Reading list

Expand Your Knowledge to Balance Your Life

The Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan

A book that “explains the range of food choices we face today using four meals on a spectrum from highly processed to entirely self-gathered, thus teaching us how the industrial revolution changed the way we eat, why organic food isn’t necessarily better, what truly natural food looks like, and which options we have in making the tradeoff between fast, delicious, cheap, ethical, sustainable, and environmentally friendly meals.” (Niklas Goeke)

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In Defense of Food – Michael Pollan

A book that describes the decline of natural eating in exchange for diets driven by science and nutritional data, how this decline has ruined our health, and what we can do to return to food as nature intended it.

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How Not to Die – Gene Stone & Michael Greger

This book addresses ways you can extend your life based on scientific research focusing on whole food, plant-based diet. However, you don’t have to give up meat up in order to enjoy this book. You can learn valuable information that you can utilize in your life without completely jumping on the plant-based wagon.

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How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss – Michael Greger 

“Sister” book to How Not To Die. This book details how a plant-based diet can heal obesity as well as providing you with seventeen steps for Optimal Weight Loss as well as 21 tweaks for extra health. A blue print to a healthier life achieved through diet. 

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LifeSpan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To – David Sinclair

A book that addresses the concept of aging – how we age, why we age and what we can do to age gracefully and healthfully. The book provides latest clinical research that defies the “known” laws of aging and presents a “cure” to aging. 

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The Blue Zones Secrets to Living Longer: Lessons from The Healthiest Places on Earth – Dan Buettner 

 National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner has traveled the globe to uncover the best strategies for longevity found in the Blue Zones: places in the world where higher percentages of people enjoy remarkably long, full lives. In this dynamic book he discloses the recipe, blending this unique lifestyle formula with the latest scientific findings to inspire easy, lasting change that may add years to your life. Buettner’s colossal research effort has taken him from Costa Rica to Italy to Japan and beyond.

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Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition – T. Colin Campbell, Howard Jacobson

Nutritional science, long stuck in a reductionist mindset, is at the cusp of a revolution. The traditional “gold standard” of nutrition research has been to study one chemical at a time in an attempt to determine its particular impact on the human body. These sorts of studies are helpful to food companies trying to prove there is a chemical in milk or pre-packaged dinners that is “good” for us, but they provide little insight into the complexity of what actually happens in our bodies or how those chemicals contribute to our health. In this book, T. Colin Campbell explains the science behind the evidence, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven’t changed.

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The Mind Gut Connection: How The Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impact Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health – Emeran Mayer 

The Mind-Gut Connection teaches us how, with a few simple changes to our diet and lifestyle, we can enjoy a happier mindset, enhanced immunity, a decreased risk of developing neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and even lose weight.