There are so many books out there, so it can be very difficult to figure out where to start. On this page you’ll find a few of my recommendations. If you see a book on this page that you are interested, please follow the link from here to purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commissions from qualifying purchases from Amazon.com
How Not to Die
Author: Dr. Michael Gregor
How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease covers in depth 15 different causes of premature death and how to reduce your risks of dying from each of them. Knowing that many of the deaths in the United States are preventable, Dr. Gregor explains how diet and lifestyle are the biggest changes you can make to reduce your risk for disease. He presents his “daily dozen” of foods to include in your diet each day and some ideas of how to incorporate them. He references thousands of studies but the book is practical and easy to understand.
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
Author: Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease describes what Dr.Caldwell Esselstyn discovered as the way to prevent and even reverse heart disease as well as other diseases linked to diet. Dr. Esselstyn is a general surgeon who after seeing the effects of disease in his family and his patients and realizing that surgery did nothing to cure the underlying problem, began looking for answers. He became convinced of a link between nutrition and disease and began to work with and study 23 men and one woman with advanced coronary artery disease and he treated them with a whole food, plant based diet. The book discusses what he learned from that study. The second half of the book has recipes and advice for how to eat plant based.
The China Study
Author: T. Colin Campbell
The China Study presents research done by T. Colin Campbell regarding his work with cancer and nutrition and the comprehensive China study which found many associations between diet and health risk. He also presents many studies done by other scientists that support the adoption of a whole foods, plant based diet as the best step one can take to minimize risk of many of the diseases common in our country. The last portion of the book explains how and why this message has been suppressed.
Eat for Health
Author: Joel Fuhrman
Eat For Health: Lose Weight, Keep It Off, Look Younger, Live Longer focuses on making sure we are getting the nutrients we need from food. Our intake of low-nutrient foods high in calories is making us sick. Dr. Fuhrman suggests we eat “foods with a high nutritional bang per calorie buck.” He asks a lot of questions and has warm up exercises to help to reprogram yourself to a new healthful way of eating free of toxic hunger and addictions. He helps with reading food labels, he has a meal plan and recipes as well.
Undo It!: How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases
Author: Dr. Dean Ornish
Dr. Ornish and his wife Anne present in UnDO It! their proposal of the best way to reverse most chronic diseases. They discuss their 4 pillars: eating well, moving more, stressing less, and loving more. I like that this book discusses more than just eating well. They explain why exercise is beneficial, they discuss their ideas for reducing stress and why finding something that works for you is important, and they remind us all that we are created for connection and loneliness is bad for our health. The second half of the book also has whole food, plant based, low fat recipes.
The Whole Foods Diet
Author: John Mackey
The Whole Foods Diet book does a great job explaining a whole foods, plant based diet (wfpb), why this diet is good for our health and where we can see that in our world. The authors suggest eating 90 %+ wfpb and keeping meat, fish, eggs and dairy to 10% or less of our calories. They introduce many of what they call whole foodie heroes, how they have contributed and where to learn more about them. The second half of the book contains a 28 day meal plan and recipes you can mix and match, as well as whole foodie basics to get your started with minimal effort.
