The Zen of Calories
Part Seventeen (Final): Two Books
I have read my share of weight-loss and healthy-eating books, some quite fantastic (like Fit for Life by the Diamonds, which still stands out as a direction-turner for me), some not worth mentioning — obviously written not to help but to make a quick $Million or two.
Looking back over this small sea of books — okay, perhaps a lake — two books stand out as not only a cut, but an Everest, above the rest.
The first, and the most impressive of all, is Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman; the other is In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.
Eat to Live is easily the best book on healthy weight loss ever written. I am not joking: ever written. Period.
In Defense of Food gives a broad background (or shoulders) for Eat to Live to stand on.
Eat to Live
In the early pages of his book, Dr. Joel Fuhrman makes one of the most astute observation I have ever encountered: “We search for more answers because the ones we have found are not to our liking.”
It apparently does not matter to us that the answers we have found do work, that they do isolate, outline, and solve the problem of obesity. We take issue with these solutions.
And the issue we take is that the rehab facilities we have found so far do not provide us with our drugs. So, junk-food addicts that we are, we will go on looking until we find a facility that will cater to our addiction and only pretend to help us — as long as we can fool ourselves long enough about it to enjoy the fix.
It’s a terribly sad fact. For here’s the kicker: “Unlike for many diseases, the cure for obesity is known.”
The amazing thing about Dr. Fuhrman’s bold declaration is that once you’ve read the book, you will agree.
So many in the US, and in other consumer societies, live to eat. It’s a case of food taking center stage. Dr. Fuhrman, rightly, calls it an addiction; an addiction that not only leads to overweight and despair but one that threatens our lives on a very immediate and very personal level.
But here is an amazing (and saving) fact: Your body is on your side.
“I have become convinced that the most overlooked tool in our medical arsenal is harnessing the body’s own ability to heal through nutritional excellence.”
This is something I’ve known most of my life, instinctively. Dr. Fuhrman goes right ahead and proves it.
“You can break the addiction only if you give your body a fair chance. Do not say you will give it a try. Do not try; instead, make a commitment to do it right.”
When your life and happiness are at stake, trying just won’t cut it, and Dr. Fuhrman recognizes that. He then goes on to promise:
“My promise is threefold: substantial, healthy weight reduction in a short period of time; prevention or reversal of many chronic and life-threatening medical conditions; and a new understanding of food and health that will continue to pay dividends for the rest of your life.”
Having read the book and having already experienced the truth of much of what he says, I know that finally, here is an approach to healthy weight loss that keeps its promise.
Dr. Fuhrman has beautifully, comprehensively, and once and for all, wrestled the barbaric obesity beast to the ground and the solution is almost laughably simple.
And it is do-able.
By anyone.
Get this book. Read it. Feel great!
In Defense of Food
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Michael Pollan’s opening paragraph has almost become a mantra among those who have read (and loved) this book.
Pollen’s book does not pretend to set out a diet plan or regimen (Eat to Live does that, and splendidly at that), but his book gives you a great new perspective on food, and what we in the western world have done to pervert what we now call food to something our grandparents, perhaps not even our parents, would recognize as such.
I found Pollan’s book not only an eye-opener but a great inspiration as well.
“Western diet that we take for granted: lots of processed foods and meat, lots of added fat and sugar, lots of everything — except vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.”
That sets the tone. Pollan then goes on to investigate why this is, and the answers are nothing short of fascinating.
“We are accustomed in all matters having to do with health to assuming science should have the last word, but in the case of eating, other sources of knowledge and ways of knowing can be just as powerful, sometimes more so.”
I would say that when it comes to “official” science, and the medical industry — which we (blindly and foolishly) trust to steer us right, there are far too many (and far too powerful) vested interests at play. Your health is not of foremost concern. It is instead the holy bottom line that counts for the food manufacturers, the junk-food chains, and, yes, for a medical industry that make a killing (pun intended) treating the millions of victims of this nation-wide, if not world-wide, atrocity.
Buy it, read it, and be enlightened.
Final Words
It probably does not have to be said, but I’d better say it anyway: Nothing in this book is to be taken as medical advice of any kind. Should you have any questions, ask your doctor for his or her opinion.
And that said, I wish you a healthy, productive, and long life.
‘Nuff said…
© Wolfstuff