Yummy yummy yummy I want vegies in my tummy

September 21, 2006 3:44 AM

Help me learn more about nutrition and eating for wellness and energy. I'm looking for recommendations for resources -- books especially - I can make use of along the path to healthy eatin'.

For a long, long time, my eating habits have been appalling - little in the way of fruits or vegies, hardly any protein. My diet consisted primarily of toast and coffee.

I've started to make some healthy changes and I would love to read more about nutrition and eating for wellbeing.

I have been browsing all the healthy eating threads here at askme, and have had a look at lots of the recipe sites mentioned.

But I'm really interested in hearing about books and printed resources that have inspired / guided mefites to eat healthy whole foods. Cookbooks? Books about nutrition? Magazines?

Google and Amazon searches turned up *so* much that it was really hard to tell what was any good.

Can I just clarify? Keen to learn more about eating for life/energy/wellbeing. *Not* looking for: diet books - Atkins, South Beach et al - or anything with a focus on weight loss/dieting.

posted by t0astie to health (15 comments total)

Flex magazine is an excellent source for solid nutritional advice. Bodybuilding culture has always been ahead of the curve in terms of fitness and nutrition.
posted by dropkick at 3:57 AM on September 21, 2006

print http://www.arthurdevany.com/webstuff/images/RevisedEssay.pdf
(He has another essay you can buy and print that's worth the price.)

Oh, I forgot the best $4 I ever spent:
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=14240
The ebook is $4 and you can print it, or buy the paperback for $16.50.

Both books are all about health (and the science behind it--which helps motivate me).
posted by Furious Fitness at 4:16 AM on September 21, 2006

Close to the veg

Not so much about eating healthy but more about growing veg.... I couldn't recommend it enough though, changed my whole outlook and it's a really fun read! Once you start eating healthily it makes sense to grow your own. that way you know where it comes from, what's been added etc.

I love it!

On a side note, I had a Burger King the other week for the first time in about 2 years... never again, tasty going down but talk about feeling poisoned. So not natural!

Good luck!
posted by twistedonion at 4:46 AM on September 21, 2006

I really like Vegetarian Meals for People on the Go by Vimala Rodgers. While it's a cookbook, she goes into a lot of the health benefits of many ingredients and also discusses some kitchen basics for healthy eating quickly. It's by no means a diet/weight loss book, but I think it's a great inspiration for tasty & healthy meals.

I also like the Moosewood cookbook Simple Suppers. This is more of a straight cookbook, but the photos and recipes are inspiring (ok & mouth-watering) and if you stay away from the cheese-laden recipes, most are very healthy.

Note, I'm not even a vegetarian, I just find that vegetarian cookbooks seem to focus more on healthy ingredients that I'm trying to eat more of.
posted by tastybrains at 5:12 AM on September 21, 2006

Oh, I'd also check out books by Dr. Andrew Weil. I have Spontaneous Healing and Eating well for Optimum Health, and while I don't totally agree with all of his stuff, he is sort of motivating to really look at your diet & habits.
posted by tastybrains at 5:14 AM on September 21, 2006

Don't pooh pooh all the diet books; despite their checkout-line titles some of them do have a solid base in real nutrition.

If nothing else, check out your metabolic type (free test here) to get an idea of how you should eat to feel best. Brown rice and steamed vegetables is the optimal diet for some people and a terrible diet for others; if you're one of those others, you will be frustrated and won't thrive on what is widely considered a very healthy way of eating.

Just want to raise the point that we are all different and some of us do a lot better when we stay far away from the standard one-size-fits-all recommendations that are out there.

Keep an open mind, maybe log your food intake for a while and see what makes you feel the best.

And eat more broccoli.
posted by bink at 5:39 AM on September 21, 2006

The two books that affected my long-term eating habits the most are The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain and Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price, probably best read in that order. The ideas in these books just make sense to me. No gimmicks or fads or attempts to make money. Just solid nutrition.
posted by Durin's Bane at 6:25 AM on September 21, 2006

I love Eating Well magazine. The recipes are easy and healthy. It comes every other month and always inspires me to refocus on healthier eating.
posted by robinpME at 7:05 AM on September 21, 2006 [1 favorite]

Answers from the end of the spectrum...

From the Chinese Medicine perspecitve, Healing with Whole Foods covers a whole lot of ground quite thoroughly. A great overview book.

My wife worked with Herbs of Light, which is still our favorite line of herbal extracts, for some time (but no longer does). The fellow touts a pretty intense philosophy on the balance of the body. But he certainly addresses energy and wellbeing from an honest perspective.

Raw foods are super-energetic; so much so that most folks touting and eating them seem pretty off kilter in one way or another. But thats a far cry from where you are.

And if you are shopping at anything other than a chain supermarket (which, living in the middle of the pacific i assume you do) talk to the folks at your local market, natural foods store, etc. Many folks who work at food stores do so because they enjoy food.
posted by iurodivii at 7:05 AM on September 21, 2006

Just so you know, South Beach has 3 phases, and only the first one is really about losing weight. Phase 2 and 3 are about eating fresh, minimally processed foods and healthy carbohydrates and fats, and there's not a huge focus on weight loss or dieting.

South Beach is a great resource for eating the right kinds of foods, whether you're looking to lose weight or not.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 7:47 AM on September 21, 2006

Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy.
posted by scody at 10:29 AM on September 21, 2006

Wow, these are brilliant. Thanks everyone - I'm more inspired already.
posted by t0astie at 5:17 PM on September 21, 2006

Try http://www.nubella.com - full of nutrition and beauty tips, recipes and ideas.
posted by bashos_frog at 8:20 AM on September 22, 2006

And those boring old conventional scientists just keep on coming up with "eat a varied diet".... they have no imagination!
posted by Idcoytco at 12:56 AM on September 23, 2006

Bashos_frong - thanks. That looks great.

Idcoyto, I'm all for eating a varied diet, believe me - I'll be using these resources to help me do just that!
posted by t0astie at 9:23 PM on September 23, 2006