Health

A New York Times bestseller/Washington Post Notable Book of 2017/NPR Best Books of 2017/Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2017

"This book will serve as the definitive guide to the past and future of health care in America."--Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene

At a moment of drastic political upheaval, An American Sickness is a shocking investigation into our dysfunctional healthcare system - and offers practical solutions to its myriad problems.

In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare. Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life; fatalism has set in. Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying more for less. How did things get so bad so fast?

Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries--the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers--that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before. How did healthcare, the caring endeavor, become healthcare, the highly profitable industry? Hospital systems, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes. Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people. Patients receive bills in code, from entrepreneurial doctors they never even saw.

The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms, she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship and to hospital C-suites, explaining step-by-step the workings of a system badly lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate the maze that is American healthcare and also to demand far-reaching reform. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a healthcare system that no longer has our well-being at heart.

From hunting and gathering to GMOs and ultraprocessed foods, this expansive tour of human history rewrites the story of our species--and points the way to a better future.

The history of Homo sapiens is usually told as a story of technology or economics. But there is a more fundamental driver: food. How we hunted and gathered explains our emergence as a new species and our earliest technology; our first food systems, from fire to agriculture, tell where we settled and how civilizations expanded. The quest for food for growing populations drove exploration, colonialism, slavery, even capitalism.

A century ago, food was industrialized. Since then, new styles of agriculture and food production have written a new chapter of human history, one that's driving both climate change and global health crises. Best-selling food authority Mark Bittman offers a panoramic view of the story and explains how we can rescue ourselves from the modern wrong turn.

Award-winning Boston University educator and researcher Muhammad H. Zaman provides a chilling look at the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, explaining how we got here and what we must do to address this growing global health crisis.

In September 2016, a woman in Nevada became the first known case in the U.S. of a person who died of an infection resistant to every antibiotic available. Her death is the worst nightmare of infectious disease doctors and public health professionals. While bacteria live within us and are essential for our health, some strains can kill us. As bacteria continue to mutate, becoming increasingly resistant to known antibiotics, we are likely to face a public health crisis of unimaginable proportions. "It will be like the great plague of the middle ages, the influenza pandemic of 1918, the AIDS crisis of the 1990s, and the Ebola epidemic of 2014 all combined into a single threat," Muhammad H. Zaman warns.

The Biography of Resistance is Zaman's riveting and timely look at why and how microbes are becoming superbugs. It is a story of science and evolution that looks to history, culture, attitudes and our own individual choices and collective human behavior. Following the trail of resistant bacteria from previously uncontacted tribes in the Amazon to the isolated islands in the Arctic, from the urban slums of Karachi to the wilderness of the Australian outback, Zaman examines the myriad factors contributing to this unfolding health crisis--including war, greed, natural disasters, and germophobia--to the culprits driving it: pharmaceutical companies, farmers, industrialists, doctors, governments, and ordinary people, all whose choices are pushing us closer to catastrophe.

Joining the ranks of acclaimed works like Microbe Hunters, The Emperor of All Maladies, and Spillover, A Biography of Resistance is a riveting and chilling tale from a natural storyteller on the front lines, and a clarion call to address the biggest public health threat of our time.

After a century of misunderstanding the differences between diet, weight control, and health, The Case for Keto revolutionizes how we think about healthy eating--from the best-selling author of Why We Get Fat and The Case Against Sugar.

Based on twenty years of investigative reporting and interviews with 100 practicing physicians who embrace the keto lifestyle as the best prescription for their patients' health, Gary Taubes gives us a manifesto for the twenty-first-century fight against obesity and diabetes.

For years, health organizations have preached the same rules for losing weight: restrict your calories, eat less, exercise more. So why doesn't it work for everyone? Taubes, whose seminal book Good Calories, Bad Calories and cover stories for The New York Times Magazine changed the way we look at nutrition and health, sets the record straight.

The Case for Keto puts the ketogenic diet movement in the necessary historical and scientific perspective. It makes clear the vital misconceptions in how we've come to think about obesity and diet (no, people do not become fat simply because they eat too much; hormones play the critical role) and uses the collected clinical experience of the medical community to provide essential practical advice.

Taubes reveals why the established rules about eating healthy might be the wrong approach to weight loss for millions of people, and how low-carbohydrate, high-fat/ketogenic diets can help so many of us achieve and maintain a healthy weight for life.

As Seen on the Today Show!

The USA Today Bestseller!

The last book you'll ever need about cellulite, and the first book you need to take control and change your health forever!

Forget everything you've ever been told about cellulite--it's a myth! Ashley Black, fascia pioneer, and body guru to the stars, unveils never before known secrets to obliterating cellulite and changing your personal health paradigm. For years we've been conditioned to believe that cellulite is a fat problem, yet skinny girls have it, active girls have it, sedentary girls have it, curvy girls have it, older women have it and, guess what, so do younger women. In fact, 90% of women struggle with it . . . you are not alone!

The appearance of fat is affected by the sticky webbing of tissue it's housed in called fascia--which can be manipulated. Get ready for the most radical shift in Health and Beauty of the century! Obliterate cellulite, transform your body, and revolutionize your life!

