Top 5 recommended books that explain health in today’s world.
I have revised my top 5 recommended books as I read more and more each year.
These books cover all the pillars of health and does not concentrate on nutrition alone, we are all different, and we all have areas in our health scope that we need to know more about. Across all these books you will find out lots of interesting and amazing research and the authors have put it into easy to read formats.
For many people when they are looking at improving their health, many tend to go towards the food side of the situation… but there is way more involved than just what you eat.
You could be eating the most nutritious meal ever, but if the cells in your body have been damaged, or you are stressing them out each day, they are not getting any recovery, then that meal you are eating which could be full of colour, protein, fibre, carbohydrates and good fats – well it will not be nourishing your body like you thought.
Until you realise ALL the contributing factors to keep your body in a healthy state, just concentrating on the food only will not do you justice.
I have put this recommended book list together so that you understand how your body works best.
These books are well written, they are very easy to read and give you some great knowledge bombs.
You will get many A-ha moments, and once you get the connection, you will be able to see how your health may have been affected, or this might be the case for some of your loved ones around you.
They cover:
1. The effects of sugar, which so many people are now aware of.
2. Importance of salt, and that it is not the white substance you should be staying clear of (that’s talked about in the first book). How our body goes into internal starvation.
3. Game changer: SLEEP, how your intentions in 2019 should be about prioritizing sleep. This is the only way your body can repair, so why does so many people disrespect it!
4. Lifestyle – The Primal blueprint, how we as humans are made exactly the same as our caveman ancestors, but live in a modern world, with loads more modern diseases.
5. The Obesity code: OMG this is an eye opener!
Sugar Crush – Dr Richard Jacoby
You hear many people say it’s ok for ‘X’ to have sugar, because they are running it off or they’ve had a big day etc.
But what they don’t think of is the damage that the sugar does to the body weather they ‘run it off’ or not.
Sugar, in the amount that some people consume these days is frightening and it is the cause of many of our chronic illnesses.
Sugar causes Chronic inflammation by:
-damaging your immune system
-can be painful
-raises triglycerides (tiny fat particles in the blood that store energy and transport it to your muscles), cholesterol, and blood pressure, thus contributing to diabetes and heart disease
-it is implicated in conditions ranging from allergies, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease to fatigue, depression, wrinkles and dry skin.
Read more… full book review
And further reading on the sugar topic
The Salt Fix – Dr James Dinicolantonio
Research suggests that chronic salt depletion may be a factor in what endocrinologists term “internal starvation”.
When you start restricting your salt intake, the body starts to panic.
One of the body’s defense mechanisms is to increase insulin levels, because insulin helps the kidneys retain more sodium.
Unfortunately, high insulin levels also “lock” energy into your fat cells, so that you have trouble breaking down stored fat into fatty acids or stored protein into amino acids for energy. (More about the concerns of insulin resistance in The Obesity Code book.)
When insulin levels are elevated, the only macronutrient that you can efficiently utilize for energy is carbohydrate.
You start craving sugar and refined carbs like crazy, because your body believes carbohydrate is your only viable energy source. And, as the now-familiar story goes, the more refined carbs you eat, the more refined carbs you tend to crave.
The overeating of processed carbs and high-sugar foods virtually ensures fat cells accumulation, weight gain, insulin resistance, and eventually type 2 diabetes
Sleep Smarter – Shawn Stevenson
It’s the natural periodic state of rest for the mind and body.
Generally, being awake is catabolic (breaks you down) and being asleep is anabolic (builds you up).
Sleep is known to be an elevated anabolic state, heightening the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, skeletal, and muscular systems.
Basically, sleep rebuilds you and keeps you youthful.
High-quality sleep fortifies your immune system, balances your hormones, boosts your metabolism, increases your physical energy, and improves the function of your brain.
Working hard is unarguably a big part of successful, but so is working smart. So many people in our world today go on plugging away with work , burning the candle at both ends, not realizing that the quality of work they’re doing is being radically compromised.
Research shows that after just 24 hours of sleep deprivation, there is an overall reduction of 6% in glucose reaching the brain.
Simple translation: You get dumber.
Read more…full book review
The Primal Blueprint – Mark Sisson
Your calorie-restriction efforts will not result in the burning of stored body fat, because the frequent insulin spikes after the high carbohydrate shakes and eating binges, in fact (over time), will produce metabolic changes that make it increasingly difficult to mobilise stored fat for energy.
This is so common in people trying to lose body fat – you simply don’t.
You need to understand that your muscle tissues is converted into glucose to supply your energy needs.
The 4 kilos that you lost quickly in your first week of losing weight, will return in a matter of days when exhaustion causes a return to normal, or super normal calorie intake.
So you are back to square one – but a hell of a lot grumpier!!!
The Obesity Code – Dr Jason Fung
The question is not how to balance calories, the question is how to balance your hormones.
The most crucial question in obesity is how to reduce insulin.
Long-term weight loss is really a two-step process.
Two major factors maintain our insulin at a high level.
The first is the foods that we eat-which are what we usually change when we go on a diet.
But we fail to address the other factor: the long-term problem of insulin resistance.
This problem is one of meal timing.
Insulin resistance keeps our insulin levels high.
High insulin maintains our high body set weight.
Our high body set weight erodes our weight-loss efforts.
We start feeling hungrier.
Our metabolism (that is, our total energy expenditure) relentlessly decreases until it falls below the level of our energy intake.
Our weight plateaus and ruthlessly climbs back up to our original body set weight, even as we keep dieting.
Clearly, changing what we eat is not always enough.
Read more…full book review (4 part series)
Wrap up…
The combination of all these books gives you a very detailed understanding of how our bodies were made, what challenges they face in the modern world, and the biggest eye opener is you’ll connect the dots to know why our society is very very sick.
I suggest you read a review each week, take your time, some reviews are very long (The Obesity code), but that’s because the content was full on.
You can also download my FREE ebook to help take steps towards a healthier diet and lifestyle.
Over the next few months borrow each of these books from the library or buy them I guarantee you’ll be blown away.
To your health education
Kerrie
