Seeking intelligent books on food/health
February 18, 2011 2:18 PM   Subscribe

Hello everyone- I wish to learn more about the different types of food and the effect they have on the human body.

For months now, I have been hearing how certain food will help you, others so and so and some even damage you.

Appreciate if you can share your recommended list of books, sources on how to eat smart and thus improve your lifestyle.

Please note: I'm not seeking crash diet programs. I am looking for knowledge on how to approach a more intelligent food-input lifestyle.

Thanks!
posted by waleedjameel to Health & Fitness (8 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.

I avoided this book for a while because the title sounds like a fad diet, but it's arguably the best, intellectual treatment of food and nutrition in popular science.
posted by telegraph at 2:29 PM on February 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


I'd say you can't go wrong with anything by Michael Pollan. Food Rules is the most concise, so it makes a quick read. For a bit more in-depth information, I'd recommend In Defense of Food. That book has really changed how I eat.
posted by LaurenIpsum at 2:45 PM on February 18, 2011


what telegraph said. GC, BC anything but a diet book.

I have found the Perfect Health Diet and Kurt Harris's PaleoNu two sources that expand upon Taubes's work in equally legitimate (i.e., scientific) ways.

I like telegraph though have issues with naming convention and terminology in the world of "new nutrition thinking" ("Perfect Health Diet" sounds like a ridiculous lose-weight-fast approach, GCBG sounds like a Weight Watchers points diary, and "paleo" drives me insane...
posted by johnchristopher at 2:49 PM on February 18, 2011


The recommendations in this thread are wonderful.

I'd just like to add my favorite health/nutrition blog, Stephan Guyenet's Whole Health Source. It's somewhere between hunter-gatherer and traditional cultures, and is very well-referenced.
posted by Earl the Polliwog at 4:45 PM on February 18, 2011


book by the Ottobonis - Modern Nutritional Diseases
posted by egk at 5:56 PM on February 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


whfoods.com (world's healthiest foods). The search functions leaves much to be desired, but it's a great resource.

I had a book called Foods that Heal, Foods that Harm , and it was quite good. This was several years ago, and I don't know if there's an updated version, but I still recommend it.
posted by Neekee at 6:19 PM on February 18, 2011


The Weston A. Price Foundation offers a lot of research into this topic.
posted by chez shoes at 7:20 PM on February 18, 2011


Response by poster: Thank you everyone for the very very useful feedback - this is certainly a good place to start!
posted by waleedjameel at 12:20 AM on February 19, 2011


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