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15th out of 44 books
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Eating Well for Optimum Health
by
Andrew Weil
Hopefully, years from now, Eating Well for Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Bringing Health and Pleasure Back to Eating will be looked upon as the book that saved the health of millions of Americans and transformed the way we eat--not as the book we overlooked at our own peril. It clarifies the mishmash of conflicting news, research, hype, and hearsay regarding diet,...more
Paperback
Published
March 6th 2001
by Quill
(first published January 1st 2000)
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I have learned firsthand how the body changes depending on what it’s given for fuel. One December more than a decade ago, after a twelve-hour drive from Virginia to Alabama, and a steady diet of French fries and cheeseburgers and sodas along the way, I pulled off the highway and into one of Tuscaloosa’s sundry strip malls to buy a book at a mega-bookstore. (Books are -- this may go without saying -- a salve for me.)
I ended up buying two: the very first Harry Potter book and this one...more
I ended up buying two: the very first Harry Potter book and this one...more
It’s hard to overstate how useful and illuminating I found this book. I’ve muddled through life thus far, eating reasonably healthily by using some fairly obvious guiding principles (fruit and veg = good; chips = bad), but I never really understood nutrition. (To quote Mean Girls: “Is butter a carb?”)
Despite my fuzziness on how various foods are categorized, I didn’t expect Eating Well for Optimum Health to be such a revelation. But it really, really was! Andrew Weil really cuts throug...more
Despite my fuzziness on how various foods are categorized, I didn’t expect Eating Well for Optimum Health to be such a revelation. But it really, really was! Andrew Weil really cuts throug...more
This is one of the best books I have read on nutrition. Weil discusses each of the macronutrients essential to life: carbohydrates, fats, protiens and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytocmenicals). He does so in layman's language to make the relationship between the food we eat (good and bad) and its effect on our bodies understandable. He spends equal time discussing what is good (and essential) for our bodies and what is harmful. He is not didactic and he often concludes a ...more
Jen
rated it
Recommends it for:
foodies who like science; anyone who wants to know why and how in addition to what
Shelves:
non-fiction,
food-lit
If you're someone who wants to understand why we should eat a certain way, you'll like that Weil provides fairly involved scientific explanations for his nutritional advice (for a book aimed at a lay audience). There's a lot of detail in this book, and a lot of interesting facts to mull over.
On the other hand, I wish Weil had addressed some of the more hotly contested nutritional issues - how much protein should we eat? is dairy good for us? what's the deal with raw milk? - in more d...more
On the other hand, I wish Weil had addressed some of the more hotly contested nutritional issues - how much protein should we eat? is dairy good for us? what's the deal with raw milk? - in more d...more
Fantastic book by Dr. Weil! Both practical advice and the medical info behind it. It's not the most well-written book ever (the sceincy chapters seem longer than they need to do a lack of white space and section beraks...and some runon paragraphs), but the content was useful and healthy. I liked the doctor's style because he makes no outlandish promises. If you want to be healthy, you have to eath healthy, there's no special pill or short cut to get there. His number one piece of recurring advic...more
This book really broke down the different nutrients for the reader. While we learned all of that in high school health (and equine nutrition!), this was easy to understand in terms of what specifically can happen to you. It also gave some solutions for certain health problems. Yes, much of it is common sense, but the book takes that a step farther with regard to what to do to fix problems. I liked a lot of the ideas and think some of them will be easy to implement. I actually use part of Dr...more
Mom gave me this book years ago. It sat on the shelf throughout college & subsequent moves until I finally picked it up one day and started reading it. I was raised on a very healthy diet compared to many families I knew growing up. Mom rarely allowed us to eat fast food, and most of what she prepared for us was high in vegetable content and rarely was processed. I overlooked the wisdom of this for years after I left home. But here was her reminder, in book form.
I can't say that I ea...more
I can't say that I ea...more
Angela Alcorn
marked it as to-read
This book features in Marc & Angel's 40 modern non-fiction books everyone should read, which is a good list. I made the list in Goodreads here: Marc & Angel 40 NonFiction.
This book by Dr. Andrew Weil is a very sensible and well-balanced guide to good health. It has a comprehensive guide to essential nutrients, contains many recipes, and even has a short bonus article on Breatharianism in the back. Dr. Weil also shows why the neither the low-fat or the low-carb diets are best for health.
