Optimal Health

I have been working toward Optimal Health since 2007 when I stopped eating meat.  As I did more and more research into what is best for humans to eat, I have refined my diet to reflect what I have learned.  It is difficult because there are so many differing opinions out there, but if you look at what has valid scientific studies behind it, you are more likely to be getting accurate information.  Dean Ornish, M.D. has done many studies and has the most information if you like all the details on what is actually going on in our bodies depending on what food we eat.

I found a way of eating that has been proven to stop and even reverse the lifestyle chronic illnesses
befalling so many of us.  Heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and some cancers need not exist if we eat foods our bodies need.  I have gradually moved to a Whole Food, Plant Based way of eating with no added oils, salt or sugar.  Mostly I lean toward Dr. John McDougall as my go to expert but there is really not much difference between the authors and DVDs below.  They have all arrived at the same diet with very minor differences.

Here is a list of DVDs to watch on healthy eating.  Most of these are available on Netflix or Amazon.

Forks Over Knives
Plant Pure Nation
Cowspiracy
Food Matters
Food Choices
Food, Inc.


I am listing below some of the books I read to find a healthy way for me to eat.  I invite you to read them and other books you find to educate yourself and find a way that works for you.

The McDougall Plan by John McDougall, M.D.
The Starch Solution by John McDougall, M.D.
The Healthiest Diet on the Planet by John McDougall, M.D.
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
How Not To Die by Michael Greger, M.D. with Gene Stone
Healthy Eating Healthy World by J. Morris Hicks with J. Stansfield Hicks
Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease by Dean Ornish, M.D.
The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn
Breaking the Food Seduction by Neal Barnard, M.D.
Eat To Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.
Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.
The End of Overeating by David Kessler, M.D.
Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman with Glen Merzer
No More Bull! by Howard Lyman with Glen Merzer and Joanna Samorow-Merzer
Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
The Pleasure Trap by Doug Lisle, Ph.D. and Alan Goldhamer, D.C.
A Plant Based Life by Micaela Cook Karlsen
The Food Revolution:  How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World
   by John Robbins
Comfortably Unaware:  What We Choose to Eat Is Killing Us and Our Planet
   by Richard Oppenlander
The Empty Medicine Cabinet by Dustin Rudolph
Ten Billion by Stephen Emmott