Required Reading

Here are some excellent books to get educated and inspired about super-healthy eating. As I always say, nutritional education isn’t enough, on its own, to move you into a new lifestyle—but it HAS to be there. These are great places to start your journey. Or to refuel.


* Healthy at 100, John Robbins,
A terrific “big picture” book to start with. He tells us about 4 super-healthy cultures and reveals their secrets of extreme longevity and wellbeing.

* Eat to Live, Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
A lot of solid science supporting the power of whole foods to heal and regenerate us. (Oddly, he includes some dubious foods in his “recipes”—publishers often make authors do this, so that “average Americans” will buy the thing.)

* The Live Food Factor, Susan Schenck
The best book on raw food I’ve found so far. Packed with both the science and the how-to of the raw food way of eating. Very impressive book.

* Conscious Eating, Gabriel Cousens
A huge book, but, if you really get into this way of life, an amazing resource.

* Vibrant Health, Norman Walker
He’s an “oldy but a goody”—a pioneer GIANT in the field who has withstood the test of time. His stuff will at first come across as very dated and antiquated, not to mention a little corny, but his overall message is superb. Plus, he “walked the walk,” in no uncertain terms, dying at age 97 in a fricking SURFING accident!

* Bragg Healthy Lifestyle - Vital Living to 120!, Paul Bragg
Ditto everything I said about Walker, above (except the dying by surfing part…but wouldn’t that be weird if Bragg did, too?)