"If your 'weighty thinking' does not change, then even if you lose weight you'll retain an overwhelming subconscious urge to gain it back. It's less important how quickly you lose weight, and more important how holistically you lose weight; you want your mind, your emotions, and your body to all 'lose weight.' Weight that disappears from your body but not from your soul is simply recycling outward for a while but is almost certain to return. It's self-defeating, therefore, to struggle to drop excess weight unless you are also willing to drop the thought-forms that initially produced it and now hold it in place."-- Marianne Williamson What is the connection between spirituality and weight loss? Best-selling author Marianne Williamson is about to answer that question for you in her groundbreaking new book, bringing you 21 spiritual lessons to help you surrender your weight forever. These lessons form a holistic paradigm for weight loss, addressing the spiritual, emotional, and psychological elements involved in what Williamson refers to as "conscious weight loss." If you are a food addict, a compulsive eater, or someone who for any reason sees food as the enemy, this book is for you.A Course in Weight Loss addresses the true causal root of your weight-loss issues: a place within you where you have forgotten your divine perfection. This forgetfulness has confused not only your mind but also your body, making you reach for that which cannot sustain you . . . and reject that which does. As your mind reclaims its spiritual intelligence, your body will reclaim its natural intelligence as well.The 21 lessons in this book will take you on a deep, sacred journey. One step at a time, you will learn to shift your relationship with yourself--and your body--from one of fear to one of love. And you will begin to integrate the various parts of yourself--mind, body, and spirit--to become, once again, and in all ways, the beautiful and peaceful person you were created to be.As Williamson writes: "When it comes to your enjoyment of eating, your best days are not behind you but ahead of you!" So get ready to begin a new relationship with food . . . and with yourself.

Enter the trenches of the bloodiest battles you've never heard of: the Vaccine Wars.

Professor Christopher A Shaw discovered, after a deep-dive literature search on aluminum impacts on humans and animals, that aluminum hydroxide, an adjuvant in the anthrax vaccine, had a significantly negative impact on motor functions and reflexes of patients in the literature. After that finding, he did what scientists are supposed to do and kept following the leads. However, organizations like WHO dismissed him immediately. Those powerful organizations either knew what he knew, that aluminum vaccine adjuvants were harmful, or they simply didn't care. In either case, two possible reasons for the lack of response became clear to Shaw and his colleagues: dogma and money. The first had served to convince most of the world's medical professionals that Shaw had to be wrong because, after all, "the science was settled." And, behind much of this was the naked fact of how much money vaccines brought in to cover the pharmaceutical industry's profit margin. The combination of those two have the finger prints of various Big Pharma companies smudged all over the question of vaccine safety, which included the demonization of both scientists and lay scholars who raised even the tamest questions about safety and the push for vaccine mandates around the world. After these events, Shaw decided to dig deeper.

Dispatches from the Vaccine Wars is a comprehensive look at the origin of vaccination and the oversight of vaccines by various regulatory bodies in the United States and in Canada. The book provides not only the official view on vaccines safety and efficacy, but also provides a critical analysis on which such views are based. Aluminum and other compounds that may contribute to autism spectrum disorder are discussed at length. Professor Shaw also analyzes the corporate influences driving vaccine uptake worldwide and provides an in depth look at the push for mandatory vaccination. Dispatches from the Vaccine Wars evaluates the extent to which vaccinology has become a cult religion driving attempts to suppress divergent scientific opinions. Finally, the book delves into the COVID-19 pandemic and what it means for the future of us all.

From one of the world's foremost experts on the subject, a powerful argument that the greatest damage from drugs flows from their being illegal, and a hopeful reckoning with the possibility of their use as part of a responsible and happy life

Dr. Carl L. Hart, Ziff Professor at Columbia University and former chair of the Department of Psychology, is one of the world's preeminent experts on the effects of so-called recreational drugs on the human mind and body. Dr. Hart is open about the fact that he uses drugs himself, in a happy balance with the rest of his full and productive life as a colleague, husband, father, and friend. In Drug Use for Grown-Ups, he draws on decades of research and his own personal experience to argue definitively that the criminalization and demonization of drug use--not drugs themselves--have been a tremendous scourge on America, not least in reinforcing this country's enduring structural racism.

Dr. Hart did not always have this view. He came of age in one of Miami's most troubled neighborhoods at a time when many ills were being laid at the door of crack cocaine. His initial work as a researcher was aimed at proving that drug use caused bad outcomes. But one problem kept cropping up: the evidence from his research did not support his hypothesis. From inside the massively well-funded research arm of the American war on drugs, he saw how the facts did not support the ideology. The truth was dismissed and distorted in order to keep fear and outrage stoked, the funds rolling in, and black and brown bodies behind bars.

Drug Use for Grown-Ups will be controversial, to be sure: the propaganda war, Dr. Hart argues, has been tremendously effective. Imagine if the only subject of any discussion about driving automobiles was fatal car crashes. Drug Use for Grown-Ups offers a radically different vision: when used responsibly, drugs can enrich and enhance our lives. We have a long way to go, but the vital conversation this book will generate is an extraordinarily important step.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - Have your hormones been hijacked? Reset your hormonal health in 14 days with essential oils.

