Great Reads to Better Understand the Importance of Healthy Food and Lifestyle Practices

Many, including me, grew up not really understanding that food and lifestyle choices impact our lives.

In fact, even though I knew the homemade salads and other options that I built and brought with me to school most days Was good for me, it didn’t Really connect in my mind that many of my food and lifestyle choices were collectively tearing my health down.

When I FINALLY made the connection, I started pouring over a HUGE number of books. In combination with online research, interviews, and more, I was able to see what I needed to change. Some came from practitioners, some from researchers, some from nutritionists, some from therapists, and some from people that have lived through their own experiences, done the research, and now share their stories.

I’ve tried to cull from the selection on my shelves a variety that you might find helpful, so pick your favorites and enjoy these Great Reads to Better Understand the Importance of Healthy Food and Lifestyle Practices.

My Suggestions

I’ve tried to suggest a variety of books from different perspectives and different levels of depth but consistent in expressing the importance of what we eat, how we live, and the impact on our lives. Each gives a whole representation of health. Each includes information regarding stress, gut health, history, movement, genetics, rest, hormones and more and how it all works together.

What these provide are informative building blocks that you might find helpful. All help in seeing what health Really is and considering when developing your own realistic plan.

A Few Great Reads

These are just a few, and they come from a research scientist, pharmacist, chiropractors, nutritionists, fitness experts, psychoneuroimmunologist, and an ER doctor turned functional medicine practitioner. In fact, several (all) of these authors are functional and/or integrative practitioners. All are experts in looking at the body holistically (as a whole).

1. The Autoimmune Fix by Dr. Tom O’Bryan – Dr. O’Bryan is such an entertaining teacher, and here he “explains the underlying mechanisms of the most common illnesses we are facing” including many that are usually considered diseases of old age but are actually “decades-long processes” that can “be identified before debilitating symptoms appear.”
2. Hashimoto’s Protocol by Dr. Izabella Wentz – This is a followup to her first book, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause. As a pharmacist that eventually discovered she had Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, Wentz presents information and an intervention consideration to address symptoms relating to health and autoimmune disease with thyroid disease as the base.
3. The Thyroid Connection by Dr. Amy Myers – Yet another allopathic practitioner turned functional medicine doctor turned author writing her second book. This and her Autoimmune Solution are very informative. In The Thyroid Connection, Myers focuses on thyroid dysfunction as “the hidden cause of a wide array of health problems that can threaten to ruin your life,” affecting “at least twenty-seven million Americans, and yet doctors frequently miss the diagnosis.”
4. A Mind of Your Own by Dr. Kelly Brogan – This is Dr. Brogan’s first published book and a New York Times best-seller even with aggressive censorship. As a psychoneuroimmunologist, Dr. Brogan’s informative book particularly gets you thinking about how healthy food and lifestyle choices affect your mental function and includes a 30-day action plan “that women can use to heal their bodies, alleviate inflammation, and feel like themselves again without a single prescription.”
5. The Virgin Diet by nutritionist and fitness expert JJ Virgin, this is a great read to illustrate the connections between exercise, food, and overall health. You might also like her Sugar Impact Diet, which was one of the first books I read on my journey. JJ has a comfortable, matter-of-fact style can make sometimes difficult to absorb processes and connections understandable.
6. The Elimination Diet by Functional Nutritionist Tom Malterre and Alissa Segersten, I still consider this book to be one of the best resources explaining elimination diets and how they can reveal connections between challenges and choices.
7. Eat Dirt by by Functional Medicine Practitioner Dr. Josh Axe – Aside from loving the name of the book, I think this is a great overview of how we have gotten where we are today, a compromised gut and the importance of supporting and building up our gut daily.
8. Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? by Dr. Datis Kharrazian – Dr. K is one of those resources that might equate to jumping into the deep end of the pool. This book focuses on thyroid but also does a great job explaining how common and seemingly unrelated symptoms are also important and relevant. Possibly my favorite of all of these and you might have to reread a few times, but this is a great resource.

Focus on Whole Health

Each of the great reads will help you understand the importance of choosing healthy foods and lifestyle practices to powerfully support your health.

Be sure to check out these related articles for more information on the topics mentioned in the books:

• What is Autoimmune Disease?
• Elimination Diet: How Does It Work? How Can It Help?
• Is It Your Thyroid? Thyroid Function, Symptoms, and Testing