A few good books reviewed

Every year I try to cover my top good reads around wellness, health and fitness. A busy schedule makes it tough to get a lot of books in each year, but all the research I need to do for my column does require me to dive into what I believe to be really good books.

This year has a couple of must reads and a couple of should reads.

“Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” — Robert M. Sapolsky

This book has been on shelves for a number of years. I picked it up in audio form to get a better understanding of stress-caused illness. It covers the deadly nature of stress’ effect on our health and wellness. The delivery of the message in the book is rather gloomy, but very eye opening. I liked the way it expresses why stress is stressful, why we feed off stress and what we can do to manage stress.

The author’s writing style is easy to follow and understand. The book does a great job covering many of the scientifically understood harmful effects of stress and gives an interesting view on aspects of stress not commonly considered. It is amazing how many ways stress impacts our body, health, memory and how we age. The book covers more than just the aspects of stress on health, but hits on the impact stress has on economics, social status and cultural considerations.

I also liked the way it broke down how certain types of stresses such as long work hours end up having more negative effects on your physiology than other types of stressors such as stressors from social engagement, etc.

This book may be best consumed in small bites and touches on complexities that can be hard to grasp. If building a lifestyle of health and wellness is your goal, understanding stress-related health issues would be helpful. I recommend this book as a should read for anyone who is serious about making your overall wellness a bit more bulletproof.

“Wheat Belly Full Health” — William Davis

“Wheat Belly Full Health” is William Davis’ follow-up book to his great book “Wheat Belly.” Both books in my opinion are must-reads for anyone looking for better health. The original “Wheat Belly” book has a lot of answers to questions that I was not able to find in other similar books. Both books have a huge amount of information in them that connects our many health issues directly to our modern hybridized grains and the effects of grain consumption.

In this new book with more than 300 pages, Dr. Davis uncovers even more in-depth information that puts the spotlight on all grains and most carbohydrates that are impacting our health on a daily basis. The book looks at aspects around hormone function and how we can correct the damage from long-term exposure to a high carbohydrate diet. “Wheat Belly Full Health” picks up where the first book left off, covering a wide range of answers to weight management, immune response and nutritional issues.

One of the more interesting points in the book looks at how grains and a high-carbohydrate diet affects our heart, gut and mental state. If you have not read the first book “Wheat Belly,” you really should before picking up Dr. Davis’s second book. Truly a must-read for anyone concerned about their health.

“Spark” — John J. Ratey, MD.

Spark is a spot-on book to reinforce why exercise is a critical link that ties mind and body together. This book covers some pretty amazing science around exercise and a healthy brain. Most of us have known that exercise releases endorphins which in turn makes us feel great, but what we don’t know is to what depth exercise helps our brain.

In this book, Dr. Ratey does a great job explaining in fairly understandable terms why physical activity and moving our muscles plays a role in protein production that enhances and heals key aspects of our brain function. Now at times, the book does become a bit overwhelming to follow with all the neurological science being presented, but it is done in such a way that most will be able to follow. One aspect of the book that I liked was the way it connects the many dots around why we feel great and our mental acuity increases during and after moderate exercise.

There are a lot of points made referencing many different studies and research, some of which may leave you feeling like Dr. Ratey was stretching the science just a little. Some of the reading is tedious with many references made more than once. The passion that comes out of the book is pretty intense which helps drive the point home on the importance of being active with cardio, strength and other forms of exercise.

The book does a great job identifying exercise as a very powerful tool to optimize your brain function. The book is well written and another must-read if your goal is to establish lasting overall wellness.

“The Marshmallow Test” — Walter Mischel

I really liked reading “The Marshmallow Test” which is a great study on self-control. One aspect of turning a person’s health and fitness around is the challenge to stay on the course. Lack of self-control has derailed more diets and New Year’s resolutions with dismal statistics like 98 percent failure rate with diets and 80 percent failure rates with fitness starts.

This book delivers a good message through new research supporting the fact that we can change our ability to have willpower and withstand poor short-term behavior. The book gives us great true-to-life examples of avoiding quick gratification for long–term gain. Shifting a lifestyle to a permanent chapter of health and wellness is a lifelong effort. Biology, genetics and learned behavior all influence our self-control and this book gives you a few great tools that can certainly help you master your self-control moving into the future. “The Marshmallow Test” is a should-read and it’s pretty easy to get through, so well worth a look.

•••

Judd Jones is a director for The Hagadone Corporation in Coeur d’Alene.