Body Beautiful

Usually, when a Hollywood star writes a book, one thinks it might be a vanity project, lots of pictures of said star and maybe some borderline crazy "information." So I was cynical when I opened up Cameron Diaz's book The Body Book: the law of hunger, the science of strength, and other ways to love your amazing body. I was pleasantly surprised! The book is organized into three segments: Nutrition, Fitness, and Mind. In each segment there are several chapters packed with information, both historical and practical. There are even citations in the back of the book that tell where the information came from.  This is truly an all purpose book to learn about your body and keep it healthy.
ML

Easy Eating!

We’re going to a chili-fest soon. While looking for an easy entry I ran across The Everything Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook by Rachel Rappaport and B. E. Horton. Rachel is a cooking teacher who has created recipes and writes a food blog, coconutlime.blogspot.com. Horton is a registered dietician with a master’s degree in nutrition communication. Together they selected over 300 nutritional slow-cooked meals. There's nothing like a slow cooker  for saving time. You'll browse international recipes with fresh ingredients and spices. Tasty and Healthy! DB

Getting Wild About Food!

Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health by Jo Robinson is all about how to “select and prepare food to reclaim the nutrients and flavor we’ve lost.”   There is a big difference in food we eat today versus the less selected and processed food of our past.   This book covers the history of food items and how to get the most from them for optimal health.  Did you know beets have more antioxidant properties than almost any other common vegetable?  They were used in Roman times as a healing food and were also used as an aphrodisiac! Buy beets with their greens on since those will be the freshest. Try steaming your beets to keep the nutrition content optimal and always cook them with their skin on (peel them after they are cooked and have cooled).  Try eating them with a sauce made from oil, onion, balsamic vinegar, lemon zest and blue cheese.  This book is chock full of information and great recipes.  You will never look at a carrot the same way again (they should really be purple). SG

Sugar Nation

Sugar Nation: the hidden truth behind America's deadliest habit and the simple way to beat it by Jeff O'Connell is a shortcut to a better life. Jeff is a journalist that has specialized in health and fitness as a writer and editor. He knew nothing about type 2 diabetes until he found out that his estranged father had lost a leg to the disease. At his physical a week later he discovered that diabetes was possibly also in his future. He began a mission to hold off diabetes as long as possible by doing research, conducting interviews, and using his own body as a guinea pig to better understand blood sugar levels and insulin resistance. This was a great read and anyone following Jeff's suggestions is likely to become healthier as a result.      SAL

To Your Good Health!

The End of Illness, by David B. Agus, MD, is all about getting healthy and living a long and vigorous life.  How we look at our bodies, how we listen to our bodies, and how we honor our bodies is what this book is about.  After much research and years working as an oncologist Dr. Agus presents us with a way of life that is simple and healthy.  This isn’t a diet book, nor is it a 14 day quick cure, but more a realization that we’re all different, that we all have to be our own personal health advocate, and that we shouldn’t believe everything we read.  Some of the background research included in the book makes for a great case but can be a bit dry.  The end of each section there are “Health Rules” which are simple and when taken together add up to (hopefully) the end of illness.  SG.

More New Magazines

Three more new subscriptions have broadened the scope of our magazine collection. We now have current issues of Crochet World, Dwell, and Whole Living on display. Stop in and see what they're all about!