Best Books on Diet and Health...

[Over43]

I probably, like many, have read numerous books and diet and health. Some I think are valid, some are not so valid. Some are pretty fraudulent.

Here's ten I have read over the years. I will add No S Diet because that has become my eating philosophy. They are not in any certain order. You may all disagree. But mostly I'd like to read what you all like.

1. The No S Diet (for the reason stated above, plus the simplicity almost brings me to tears. )
2. The Power of 10 (Adam Zickermann: after years of hating exercise this book made sense and taught me that I could cut back on exercise and still be healthy.)
3. Running Scarred (Tex Maule: Maule was an SI reporter who had a massive heart attack and jogged himself back to health. I don't jog anymore, but this is pretty inspirational.)
4. Dr. Atkin's Diet Revolution (Robert Atkins: I know, but reading this book made me look at snacking, sugar, and modern "crap" I was eating. Plus during a week of No S my carbohydrate intake is dramatically reduced.)
5. Aerobics (Kenneth Cooper: I don't do 30 Cooper Points a week anymore, but this book is valuable, and pretty revolutionary in 1968 when it was first published.)
6. 50 Ways to a Healthy Heart (Christiaan Barnard: Barnard died [at 79]the day after the publishing date in Cyprus of anaphylactic shock. But like No S, this book is quite simple, tells us to chill out, and enjoy life.)
7. The Nautilus Bodybuilding Book (Ellington Darden: I am by no means a bodybuilder, but if you are interested in strength training, and can find this book, it is worth the read. If Arthur Jones was the Moses of HIT strength training then Ellington Darden is Aaron.)
8. Good Calories, Bad Calories (Gary Taubes: Taubes is "irking" a lot of nutritionists with this book, and his follow up articles. But, this is well worth the read. Although it took me a bit to finish.)
9. Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child: Yes a cookbook, but you can make one of your three meals a day, and left overs for the next day's lunch, fabulous. The Beef Burgundy is incredible.)
10. Why We Run (Bernd Heinrich: Heinrich was the outright winner of the 100 km race in Chicago at 40. An eminent Biologist, Heinrich has used his scientific approach in this book to explain why humans [excluding me] are the best endurance species on he planet.)

Enjoy

[wosnes]

Five or ten years ago I could have come up with quite a list. But now I'd have to say (in addition to No-S):

1. The Jungle Effect by Dr. Daphne Miller. Gives an overview of five traditional diets and shows that there is no one healthy way to eat, but many. The common denominator is real food. Not all are plant based, either. One of the things I most like is that she doesn't cherry-pick habits or foods from each group and say to include these things. EX: olive oil like the people from Crete and soy like the Okinawans. It's more "pick one you like" -- and there are plenty more than the five she highlights.

2. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

3. Food Rules by Michael Pollan

4. Food Matters by Mark Bittman

I think that might be two or three too many. For exercise -- no books, just move.

[reinhard]

I hate to be uncharitable to my fellow diet gurus, but my experience has been that there really isn't much out there worth reading.

One of the very few I think is excellent is Brian Wansink's mindless eating. What's unusual about it is that it focuses on the psychology of why we overeat, and he describes some brilliant studies conducted by his lab and others to quantify these behaviors. Some examples: how much more we eat when we go back for seconds, how much more we eat when foods are marketed as healthy (the "health halo effect"), how critical visual cues are to our appetite (without the sight of an empty plate or bowl we'll keep on eating -- say if a hidden hose keeps refilling it). In terms of these descriptions the book is brilliant -- and very compatible with no-s. But he's far less strong in the prescription department. Some of his "what to do about it" advice is laughably bad.

Michael Pollan's stuff, of course, beautifully written and "right," though it's often a little long for my taste -- I'd rather be reading a Victorian novel than a food manifesto that's as long as a Victorian novel (Food Rules is nice and short, though -- and mentions No-s!).

Cookbooks are another story. There are quite a few that I love (some of which have already been mentioned) but that will have to wait for another post.

Reinhard

[wosnes]

Michael Pollan's stuff, of course, beautifully written and "right," though it's often a little long for my taste -- I'd rather be reading a Victorian novel than a food manifesto that's as long as a Victorian novel (Food Rules is nice and short, though -- and mentions No-s!).


Reinhard

That's what I liked about In Defense of Food -- It's not a Victorian novel. Neither is Food Matters.

When I read Over43s post, I realized that I've gotten really burned out on all this stuff. I think most of it has only added to the confusion.

[marygrace]

Five or ten years ago I could have come up with quite a list. But now I'd have to say (in addition to No-S):

1. The Jungle Effect by Dr. Daphne Miller. Gives an overview of five traditional diets and shows that there is no one healthy way to eat, but many. The common denominator is real food. Not all are plant based, either.

2. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

3. Food Rules by Michael Pollan

4. Food Matters by Mark Bittman

I think that might be two or three too many. For exercise -- no books, just move.

