Five Healthy Living Books To Read This Year
Read Them or Weep!
How many books do you plan to read this year? If you’re into audio, how many audio books do you plan to listen to this year? I love to read and listen to books. I wish I read more, but between podcasts and audio books, I feel like I absorb quite a bit of content on a daily basis. This is generally a good thing, but every once in awhile I read or listen to something that really is a waste of time.
My goal today is to save you from that waste. If you only have time for a few healthy living books this year, let’s make sure it’s worth your while. So, below I’ve carved out five must-read (with your eyes or ears) healthy living books for this year. These are books that I’ve read previously, and they provide a solid foundation into different aspects of healthy living.
Check them out and then add to the list in the comments!
Our first book is focused on autoimmune disease: one of the fastest growing chronic health conditions in the United States. Over fifty million Americans suffer from an autoimmune disease, and those with one disease are three times more likely to suffer from another autoimmune disease. The Autoimmune Epidemic helps us understand more about these chronic conditions and what to do if we suffer from one.
Written by Donna Jackson Nakazawa, this book is a first-hand perspective of autoimmune disease. Nakazawa uses her personal experiences combined with her journalistic background to provide a provocative expose into the growing autoimmune epidemic.
We found Autoimmune Epidemic to be a very informative explanation on where autoimmune disease may come from, and it helped us look at our environment and the impact it may have on our health.
What if there were a four-step process that you could follow to recover or even reverse autoimmune disease? While it’s not quite that simple, in The Autoimmune Recovery Plan, M.D. Susan Blum puts together a rather robust game plan to stop and reverse autoimmune disease based off of her own clinical experiences.
While The Autoimmune Epidemic is more focused on providing the backdrop of autoimmune disease today in America, Autoimmune Recovery Plan is a blueprint to reverse (or at least lessen) autoimmune disease. Mrs. CHL and I read this book together, and it gave us tremendous hope that there were things we could do to help fight back against autoimmunity.
If you have an autoimmune disease and think your only option is to take medication for the rest of your life, then READ THIS BOOK. This doesn’t qualify as professional advice, but it behooves all of us to understand what treatment options are available aside from just medication. Learn from doctor Blum that there are things you can do to take control of autoimmune disease.
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health
Don’t let the yummy bagels on the cover fool you, this book is all about why you need to remove gluten (and thus the bagel) from your diet. Written by a cardiologist, Wheat Belly is a fascinating dive into the history of the wheat protein, how it has evolved, and the crazy effect the protein has on our body.
From head to toe, Wheat Belly provides in-depth research and analysis around the negative impact gluten has on our bodies. I’d written about gluten previously, and while it’s very difficult for me to abstain from bagels, living a gluten-free life is something Mrs. CHL and I are focused on every day.
If you don’t know much about gluten or are looking for a real “health” reason to remove bagels from your diet, you need to read Wheat Belly.
Kris Carr’s story is an inspiring one. She’s overcome so much and pulls no punches when talking about life, death and diet. She’s captivating, she’s likable, and she’s authentic. Carr is also the woman behind the inspiration for the movie documentary, Crazy Sexy Cancer, which chronicles her battle to beat cancer.
This is the type of book you read when you’ve determined you want to take control of your health. Carr will confidently take you through the steps and empower you to live a healthier life. This book is so much more than her battle with cancer. It will motivate and inform you about what you can control about your health and what you should leave to chance.
If you want to change one thing about your life, or change everything, Crazy Sexy Diet is a darn good place to start.
Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21-Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Mind, Body and Spirit
This last book is an oldie but goodie for me. In all honesty, it’s the first book I read that started me on my healthy living journey. Prior to reading this book, I thought vegans ate cardboard for dinner. How else would they get their protein? I also didn’t think for one minute that my personal mindset had anything to do with how healthy I was.
If you haven’t read it, you just need to.
I’ve highlighted in a previous post why this book means so much to me, but here are some additional thoughts:
- The book is meant to be read over the course of a three-week timeframe, though I always end up reading it over the course of a few days (I’ve read it 3-4 times).
- Not only is the book a complete guide to a 21-day wellness cleanse, Freston defines why making the changes in your life are so important.
- One of the biggest challenges people face when changing diet is not knowing what to eat. Well, Freston has ensured that the reader has a full pantry of foods, recipes and knowledge of how to cook and eat during the cleanse, and still enjoy all aspects of the eating experience!
Most people can’t point to one specific book, movie or song that changed the way they think about life. For me, Quantum Wellness Cleanse was the one book that truly shaped my future thinking around trying to lean into a healthier life.
If you haven’t read it, you just need to.
What are Your Favorite Healthy Living Books?
These were my “Fab Five.” The first five books I would recommend to someone who wakes up one morning and says, “I want to live a healthier life.”
- If this is you, and that’s why you’re here, start with these five, and once you finish send me an email and I’ll send you a link to the next five books to read.
- If this isn’t you, or you think I’m missing one, let me know in the comments!
Either way, send me an email after you’ve read all five, and I’ll send you a personalized note with my next five “healthy living must reads.”
Until next time,
Brent
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