Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Healthy Living

Looking for a book to help you make healthier choices this year? Stop in the library and check out some of the new additions to the collection. Here are just a few of the many books we have (click on the cover to check availability and place a hold):

Cookbooks:

The Paleo Approach Cookbook: a Detailed Guide to Heal Your Body and Nourish Your Soul by Sarah Ballantyne

America - Farm to Table: Simple, Delicious Recipes Celebrating Local Farmers by Mario Batali and Jim Webster

Skinny Meals: Everything You Need to Lose Weight - Fast! by Bob Harper

Weight Loss:

The End of Dieting: How to Live for Life by Joel Fuhrman

Down Size: 12 Truths for Turning Pants-Splitting Frustration Into Pants-Fitting Success by Ted Spiker; foreword by Mehmet C. Oz, MD

The Swift Diet: 4 Weeks to Mend the Belly, Lose the Weight, and Get Rid of the Bloat by Kathie Madonna Swift, MS, RDN, and Joseph Hooper

Exercise:

Strong is the New Skinny: How to Eat, Live, and Move to Maximize Your Power by Jennifer Cohen and Stacey Colino

Body by Simone: the 8-Week Total Body Makeover Plan by Simone De La Rue with Lara McGlashan

8 Weeks to SEALfit: a Navy SEAL's Guide to Unconventional Training for Physical and Mental Toughness by Mark Divine

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

Healthy Living

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