly-anticipated book from the bestselling duo behind Super Brain, which became a nationwide hit as a PBS special. For decades medical science has believed that genes determined our biological destiny. Now the new genetics has changed that assumption forever. You will always have the genes you were born with, but genes are dynamic, responding to everything we think, say, and do. Suddenly they've become our strongest allies for personal transformation. When you make lifestyle choices that optimize how your genes behave, you can reach for a state of health and fulfillment undreamed of even a decade ago.  The impact on prevention, immunity, diet, aging, and chronic disorders is unparalleled.

Healthy Habits Suck: How to Get Off the Couch and Live a Healthy Life… Even If You Don’t Want To


Dayna Lee-Baggley - 2019
    If you’re someone who gets up every morning and can’t wait for your run, considers eating sweet potatoes a splurge, and sets aside thirty minutes before work to meditate—this book isn’t for you. If you’re someone who thinks about getting up to go for a run but goes back to sleep, regrets last night’s dinner of fast food, and can barely get to work on time—let alone meditate—then this book will help you find the motivation you’ve been looking for to live your healthiest life, even when you don’t want to.With this funny, in-your-face guide, you won’t find advice on how to “enjoy” exercise, or tips for making broccoli and kale taste as good as donuts and ice cream. What you will find are solid skills to help you actually do the healthy things you know you should be doing. Using these skills—based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and neuroscience—you’ll learn to find the motivation you’re really craving to adopt healthy habits, even if they do suck. You’ll also discover how to accept self-criticism, develop self-compassion, and live a more meaningful life.This book not only acknowledges that many healthy habits suck, it uses science to explain why we want the things we want (junk food), crave the things we crave (sugar), and dislike the things we dislike (exercise). At the end, you’ll feel validated in feeling like these things are the absolute worst. But you’ll also find the motivation to do them anyway.

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles


Bruce H. Lipton - 2005
    Author Dr. Bruce Lipton is a former medical school professor and research scientist. His experiments, and that of other leading-edge scientists, have examined in great detail the processes by which cells receive information. The implications of this research radically change our understanding of life. It shows that genes and DNA do not control our biology; that instead DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our positive and negative thoughts. Dr. Lipton's profoundly hopeful synthesis of the latest and best research in cell biology and quantum physics is being hailed as a major breakthrough showing that our bodies can be changed as we retrain our thinking.

Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine


Candace B. Pert - 1997
     Her pioneering research on how the chemicals inside our bodies form a dynamic information network, linking mind and body, is not only provocative, it is revolutionary. By establishing the biomolecular basis for our emotions and explaining these new scientific developments in a clear and accessible way, Pert empowers us to understand ourselves, our feelings, and the connection between our minds and our bodies -- body-minds -- in ways we could never possibly have imagined before. Molecules of Emotion is a landmark work, full of insight and wisdom and possessing that rare power to change the way we see the world and ourselves.

Ending Parkinson's Disease: A Prescription for Action


Ray Dorsey - 2020
    The fastest growing of these is Parkinson's: the number of people with Parkinson's doubled to over 6 million over the last 25 years and is projected to double again by 2040. Harmful pesticides known to cause Parkinson's proliferate, many people remain undiagnosed and untreated, research funding stagnates, and the most effective treatment is now a half century old. In Ending Parkinson's Disease, four leading doctors and advocates offer a bold but actionable pact to prevent, advocate for, care for, and treat one of the great health challenges of our time. This is a critical guide for anyone who has or could be touched by this disease.

Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything


Lydia Kang - 2017
    Like when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When snorting skull moss was a cure for a bloody nose. When consuming mail-order tapeworms was a latter-day fad diet. Or when snake oil salesmen peddled strychnine (used in rat poison) as an aphrodisiac in the '60s. Seamlessly combining macabre humor with hard science and compelling storytelling, Quackery is a visually rich and information-packed exploration of history's most outlandish cures, experiments, and scams.A humorous book that delves into some of the wacky but true ways that humans have looked to cure their ills. Leeches, mercury, strychnine, and lobotomies are a few of the topics that explore the lengths society has gone in the search for health.

Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep


David K. Randall - 2012
    Randall never gave sleep much thought. That is, until he began sleepwalking. One midnight crash into a hallway wall sent him on an investigation into the strange science of sleep.In Dreamland, Randall explores the research that is investigating those dark hours that make up nearly a third of our lives. Taking readers from military battlefields to children’s bedrooms, Dreamland shows that sleep isn't as simple as it seems. Why did the results of one sleep study change the bookmakers’ odds for certain Monday Night Football games? Do women sleep differently than men? And if you happen to kill someone while you are sleepwalking, does that count as murder?This book is a tour of the often odd, sometimes disturbing, and always fascinating things that go on in the peculiar world of sleep. You’ll never look at your pillow the same way again.

This Is Your Brain on Birth Control: The Surprising Science of Women, Hormones, and the Law of Unintended Consequences


Sarah E. Hill - 2019
    By allowing women to control their fertility, the birth control pill has revolutionized women's lives. Women are going to college, graduating, and entering the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, and there's good reason to believe that the birth control pill has a lot to do with this. But there's a lot more to the pill than meets the eye.Although women go on the pill for a small handful of targeted effects (pregnancy prevention and clearer skin, yay!), sex hormones can't work that way. Sex hormones impact the activities of billions of cells in the body at once, many of which are in the brain. There, they play a role in influencing attraction, sexual motivation, stress, hunger, eating patterns, emotion regulation, friendships, aggression, mood, learning, and more. This means that being on the birth control pill makes women a different version of themselves than when they are off of it. And this is a big deal. For instance, women on the pill have a dampened cortisol spike in response to stress. While this might sound great (no stress!), it can have negative implications for learning, memory, and mood. Additionally, because the pill influences who women are attracted to, being on the pill may inadvertently influence who women choose as partners, which can have important implications for their relationships once they go off it. Sometimes these changes are for the better . . . but other times, they're for the worse. By changing what women's brains do, the pill also has the ability to have cascading effects on everything and everyone that a woman encounters. This means that the reach of the pill extends far beyond women's own bodies, having a major impact on society and the world.This paradigm-shattering book provides an even-handed, science-based understanding of who women are, both on and off the pill. It will change the way that women think about their hormones and how they view themselves. It also serves as a rallying cry for women to demand more information from science about how their bodies and brains work and to advocate for better research. This book will help women make more informed decisions about their health, whether they're on the pill or off of it.

Nutrition Almanac


John D. Kirschmann - 1979
    All the nutritional information you need is here, so enhancing and maintaining good health is easy!Eat better. Live longer.Learn how what you eat can affect more than 100 common ailmentsDiscover rich sources of vitamins and minerals in foods at your supermarketUnderstand the difference between good fats and bad fatsGet practical information on the benefits of antioxidants and phytonutrients in foodFind out which food ingredients and additives to avoid

The Candida Cure: The 90-Day Program to Balance Your Gut, Beat Candida, and Restore Vibrant Health


Ann Boroch - 2018
    Seventy million of us suffer from digestive problems like acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or gastro esophageal reflex disorder (GERD). Another forty million have been diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression and a staggering fifty million Americans live with an autoimmune disease. But what is newsworthy is that all of these conditions share a common thread you’ve probably never heard of: candida."Candida" is the term for a group of yeast organisms that have lived in our digestive tract for millennia, in harmony with the other thousands of bacteria, viruses, and archaea that make up our microbiome. But due to poor diets, processed foods, overuse of antibiotics, environmental toxins, and increased stress, our microbiome has been under steady and constant attack for decades. Yeast are of a heartier stock than bacterial microbes, and as bacteria die off, yeast begins to overgrow in the digestive tract, a condition known as candidiasis. Mild and moderate cases of candidiasis present with fatigue, IBS, eczema, depression, brain fog, migraines, and weight gain. Severe cases allow the afflicted to develop autoimmune disease (such as Multiple Sclerosis), cancer, and Alzheimer’s.Ann Boroch’s self-published book, The Candida Cure, has been the #1 resource in candida treatment since 2008. Her program—which she used to heal herself from a life-threatening autoimmune disorder—has stood the test of time, and has become a life-changing resource for more than 65,000 people. Now, in this revised edition,  readers have even more tools, with updated information and case histories, a quick start cleanse, and all-new recipes and eating plans.