Some Recommended Books on Food and Health      Compiled by Terry Slade

Lots here about raw foods and vegetarianism. Not saying that I practice or endorse either or any particular diet (I do eat meat). I tend to be not so radical in diet these days, although of course always trying to eat in a healthy way. Just some books I have found that may be interesting in exploring ideas and information about food.

See also my pages on Plant Books(gardening, farming,etc.), Yoga Books, Body Books and my page of Food Links

Also check out the Food and Health section on my Documentary Films page.

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: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1933392118/

Excellent and inexhaustably interesting book covering political and legal aspects of food by looking at various "underground food movements". By the author ofWild Fermentation. Each chapter has lists of resources for further research. All kinds of stuff in here. Even includes recipes. Highly recommended.
Chapters:
1.Local and Seasonal Food versus Constant Convenience Consumerism
2.Seed Saving as a Political Act
3.Holding our Ground: Land and Labor Struggles
4.Slow Food for Cultural Survival
5.The Raw Underground (this is about fresh raw milk)
6.Food and Healing (or, Beware the Nutraceutical)
7.Plant Prohibitions: Laws Against Nature
8.Vegetarian Ethics and Humane Meat
9.Feral Foragers: Scavenging and Recycling Food Resources
10.Water: Souce of All Life

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: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1931498237
Author's website: wildfermentation.com

All about all kinds of fermented foods and how to make them. Super cool book.

Cooked - A Natural History of Transformation - Michael Pollan
04/23/13 Penguin Press 480 pages (hardback $27.95) ISBN10:1594204217,ISBN13:9781594204210
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1594204217

Food Rules - An Eaters Manual - Michael Pollan
2011 2nd Edition Penguin Press 240 pages (hardback $23.95) ISBN10:1594203038,ISBN13:9781594203034
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1594203038 12/29/09 First Edition Penguin Books 112 pages (paperback $11.00) ISBN10:014311638X,ISBN13:9780143116387
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/014311638X Have not yet checked it out, but I think why the second edition hardback has twice the pages as the first edition paperback is the addition of illustrations by Maira Kalman.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto - Michael Pollan
2008 Penguin Press 256 pages (hardback $21.95) ISBN10:1594201455 ISBN13:9781594201455
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1594201455
"Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

The Omnivore's Dilemma - A Natural History of Four Meals - Michael Pollan
2006 Penguin Press 464 pages (hardback $26.95)ISBN10:1594200823
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1594200823

The Yoga of Eating - Charles Eisenstein
Subitled: Transcending Diets and Dogma to Nourish the Natural Self
2nd edition: 2003 New Trends Publishing 192 pages (paperback $13.95)ISBN10:0967089727 ISBN13:9780967089720
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0967089727/
Author's website for this book: www.yogaofeating.com
Author's main website: www.ascentofhumanity.com

Transformational Weight Loss - Charles Eisenstein
2007 Panenthea Press 148 pages (paperback $12.00) ISBN10:0977622215 ISBN13:9780977622214
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0977622215/ Author's website for this book: www.foodsanity.com
The book can be read onine at the above website.

The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice and Sustainability - Lierre Keith
2009 PM Press 320 pages (paperback $20.00) ISBN10:1604860804 ISBN13:9781604860801
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1604860804/

Primal Body - Primal Mind - Nora Teresa Gedqaudas
2009 PM Press 404 pages (paperback $24.95) ISBN10:0982184107 ISBN13:9780982184103
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0982184107/

The Primal Blueprint - Mark Sisson
2009 PM Press 283 pages (paperback $26.99) ISBN10:0982207700 ISBN13:9780982207703
Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0982207700/
Author's Website:www.marksdailyapple.com

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
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/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.

Sugar Crush - Richard P. Jacoby, Raquel Baldelomor
Subtitle: How to Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Nerve Damage, and Reclaim Good Health
2015 Harper Wave 256 pages (hardback $25.99) ISBN:0062348205 ISBN13:9780062348203
Amazon (hardback): www.amazon.com/dp/0062348205
2016 Harper Wave 256 pages (paperback $15.99) ISBN:0062348221 ISBN13:9780062348227
Amazon (paperback): www.amazon.com/dp/0062348221
Official Site: sugarcrushthebook.com/

Caffeine Blues - Stephen Cherniske
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0446673919
OK - years after getting this book I'm still drinking coffee. Occassionally come across medical recommendations for coffee, such as "if you don't have any of the major side effects, up to 5 cups a day might keep your brain sharper". I'm thinking 2 cups a day is enough to have some detrimental effects for most people. Probably I need to dig back into this book and scare myself straight. But maybe a little coffee is not so bad. Also - check into Mate. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate
Here is a supplier of herbal coffee: www.teeccino.com.

