Diet Books

4 Bookshelves of Diet Books

Everyone must be trying to solve the obesity problem now because there are hundreds of Diet Books available. How would anyone know where to start? Which diet to choose? Do most people use the recommendation from friends or maybe a TV host to choose their next diet? Notice I said "next diet".

Americans seem to go from diet book to book hoping to find some way to make it easy to eat the junk and still lose weight. We believe the promises made on the book covers that we can eat all we want and lose pounds.  You might start out well enough, but after a week or two you are tired of the food restrictions, always hungry, tired of counting calories, and you let yourself cheat a little bit. Soon you toss the book aside assuming you are a failure and doomed to keep gaining weight until the next book cover entices you to try it.

I was in Barnes & Noble in Atlanta this week where I took this picture of the Diet section — 16 shelves filled with diet books, and this wasn't all they had. Diet books were all over the store.

How can all these books be right?  Are any of them right? What are we supposed to eat? How can we lose weight, keep it off, and not feel hungry all the time? What’s the best diet for our health and well-being?

The best diet is to return to a more natural way of eating.



The "Primal Blueprint" stood out

I was pleased to see that Mark Sisson's The Primal Blueprint was turned face out so it was easy to see.

In spite of its heavy emphasis on evolution, I like The Primal Blueprint because it explains in a very readable way how we should eat real food and live to be healthy.

Whether or not you believe in evolution (I don't), this book reminds us that we function best with natural healthy food, movement, rest, and relaxation.


On his website and in his books, Mark recommends this blueprint to be Healthy, Energetic, Happy, Lean, Strong, Bright, and Productive:

• Eat lots of animals and plants (not grain)
• Move around a lot at a slow pace (not marathons)
• Lift heavy things
• Run really fast every once in a while (sprint)
• Get lots of sleep
• Play
• Get some sunlight every day
• Avoid trauma (be careful)
• Avoid poisonous things (don't eat junk)
• Use your mind

Check out the link, where Mark explains how these are things our ancient ancestors did, and living this way benefits us as well.

With the Primal lifestyle, there are no daily menus to follow, no calories to count, no special pills or powders to buy.  I'm sure our great-grandparents would have laughed to hear that we need books to tell us how to eat and live. However, healthy living can become a natural way to live without having to think about it all the time.

We don't need to go from diet book to diet book. Eat real food — animals and plants close to their natural state —  and avoid unhealthy processed foods, sugars, and grains. It really isn't hard.