Eating Well for Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Bringing Health and Pleasure Back to Eating

8 reviews for Eating Well for Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Bringing Health and Pleasure Back to Eating

1. 

   The Rebecca Review – March 21, 2025

   A Voice of Sanity in a Diet Obsessed World
   This book was published in 2000 but most of the advice is still very relevant 12 years later. Dr. Weil takes a sensible approach to diet and exercise and explains how to navigate your local grocery store and how to eat when you go to restaurants. He provides recipes and ideas for meals that will give you pleasure and health.
   In a world where many doctors are still uneducated about nutrition it is always refreshing to read one of Dr. Weil’s books. This book shows that he has extensively researched healthy eating. He starts by explaining macronutrients and micronutrients. He does get a bit scientific at some points but if you enjoyed biology class you will fully understand all the concepts.
   I also appreciated his section on the glycemic index as I’m finally starting to take that seriously. I now find myself telling people to eat sweet potatoes instead of baked potatoes. I was shocked to learn that parsnips are worse than pretty much any vegetable you can think of. This book also explains that honey is not much better than sugar and that whole wheat bread is not really any better than white bread. You will seriously think about not eating very much bread after reading this book. But Dr. Weil is not against all carbohydrates as you will also see from some of his recipes.
   This book has a great section on various diets people promote. Dr. Weil gives the good and bad qualities of each diet and then explains which diet is best. He seems more in favor of the Mediterranean diet for the most part. I also liked his chapter on the worst possible diet you could ever eat. It really educated me on what I should avoid.
   There were many parts of the book that explained things I’d wondered about. Like in one section the raw foods diet is explained. I didn’t realize that alfalfa sprouts had toxins in them. Dr. Weil explains how cooking destroys the toxins, making vegetables safe to eat. He also explains why grass-fed beef is a much better choice. The only thing I really questioned was his advice about coconut oil. Since now we know it is very healthy and good for the brain. So if you’ve been reading up on the current nutritional advice of the moment then you’ll know you should be adding coconut oil and coconut milk to your diet. Tonight I made a lovely curry with coconut milk that was delicious.
   I must say that reading a Dr. Weil book is always intellectually satisfying and very comforting. You get the sense that Dr. Weil really cares about his readers and wants them to enjoy themselves as well. You can’t go wrong with this excellent book on nutrition. It explains the basics and even teaches you how to read labels so you make the best choices at the grocery store.
   ~The Rebecca Review

2. 

   Caitlin L. Cannon – March 21, 2025

   This book changed my life.
   This book is absolutely fantastic and although I haven’t read extensively on the topic, I’d venture to say that it is the definitive guide to nutrition in the marketplace. Let me start by saying that I do not have any significant health or weight issues. However, I have long suspected that I could improve my phsyical and mental well-being through diet and this book has allowed me to do exactly that. By making a few simple dietary changes (i.e., eating more complex carbohydrates and concentrating on getting enough of the “right” types of fat), I feel completely amazing and have more energy than I ever have. It’s been a few months since I’ve read the book and I am now recommending it to everyone I know.
   One thing that I like most about this book is that while it provides a philosphy and recipes, it isn’t a diet. In fact, one thing the book does is point out a common theme among fad diets: they allow you to eat one thing (whether it’s fat or cabbage soup or peanut butter or whatever) and you ultimately end up losing weight because you tire of the permissable food. In contrast, this book systematically goes over the macronutrients (i.e., fat, cabrohydrates, and protein) and micronutrients (e.g., vitamins, antioxidents, etc.) that your body needs and allows you to figure out the rest. I now realize that red meat makes me sleepy but it gives my boyfriend energy – we’ve been able to incorporate that epiphany into our meal plan and we could not be happier with the results.
   Another thing that hooked me on this book was Weil’s willingness to blast dietary mantras that have become accepted as absolute truth in our culture. For example, he opens the book by lambasting traditional dietary advice: eat a balanced diet, there are no “good” or “bad” foods, etc. WAIT. What exactly does “balanced” mean? And wait: there are no “good” foods, but is there any conceivable way that eating more leafy greens would harm my health? Nope. There are good and bad foods, at least in a relative sense, and Weil isn’t ashamed to admit that. Being that straightforward with the reader early in the book really helped me identify with his philosphy and I’m hooked.
   Right now, I’m eating the most delicious, healthful foods that I ever could have imagined with the help of this book. The best part is that it is slightly cheaper than my former diet and easier too. I expect it will only get easier over time as the mantras I have digested become habit. In the meantime, I strongly encourage everyone to read this book so that they too can take a customized, no-nonsense approach to nutrition. This isn’t a book for people who want to lose weight fast – it’s a book for people who love food and want to use it as a tool to promote their intellectual and physical health.