All of these are some of my favorites, except The Jungle Effect--I haven't read that. Though judging by the description, I bet I'd enjoy it.

I might also add The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. It's not a diet book, but it's definitely intended to change the way you think about food. After a couple of years of hardcore "healthy" vegan eating (I did eat a lot of whole foods, but also a ton of processed vegan convenience foods and shunned fat), that book turned my world upside down and I never looked back.

Today, I think I like Mark Bittman more than Michael Pollan, if only because he seems slightly more approachable. Sometimes I feel like Pollan gets thrown into that Alice Waters camp, and while I have nothing but respect for her, I think a lot of people cringe at that super privelaged, central California lifestyle. Mark Bittman takes those same basic principles and strips away all the fuss.

[BrightAngel]

I hate to be uncharitable to my fellow diet gurus,
but my experience has been that there really isn't much out there worth reading.

I agree with Reinhard, and
one of my Hobbies is to read most of the diet books that get published.
However, Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes is a definite MUST
for any person with an intellectual curiousity about dieting.
That book was written for the medical profession, however
for people who like an "easy read", the information in the above-book
is supposed to be contained but condensed
in Taubes' new book What Makes You Fat being published the end of December.

[oolala53]

These aren't health books but they are about the mindset of eating slim. They are the series written by Anne Barone, who writes of the mindset she learned when she went to France 30 years ago fat and lost 55 pounds in a year. She reports on how the French regard food and meals, as well as how this is tied into women's attitudes about quality vs. quantity in fashion and lifestyle. She sells the books off her own website. She was writing these before Mireille Guiliano got famous for French Women Don't Get Fat. Barone is a little mean in her estimation of fat people and especially America, but her focus is on attitude towards food, which is that it is to be enjoyed and savored, and that rich foods are a yes, yes, not a no-no.
Chic and Slim
Chic and Slim Encore
Chic and Slim Techniques.
Also before Guiliano, I read The Fat Fallacy, also by someone who had been to France and lost weight eating cheese, chocolate, and all the rest. The emphasis is on slowly eating smaller portions of good quality food with company, and incorporating exercise into daily life. (Anne Barone emphasizes this, too, citing how many French people walk to get daily fresh groceries and for other reasons.)

I also liked and incorporated the use of monosaturated oils and high omega-3 sources without the fear of fat from The Omega Diet and the habit of adding lots of vegetables to meals from Volumetrics.

I think a lot of what Judith Beck talks about in her 'diet" books that has to do with how to think about making dietary changes applies to get over the difficult times with No S. Though in her later books she does advocate eating a certain number of meals and reports that reseach tells us that those who free-eat on the weekends are unlikely to lose weight and keep it off, she details many overt behaviors people can use to counteract the impulses to go off any plan of your choice. I definitely used some of her techniques when first being able to stick to No S. I've yet to use them consistenly on weekends.

But nothing brought it all together until No S.

[Miyabi]

I also enjoyed the Fat Fallacy book by Will Clower, though it didn't seem to help me eat any less. Clower is very funny and I wish he could do a joint podcast with Reinhard.

The book that really has helped me was the End of Overeating by David Kessler. He spends a fair amount of the book indicting the snack food industry and restaurants, most of which we already knew or guessed. But his explanation of the research on the cues that lead down the snack road is very useful.

[Miyabi]

I also enjoyed the Fat Fallacy book by Will Clower, though it didn't seem to help me eat any less. Clower is very funny and I wish he could do a joint podcast with Reinhard.

The book that really has helped me was the End of Overeating by David Kessler. He spends a fair amount of the book indicting the snack food industry and restaurants, most of which we already knew or guessed. But his explanation of the research on the cues that lead down the snack road is very useful.

[wosnes]

These aren't health books but they are about the mindset of eating slim. They are the series written by Anne Barone, who writes of the mindset she learned when she went to France 30 years ago fat and lost 55 pounds in a year. She reports on how the French regard food and meals, as well as how this is tied into women's attitudes about quality vs. quantity in fashion and lifestyle. She sells the books off her own website. She was writing these before Mireille Guiliano got famous for French Women Don't Get Fat. Barone is a little mean in her estimation of fat people and especially America, but her focus is on attitude towards food, which is that it is to be enjoyed and savored, and that rich foods are a yes, yes, not a no-no.
Chic and Slim
Chic and Slim Encore
Chic and Slim Techniques.

I've also read and enjoyed Anne Barone's books as well as French Women Don't Get Fat and Mediterranean Women Stay Slim, Too.

I love this quote. I think it's from Chic & Slim:

Blame it on the Puritans. If you wonder why the French, the most food-obsessed people on the planet, can eat all that cream, butter, and egg yolks and struggle far less with excess weight than Americans who dutifully take home shopping bags of sugarless and fat-free, the answer is: the Puritans. The French never had any; the Americans did. The French had Joan of Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles de Gaulle, and Brigitte Bardot.