The Way of Herbs - Michael Tiarra
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0671023276
Excellent book by modern herbmaster covering the science of herbology in general and also presenting detailed info on major herbs. Very good as an introduction to herbology.

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: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1556434308

Diet & Nutrition - A Holistic Approach - Rudolph Ballentine, M.D.
1978, 2007 Himalayan Institute 634 pages (paperback $19.95) ISBN:0893890480 ISBN13:9780893890483
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0893890480

Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen - Anna Lappe
2006 Tarcher 256 pages (paperback $18.95) ISBN:1585424595
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1585424595

Full Moon Feast - Jessica Prentice
Subtitled: Food and the Hunger for Connection
2006 Chelsea Green 344 pages (paperback $25.00) ISBN:1933392002
www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1933392002
Author's website: wisefoodways.com

The China Study - T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D, Thomas M. Campbell II
Subtitled: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight-loss and Long-term Health
2006 Benbella Books 417 pages (paperback $16.95) ISBN10:1932100660 ISBN13:9781932100662
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1932100660

Fire Your Doctor - How to Be Independently Healthy - Andrew W. Saul Ph.D.
2005 Basic Health Publications 208 pages (paperback $19.95) ISBN10:1591201381 ISBN13:9781591201380
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1591201381

The Gerson Therapy - Charlotte Gerson
Subtitled: The Proven Nutritional Program for Cancer and Other Illnesses
2001 Kensington 424 pages (paperback $17.00) ISBN10:1575666286 ISBN13:9781575666280
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1575666286
On my Documentary Films page, I list 3 films about the Gerson therapy, which are all very interesting. Many people have been healed fromn all kinds of cancer by following this therapy, which consists basically of eliminating toxins from the diet, eating diet of fresh organic raw foods and juices, and also the use of coffee enemas, which is said to trigger the liver to release toxins.

Nourishing Traditions - Sally Fallon
Subtitled: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
1999 New Trends Publishing 688 pages (paperback) ISBN:0967089735
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0967089735

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)

Food Politics - Marion Nestle
Subtitled: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health
2nd Edition 2007 University of California Press 510 pages ($16.95 paperback) ISBN10:0520254031 ISBN13:9780520254039
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0520254031

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

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver
2008 Harper 400 pages (paperback $14.95) ISBN10:0060852569 ISBN13:9780060852566
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060852569
Author's website: www.kingsolver.com

Coconut Cures - Bruce Fife
Subtitled: Preventing and Treating Common Health Problems with Coconut
2005 Piccadilly Books 256 pages (paperback $15.95) ISBN10:0941599604 ISBN13:9780941599603
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0941599604

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: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0915811812

The Food Revolution - John Robbins
2001 Conari Press 340 pages (paperback $17.95) ISBN 1573247022
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1573247022

Food and Healing - Annemarie Colbin
1986 Ballantine Books 350 pages
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0345303857
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.

Survival Into the 21st Century - Viktoras Kulvinskas
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0933278047
I call it "the pink book". (The bright pink cover art is by Peter Max). This is the original 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.

Nature's First Law: The Raw-Foods Diet - Stephen Arlin, Fouad Dini, David Wolfe
1996 Maul Brothers Publishing 230 pages (paperback $14.95) ISBN 0965353303
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0965353303
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.

Raw - The Uncook Book - Juliano
2004 ReganBooks 304 pages (paperback) ISBN 0060988630
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060988630

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
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0684800012
Not really from a health food point of view, but tons of very interesting detailed information about all kinds of food.

Keys to Good Cooking - Harold McGee
Subtitled: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes
2010 Penguin 576 pages (hardback $35.00) ISBN10:1594202680 ISBN3:9781594202681
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1594202680

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
www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0963566318
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.

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
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/157062089X
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.

The Tassajara Recipe Book - Edward Espe Brown
2000 Random House 229 pages
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1570625808
Have not seen this book but I'm sure it is excellent (being by the author of the above 2 classics).

Laurel's Kitchen
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/089815166X
A classic vegetarian cookbook. Looks like it has been replaced with The New Laurel's Kitchen

Diet for a Small Planet - Frances Moore Lappe 1975
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0345373669
A classic vegetarian cookbook. Credited with educating vegetarians on combining foods for complete protein.

