I love to read health and fitness books. Overall, I’m pretty much a fiction reader, but this is where I make an exception. Since I’m devoting my life and work to healthy living, I guess it makes sense that I like to stay abreast of things. So, with that in mind, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite healthy reads:

Timothy Brantley’s The Cure: Heal Your Body, Save Your Life: This book was life-changing for me. Also a proponent of the raw food lifestyle, Brantley’s book discusses just how critically our food affects us. By eating properly, we can truly become healthy, energetic, high-functioning beings. But most of us eat cooked food that lacks enzymes, don’t drink enough water, eat toxic foods, don’t chew our food enough, and don’t detox properly. This book really struck a chord with me; I highly recommend reading it just to see if any of it sounds familiar.

Natalia Rose’s Raw Food: Life Force Energy: Rose is a semi-supporter of the raw food plan, although she incorporates cooked foods into her repertoire as well. Her basic premise is that all matter is made of energy, and since people are made of matter, we are therefore also made of energy. In order to be truly healthy, we must “vibrate” at the right frequency; ergo, it’s crucial to eat fresh, natural, healthy foods that still contain their life force energy. It’s a pretty compelling read; in it, Rose stresses the importance of colonics to detox the body (as does Brantley in his book). When I initially read it, I was horrified at the thought of colonics, but I found a good wellness center with a terrific colon hydrotherapist, and discovered that I’m really in favor of a clean colon.

Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking: Cook and photographer Swanson has created a beautiful cookbook that stresses the importance of eating natural foods: fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. She takes various food groups and devotes whole chapters to them; in the grain chapter, she encourages you to move beyond the standard wheat (and its gluten) to explore more unusual grains such as buckwheat, barley, quinoa, and teff. I haven’t tried her recipes yet, and some of the ingredients seem a bit hard to find, but I’m hoping to get the book for Christmas, so I can explore some of these new foods. One of my birthday gifts this year was a Whole Foods gift certificate, but my friend made me promise to buy a new, previously untried food with it. Maybe I’ll get some ingredients for one of Swanson’s recipes. That, or I’ll finally try edamame.

Joshua Rosenthal’s Integrative Nutrition. I have to include this one, don’t I? I mean, he founded the school that Lindsay and I are attending! Here’s my favorite thing about Rosenthal, and the reason that I decided to attend IIN: He believes that there is no perfect diet for everyone. Each person is different: different molecular structures, personalities, etc., and therefore, it’s silly to think that there is one diet that fits all. Some people thrive as vegetarians; others need meat. Some people love eating raw food; others need the warmth of a cooked meal. Wheat and dairy make some individuals feel great; others experience digestive problems if they consume gluten and lactose. He encourages his students to experiment with different types of foods and eating plans and see what works best for you. But, like the others, he still encourages a diet rich in healthy, whole, natural, organic foods.

I’m currently reading The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker’s Guide to Extraordinary Living by Stephen Cope. I’m only a few pages in, but I checked it out because I believe that yoga is more than just a way to burn calories. I hope to be a yoga instructor some day, so I’m really trying to understand all the underlying principles of a yoga practice: the postures, the breathing, the meditation, the history, etc. So far, this book is digestible and informative, and I have the feeling that I’m going to learn a lot.

Of course, there are numerous other health books I’ve enjoyed, but these are some really great ones to get you started. I hope you enjoy them too!