My Favorite Health Documentaries and Books

Happy New Year!

I am not a huge fan of New Year Resolutions.  I find making a list of all your goals is a little overwhelming and it is easy to burn yourself out.  I like making little changes throughout the year instead.  But, that's me.  You do whatever works best for you!

I also want to share some interesting and hopefully eye-opening documentaries and books about nutrition and health.  I know documentaries and books are not people's go to thing for fun, but if you have a snowy winter day consider one of these.  I really think you'll enjoy them and they will help motivate you to eat well to live well!

Here are my top Nutrition and Health Documentaries and Books.

Forks Over Knives (2011)

This is my favorite documentary because it has amazing research by Dr. Campbell.  He was a professor at Cornell, my undergrad, and did a 20 year population research study (which is really hard to do), called the China-Cornell-Oxford study, that showed that a diet high in processed and animal fat foods (including dairy) increases heart disease, diabetes, cancer and over all death!  I do not follow a Vegan diet, but after watching this documentary even my boyfriend, a bacon, egg, and cheese eating machine, tried cutting back his meat intake.  

The website also has great vegan recipes. https://www.forksoverknives.com/

What the Health (2015)

This is an interesting documentary about the American food industry and the importance of a vegan diet.  However, it is a little skewed and made to be dramatic, so I would learn from it, but not believe everything it says.

Fed Up (2014)

This documentary focuses on obesity in American being linked to sugar and processed foods.  If you are not really into documentaries, I think this one is a good one to start with.

Omnivores Dilemma (2006)

To be honest, I have not had much time to read since starting medical school, but prior I loved reading anthropology books.  I like understanding the connection between science and our social environment molding why we do what we do.  For this reason, I really like reading anything by Michael Pollan. 

I first read Omnivores Dilemma in my Anthropology of Food and Cuisine class in college.  It was eye opening!

Cooked: A History of Transformation (2013)

In this book, Michael Pollan learns how to cook barbecue pork, bread and cheese and connects it to how cooking has allowed man to become culturally sophisticated.  The book is divided into four sections- earth, air, fire and water- which I found soooo cool!  I used to read this on the subway back and forth from work and used to get so hungry haha.




Okay, that's it.  I hope you like them and find them interesting and motivating!