The Enchanted Brocolli Forest - Mollie Katzen
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1580081266
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

Moosewood Cookbook - Mollie Katzen
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1580081304
Another classic vegetarian cookbook from the 70's by Molly Katzen.

Your Body's Many Cries for Water - F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0962994235(paperback)
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0962994251(leatherbound)
"Dr. Batman" details the need for people to drink plenty of water every day. Actually he seems to be saying that pretty much all physical problems are caused by not drinking enough water, which is probably taking things a bit too far. But it probably is important to drink a good amount of pure water. 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: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0452269520

Nutrition Almanac - (6th edition)
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0071436588
Basic reference book listing nutrients in many different foods.

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets - Peter Menzel, Faith D'Aluisio
2010 Material World ($40.00 hardback) ISBN:0984074406 ISBN13:9780984074402
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0984074406

Putting Food By - Ruth Hertzberg, Janet Greene, Beatrice Vaughan
5th edition: 2010 Plume 464 pages ($17.00 paperback) ISBN:0452296226 ISBN13:9780452296220
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0452296226
"The classic work on the best ways to can, freeze, pickle, dry, cure and preserve."

Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning - The Gardeners and Farmers of Centre Terra Vivante
Subtitled: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alchohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation
2007 Chelsea Green 208 pages ($25.00 paperback) ISBN:1933392592 ISBN13:9781933392592
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1933392592

Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human - Richard Wrangham
2010 Basic Books 320 pages ($15.95 paperback) ISBN:0465020410 ISBN13:9780465020416
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0465020410
Puts forth the idea that cooking enables humans to get more calories from food. Some interesting reviews at Amazon.

Tomatoland - Barry Estabrook
Subtitled: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit
2011 Andrews McMeel Publishing 240 pages ($19.99 hardback) ISBN:1449401090 ISBN13:9781449401092
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1449401090

Sick and Tired?: Reclaim Your Inner Terrain - Robert O. Young, Shelley Redford Young
2001 Woodland 303 pages ($19.95 paperback) ISBN:1580540562 ISBN13:9781580540568
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1580540562
Review: www.mnwelldir.org/docs/terrain/lost_history_of_medicine.htm
Important book explains cancer and other diseases in terms of acid and alkalinity.

Alkalize or Die - Theodore A. Baroody
Subtitled: Superior Helath Through Acid-Alkaline Balance
1991 Holographic Health Inc. 242 pages ($14.95 paperback) ISBN:0961959533 ISBN13:9780961959531
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0961959533

The 80/10/10 Diet - Douglas N. Graham
2006 FoodNSport Press 348 pages ($29.95 paperback) ISBN:1893831248 ISBN13:9781893831247
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1893831248/

hr noshade> The Primal Blueprint - Mark Sisson
2012 Primal Nutrition Inc 360 pages ($19.95 paperback) ISBN:0982207786 ISBN13:9780982207789
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0982207786/
Author's Website: www.marksdailyapple.com/

hr noshade> Wheat Belly - William Davis
Subtitled: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Way Back to Health
2012 Rodale Books 304 pages ($25.99 paperback) ISBN:1609611543 ISBN13:9781609611543
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1609611543/
Author's Blog: www.wheatbellyblog.com/
Not that I am convinced of the no wheat, no gluten trip, but for what its worth.

hr noshade> Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal - Mary Roach
04/01/13 WW Norton 352 pages ($26.95 hardback) ISBN:0393081575 ISBN13:9780393081572
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0393081575/
Author's Website: www.maryroach.net/
All about the digestive and eliminatory systems of the human body.

hr noshade> The Gastronomical Me - M.F.K. Fisher
1989 edition Northpoint Press 272 pages (paperback) ISBN:0865473927 ISBN13:9780865473928
Amazon: www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0865473927/
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._F._K._Fisher

hr noshade> Pig Tales -

hr noshade> Momofuku -
An especially good cookbook, relating to Asian food.

hr noshade> The French Laundry Cookbook - Thomas Keller
An especially good cookbook.

hr noshade> Let Them Eat Dirt - Dr. B Brett Finlay OC PhD, Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta PhD
Subtitled: Saving Your Child from an Overly Sanitized World
2016 Algonquin Books 304 pages ISBN:1616206497 ISBN:9781616206499

hr noshade>

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Revised 08/01/17