Some Recommended Books on Food and Health
Compiled by Terry Slade
See also my pages on
Yoga Books
and Body Books
and my page of Food Links
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved - Sandor Ellix Katz
Subtitled: Inside America's Underground Food Movements
2006 Chelsea Green 400 pages (paperback $20.00) ISBN10:1933392118
Publisher's website:www.chelseagreen.com/2006/items/revolution
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1933392118/
This is the best food book ever! Get it now and pass it around. Get with
the real food revolution!
Wild Fermentation - Sandor Ellix Katz
Subtitled: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods
2003 Chelsea Green 187 pages (paperback $25.00) ISBN:1931498237
Amazon
Author's website: wildfermentation.com
The Omnivore's Dilemma - A Natural History of Four Meals - Michael Pollan
2006 Penguin Press 464 pages (hardback $26.95)ISBN10:1594200823
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1594200823/
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto - Michael Pollan
2008 Penguin Press 256 pages (hardback $21.95) ISBN10:1594201455 ISBN13:9781594201455
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1594201455/
"Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Real Food - Nina Planck
2007 Bloomsbury USA 352 pages (paperback $14.95)ISBN10:1596913428 ISBN13:9781596913424
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1596913428/
Sugar Blues - William Dufty
1975 255 pages ISBN:0446343129
Classic book covering the whole story of refined sugar - what it is,
how it affects people's health, how we came to be eating so much of it.
This book is extremely interesting in unexpected ways. The history of
refined sugar is presented in great depth. The slave trade had a lot to
do with the sugar trade. The addition of sugar to the modern human diet
has brought us many health problems. This is a very important book.
I hope you will read it if you have not already.
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0446343129/
Caffeine Blues - Stephen Cherniske
Amazon
You know its bad, but if you need it spelled out for you, this book has
the WHOLE story, including some ideas on how to get off the bean.
Don't buy the java jive, man.
Here is a supplier of herbal coffee:
www.teeccino.com
The Book of Herbs - Michael Tiarra
Amazon
Excellent book by modern herbmaster covering the science of herbology in
general and also presenting detailed info on major herbs. If you get just
one book on herbs, this should be it. Or if you get a bunch, get this one
first.
Healing With Whole Foods - Paul Pitchford
Subtitled: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition
3rd edition 2002 North Atlantic Books 750 pages (paperback $35.00) ISBN:1556434308
Amazon
Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen - Anna Lappe
2006 Tarcher 256 pages (paperback $18.95) ISBN:1585424595
Amazon
Full Moon Feast - Jessica Prentice
Subtitled: Food and the Hunger for Connection
2006 Chelsea Green 344 pages (paperback $25.00) ISBN:1933392002
Amazon
Author's website: wisefoodways.com
Nourishing Traditions - Sally Fallon
Subtitled: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
1999 New Trends Publishing 688 pages ISBN:0967089735
Amazon
Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
2005 Harper Perennial 416 pages ($14.95 paperback) ISBN:0060838582
Amazon
Also - Be sure to see the film Supersize Me. The DVD includes
a 25-minute interview with Eric Schlosser.
Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food - Eric Schlosser
2006 Houghton Mifflin 270 pages ($16.00 Hardback) ISBN:0618710310
2007 Graphia 320 pages ($8.99 paperback) ISBN:0618593945
Amazon (hardback)
Amazon (paperback)
Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill - Udo Erasmus
Subtitled: The Complete Guide to Fats, Oils, Cholesterol and Human Health
1993 Alive Books 456 pages (paperback $22.95) ISBN:0920470386
Amazon
Conscious Eating - Gabriel Cousens
2nd edition 2000 North Atlantic Books 850 pages ISBN 1556432852 (paperback $35.00)
An excellent book that I haven't yet spent much time with.
Amazon
Diet for a New America - John Robbins
A classic.
Amazon
The Food Revolution - John Robbins
2001 Conari Press 340 pages (paperback $17.95) ISBN 1573247022
New book from John Robbins. Have not read it, but I am thinking this may be
one of the best books on the general subject of healthy eating.
Amazon
Food and Healing - Annemarie Colbin
1986 Ballantine Books 350 pages
Very comprehensive and sensible book by the author of
The Book of Whole Meals, which is one of the classic
health food cookbooks. Many aspects of food and health are discussed,
including a comparison of various modern diets. She has specific
recommendations for a "health-supportive diet" but also explains
that no one diet is right for everyone. Very highly recommended.
Amazon
Survival Into the 21st Century - Viktoras Kulvinskas
I call it "the pink book". (The bright pink cover art is by Peter Max).
This is the bible of the raw foods movement. First published over 20 years ago.
