Whether you call them "pandemic pounds" or the "quarantine 15," being stuck at home and not moving around as much has certainly taken its toll on many of our bodies. It's easy to find diet and exercise books in the ICPL collection, but what if you want books that will take it easier on you in this new year? If you like managing your expectations and shooting for realistic goals, or if you just want to make small changes to help you break those bad quarantine habits, check out this list of hand-picked wellness books. Let's ease into 2021 together!
Pain-free posture handbook : 40 dynamic easy exercises to look and feel your best
Lora Pavilack
617.564 /Pavilack
Nonfiction, Health
"Pilates instructors Lora and Nikki are leaders in their industry and have successfully helped thousands of people to reduce their back pain. The key? Movement. Now, in this portable, posture-building guidebook, Lora and Nikki share their invaluable exercises and activities to help you develop a healthy spine and alleviate your pain. Learn how posture affects you physically and emotionally, and discover active methods for improving your alignment, reducing neck and back pain from overworked muscles, and finding your own natural posture. Carry The Pain-Free Posture Handbook wherever you go for on-hand, expert advice, featuring easy-to-follow illustrations, posture-building techniques, and breathing exercises for practicing good posture,"--Baker & Taylor.
The align method : 5 movement principles for a stronger body, sharper mind, and stress-proof life
Aaron (Manual therapist) Alexander
613.78 /Alexander
Nonfiction, Health
"Celebrity manual therapist and movement coach Aaron Alexander shows readers how posture and body alignment are powerful tools for building strength, achieving peak performance, reducing pain, and approaching the world with a new sense of confidence."--Amazon.com.
Maybe we don't all need to move vigorously to improve our health?
- Melody
Body love
LeVeque, Kelly
613.2 /LeVeque
Nonfiction, Health
In this inspirational yet practical book, the nutritional consultant and holistic healthcare expert who has helped celebrities such as Jessica Alba, Molly Sims, Chelsea Handler, and Emmy Rossum improve their health and achieve their goals shows you how to get beyond the food drama of cyclical fad diets and feel and look great by eating well. Kelly's Food Freedom program helps you set yourself up for success, eliminating cravings, mood swings, and other symptoms caused by food drama. Start your day with her Fab Four Smoothies, including a Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie and a Mango Kale Madness Smoothie, which pack protein, fat, fiber, and carbs to balance your blood sugar and keep you full and happy. After breakfast, you'll thrive with her Fab Four recipes, including Turkey-Stuffed Delicata Squash, Spicy Salmon Nori Burritos, and Anti-Inflammatory Detox Salad, which include the Fab Four food groups--protein, fat, fiber, and greens--that play a role in day-long satiety. Kelly also teaches you how to elongate your blood sugar curve to stay full and happy, and make yourself insulin aware. Kelly has studied the science behind familiar diets to understand how they trigger the body to lose pounds--and why they aren't sustainable. Instead, she offers a better choice: her four-step Food Freedom program that helps you find your wellness balance between eating enough and deciding how you feel. Once you find your balance, you will lose weight, lose fat, increase lean muscle mass, and drop at least one size. You'll also enjoy thicker, shinier hair; clear, glowing skin; a remarkable improvement in your overall appearance; reduced joint pain and other inflammations; increased energy; and better sleep. Filled with tips and resources on supplements and cleansing, dozens of delicious, healthy recipes and advice on how to adjust your eating when traveling and on vacation, Body Love is your one-stop resource to living clean and happy! --|cSource other than Library of Congress.
The title alone speaks to me!
- Melody
The more or less definitive guide to self-care
Anna Borges
613 /Borges
Nonfiction, Health
"An A to Z, mental health-centric handbook that distills the "self-care internet" to four distinctive realms of self-care: physical, mental, social, and spiritual"--
The f*ck it diet : eating should be easy
Caroline Dooner
613.25 /Dooner
Nonfiction, Health
Diets don't work. Diet programs make people believe they're lazy, weak food addicts. Dooner presents a funny, edgy, comprehensive program for chronic dieters to help them escape the plague of diet culture, regain their personal power, and reboot their relationship with food, weight and self-worth. She believes we should eat the things our bodies want, and be happy being healthy at whatever weight it might be. -- adapted from publisher info
Seriously. Eating SHOULD be easy.
