Healthy Living: Cookbooks, Diets, and More

            Anytime is the right time to eat healthily. Librarian Nicole offers an assortment of books to help us along.

            100 Days of Real Food: How We Did It, What We Learned, and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love, is written by Lisa Leake. Lisa decided her family’s eating habits needed an overhaul. She, her husband, and their two small girls pledged to go 100 days without eating highly processed or refined foods.

           A Slice of Organic Life is written by Sheherazade Goldsmith. It features over 90 self-contained projects, from growing your own food organically, cooking home-grown produce, keeping selected livestock, and leading a more sustainable lifestyle. This down-to-earth, yet practical guide is the perfect start for someone looking to go “green”.

           The Naked Foods Cookbook is written by Margaret Floyd. This cookbook, organized by the amount of time it takes to prepare a recipe, collects tasty, gluten-free dishes made with whole foods and healthy fats.

           Gluten-Free Girl Every Day is written by Shauna James Ahern. The book features food you want to cook every day: fresh, satisfying and filled with great flavors. Vegetables in season are the key to these recipes, along with whole grains, beans, and a few key spices and homemade sauces.

          The How can it Be Gluten Free Cookbook: Revolutionary Techniques, Groundbreaking Recipes is written by the editors at America’s Test Kitchens. They tried thousands of recipes to figure out the secrets to making favorite foods without gluten. This landmark book tells what works, and why.

May is Older Americans Month

            It’s inevitable that we age. To be prepared, and perhaps improve the experience, try these books.

            Goddesses Never Age: the Secret Prescription for Radiance, Vitality, and Well-Being, is written by Christiane Northrup, M.D., a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and New York Times best-selling author. Here Northrup offers tips on how to enjoy good health, a fulfilling sex life, and pain-free movement while continuing to build on all of our relationships. Several personal stories enhance the text, and the 14-Day Ageless Goddess program is presented.

            Our Aging Bodies is written by Gary F. Merrill, a professor of cell biology and neuroscience at Rutgers University.  Using clear, informative text and anecdotal examples, Merrill describes the aging of the body’s major organs and bodily processes.

            Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying), written by journalist Bill Gifford, presents the latest in anti-aging research. Informative yet humorous, Gifford shows the reader some of the recent techniques that may or may not slow the aging process, including calorie restriction, adding resveratrol or turmeric to your diet, stem cell research, and the old standbys – proper diet and exercise.

            Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security is written by Laurence J. Kotlikoff and others. Find out how many Americans are missing out on billions of Social Security dollars to which they are entitled. Ways to maximize your lifetime benefits include: filing for benefits and then suspending them; start, stop, and start benefits again; how to collect from a divorced spouse’s account; and many others. Clear information is given in easy-to-understand language.  

            Social Security for Dummies, written by Jonathan Peterson, explains what social security is, how and when to sign up for benefits, navigating the system, and more. Also, find out about disability benefits and Medicare.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

            Already a bestseller in Japan and England, this book also is on the Newsday bestseller list here. It is written by Marie Kondo, a young Japanese woman and cleaning expert who has had a strong passion for decluttering and organizing since childhood. During her career, she has developed the KonMari Method which requires that you “concentrate your efforts on eliminating clutter thoroughly and completely within a short span of time”.

            How to decide what to throw away and what to keep? You must take each item you own, hold it and observe whether it sparks a feeling of joy within you. If it does, keep the item; if it does not, you should feel free to discard it or give it away. What types of items should you evaluate?  Clothing, books, papers, and komono (miscellaneous items).

            Kondo approaches the art of decluttering and organizing spiritually. For example, she says that if you are getting rid of something because it has outlived its use, or never served a purpose, be sure to thank the item for its service. Also, each day when you put away the things that you wore or used, say something like “Thanks for all you did for me today”.

            Finally, Kondo believes that once you have completed your “tidying up” project, you may experience other positive changes in your life. You may gain confidence in your decision-making capacity, gain confidence in life, reduce anxiety, find your mission in life, and more.

            This is a little book that can make a great impact.