Tons and tons of info on sprouts, juices, fasting,
wheatgrass, etc. This is one of the wildest, most radical and most interesting
books I've ever seen. When I found this book I just couldn't believe it.
It led me to an exploration of raw foods, sprouts, and fasting.
I'm not sure that raw foods is the way to go for me or for any particular
person, but there is a lot to consider.
Amazon
Nature's First Law: The Raw-Foods Diet - Stephen Arlin, Fouad Dini, David Wolfe
1996 Maul Brothers Publishing 230 pages (paperback $14.95) ISBN 09653533-0-3
Coming along a couple of decades after the pink book, another wild book loaded
with detailed info on various aspects of the raw foods diet.
Amazon
Raw - The Uncook Book - Juliano
2004 ReganBooks 304 pages (paperback) ISBN 0060988630
Amazon
On Food and Cooking - Harold McGee
subtitled: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Original Edition: 1984 Scribner
republished: Collier
Reprint Edition: 1997 Scribner 704 pages ISBN 0684843285
Revised edition: 2004 Scribner 896 pages (hardback $40.00) ISBN 0684800012
Not really from a health food point of view, but tons of very interesting
detailed information about all kinds of food.
Dick Gregory's Diet for Folks Who Eat - Dick Gregory
(out of print)
Dick Gregory is one of the most unusual people in the world.
This book is all about his experiences with fasting, juices, raw foods, etc.
He fasted in protest during much of the Vietnam War, thus the title of his book
(he didn't eat). He is the worlds top expert on fasting. I once read an article
in Ebony magazine about a time when he did a 40-day fast on water only, in
a hospital, monitored by doctors the whole time. At the end of the fast he ran
from New Orleans to Baton Rounge just to show that he could. He is a politcal
activist. He started out as a comedian. There is an interesting autobiography
of his early years called Nigger. At some point he became buddies with
Viktoras and he is mentioned in the "pink book". Sometime around the late
80's or early 90's they were working together helping extemely obese people
(like over 500lbs) lose weight. I got to see him speak at OU once (maybe in
the '80's) with a standing-room-only audience. He was very interesting and a
commanding speaker. I think he was in the middle of a 40-day fast which I think
he does every year.I got to see him again maybe about 2002. He has a later
autobiography called Callus on My Soul.
Radical Vegetarianism - Mark Matthew Braunstein
This is the best book on vegetarianism I have seen. It discusses all
aspects of vegetarianism, but is mainly a very thorough
intellectual/philosphical look at moral issues. The author is a practicing
raw foods vegetarian and has also written a book on
sprouts, The Sprout Garden. This is really a special book.
Amazon
Tassajara Cooking - Edward Espe Brown
1973 Shambhala Publications
A classic vegetarian cookbook from the Tassajara Zen Monastery.
Instead of recipes with exact measurements, the book gives
simple instructions on basic cooking methods (steaming, baking, frying,
boiling, simmering) and how to use them to cook basic foods (grains,
vegetables, soups, etc), and gives ideas for making meals by combining foods
and cooking methods. Its like "the Zen of Cooking", man. Looks like
its out of print. (Turns up cheap on eBay alot).
Tassajara Bread Book - Edward Espe Brown
1970 Shambhala Publications
Excellent bread cookbook from the Tassajara Zen Monastery.
I worked at a health food restaurant/bakery long ago and they took their
basic whole wheat bread recipe (and other recipes) from this book.
I recently (JAN 2001) got a copy of this book and followed the basic
recipe to bake my first loaves of bread. Very satisfying.
Amazon
The Tassajara Recipe Book - Edward Espe Brown
2000 Random House 229 pages
Have not seen this book but I'm sure it is excellent.
Amazon
Laurel's Kitchen
A classic vegetarian cookbook. Looks like it has been replaced with The
New Laurel's Kitchen
Amazon
Diet for a Small Planet - Frances Moore Lappe 1975
A classic vegetarian cookbook. Credited with educating vegetarians on
combining foods for complete protein.
Amazon
The Enchanted Brocolli Forest - Mollie Katzen
Excellent vegetarian cookbook from the 70's. I took a quiche recipe from
it long ago and I remember really liking the way the instructions were
presented. Looks like it has been replaced with
The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest
Amazon
Moosewood Cookbook - Mollie Katzen
Another classic vegetarian cookbook from the 70's by Molly Katzen.
Amazon
Your Body's Many Cries for Water - F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.
"Dr. Batman" details the need for people to drink plenty of water every day.
Amazon (paperback)
Amazon (leatherbound)
Instead of buying this book, you can read the basic ideas on this website:
www.watercure.com
Or just drink lots of water!
Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture - Jeremy Rifkin
Amazon
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Revised 02/12/08