Here are the top 3 health books that I have read in 2019 that has broaden my insights on how I view health holistically. It also gave me a deeper meaning on what I do and affirms my beliefs in the topic that I am most passionate about.
#1 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐢-𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐳𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬
There are two paragraphs that I love most, which best summarized why this book is easily one of my favorite. Here's the first: "Curing is what a physician seeks to offer you. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘴. It's what we bring to the table. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭, 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦" - Michael Lerner PHD & the second: "If we can loosen our grip on some of the quest for the Holy Grail of a "cure" and focus first on healing, we will approach treatment in a fundamentally different way. To see us in the oncology world take a broader view and look at the life of the patient and how 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 of that individual's cancer or disease. When we allow ourselves to open up to the possibility that our, or as doctors, a patients' behavior matters, something truly transformative may take place. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘯𝘦."
#2 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐓. 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥 & 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐌. 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥
As scientific as this book title sounds, this book provides a wealth of research about nutrition - a comprehensive explaination on how being plant-based not only be able to provide all the essential nutrients that your body needs, but thrive in preventing many chronic diseases in the future. This book is not only for plant-based, vegetarians or vegans. The research and information that are provided puts nutrition into a new light. As much as this book emphasised on the importance of whole fruits and vegetables being the vital source of health, this book also explained why there's no need to put any restrictions of any macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, fats). Quoting from the book: " #𝟏 𝐍𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬. The chemicals we get from foods we eat are engaged in a series of reactions that work in concert to produce good health. These chemicals are carefully orchestrated by intricate controls within our cells and all through our bodies, and these controls decide what nutrient goes where, how much of each nutrient is needed, and when each reaction takes place. This is nature at work. Our bodies have learned how to benefit from the chemicals in food as they are packaged together, discarding some and using others as they see fit. We cannot stress this enough, as it is the foundation of understanding what good nutrition means. " . Sharing this paragraph that I couldn't agree more: " 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝: what we eat becomes part of our body. But other experiences also are important, such as physical activity, emotional and mental health"
#3 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟 - 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐤 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐚
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺," 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥.
"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯?" she asked.
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴," he replied.
"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺?"
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺," Britt insisted. "𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦."
"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬," he said.
"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺."
All of us resemble Britt, not in the particulars of her story but in the return journey we must make if we want to heal. Wisdom begins by recognizing that the bodymind isn't just about cells, tissues, and organs, nor is it just about thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Instead, the bodymind is about unity between body, mind and spirit.
"I" must reawaken to the possibility of a vibrant existence once again, where the light of awareness is the true healer. Self awareness is a healing force. It dosent always bring immediate healing, but it starts you out on the path. Once you begin to see why you hold certain negative beliefs, you can retrain the bodymind, and over time, imprints from the past won't have a strong influence on how you think, feel and behave. Say to the thought "𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘰."
May this 3 books bring new light to your health just as it did for mine. May we all grow wiser, better and actively in health in the year of 2020. The only way is up!
All my love,
Ashley