- Melody
Dressing on the side (and other diet myths debunked) : 11 science-based ways to eat more, stress less, and feel great about your body
Jaclyn. author London
613.25 /London
Nonfiction, Health
Losing weight and feeling better shouldn't feel like a punishment. You deserve to love your routine while honing and solidifying habits that help you look and feel your best. All of this can and will be done within the context of your busier than ever lifestyle. With her extensive background in medical nutrition therapy, nutrition counseling and in the editorial setting at Good Housekeeping, London has seen it all when it comes to the struggles of understanding how and what to eat. Dressing on the side is loaded with simple, actionable strategies for prioritizing foods, eliminating the stress that accompanies food you love and cultivating confidence in your choices. The eleven chapters are inspired by the most common real life perceptions of what it takes to lose weight; London breaks what's at the heart of the issue and offers tools shortcuts and solutions that work within any scenario.
The core 4 : embrace your body, own your power
Stephanie Gaudreau
613.7045 /Gaudreau
Nonfiction, Health
"In The Core 4 Steph finally offers women a strong body and mind achieved through minimal time on the treadmill, simple workouts, targeted nutrition (that is also delicious!), and mindset practices with clear results. When you focus on The Core 4--Eat Nourishing Foods, Move with Intention, Recharge Your Energy, and Empower Your Mind--you give yourself the gifts of care, strength, and resiliency, and take a powerful step toward the life you want."--Amazon.
Just your type : the ultimate guide to eating and training right for your body type
Phil Catudal
613.7 /Catudal
Nonfiction, Health
A comprehensive plan for matching diet and fitness regimens to body types, based on the proven system of somatotypes According to fitness guru Phil Catudal, 70 percent of people exercise the wrong way. To achieve lasting fitness and health, Catudal explains, you should work with your natural-born body type and do the optimal combination of cardio, strength training, and flexibility exercises and consume the right proportion of macronutrients for your physique. While fitness trends and fad diets will come and go, your body type (somatotype) is the one constant that's never going to change. Just Your Type helps anyone create an individualized workout that's tailored to their body shape and composition. Working harder isn't always the answer, but working smarter is. --
Anti-diet : reclaim your time, money, well-being, and happiness through intuitive eating
Christy (Nutritionist) Harrison
613.2 /Harrison
Nonfiction, Health
Over two-thirds of Americans have dieted at some point in their lives-- and upwards of 90% of people who intentionally lose weight gain it back within five years, often gaining more weight than they lost. Harrison shows that diet culture, a system of beliefs that equates thinness to health and moral virtue, promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, and demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others. It's sexist, racist, and classist-- and embedded in the fabric of our society. Harrison exposes all the ways it robs people of their time, money, health, and happiness. She provides a radical alternative to diet culture, and helps readers reclaim their bodies, minds, and lives so they can focus on the things that truly matter. -- adapted from jacket
The joy of movement : how exercise helps us find happiness, hope, connection, and courage
Kelly McGonigal
eAUDIO
Nonfiction, Health
"The bestselling author of The Willpower Instinct introduces a surprising science-based book that doesn't tell us why we should exercise but instead shows us how to fall in love with movement"--
I love listening to books while exercising or cooking. This book is on my to-read list!
- Melody
The how not to die cookbook : 100+ recipes to help prevent and reverse disease
Michael Greger
641.56362 /Greger
Nonfiction, Health
Dr. Michael Greger's first book, "How Not to Die," presented the scientific evidence behind the only diet that can prevent and reverse many of the causes of premature death and disability. Now, Dr. Greger puts that science into action with this cookbook. From Superfood Breakfast Bites to Spaghetti Squash Puttanesca to Two-Berry Pie with Pecan-Sunflower Crust, every recipe offers a delectable, easy-to-prepare, plant-based dish to help anyone eat their way to better health.
I really liked this book when it first came out. It's completely plant-based, which is right up my alley, and was a popular read back in 2017.
- Melody
Feel better in 5 : your daily plan to feel great for life
Rangan Chatterjee
613 /Chatterjee
Nonfiction, Health
"If you’ve ever started an intensive plan only to stop days, weeks or months later, or struggled to prioritise your health, it’s not your fault – behavioural science shows that most plans simply aren’t built to last. Feel Better in 5 is the first daily 5 minute plan that is easy to maintain, easy-to-follow and requires only the smallest amount of willpower. Drawing on Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s twenty years of experience and real-life case studies from his GP practice, Feel Better in 5 is your daily plan for a happier, healthier you at no extra cost." --From https://drchatterjee.com/.
I might not have an hour, but I do have 5 minutes!
- Melody
For those of us who Work From Home in makeshift "offices" with dining table desks.
- Melody