A short list of the essentials for getting up-to-date on a rational, evidence-based diet and exercise program.
Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy by Walter Willett
- This is a short, quick read. Willett is a physician who is a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School. It will get you up to date on what we know about nutrition and health, from a science based perspective. Even those who “know” nutrition can benefit from getting back to basics, especially if you have spent a lot of time reading the speculation that passes for dietary truth online. The recipes are not very useful, in my opinion. Once you know what a healthy diet consists of, you can use calorie and portion control to obtain a normal body weight and decrease your odds of diet-related disease.
- A different look at healthy eating, by a dietitian who writes about food marketing and food politics. If you want to go deeper than Willett takes you, this is your next stop. If you are not aware of the context of the food we eat (advertising, animal welfare, deceptive marketing), you are at a disadvantage in the modern food environment.
Fitness Weight Training by Baechle and Earle
- If you have started to eat well by making intelligent food choices and watching your calorie intake, the next step is getting some exercise. I often recommend starting with a pedometer
to track your baseline activity level and then start to increase it. However, if you want to get full benefit from an exercise program, you must include strength training. Why not enlist prominent exercise scientists to design your program? This book features easy to follow instructions that will allow you to make use of the equipment at your local gym.
Slowfit 