“Eat food. Not too much.
Mostly plants.” – Michael Pollan
At the very beginning of the
introduction to In Defense of Food, the follow up ‘eater’s manifesto’ to
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan provides a short, concise
instruction for a healthy diet. In 2000,
Andrew Weil published a much longer and more detailed prescription for a
healthy diet called, Eating Well for Optimum Health.
If you
recall, Dr. Weil came onto the scene with a best selling nonfiction called Eight
Weeks to Optimum Health. It ran at
the top of the NY Times bestseller list for several weeks, and focused our
attention on the potential benefits of an integrated approach to health. He followed up with Eating Well, the
most comprehensive and lucid book about diet and health that I have come
across.
Andrew Weil
takes a very methodical and articulate approach to food and nutrition,
beginning with a breakdown of the macro- and micronutrients, of each component of
our diet, and then finishing by constructing the outline of an optimum
diet. I have used this book as a
resource for many years now, in constructing menus within hospitals, in
deciding how to fuel my own attempts to prepare for marathons and triathlons,
and in teaching health and wellness in a public forum.
Unfortunately,
I discovered recently that this book has fallen from the public eye, and
hardcover print versions are becoming more and more scarce. Before this book disappears altogether, I
want to strongly suggest that you go out and find it, and make sure that it is
on your shelf, alongside your diet books, your cookbooks, your self-help books and
your fitness books. It is an
indispensable book, if you are serious about a long-term diet.
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