"An effective, easy-to-follow plan to balance hormones and become more energized."-Amy Myers, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of The Autoimmune Solution

Do you feel energy-depleted and irritable, unable to sleep, stay focused, or lose weight? You may have attributed these symptoms to the natural hormonal fluctuations that occur with age. But behind the scenes, there are a host of pesky culprits wreaking havoc on your hormonal health: chronic stress, air pollution, chemical-laden foods and cleaning supplies, and the synthetic estrogens in personal care products. Women of all ages are left vulnerable to the consequences, suffering from unnecessary hormonal imbalance and frustrating symptoms that are often dismissed by their doctors.

Dr. Mariza Snyder is here to help put you back in control of your health. In The Essential Oils Hormone Solution, you will learn how to heal hormonal chaos and revitalize the body from the inside out with the support of high-quality essential oils. You'll learn how essential oils work on a cellular level to mitigate the toxic loads we carry, and how to use essential oils to reduce cravings, get deep, restful sleep, ease stress, improve mood, banish the worst symptoms of PMS, regain focus and concentration, boost libido, and increase energy.

Featuring a 14-day plan to jumpstart your hormonal health, with over 100 essential oil blends, daily self-care rituals, and delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes, you'll discover how to reset your body and pave the way for improved hormonal health, without taking hormones.

If exercise is healthy (so good for you!), why do many people dislike or avoid it? These engaging stories and explanations will revolutionize the way you think about exercising--not to mention sitting, sleeping, sprinting, weight lifting, playing, fighting, walking, jogging, and even dancing.

"Strikes a perfect balance of scholarship, wit, and enthusiasm." --Bill Bryson, New York Times best-selling author of The Body

*If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
*Does running ruin your knees?
*Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
*Is sitting really the new smoking?
*Can you lose weight by walking?
*And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?

In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise--to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.

Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman audaciously argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise.

Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the question of whether you can exercise too much, even as he explains why exercise can reduce our vulnerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us.

Inside intelligence you will need to make informed decisions, financially and compassionately, when caring for aging loved ones--whether they are living at home, in a care facility, or in the hospital or hospice care.

Do you have a parent or aging loved one nearing or in the most fragile years of life? Are you considering in-home care for them? Assisted living? A nursing home? Have they endured repeated hospitalizations, or are they facing major surgery? Are they refusing to give up their independence? Do they have adequate savings to pay for care? Are they getting the right Medicare, Medicaid, or VA benefits? This book by a veteran care management professional will help you secure the best possible care.

New York Times bestselling author and CEO of 22 Days Nutrition, Marco Borges introduces one of the most inclusive, practical, and revolutionary plant-based lifestyle plans - The Greenprint. By following its 22 proven effective guidelines, you will shift your mindset, improve your health, lose weight, and impact the planet for the better.

Accessible and easy-to-follow, The Greenprint is a movement to embrace your absolute best and healthiest life. Through his more than two decades of experience working with clients, including some of the world's biggest celebrities, and spearheading exercise and nutrition research, Borges developed the groundbreaking 22 Laws of Plants, which he's determined are the most important plant-based diet, exercise, and lifestyle secrets for losing weight, increasing energy, boosting metabolism, and reducing inflammation, not to mention helping minimize your carbon imprint to help the planet. The Greenprint outlines three simple, step-by-step plans to implement the 22 Laws into your life, depending on where you are on your journey. Whether you are ready for a gradual shift or excited to tackle them all full-on, in just weeks you will be on your way to a healthier, cleaner approach to eating that includes plenty of whole grains, bountiful veggies, legumes, nuts and more. You'll also find meal plans, more than 60 delicious recipes, countless tips, and inspirational stories to help you along the way. Take control of your diet, create your own Greenprint and forever alter your weight, your health and the planet.

A complete guide to improving thyroid health through diet and other natural remedies.

Emily Lipinski is a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine; she also has thyroid disease. She struggled for years to get a correct diagnosis and then to control her symptoms. Through devoting herself to research, and working with her own patients, she found that healing the thyroid requires much more than prescription medication. A no-nonsense companion for the millions of thyroid disease sufferers, Healing Your Thyroid Naturally incorporates the latest research in thyroid health while also offering a practical plan. Starting with an easy-to-grasp Thyroid 101 chapter, Dr. Lipinski highlights many topics that are integral to understanding thyroid health, including:

An overview of key tests and medications

Surprising sources of thyroid toxicity-and what to do about them

How some of the biggest health trends pertain to thyroid health, including: intermittent fasting, the keto diet, and CBD use, as well as herbs and supplements

cutting edge treatments and therapies

With the Thyroid Healing Diet, a customizable, food-based plan to help you reclaim your energy and your health, and 50 recipes to get you started, you will find improved energy, digestion; reduction of thyroid antibody levels; balanced mood; and even weight loss. In short, Healing Your Thyroid Naturally provides all the tools you need to take charge of your health and restore balance.