But no Puritans.

Back in 1620 when the Puritans stepped of the Mayflower, they brought with them the intellectual baggage that if something feels good and makes us happy, it is bad. Discomfort and sacrifice are good. The more uncomfortable and unpleasurable something is, the Puritans thought, the better for you. Of course this Puritan philosophy grew out of strong religious conviction.

The French were also religious -- in their own fashion. When they wanted to give thanks to God, they built -- by hand, no less -- huge, architecturally magnificent Gothic cathedrals. The construction of Chartres, no doubt, burned more calories than all the Jane Fonda workout videos ever sold.

For Thanksgiving, the American Puritans fixed a big dinner and ate it. Our annual reenactment of this feast kicks off that part of the year when the average American gains six pounds.

The Puritan legacy was still strong three centuries later when I was growing up in the 1950s. In that small Bible Belt town, drinking alcohol was a sin, smoking was a sin, playing cards was sin, dancing was a sin, and going to the movies was a sin. Any effort to improve your appearance was viewed with suspicion. Once I arrived at a friend's house to find her grandmother in a rage. Pointing a damning finger, she demanded, "What do you think about a girl who would go against the will of God?" My friend, it turned out, had straightened her naturally curly hair.

In that Bible Belt milieu, sex outside marriage put you on the fast track to Hell. As for sex in marriage, you weren't supposed to enjoy it. The only sanctioned pleasurable activity was eating. I have witnessed church family night dinners that were food orgies that would have shocked the un-Puritanical French right out of their socks.

The French seek equal pleasure in a well-prepared meal as in a session of passionate lovemaking. Actually the French favor alternating one with the other. But everything in moderation. The French, after all, coined the phrase la douceur de vivre, the sweetness of living. Americans coined the phrase "No pain, no gain." The way this works, you go through the pain of dieting. Then you gain it all back.

THE NOUVEAUX PURITANS

In recent decades American Puritanism has undergone an evolution. Activities no longer prohibited for religious or moral reasons, are now on the no-no list as unhealthy. This has given the Puritan mentality an in-road to spoiling our previously okay pleasure in eating. The rules are simple: Anything that tastes good, like grilled steak, cheese enchiladas, fresh-brewed coffee, or Key lime pie, are poisons, guaranteed to kill us. Foods such as tofu, bean sprouts, and plain low-fat yogurt are cure-alls promised to put the medical profession out of business and make us all live to 110.

Most new products the food industry has put on the shelves recently carry some (mostly overhyped) health claim. And whatever the fad health food, they add it to everything. During the oat bran craze about the only products on the supermarket shelf without this gritty little addition was laundry detergent and disposable diapers.

These Nouveux Puritans have studies to back up their claims. But my faith in "studies" is weak. I remember one study that concluded that wearing lipstick caused cancer. However, to ingest as much lipstick as they had pumped into those poor little research mice, a human had to eat 90 tubes of lipstick per day!

Across the Atlantic the French hear the results of the American Nouveux Puritan food studies, pause a moment from eating their pate de fois gras, cut a bite of bifteck, sip their Beaujolais, and contemplate the cheese tray as they shrug and say, "Il sont fous, ces Americains." They're crazy, those Americans."

This is from Good Food Tastes Good by Carol Hart, Ph.D.

When Puritanism was banished from the bed, it fled to the table. The cliches of American food advertising and popular food writing insistently equate gustatory pleasure with sin. Rich desserts are invariably described as decadent, wicked, forbidden, or sinful. Perhaps fast foods are eaten fast almost out of shame, like a furtive visit to the whorehouse. And how many people feel self-loathing rather than satisfied pleasure, after succumbing (again, the language of sin!) to a craving for a fatty or sugary treat. One wonders whether our obsessive moralizing, anti-instinctual attitudes toward the pleasures of the palate might have spawned the very perversities (binging, eating disorders, extreme obesity) they are intended to curb.

[sisiromy]

I loved "breaking the diet habit" from Janet Polivy and C Hermann (written around in the 1980's... very old!!)..... They are psychiatrists that have understood that crash diets like Atkins and the Cabbage soup diet and all those kind of things just make the weight problem worse. They recommend a sensible eating plan....Common sense

[Over43]

I don't think I'd be leaving the house on the cabbage soup diet.

[sisiromy]

It's one of the only mad diets i haven't been on..... (luckily for France lool)

[Over43]

Last night I had a boat load of teens coming over, and no pizza. So I started digging through my collection of cook books and found my copy of: A Man A Can A Plan by the publishers of Men's Health magazine.

I had forgotten that I had it. For the kids? Cowboy Stew. A pound of burger, a can of baked beans and a can of Hormel Chili. A bowl of stew, a side of Fritos and a soda for them.

This is a pretty simple set of recipes. Most of which are filling.