Good book especially if you are looking for a good way to pick a healthy diet. I like the no nonsense approach to eating and simple rules to follow like, "try to eat a fruit or vegetable from every color of the rainbow each day". Lots of common sense and reasonable explanation of foods, food types and diets.
This book was very eye opening for me. Things I have assumed all of my life were turned around by Dr. Weil explaining the science of nutrition.
Dr. Weil mentions many correlations, but is careful to explain that just because there is a correlation it doesn't mean there is a causation.
Dr. Weil mentions many correlations, but is careful to explain that just because there is a correlation it doesn't mean there is a causation.
Inspiring but keep your critical thinking skills close by. Sometimes he goes a bit overboard on certain things, but not too far. I think there are better books, but this is an excellent start. If you don't know what he's writing about, it's time you read a little Weil.
I really enjoyed this book which focuses on a healthy diet and way of life. I like that it dispells the myths about many well known diets (i.e Atkins diet). Weil talks about how food should be enjoyed and that it is a social event that brings people together. Yet, he talks about how certain foods are more healthy to eat, rather than insisting that we should deprive ourselves of certain foods. I read this book because I have become increasingly interested in the rise of cancer in the United S...more
Tammy
is currently reading it
I'm on week 3--tough to learn new things when already on an Adventist diet--turns out those Adventists knew a thing or two. I have started the supplements though and feel better--at least I think I do--and really, what's the difference?
I love Dr. Weil's philosophy on health and healthy eating. An easy read and a good guide to what we all should be eating. A good resource of nutritional basics and micronutrients, weight loss, some healthy recipes, etc.
Great book, great information, but a bit too detailed at times. I'm not sure I needed to know which particular enzyme- chemical reaction breaks down carbs, fats, and etc. Very informative none the less.
"Dr. Santa", as I like to think of him, understands good eating: healthy AND tasty! I have saved a few of his recipes. My only caution is that he is a little too pro-soy for peri-menopausal women
I certainly don't live by all his recommendations, but when I need a kick-in-the-pants to get back to more whole foods eating, I pick this up. Yummy recipes for olive oil cookies!
meh. I keep thinking food books will add content to my several years of health-food-store-worker thinking, and being wrong. This would probably be great for someone who didn't have the daily experience of forcible education at the hands of macrobiotics and ayurvedic eaters and raw foodists.
He makes some good recommendations (no meat, less dairy, eat flax seeds and nuts) and some bad ones (cook your pasta very al dente for a lower glycemic index?) and overall this is probably great fo...more
He makes some good recommendations (no meat, less dairy, eat flax seeds and nuts) and some bad ones (cook your pasta very al dente for a lower glycemic index?) and overall this is probably great fo...more
This had some good basic nutrition information in it, but I felt that the author was more interested in pushing his nutrition supplements.
I'm not a big non-fiction reader, but I found this book fascinating about diet and nutrition. I really want to implement some of his advice in my grocery shopping and meal preparation.
Not a bad read, lots of information. Not sure of what his agenda is. Nothing really new in the end, he teaches you to read labels and count calories, nothing new as I said...
tons of great recipes, all extremely healthy!! I learned so much about how foods can heal from this book!!
Everyone should read this book and apply Dr. Weil's principles.
Several years old now but Andrew Weil is still a genius!
Reasonable advices for achieving perfect health and shape.
some great recipes in this book!
My old book club read this one. Stupid.
a lot of his food advice is affordable and ancient (mediterranean inspired choices). i do not diet, and i love food and i incorporate some of his recommendations into my lifestyle. a source of ideas for healthier choices, but kind of a leap for some. anyone who says well prepared kale is a great menu staple is riding the extreme, as far as I am concerned.
and honestly, i can't see americans buying into his sardine sandwiches are so healthy and low fat thing any time soon.
and honestly, i can't see americans buying into his sardine sandwiches are so healthy and low fat thing any time soon.
A friend from work recently gave me a copy of this book after a long discussion of two other books both of us had read. Andrew Weil, M.D. is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona and director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at that institution. He focuses on the body's capacity to heal itself & the informed choices we need to make through eating and living that will enable the body to do that.
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Andrew Weil, MD, is the founder and program director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. He is the author of many bestselling books, including Spontaneous Healing, 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, and others.
Learn More:
Facebook.com/DrWeil
YouTube.com/DrWeil
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More about Andrew Weil...
Learn More:
Facebook.com/DrWeil
YouTube.com/DrWeil
Vimeo.com/DrWeil
Flickr.com
WeilPod
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