Recommended Books About Diet, Health and Food | Gaia Naturopathic Clinic in Israel

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A year of Food Life

by Barbara Kingsolver
Follow the Kingsolver family while they resolve to eat only home-grown or locally grown foods for a year. This book includes family anectdotes about sustainable farming, recipes and delights about food that will leave you wanting to cook simple, hearty and delicious meals.

In the age of the 100-mile diet Kingsolver tells us not only a personal family story but also gives us the political, social, economic and health benefits of putting local foods at the center of your family's diet. While reading this book I began exploring online seeds catalogues and am even toying with the idea of a couple of chickens of my own!

Good Calories Bad Calories

by Gary Taubes
Science journalist Gary Taubes, a relentless researcher, questions the conventional wisdom of fat, cholesterol, heart disease. He takes us on a detailed journey of how popular science often wins out over actual scientific evidence. A more in depth examination, he argues, shows that Western diseases such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes appear to be the result of an increased consumption of refined carbohydrates: sugar, white flour and white rice.

This book is not for the faint of heart! But thoroughly enjoyable for sciencey minded individuals keen on fat metabolism, anthropological based nutrition, as well as diabetes and obesity.

What to Eat:
An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating

by Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H.
What to Eat is a book about how to make sensible food choices. Today’s supermarket is ground zero for the food industry, a place where the giants of agribusiness compete for your purchases with profits—not health or nutrition—in mind.

This book takes you on a guided tour of the supermarket, beginning in the produce section and continuing around the perimeter of the store to the dairy, meat, and fish counters, and then to the center aisles. Along the way, it tells you just what you need to know about such matters as fresh and frozen, wild and farm-raised, organic and “natural,” and omega-3 and trans fats. It decodes food labels, nutrition and health claims, and portion sizes, and shows you how to balance decisions about food on the basis of freshness, taste, nutrition, and health, but also social and environmental issues and, of course, price.

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

by Michael Pollan
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Unbeknownst to most consumers the processed foods that vie for a spot in our grocery baskets, because of claims to lower cholesterol, weight, glucose levels, improve our health are not so healthy afterall. These "healthy" choices have actually deteriorated our health since ridding our diets of carbs, fats--even fruits. In an era with cries to lose weight and be healthy, Pollan's call to action—--is a not only program for our own health but for the health and sustainability of our society at large and for the future of our entire food supply!

When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress

by Gabor Maté, M.D.
Life puts an endless series of demands on us. If we can't or won't say "no" to some of them, our bodies may say no for us, through means of an illness. Maté explains the biological mechanisms that occur when stress and trauma exert a powerful influence on the body. He uses compelling scientific evidence and clinical stories to back up these ideas.

Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine

by Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams
Applying the principles of evolutionary biology to the problems of medicine, an innovative approach to the medical field explores the reasons why people get sick, answering provocative questions about aging, obesity, cancer, infection, and death.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

by Michael Pollan
Did you ever wonder what to eat for your next meal while wandering the aisles of your local grocery store? As you walk up and down every aisle you notice the seemingly endless array of food items. There is so much choice! But wait... look closely...what is this food? Where does it come from? Pollen asks these same questions and does an in depth examination. This book is a must for anyone wanting to become a responsible and conscious eater.

Hypoallergenic Diet - A Complete Guide

by Saeid Mushtagh, B.Sc., N.D.
The Hypoallergenic Diet is a diagnostic and therapeutic diet based on research and the clinical successes of many Naturopathic Doctors, Nutritionists, and Medical Doctors. It is an easy to follow program that will help you identify food or food groups to which your body is sensitive or allergic to, while making you aware of the foods that optimize your individual health and body function.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver Follow the Kingsolver family while they resolve to eat only home-grown or locally grown foods for a year. This book includes family anectdotes about sustainable farming, recipes and delights about food that will leave you wanting to cook simple, hearty and delicious meals. In the age of the 100-mile diet Kingsolver tells us not only a personal family story but also gives us the political, social, economic and health benefits of putting local foods at the center of your family's diet. While reading this book I began exploring online seeds catalogues and am even toying with the idea of a couple of chickens of my own!

Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes Science journalist Gary Taubes, a relentless researcher, questions the conventional wisdom of fat, cholesterol, heart disease. He takes us on a detailed journey of how popular science often wins out over actual scientific evidence. A more in depth examination, he argues, shows that Western diseases such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes appear to be the result of an increased consumption of refined carbohydrates: sugar, white flour and white rice. This book is not for the faint of heart! But thoroughly enjoyable for sciencey minded individuals keen on fat metabolism, anthropological based nutrition, as well as diabetes and obesity.

What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating by Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H. What to Eat is a book about how to make sensible food choices. Today’s supermarket is ground zero for the food industry, a place where the giants of agribusiness compete for your purchases with profits—not health or nutrition—in mind. This book takes you on a guided tour of the supermarket, beginning in the produce section and continuing around the perimeter of the store to the dairy, meat, and fish counters, and then to the center aisles. Along the way, it tells you just what you need to know about such matters as fresh and frozen, wild and farm-raised, organic and “natural,” and omega-3 and trans fats. It decodes food labels, nutrition and health claims, and portion sizes, and shows you how to balance decisions about food on the basis of freshness, taste, nutrition, and health, but also social and environmental issues and, of course, price.

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Unbeknownst to most consumers the processed foods that vie for a spot in our grocery baskets, because of claims to lower cholesterol, weight, glucose levels, improve our health are not so healthy afterall. These "healthy" choices have actually deteriorated our health since ridding our diets of carbs, fats--even fruits. In an era with cries to lose weight and be healthy, Pollan's call to action—--is a not only program for our own health but for the health and sustainability of our society at large and for the future of our entire food supply!

When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Gabor Maté, M.D. Life puts an endless series of demands on us. If we can't or won't say "no" to some of them, our bodies may say no for us, through means of an illness. Maté explains the biological mechanisms that occur when stress and trauma exert a powerful influence on the body. He uses compelling scientific evidence and clinical stories to back up these ideas.

Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine by Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams Applying the principles of evolutionary biology to the problems of medicine, an innovative approach to the medical field explores the reasons why people get sick, answering provocative questions about aging, obesity, cancer, infection, and death.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan Did you ever wonder what to eat for your next meal while wandering the aisles of your local grocery store? As you walk up and down every aisle you notice the seemingly endless array of food items. There is so much choice! But wait... look closely...what is this food? Where does it come from? Pollen asks these same questions and does an in depth examination. This book is a must for anyone wanting to become a responsible and conscious eater.

Hypoallergenic Diet - A Complete Guide by Saeid Mushtagh, B.Sc., N.D. The Hypoallergenic Diet is a diagnostic and therapeutic diet based on research and the clinical successes of many Naturopathic Doctors, Nutritionists, and Medical Doctors. It is an easy to follow program that will help you identify food or food groups to which your body is sensitive or allergic to, while making you aware of the foods that optimize your individual health and body function.