Recommended Reading

Need some further inspiration on your Healthier Living journey? Read on for some of my suggestions - and share your own recommended reading in the Comment box at the bottom of this page.
-Dr. Liz

HEALTHIER LIVING


When the Body Says No - the cost of hidden stress by Gabor Mate MD. Using case studies, Dr Mate explores how illness symptoms produced by the body can bring into our consciousness information we need to pay attention to about our personal limits and boundaries when it comes to handling stress..

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (2001). This book teaches the importance of the present moment in seeking true relaxation.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (2005) explores the role of ego and egoic patterns in health and illness.

Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss. Outlines the physical concerns that may develop when a blockage at one the seven energy centres (7 chakras) of the body occurs. This book helps me to interpret some of the energetic or emotional components of patient symptoms.

The Hormone Diet by Natasha Turner ND (2008). Dr. Turner does a fantastic job of putting the hormonal puzzle back together piece by piece - from body composition to libido to dietary imbalances and toxicity - outlining a program for rebalancing the body and mind from a hormonal perspective.

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. The classic on self-lovin' affirmations - reading is a healing experience.

WHOLE FOODS

The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre (2008).

Including over 200 gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free recipes, this second edition is a nutritional guide that celebrates the whole foods diet, captures the uniquenesses of various foods in relation to our health and teaches how to stock a whole foods pantry.

Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford. This text describes the energetic e.g. warming, cooling, drying, properties of whole foods and their therapeutic value. "At the end of the day, wholesome foods are destined to be a biologic remedy that, in concert with organic farming and plant medicine, has the capacity to heal the Earth and her peoples." -Paul Pitchford

Gems of Gluten Free Baking by Wendy Turnbull.  Makes going gluten-free that much easier if we can still have the occasional freshly-baked carby treat. 


Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon.

BOOKS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMM......

Bitter Chocolate: investigating the dark side of the world's most seductive sweet by Carol Off (2006). Canadian investigative journalist Carol Off exposes the centuries-long history of child and slave labor in the cocoa industry. (Pass the Fair Trade and Organic chocolate only, please!)

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (2007). Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, this book tells the story of how our family was changed by one year of deliberately eating food produced in the place where we live. Barbara wrote the central narrative; Steven's sidebars dig deeper into various aspects of food-production science and industry; Camille's brief essays offer a nineteen-year-old's perspective on the local-food project, plus nutritional information, meal plans and recipes.

HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

The Road Less Traveled: a new psychology of love, traditional values and spiritual growth by M. Scott Peck M.D. (2003). The first printing of this book was released 25 years earlier, which is remarkable considering the truth, innovation, originality and relevance of the ideas presented. The thesis of this book is that to love means to place another person's spiritual growth at a level of equal or greater importance than your own. It is truly inspirational for anyone who desires to cultivate authentically loving, healthy relationships.

How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It by Patricia Love and Steven Stosny (2007). Drawing from the authors' experience as relationship counselors the message of this book acknowledges common behavioural and emotional patterns that arise and cause rifts in male-female relationships, highlights the sources of these subconscious patterns and how couples can understand and reconcile them.

FOR THE KIDS

What to do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety by Dawn Huebner, PhD. (2006) Magination Press, Washington, D.C. This is a fun, illustrated step-by-step workbook that kids and parents can work through together. A great resource for children who experience worry and anxiety, the book provdes activites and space for kids to add in their own drawings and reflections. An introduction is included for parents and caregivers.

What to do When Your Brain Gets Stuck: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming OCD by Dawn Huebner, PhD.Helps children and their parents to deconstruct OCD using cognitive-behavioural techniques. An award-winning workbook for kids that's helpful and fun.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT


Escape 101 by Dan Clements and Tara Gignac ND (2007). This book honours the inclination to take a sabbatical and provides inspirational suggestions for planning just the kind of enlightening, rejuvenating, leave of absence that you and your family may benefit immensely from.

The Practitioner's Journey by Dan Clements and Tara Gignac ND (2007). The authors share aspects of their own professional journey as clinic owners and operators and inspire those of us in the healing professions to serve to our utmost.