If you love food and you love to read, then your time has come. Our nation’s obsession with dieting and our national worries about obesity have created an opportunity for the very best writing about this topic to make it to print. It seems that the simmering of our thoughts and worries about the shapes of our bodies is allowing powerful words to bubble to the surface. This is your chance to learn a lot about our food and our relationship to it.
In April of 2009, The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler, M.D. was published and became an instant New York Times Bestseller. Kessler, the former commissioner of the FDA who tackled the tobacco industry, is encouraging us to take a good hard look at the food industry. In doing so, he has written a provocative account of how our food alters our eating habits and behaviors. Yes, this book is full of fascinating research, but it reads like a mystery and is far from dull and boring (hence the bestseller’s list). If you or someone you love struggles with not being able to stop eating or stop eating certain foods, this book will offer some valuable insights.
In March of this year, Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the most influential Buddhist leaders in the West, published a book about mindful eating. Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life was written with the help of a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, Dr. Lilian Cheung. This book pulls together nutritional science and Buddhist mindfulness practices. Again, society’s unhealthy connection with food and eating is addressed. However, this book focuses on the way our rushed, busy, and mindless lifestyles alter the way we eat.
Also in March, Geneen Roth’s Women Food and God made it to the newsstand and it seemed like everyone was interviewing her! Of course the interview with Oprah Winfrey, both in her magazine and on her television show, created a buzz too loud to miss. This book is truly extraordinary in that Ms. Roth addresses the fact that many times, our struggle with food and eating is not about the food at all. As a matter of fact, we may not be hungry for food, so food cannot satisfy our cravings. Women Food and God is a deeply moving account of how our struggle with food and our bodies can take the joy right out of our lives and how breaking free from that struggle allows you to take your power back.
Temra Costa has written a book in celebration of the role women play in nurturing our families and communities in her book Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat. She has profiled 26 dynamic women who are committed to supporting sustainable healthy foods for us and for those we love. With gusto Ms. Costa interviews activists, chefs, community organizers, nutritionists, writers and more who are committed to making a difference in how we eat. If you need to be nudged into paying attention to what is happening to our food supply, Farmer Jane might do the trick.
All of these books provoke thought and inspire action. Now is as good a time as any!