3. 

   Mary – March 21, 2025

   Thorough Information
   The first part of this book deals with the science of human nutrition. It’s well organized and very detailed. (At some points I felt I needed to take notes!) However, if the science starts to blur together, he summarizes with specific recommendations (which you can then go back and look up the reasons for if someone challenges you on it). The author addresses various diet trends, including Atkins and Ornish (he’s not crazy about either, but presents a well-rounded argument) and various food pyramids, including the FDA, Vegan, and Mediterranean Food pyramid.
   Finally, after talking about what everyone else does, he gives you his specific recommendation in an Appendix. Well, sort of. His opinions are pretty clear throughout the book, so the Appendix doesn’t have any surprises in it. He comes out strongly in favor of organic food, and also addresses the idea that food needs to be pleasurable as well as healthy, which is refreshing.
   There’s also a big chunk of recipes (which I haven’t tried), as well as a section that includes somewhat generalized dietary recommendations for specific ailments.

4. 

   stonetta – March 21, 2025

   As with all of Dr. Weil’s books, the information presented is very interesting, even if I believe that some of it may be outdated. The year 2017, indicated in the description, apparently refers only to the date in which it was republished, not revised and updated. In fact I believe that it was written in the late 1990s, and last revised and updated in 2000, not 2017.
   I’ll keep it anyway, because I admire and trust Dr. Weil.

5. 

   a s berry – March 21, 2025

   Good read very informative

6. 

   Carla Freeman – March 21, 2025

   This book is very text-heavy, which I wasn’t expecting, but I committed to reading it anyway and am very glad that I did. I struggled to get into it at first as there is a lot of information to take in with many many words I’d never read before, but overall the information in this book is very interesting and beneficial. I like the fact that this book isn’t a set of diet rules, but instead aims to educate you in the effects of the food you consume and makes suggestions accordingly. It also includes a set of helpful recipes at the back, which was a bonus.

7. 

   Amazon Customer – March 21, 2025

   Really good, no nonsense book about nutrition. Most of it is common sense but with so many diets out there it is hard to lose track of what we should be eating. The only downfall of the book(as with any ‘diet’) is most of us with a full time job simply don’t have the time to make our own granola, however, there are some good tips that you CAN build into your daily life.

8. 

   みけ – March 21, 2025

   この分厚くて字の小さい本を、なぜか一目で気に入って読み始めました。
   多才な医学博士である著者が、アメリカのみならず世界中に蔓延する、極端なダイエット（炭水化物抜きダイエットや断食など）に警鐘を鳴らしながら、健康と食事の相関について綴っています。
   著者いわく、精製炭化水素やトランス脂肪酸の摂取を避け、オメガ3脂肪酸や植物性たんぱく質をとるように心がける。放し飼いの鶏やオーガニック飼料で育った肉なら「ちょっとは」食べていいなど、説教くさい面があり、読み始めはとっつきにくかったです。
   学術的な記述も多いためにこの内容を授業や栄養相談の場で説かれても、即実践にうつる人は多くないでしょう。
   しかし自分の食生活や健康になんらかの疑問や不安を抱いている人、何かを変えたいと思う人にとっては、ひとつのきっかけを与えてくれる本だと思いました。
   ここに書かれているすべてのことを実行するのは経済的にも時間的にも難しい。
   特に日本での有機食品の値段の高さに胡散臭さすら覚えている自分にとっては、ハードルが高いです。
   けれど日頃口にする食べ物に関する知識を持つことは、健康な食生活への第一歩ではないかと思うのです。
   最悪な食事、理想的な食事などの紹介もあり、日本食の利点と短所についても述べられています。
   また本の後半にはたくさんの「健康にいい」レシピが紹介されていますが申し訳ないことにそれらに触手は動きませんでした。
   これを食べるとがんになるとか、これを食べれば病気が治るとかいう、単純な言葉は出てきません。
   みずからの食生活を顧みようとするときに、参考となる本ではないかと思います。