nourish me's top-three reads on nutrition & health last year
With a great amount of exciting literature on health, nutrition, eating plans and healthy cookbooks around, there is simply too much to read even for those interested in the topics professionally. Here is a summary of our top three books that we have read last year, and fully recommend to add your reading list for 2017 (in no particular order):
- The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung
- Serve to Win by Novak Djokovic
- Darm mit Charme (English title: Gut) by Giulia Enders
The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung
Why we like it: Jason Fung provides plenty of rationale and background such that readers better understand the 'why' as well as the 'how' of fasting. With plenty of references and science background, this book is suitable for nutrition experts . However, it is also written in such a way that anyone interested to learn more about the various ways to fast – from intermittent fasting to extended fasting, will get a comprehensive guide to one of the best dietary methods for taking your health to the next level.
What it is about: In The Complete Guide to Fasting you will learn why fasting is good for your health, how it helps you lose weight without slowing your metabolism, why it can work as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, who would benefit from it (and who would not), the various ways to fast (intermittent, alternate-day, extended) as well as what to expect when fasting.
Favorite Quote: On diets “... But there is an obvious problem. “Eat less, move more” has been done to death over the past fifty years, and it does not work. … The underlying cause of obesity turns out to be a hormonal, rather than a caloric, imbalance. … Understanding this leads naturally to a solution: if excessive insulin is causing obesity, then clearly the answer lies in reducing insulin. Both the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting are excellent methods of reducing high insulin levels.”
Serve to Win by Novak Djokovic
Why we like it: The top tennis player of the last few years seems an unlikely candidate to make it onto a nutrition and health book list. However, in this fascinating and easy to read book Djokovic reveals how changing his diet has transformed both his health and his tennis game. Cutting out gluten and dairy products was key to Djokovic, but this book is so much more than a guide to gluten-free eating. It has plenty of anecdotes and motivating comments that will be equally beneficial for the interested reader as well as the nutritionist to use in-practice with their clients.
What it is about: In Serve to Win, Djokovic recounts how he survived the bombing of Belgrade, rising from a war-torn childhood to the top their of his sport. He reveals how changing his diet was the key from turning a player once plagued by aches, breathing difficulties and injuries on the court, to the number-one ranked tennis player in the world.
Favorite Quote: There are so many, here is a small selection:
On the fact that there is no one-fits-all: “Look at your fingertips: your prints are unlike anyone else's in the world. … your body is different from anyone else's in the world. I do not want you to eat the best diet for my body. I am going to show you how to find the best diet for your own unique self.”
On the general approach to food and health and not having enough time: “We fear we will not have enough – enough food, money, or security. We work and work and work and fill our bodies with fast food and processed food, because we are afraid to slow down. Then our bodies rebel. And so we go the doctor …. We get pills to cure the symptoms, but they just push our problems under the rug.”
“I have managed to stay gluten-free and eat a healthy balanced, satisfying diet that fuels a professional tennis career – and I probably have far less control over my schedule and where I eat than you do.”
On motivation: “All you have to do is try. And to me, the worst kind of defeat is not failure per se. It is the decision not to try”
Darm mit Charme (Gut) by Giulia Enders:
Why we like it: This book has been on the bestseller lists in German speaking countries for quite some time now, and for very good reasons. A fast paced, witty language, science-made-easy approach to the gut, one of the most complex yet most important organs relating to your health (both mental and physical). Great in the German language original as well as the English translation – we have read both.
What it is about: In Darm mit Charme (Gut), Enders shows that rather than the utilitarian and, let us be honest, somewhat embarrassing body part we imagine it to be, it is one of the most complex, important, and even miraculous parts of our anatomy. And scientists are only just discovering quite how much it has to offer; new research shows that gut bacteria can play a role in everything from obesity and allergies to Alzheimer disease
Top Quote: Instead of a quote, of which there would be plenty, we would like to highlight the illustrations by Giulia's sister Jill as a fun addition to the book's already charming and young writing style.
