New & Novel: Wellness

We're already most of the way through January - how are those New Year's resolutions going? We're on the fence about resolutions. If they help you, great; if they make you feel bad for not being able to fulfill your goals, that's not so great. So, we'd like to gently open up a discussion about new wellness books. Not diet and exercise, not even health and fitness, but wellness. There are some books on our list that include diet and exercise, but we've tried not to make them the be-all and end-all of the discussion, because we want you to be healthy, not (necessarily) skinny; we want you to feel like a life change is within reach, but can include baby steps to get there, and should involve your mind as much as your body. How'd we do? Let us know in the comments!

Eat Fat, Get Thin: Why the Fat We Eat Is the Key to Sustained Weight Loss and Vibrant Health by  Mark Hyman, MD

Forever Painless: End Chronic Pain and Reclaim Your Life in 30 Minutes a Day by Miranda Esmonde-White 

Change Your Brain, Change Your life: The Breakthrough Program For Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Lack of Focus, Anger, and Memory Problems by Daniel G. Amen, M.D. 

But I Could Never Go Vegan!: 125 Recipes That Prove You Can Live Without Cheese, It's Not All Rabbit Food, and Your Friends Will Still Come Over For Dinner by Kristy Turner 

The Bulletproof Diet: Lose Up To a Pound a Day, Reclaim Your Energy and Focus, and Upgrade Your Life by Dave Asprey

Zero Sugar Diet: Eat Carbs, Crush Cravings, and Drop Up to 14 Pounds in 14 Days! by David Zinczenko

The Nalini Method: Transform Your Mind and Body - 7 Workouts for 7 Moods by Rupa Mehta

Retox: Yoga, Food, Attitude - Healthy Solutions For Real Life by Lauren Imparato

Aim True: Love Your Body, Eat Without Fear, Nourish Your Spirit, Discover True Balance! by Kathryn Budig 

Bowl: Vegetarian Recipes For Ramen, Pho, Bibimbap, Dumplings, and Other One-Dish Meals by Lukas Volger 

Deliciously Ella Every Day: Quick and Easy Recipes For Gluten-Free Snacks, Packed Lunches and Simple Meals by Ella Woodward

The Prime: Prepare and Repair Your Body For Spontaneous Weight Loss by Kulreet Chaudhary, MD; with Eve Adamson

The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night At a Time by Arianna Huffington 

Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the Root Cause of Your Health Problems and 5 Surprising Steps to Cure It by Dr. Josh Axe 

A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives; Featuring a 30-Day Plan For Transformation by Kelly Brogan, MD, with Kristin Loberg 

Wellth: How I Learned to Build a Life, Not a Résumé by Jason Wachob, founder and CEO of mindbodygreen 

The Ketogenic Cookbook: Nutritious Low-Carb, High-Fat Paleo Meals to Heal Your Body by Jimmy Moore and Maria Emmerich 

The Secret Life of Fat: The Science Behind the Body's Least Understood Organ and What It Means For You by Sylvia Tara, PhD.  

Urban Monk: Eastern Wisdom and Modern Hacks That Will Help You Find Peace, Happiness, and... Success in Today's World by Pedram Shojai  

Bone Deep Broth: Healing Recipes With Bone Broth by Taylor Chen & Lya Mojica 

Strong Is the New Beautiful: Embrace Your Natural Beauty, Eat Clean, and Harness Your Power by Lindsey Vonn and Sarah Toland

Don't Let Anything Dull Your Sparkle: How to Break Free of Negativity and Drama by Doreen Virtue [eBook]

 

In Praise of Walking

I leaned closer, and as she tapped the thickest part of [a rubber bracelet on her left wrist] a number of glowing dots rose to the surface and danced back and forth. “It’s like a pedometer,” she continued. “But updated, and better. The goal is to take ten thousand steps per day, and, once you do, it vibrates.”

...A few weeks later, I bought a Fitbit of my own, and discovered what she was talking about. Ten thousand steps, I learned, amounts to a little more than four miles for someone my size—five feet five inches. It sounds like a lot, but you can cover that distance in the course of an average day without even trying...
~David Sedaris, "Stepping Out"

We don't have an abcreads Fitbit, but one of us did get a new phone with a pedometer, and now that the weather has been warm, we have been trying to get out and walk daily. Like David Sedaris, some of us are a bit obsessive about making our 10,000 steps a day and achieving a little light applause and a gold medal from our phone's pedometer.  Some of us could use a little more inspiration. We could try Cheryl Strayed's Wild (although we've mostly been walking the city neighborhoods) and we've placed a hold on Stephen Ausherman's Walking Albuquerque: 30 Tours of the Duke City's Historic Neighborhoods, Ditch Trails, Urban Nature, and Public Art. Some websites recommend walking routes, the Paseo del Bosque Trail is calling to us, and even the City of Albuquerque wants us to Get Up and Get Moving! Still, some of us need a little more inspiration, so here are some items from the catalog that we hope will inspire all of us to take a walk!  (Once we finish reading, anyway.)


A Philosophy of Walking by Frederic Gros

Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit

The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Literature of Pedestrianism by Geoff Nicholson

The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane

The Last Great Walk: The True Story of a 1909 Walk From New York to San Francisco, and Why It Matters Today by Wayne Curtis

Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery

Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson

A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople - From The Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube by Patrick Leigh Fermor

Like a Tramp, Like a Pilgrim: On Foot, Across Europe to Rome by Harry Bucknall

DVDs

Patience (After Sebald): A Walk Through The Rings of Saturn

Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago
 
 
 For more walking guides (including travel guides), try a search of walking guidebooks or walking tours.  

What about you? Is there a place in Albuquerque you like to walk?  Do you take a daily stroll? Use a Fitbit or a pedometer?  Let us know in the comments!