Spotlight on a Few Good (Non-fiction Health) Books
This book review was published in the Park Rapids Enterprise April 2021.
How to Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LePera: Dr. LePera, a holistic clinical psychologist practicing in California, posts some of my favorite Instagram engagements so I was absolutely thrilled when her new book was released on March 9, 2021—it instantly became an international bestseller. She provides a comprehensive guide on how to break free from old patterns to achieve improved mental/emotional balance. I found the chapters on the inner child, ego stories, reparenting, and emotional maturity fascinating and illuminating because she explores many novel concepts. This book is for anyone who feels stuck and is searching for more contentment. I hope she will write additional books to explore some of these concepts in greater detail.
The Metabolic Effect (ME) Diet (2010) & Lose Weight Here (2015) by Drs. Jade & Keoni Teta: Dr. Jade Teta is another social media guru that I adore following on Instagram; amongst my colleagues he is renowned for his expertise in sports medicine and weight loss. The older book offers a very straightforward program on how to eat and exercise for weight loss; this approach is essential for those people who feel they are doing everything right and the numbers on the scale are not budging. The goal of the first book is to teach you how to make your metabolism work for you by demonstrating the difference between weight loss from cutting calories versus fat loss from balancing metabolic hormones. The second book takes their fat-loss concept one step further, showing you how to speed fat loss from specific areas to achieve real shape change. In the second book, they focus on getting your hunger, energy, and cravings (HEC) in check. Both books provide wonderful black and white illustrations of specific exercises to incorporate.
The Pegan Diet by Dr. Mark Hyman: Yet another professional I highly respect on social media! This “un-diet” book was also recently released on February 23, 2021. Instead of chapters, Dr. Hyman presents 21 separate “principles” based upon science and common sense on how to use food as your medicine regardless of whether you are vegan, Paleo, keto, omnivore, etc. I occasionally get asked about a resource for overall improved health and this book fits the bill.
Fiber Fueled by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz: I learned about this gastrotentorologist while listening to a SIBO Doctor podcast (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and excitedly ordered his book; it is rare to find a GI specialist who strongly emphasizes the tremendous impact diet has on gut health. Dr. Bulsiewicz discusses at length the integral role of fiber on the gut microbiome. He encourages us to eat at least 30 different types of fiber per week (vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains). In general I do recommend this book with 2 caveats: 1.) he does not acknowledge food sensitivities exist and believes everything can be healed with a high fiber, plant based diet to rebuild the gut microbiome; 2.) his overall tone is arrogant. Other than those two objections, his book is packed with worthwhile information.
Rachel Oppitz, ND
