Books to Support a Healthy Lifestyle
In case you didn’t see it earlier in the week, I compiled a list of the recipes I posted on my blog in 2011: Wednesday’s Healthy Eating
Judging by the number of newbies showing up at the 3 Fat Chicks Forum to seek support for dieting, the New Year’s resolution to lose weight has lost none of its popularity. Those of us who read know that one way to make sure one’s resolve lasts longer than a day or two is to read a book about it. Here are my top 5 books for living a healthy life at a healthy weight:
1. The Beck Diet Solution and/or The Complete Beck Diet for Life by Judith Beck. Choose Book 1 if a task per day format appeals to you, Book 2 if it doesn’t. The other difference is that Book 2 has a healthy food plan incorporated in it (but you can ignore it). Book 1 requires you to choose your own food plan. Both books teach Cognitive Behavior Therapy techniques, applying them to the complex and difficult task of dieting.
The Beck Diet Solution teaches you how to get yourself to eat the way you’re supposed to eat. It shows you how to talk back to the I don’t want to, I don’t have to, or I can’t voice in your head. (The Beck Diet Solution, page 19)
2. The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler. This is the book that started me on my weight loss journey. While reading this book, I stopped eating junk food cold turkey. He explains how modern foods are engineered to be hyperpalatable and to stimulate further eating, irresistible and craveable.
The ubiquitous presence of food, large portion sizes, incessant marketing, and the cultural assumption that it’s acceptable to eat anywhere, at any time, have combined to put more and more people at risk. We see the results as increasing numbers of people become conditioned hypereaters. (p. 248)
3. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I read this book several years ago and it helped me change my eating to one that was more plant-based, more local, and more natural. I slowly lost forty pounds over a couple of years (then gained it all back, but that’s another story). The philosophy from In Defense of Food still informs the choices that I make in eating. It’s a way of eating that is intellectually, socially, and physically stimulating to me. Some of my obsession with food that used to go into overeating now goes into food politics, shopping directly from farmers, and growing my own food.
4. Food Matters by Mark Bittman. From what I can gather, Michael Pollan isn’t the cook in his household. In Defense of Food champions cooking, but not in quite the same way that someone who actually loves to cook would. The book that filled that void came from New York Times’ cooking columnist, Mark Bittman. This was the book that taught me how to appreciate cabbage salad.
5. Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating by Ari Weinzweig. I’m not sure this book would have helped at the beginning of my weight loss journey, but it made a big difference along the way. If you ever get in one of those phases where food feels like the enemy or you think maybe you swapped an obsession for overeating for an obsession for measuring and counting calories, this book is a cure. It took me to a new level of appreciating food, not in the old “let me at it” mode but in a new “let me really taste and enjoy it” way.
If you have or have had a new year’s resolution about eating healthier or losing weight, what books helped you?
Visit Beth Fish Reads for other Weekend Cooking posts.
Great round-up of books. Pollan, Bittman, and the Zingerman’s are familiar to me. I’ve not read the other two. Based on how much I like the ones I have read, I think I need to check out your other recommendations.
I love Pollan and Bittman, and I look forward to checking out the others! I really feel like this is the year for me to really make being healthier happen!! Thanks for the suggestions/encouragement
Thank you for this excellent list. I went to my library’s online catalog and requested two of them.
I’ve heard such amazing things about Pollan but haven’t yet read anything by him. Think I also need to eat The End of Overeating!
I’ve read the books by Kessler, Bittman and Pollan and loved them. I have read one of The Beck Diet books, but not this one, and the Zingerman is new to me. I’m off to see if my library has a copy of the Zingerman one, as it sounds like something i can definitely relate to.
Excellent post today
I don’t really like real diet books, because diets always fail. But I do like the books that make you look at what you eat and make you more aware so that you can make small permanent changes in the way you eat. I think I would like in defense of food and food matters
I, like a lot of people, had trouble at first with Judith Beck’s use of the word diet, so I substituted ‘food plan’ in my head. She’s definitely all about making small changes and finding a way to make them permanent.
I’ve never heard of the first two and the last book, but I live by Pollan & Bittman. I’ll be looking for the others. Thanks for the roundup!
I’ve had the Pollan book on my list for a while. I’ve always enjoyed Mark Bittman’s books and I love the Zingerman book. Have to check out the other two. Great round up for the new year!
Hi Joy,
This is a great line up for books to be read for healthier eating and living. The Kessler one sounds particularly interesting to me. I lost 30 lbs in 2010, kept it off since, but my target weight is still 20 lbs from where I am now. I counted calories on when I succeeded at my weight loss (was already an avid exerciser–but increased my exercise none the same), but really… what the calorie counting and budgeting ended up teaching me was reducing, if not eliminating carbs–predominantly refined flours and sugars AND portion control. I think Kessler’s book might be a good push for me to become even more conscious of the still poor food choices I continue to make on a daily basis. Even with breakfast cereals! Thanks for the suggestions!
Thanks for this list – I have read Pollan, and adore the new edition of FOOD RULES illustrated by Maira Kalman. Must add some of your other suggestions to my reading list.
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Love-love-LOVED “The End of Overeating“…so much so that I even went out and bought myself a copy (I’d originally read a library copy). See my review {here}, if you want. I also have a list here, on my “Get Healthy” blog of other books that might appeal to those looking to lose weight/get healthier. It’s solely a blog for reviewing “health & fitness” books.
~MizB
I loved both the Bittman and Pollan titles, but haven’t read the others. It’s amazing how there’s always something new to learn on this subject, isn’t it. Thanks for the resources!
Hi Joy,
It was really inspirational reading about your weight loss – well done! =) As someone who is working on losing weight herself, this post is handy. I lost 35lbs in a year, but then I went away somewhere where I couldn’t control my diet for 6 weeks, and put 8lbs back on. Now it’s time to get back on track, I may have to check out some of these books =)
Rinn
Yay for the 35 lb loss! That’s a terrific accomplishment. I put on 8lbs after our Ireland trip. It came off pretty quickly once I got myself back on track. I’m sure you’ll do it, too!
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