Definition of Diet
Diet | di-et |
Miriam-Webster Dictionary
noun (1): food and drink regularly provided or consumed; habitual nourishment
verb (2): to cause to take food (see feed)
Dictionary.com
noun (1): food and drink consumed in terms of qualities, composition and its effect on health; a particular selection of food
verb (2): to feed; to regulate the food of especially in order to improve the physical
Cambridge Dictionary
noun: the food and drink usually eaten or drunk by a person or group; an eating plan in which someone eats less food or only particular types of food because they want to become thinner or for medical reasons; a particular type of thing that you experience or do regularly
To preface, when I talk about diet, I am not discussing the idea of changing what you eat for a short time to loose a lot of weight. My view of diet is regarding nutrition and the long term changes made and kept to what food and drink you eat daily. I pulled definitions from three different dictionaries so you can see that the textbook meaning of ‘diet’ typically is in regards to what you eat not what you don’t eat and it roots itself in the individual’s long-term health. I just wanted to clarify this before we went any further so you can see where I can coming from.
I love reading about nutrition and diet and wanted to have one place where I complied the books and resources that I have used to learn about this topic. I am really passionate about how what you put in and on your body affects how your body performs and the food you eat plays a HUGE role in that. I have sorted the resources and will add to this list as my personal resource library grows.
*I should note here that I lean more towards a whole food, plant based diet after all of the research that I have done. That being said, I try to look at what science says as a whole, not just focused on one segment so I have books, cookbooks, and other resources that do include meat and dairy in their diets. I think that even if you do not wish to follow the same diet as me, more fruits and veggies in everyone’s diet is a good thing so don’t click away just because I have a slight bias :).
Books
How Not to Die
by Michael Greger, M.D, FALCM
Bias: Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet
Author Credibility: M.D., FACLM
This is one of those really dense books with lots of good information piled into a mere 300ish pages. Dr. Gregor takes the top 15 reasons Americans die (at the time of him writing the book in 2015) and breaks down what the illness/disease/problem is and then, based on scientific studies (all references listed in the back of the book) explains what foods science has proven whether in vitro (in a lab) or in practice to support, halt, and sometimes even reverse diseases.
While I think this is a good book, I would like to offer caution that Dr. Gregor lives and advocates for a whole foods, plant-based diet, eating little to no meat, dairy, or eggs. While I agree that the evidence I have seen for this diet seems to show that this is one of, if not the best diet to follow, there are several parts of the book that are evidently biased against animal products beyond simply stating facts. That being said, Dr. Gregor infuses quite a bit of personality and many anecdotes in this book, making the non-fiction book read much more like an entertaining fiction book.
Whole
by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Howard Johnson, PhD
Bias: Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet
Author Credibility: PhD in nutrition, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, has over 70 grant-years of peer reviewed research funding and has published over 300 research papers
In this book, Dr. Campbell explains the science behind the evidence he proposed in his first book The China Study, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven’t changed.
Books I have not read yet but plan to:
The China Study – T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell
How Not to Diet – Michael Greger, M.D.
Proteinaholic – Garth Davis, M.D. and Howard Johnson, PhD
Eat to Beat Disease – William W Li, M.D
The Cheese Trap – Neal D Barnard, M.D. FACC
Brain Food – Lisa Mosconi, PhD
The Mind-Gut Connection – Emeran Mayer
Mediterranean Mood Food – Paula Mee
Brain Wash – David Perlmutter, M.D. and Austin Perlmutter, M.D.
The Psychobiotic Revolution – Scott C Anderson, John F. Cryan, PhD, and Ted Dinan, PhD
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease – Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., M.D.
Meatonomics – David Robinson Simon
The Pleasure Trap – Douglas J Lisle, PhD and Alan Goldhammer D.C.
Cookbooks
Superfood Kitchen by Julie Morris
Cookbooks I do not own yet but plan to:
The Complete Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners – Dorothy Calimeris and Lulu Cook
The How Not to Die Cookbook – Michael Greger, M.D.
The China Study Cookbook – LeAnne Campbell
The No Meat Athlete Cookbook – Matt Fraizer, Stepfanie Romine, and Rich Roll
The rest of the Superfood series – Julie Morris
Websites
www.heath.gov/dietaryguidelines – This is a link to the dietary guidelines that the United States government has released. These guidelines are updated every 5 years.
www.nutritionfacts.org – This is Dr. Michael Greger’s website where he posts tons of short informational videos about food and diet and the impact they have on your body.
www.forksoverknives.com – This website was birthed out of the documentary of the same name. There are lots of recipes and their FAQ page answers some very common questions about the diet they promote very well.
www.pubmed.gov – Fantastic resource when looking for published scientific articles regarding any medical-related topic. Though, as always, take everything you read with a grain of salt and check where the funding for the research you read is coming from because it has been proven that results may be biased in favor of the research funder.
Videos and Documentaries
Colin Campbell Explains Cancer Growth – interview with Forks Over Knives
Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death – presentation by Dr. Michael Greger in 2012
What the Health – Documentary (Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes)
Forks Over Knives – Documentary (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Vudu, iTunes, YouTube, Google Play)
The Game Changers – Documentary (Netflix, iTunes, Google Play, vimeo, Vudu, YouTube)
As I said above, I will continue adding to this page as I find and read/watch more resources. I do not want to suggest you read/watch resources I have no experience with so I thank you for your patience as I slowly update this page.
2 Comments
Christian
Hey Lyss!
There are is so much information on the Internet, but sometimes it can be annoying to tell what information is correct or up to date, especially on this topic, so thank you! I always hear that trying to stay on a ‘healthy’ diet can be very expensive, but I’m not so sure about that compared to eating restaurant food everyday. It almost sounds like propaganda honestly!
Lyss
I’m glad to be able to give you some resources to check out! I think it is super important to have the science and facts in front of you and be able to draw your own conclusions! And looking at price compared to nutritional value, fruits and veggies have a great ratio!