Book Review: Ingredients

This book provides insight regarding how scientific data is collected, disseminated, and consumed regarding ingredients. The author shares the journey of uncovering information about what we eat, drink, inhale, and put on our bodies.

He offers this summation: “Pay attention to safety alerts from the CDC or the FDA. Other than that, if you read something about food and health—especially individual foods, like kale and eggs—on the Internet, treat it like a kitten: have fun playing with it, but don’t let it change your life” (245).

I would only recommend this book to someone who wants the details on why you cannot believe every headline or study that comes out, especially regarding food.

Check out my full review on LinkedIn.

Zaidan, G. (2020). Ingredients: The strange chemistry of what we put in us and on us. New York: Dutton, Penguin Random House LLC.

Strategies for Healthy Eating While Working from Home

Sharing a 30-minute presentation given to WBG on Strategies for Healthy Eating while Working from Home. Discover how to structure your time, control your environment, keep it simple, and optimize nutrition while working from home. Follow me on Instagram, @SimpsonNutrition.

Book Review: Atomic Habits

If you like self-improvement books, this one is for you. I highly recommend it. It is a how-to guide to make incremental improvements that will lead to significant changes. There are numerous strategies and many examples that appeal to a diverse audience. 

Check out my full review on LinkedIn.

Clear, J. (2018). Atomic habits: An easy & proven way to build good habits and break bad ones. New York: Penguin Random House. 

Book Review: I Quit Sugar

This book provides a step-by-step program to help you eliminate sugar. It is full of tips, tricks, and techniques to guide you through the process. The book begins with an introduction to the author’s story and an overview of what the reader can expect. The 8-Week Program chapter gives detailed instructions, week by week. The Getting Equipped chapter covers kitchen supplies and basic recipes you will need to know before getting started. The Recipe section provides 108 sugar-free recipes. The Bits at the Back of the Book section offers a shopping list for the recipes and additional resources.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in quitting sugar and requiring someone to hold his or her hand through the process. 

Check out my full review on LinkedIn, I Quit Sugar.

Wilson, S. (2013). I Quit Sugar: Your complete 8-week detox program & cookbook. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers.

Book Review: Food Fix

This is not a light read. Dr. Hyman delivers a detailed description of the problems with our food system and maps out the grassroots solutions, policies, and innovations that are needed to improve our health and the health of our planet. The goal of the author is to inspire, educate, and motivate individuals, businesses, and policymakers to think differently about the issues and to implement integrated solutions. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Check out my full review on LinkedIn.

Hyman, M. (2020). Food fix: How to save our health, our economy, our communities, and our planet—one bite at a time. New York: Little, Brown Spark.

Book Review: Brain Wash

I appreciated the anatomy and functional information regarding the brain. The strategies that the authors recommend are doable and accessible. Resources are cited throughout. I'd recommend the book to those that want to learn more about the brain and how to kickstart some changes to improve their health.

Overall, the book seems like it could have been edited down to be more concise and better organized. While there important pull-out quotes, there are no action items or summaries for each chapter that would help the reader to better understand and implement the various ideas. Don’t expect the 10-day plan to be new or radical; instead, these are familiar recommendations presented within the context of your brain. Also, I wish the recipe chapter was simpler. There is a lot of text and directions.

Check out my full review on LinkedIn.

Perlmutter, D. and Perlmutter, A. (2020). Brain wash: Detox your mind for clearer thinking, deeper relationships, and lasting happiness. New York: Little Brown Spark.

Book Review: Obesity: Health and Economic Consequences of an Impending Global Challenge

This report from the World Bank Group reviews the overweight/obesity issue including trends, health costs, economic impact, and what can and should be done to implement interventions to tackle this challenge. The time to act is now!

Check out my full review on LinkedIn.

Shekar, Meera, and Barry Popkin, eds. (2020). Obesity: Health and Economic Consequences of an Impending Global Challenge. Human Development Perspectives series. Washington, DC: World Bank.