Fast Like A Girl by Mindy Pelz

Fast Like A Girl My Rating: 3.0

This is a fasting manual created to address women's needs based on their hormones and menstrual cycle.

As someone who has naturally fasted most of my life—typically eating in a 4- to 8-hour window—Fast Like A Girl didn’t bring much new to the table for me personally. While it was somewhat interesting to learn more about the science and reasoning behind fasting, the content felt more geared toward beginners or those looking for motivation to try fasting for the first time. Dr. Pelz presents the information clearly, and I can see how someone unfamiliar with fasting could find it empowering and informative. However, for seasoned fasters, especially those for whom this lifestyle already feels intuitive, the book may not offer much beyond what’s already known or practiced.

Supergut by Dr William Davis

 My Rating: 4.8

Because of our highly processed diet, pesticides, and overuse of antibiotics and many other factors, our guts are now missing so many of the good bacteria that we require to be healthy. As a result, many of us have lost control over our health, weight, mood, and even behavior. Super Gut shows us how to eliminate bad bacteria and bring back the “good” bacteria with a four-week plan to reprogram your microbiome. This not only gets to the root of many diseases, but also improves levels of oxytocin (the bonding/happy hormone), brain health, anti-aging, weight loss, mental clarity, and restful sleep. Also included are more than forty recipes, a diet plan, and resources so you can pinpoint your gut issues, correct them, and maintain your long-term health and well-being.

I am a firm believer that disease is caused and cured in the gut. I am a testament to that with curing my 4 auto-immune diseases. I found this book very easy to read and yet packed with so much great information. I think it will be the rare individual that will incorporate all of the ideas but, I think there is something here for everyone. I found some things I used to do (more fiber, chia seeds, etc.) that I am focusing on incorporating back in and some new things (probiotics in my yogurt, green tea). I loved that for most of us, we eat our usual diet and just do a few small additions to have some powerful results. I think everything we can do to help build the good bacteria in our guts is beneficial.

The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz

My rating: 5.0

This book makes the groundbreaking claim that more, not less, dietary fat—including saturated fat—is what leads to better health and wellness. Science shows that we have been needlessly avoiding meat, cheese, whole milk, and eggs for decades and that we can now, guilt-free, welcome these delicious foods back into our lives.

We have all read studies or seen documentaries that tell us how being vegetarian or vegan leads to better health, lower cancer rates, etc. and it has even caused many of us to change how we eat. Nina Teicholz read all these studies (not just the summary conclusions) to understand them. In this book, she sheds a new light on so many studies and whether the conclusions that were drawn were accurate. I got sick from my diet (vegan and high carbs) and healed with protein and fat.  Now I understand why.