Why am I passionate about this?

As a wellness educator, executive coach, and herbalist, I help people reclaim wellness and nutritional practices that can help them reclaim their natural state of wellness. They helped me in my own wellness journey and now I shared them with clients, students, and in my speaking engagements. These books have been in my library and recommendation list for more than 10 years.


I wrote

Reclaiming Wellness: Ancient Wisdom for Your Healthy, Happy, and Beautiful Life

By Jovanka Ciares,

Book cover of Reclaiming Wellness: Ancient Wisdom for Your Healthy, Happy, and Beautiful Life

Jovanka Ciares

Many of the most popular approaches to mind, body, and spirit wellness are rooted in age-old practices from around the…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of By Any Greens Necessary: A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat

Jovanka Ciares Why did I love this book?

This is one of those books that will inspire you to do more for your own health and longevity. I was a semi-plant-based vegan back in 2010 and losing motivation to stick to my new diet. With this book, I was able to embrace veganism in a healthy, tasty, and cost-saving way.

By Tracye Lynn McQuirter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked By Any Greens Necessary as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

* The first vegan guide geared to African American women

* More than forty delicious and nutritious recipes highlighted with color photographs

* Menus and advice on transitioning from omnivore to vegan

* Resource information and a comprehensive shopping list for restocking the fridge and pantry

 

African American women are facing a health crisis: Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes occur more frequently among them than among women of other races. Black women comprise the heftiest group in the nation—80 percent are overweight, and 50 percent obese. Decades of studies show that these chronic diseases can be prevented and even reversed…


Book cover of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

Jovanka Ciares Why did I love this book?

This is a follow-up with Michael Pollan’s best-selling, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It helps answers the ever-pressing questions of what and how to eat, one meal at a time. This is one of the books that answers Mr. Pollan’s now-famous quote: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

By Michael Pollan,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked In Defense of Food as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of This is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Food Rules

Food. There's plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it?

Because in the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion--most of what we’re consuming today is longer the product of nature but of food science. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we see…


Book cover of Manifest Your Destiny: Nine Spiritual Principles for Getting Everything You Want

Jovanka Ciares Why did I love this book?

This was the very first self-help/wellness book I ever wrote. I was new to New York City and trying to find answers like any other 20-something looking to find her place in the world. To this date, it is one of the most powerful reads I’ve had on the subject of attracting one’s needs and desires into one’s life.

By Wayne W. Dyer,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Manifest Your Destiny as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, affectionately called the "father of motivation" by his fans, is one of the most widely known and respected people in the field of self-empowerment. Manifest Your Destiny is a remarkable guidebook that show us how to obtain what we truly desire.


Book cover of Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself

Jovanka Ciares Why did I love this book?

I am a passionate advocate for the process of using foods and supplements, especially natural herbal ones to aid the body in the cleansing and detoxification process. This is one of the best books describing this process to help support and rejuvenate from the inside out.

By Alejandro Junger,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Clean as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Life-Changing Medical Breakthrough Clean is an M.D.'s program designed to be easily incorporated into our busy schedule while providing all the practical tools necessary to support and rejuvenate our bodies. The effect is transformative: nagging health problems will suddenly disappear, extra weight will drop away, and for the first time in our lives, we will experience what it truly means to feel healthy. Expanded Edition Includes: New Introduction * New Recipes * How to Become Clean for Life


Book cover of Yesterday I Cried: Celebrating the Lessons of Living and Loving

Jovanka Ciares Why did I love this book?

A powerful book where the author describes her journey from extreme hardship through hope and into renewal, wisdom and healing. This book will teach you that the pain of your past doesn’t have to be your reality today and how to rise above.

By Iyanla Vanzant,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Yesterday I Cried as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This self-help resource demonstrates how some of life's most important and joyous lessons can come from life's hardest knocks.


Explore my book 😀

Reclaiming Wellness: Ancient Wisdom for Your Healthy, Happy, and Beautiful Life

By Jovanka Ciares,

Book cover of Reclaiming Wellness: Ancient Wisdom for Your Healthy, Happy, and Beautiful Life

Jovanka Ciares

Many of the most popular approaches to mind, body, and spirit wellness are rooted in age-old practices from around the world and come from communities of color. But today they are typically promoted and used only by dominant culture elites. No more. In Reclaiming Wellness, Jovanka Ciares reclaims these time- and science-proven modalities to make them affordable and easy to implement for anyone.

After years of suffering from IBS, ulcers, and fibroids, Ciares embraced alternative therapies like Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and herbalism. Her fifteen-year journey toward self-healing, peace, and happiness became her motivation to inspire and support thousands of others to do the same, especially those like herself — educated women of color who are rarely represented in the billion-dollar industry of health and wellness.

Book cover of By Any Greens Necessary: A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat
Book cover of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Book cover of Manifest Your Destiny: Nine Spiritual Principles for Getting Everything You Want

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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Mimi Zieman Author Of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an OB/GYN, passionate about adventuring beyond what’s expected. This has led me to pivot multiple times in my career, now focusing on writing. I’ve written a play, The Post-Roe Monologues, to elevate women’s stories. I cherish the curiosity that drives outer and inner exploration, and I love memoirs that skillfully weave the two. The books on this list feature extraordinary women who took risks, left comfort and safety, and battled vulnerability to step into the unknown. These authors moved beyond the stories they’d believed about themselves–or that others told about them. They invite you to think about living fuller and bigger lives. 

Mimi's book list on women exploring the world and self

What is my book about?

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up the East Face without the use of supplemental oxygen, Sherpa support, or chance for rescue. When three climbers disappear during their summit attempt, Zieman reaches the knife edge of her limits and digs deeply to fight for the climbers’ lives and to find her voice.


By Mimi Zieman,

Why should I read it?

26 authors picked Tap Dancing on Everest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The plan was outrageous: A small team of four climbers would attempt a new route on the East Face of Mt. Everest, considered the most remote and dangerous side of the mountain, which had only been successfully climbed once before. Unlike the first large team, Mimi Zieman and her team would climb without using supplemental oxygen or porter support. While the unpredictable weather and high altitude of 29,035 feet make climbing Everest perilous in any condition, attempting a new route, with no idea of what obstacles lay ahead, was especially audacious. Team members were expected to push themselves to their…


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