book/movie reviews

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, Ive been trying to educate myself about health and fitness...including what exactly is going on with my food...and how much and in what combination I should be eating. I've looked to other people for suggestions and I would love it if you have something to add or you know of others that I've missed or havent gotten to. Here's a list, with a short review, of the books and movies that Ive read and watched so far.

1. Master Your Metabolism, Jillian Michaels: This book was a great way to start my journey, and I read it...start to finish...in one sitting. I could really relate to the no nonsense terms that Jillian used...and I was appreciative of the simplicity of the plan. Eat organic as often as possible. Eat in moderation and with balance. She talks a lot about the science behind metabolism, which is made up of hormones. I found this book to be an easy to use, parsimonious guide to getting my health back on track.

2. Winning By Losing, Jillian Michaels: Like MYM, this book was a great way to start my weight loss journey from the exercise perspective. It broke everything down into terms I was able to understand and gave me a direction that was rigid enough to give me purpose and flexible enough to allow me to grow into and beyond it.

3. Defense of Food, Michael Pollan: I loved this book for its stance on the western diet and giving me a behind-the-scenes look at the food that appears innocent on the shelf. It helped me understand more of the WHY behind eating organic and gave me a good healthy dose of skepticism at anything with packaging.  Its one downside is that the language is not easily accessible and can be tough. That being said, Pollan's dry humor throughout makes it an enjoyable read.

4. Unlimited, Jillian Michaels: This one is different from the other two, in that it falls into the genre of "self help" as opposed to health and fitness. While, I think they're the same...this one is going to help you figure out the why behind your goals...and help you reach them. You wont hear much about how to work out or eat right...but i found the book as interesting and helpful as the others...

5. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser: The history in this book is detailed and personal and tracks the larger-than-life fast food empire back to its humble roots. I find it sad and in some ways, shocking, to see this side of the story...I couldnt get enough of this book, and it definitely helped solidify the removal of fast food from my diet.

6. Forks over Knives: The movie speaks heavily to a plant based diet, providing medical evidence of the benefits...which include everything from reversing diabetes & lowering blood pressure to decreasing cancer cells by as much as 100%. I wanted to take the movie at face value and immediately convert to a a vegan diet but without more education, hastiness seemed irresponsible. I thought the movie reaffirmed Michael Pollan's DOF and found the movie interesting and enlightening, even if a drastic change to my diet isnt in the cards.


I have more books on the way--including Organic Manifesto by Maria Rodale, Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, Food Politics by Marion Nestle and Fear of Food by Harvey Levenstein. I'll keep you updated!! Please--if you have suggestions, share them!