Nurturing Superwoman by Carolyn Moody

I've been pretty obsessed with nutrition lately. Actually, I used to be pretty obsessed with nutrition in the past too, but didn't know enough about how my body works to be able to separate the stuff that made sense from the stuff that didn't make sense. And so much information out there gets published despite not making sense or just being completely wrong! Very difficult to sift through.

I read this particular book because it's written by a friend of mine and it popped up in a conversation. I thought that her take on health was perfect for me right now - the book's subtitle is "The busy woman's guide to stress reduction and dynamic health".

The author thinks that women today are still suffering from the legacy of the 70s Superwoman who thought she could have it all and that it should all be done perfectly. She says that we have let our nutrition slide and that this has resulted in a whole series of health problems - including things that we now take for granted as normal, such as PMS. I can get rid of irritability, fatigue and PMS with proper nutrition? Score!

I was happy to find that the book focusses on something that I never read much about - hormones and how they influence our health. Now, I'm actually pretty surprised to say that I never looked into hormones. I mean, going through IVF messed up my hormones and I sure felt the aftermath. Pregnancy - same thing. So why didn't I try to understand more about how hormones work in my body?

One of the most interesting things for me was reading about oestrogen dominance - what the hormone does and is supposed to do and how we're all exposed to so, so much more of it than we should. The book makes a link to how environmental factors like pollution affect us really and how important it is to eat organic.

Honestly, there wasn't anything about this book that I didn't like. Some of it was quite complex, but I thought that the author did a great job of putting in more personal comments here and there to lighten things up a bit. She also has a way of explaining complex processes in a way that makes them relevant to you. I love learning science stuff that way. :-)

I guess if I really think about it, the one thing that I'm not sure about are the Patrick Holford quotes. I read so much about him in Bad Science by Ben Goldacre and online that I don't know what to think anymore. I know that I don't really trust him, but to be honest I don't care enough about him to spend any time finding out.

The topics covered are for women of all ages - the information covers the menstruating years and menopause. It's a book that every woman should read once and keep as reference. We should all know how our bodies work and why they react in various ways to what we eat.

There are so many stories of people beating disease through dietary changes - this stuff is really worth looking into!

If you're interested, visit her website, Body Balance. You can get the book through there - and she does coaching and workshops and lots of other things, maybe you'll find something you'll like.

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

Yes, that's right, by Alicia Silverstone. I didn't know she had a book out either, but there you go.

This is a book about veganism, really. About how to eat great and treat your body and the planet in a kind way. Even though I have no interest in becoming vegan, I wanted to explore some of the ideas and benefit from some of the recipes. Which are great, by the way. I already made the Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew and all three of us enjoyed it immensely. Yum.

I liked the way Alicia explained what certain foods do to your body and what their production does to the planet. The tone is upbeat, without being pushy, which was appreciated. She presents three levels of changes, the first of which is just 'flirting' so that you can try out some different things with food and not get hung up on labels.

It took me longer than expected to read this, because sometimes I couldn't stand the peppy attitude for a second longer. :-) But all in all it's a good one to read if you're interested in nutrition.

I would never have read this book if my friend Larissa hadn't mentioned it to me and introduced tahini into my life. Larissa has now joined the world of book bloggers and she reads some great stuff (plus she's a really cool person) so make sure you go visit her!