53 books like The Saccharine Disease

A panel of 22 experts who rank diets for U.S. News has consistently placed the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) near the top of all diets. It meets the requirements of Mother Nature’s Lifestyle Diets, that is, no added sugar, no processed foods. This book combines it with the Mediterranean Diet which is not much different from the way hunter-gatherer societies ate. It results in the highest average life expectancy and also prevents and even reverses heart disease. The combination of the two is outstanding.

Dr. David Jenkins and University of Toronto colleagues developed the glycemic index (GI) in 1980–1981. Based on solid science, the GI distinguishes between carbohydrates that are digested slowly (those in Mother Nature’s pantry), those that are digested quickly (refined carbohydrates), and those that lie in between. Using either glucose or white bread as reference points, the GI assigns relative values to carbohydrates and makes sensible selection possible.

Based on David Jenkin’s science-based glycemic index, shortly after publication, this book made the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. The latest edition provides a large number of recipes. Additionally, it offers advice about how to lose weight, how to maintain the weight loss, and how to stay on track during holidays and in restaurants. It also discusses the psychology and the management of food cravings. All in all, the book is comprehensive.

This for-life approach diet is based on solid science, is easy to follow, and emphasizes exercise in a healthy lifestyle. There is a universal agreement among experts on the issues of a healthy lifestyle. This book simplifies these issues for the layman. Knowledgeable and qualified people hold it in high regard.

In its marketing activities, Big Food effectively uses its deep understanding of emotions and eating to put more calories into us. The psychology of overeating is a major focus of Big Food marketing. This book shows how to combine the control of emotional and impulsive overeating with exercise into a lifestyle.

Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food is also a classic, coming out in 2008. This book takes you deeper into the world of ultra-processed foods vs. whole foods—though the term “ultra-processed” wasn’t yet being used when he wrote this book. His famous “eater’s manifesto”—Eat food.  Not too much. Mostly plants. – is the tl/dr version, but if you want to learn more about how he came up with this manifesto, you’ll find it all within these pages. 

A wonderful account of the sometimes counterintuitive world of Roman medicine. They could treat cataracts, for instance, but couldn’t recognize appendicitis because they weren’t allowed to conduct autopsies. The chapters on Roman army medicine are excellent. There is also an excellent chapter on women’s diseases, birth and contraception.

Many people will remember Spike Milligan as the anarchic comedian from the Goon Shows. But long before he became a radio and television celebrity, he served with the Royal Artillery in North Africa and then Italy, until he was physically wounded, psychologically traumatised, and then medically downgraded.

Milligan wrote a series of war memoirs beginning with Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall. Some of the humour may appear a little dated now, especially to younger generations. But to me the books are hilarious, full of satire, irony, and pathos, albeit written in tones – reflective of the times – that are, well, let’s just say, are not ‘politically correct’. Underneath the humour though, is a story of the unutterable sadness and personal tragedy of war. But leaving all these ‘big’ issues aside, in a personal sense, I’ve always like Milligan because he was different, an oddball, someone willing to… show more.

Forks Over Knives describes how changing your diet (forks) can be used to good effect to improve health, therefore, avoid the need for surgery (knives). This is a book about the most important advice on healthy eating – guess what? eating a whole-food, plant-based diet. It is full of inspiring success stories of people who have taken charge of their diet and transformed their health, as well as useful recipes. The author advocates entirely plant-based, and although there is a healthy way to eat animal products, the foundational diet for everyone needs to be mostly plants, and most definitely whole foods, meaning not processed or industrially produced.

There has been a massive shift since the early twentieth century in our diets from the whole foods that served our ancestors well to ultra-processed foods that appear on shelf after shelf in our grocery stores, even in the infant and toddler section.

The author of Metabolic, Robert Lustig MD, is an endocrinologist with a passion for healthy nutrition, and he teaches us the many reasons why consuming a diet of ultra-processed foods is so damaging to the health of our bodies and our brains. Lustig explains how switching over from a convenience food diet to a whole food diet can help prevent type 2 diabetes and lead to many other health benefits.

His advice hit home with me because I went through that very process in 2006 and have reaped the benefits.

I read this book about 12 years ago. My son was having a hard time. I had tried therapy for him, for me. It wasn’t enough. In no way was I going to put him on medication as I had seen what this had done to some of my young adult clients. They were struggling and also self-medicating with recreational drugs. I wanted something more, something natural. A friend recommended this book and the author Julia Ross happened to live only 45 min away. I read this book and it was a game-changer for me and my family. The amino therapy was so helpful and created such an internal change for my son that life was more manageable. Now 10 years later I am training in this work and have seen amazing changes in some of my clients for anxiety, depression, energy, sugar cravings, and more.