Every year, when a new year rolls around, I resolve to try to improve my health and that of my family. But it can be difficult to know exactly how to do that.
So this year I turned to Dr Norman Swan for inspiration.
His book, So you think you know what’s good for you? draws on a huge array of medical and health studies to give factual and scientific information about which diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices will most impact your health. Although this might sound boring to some, I found it effortlessly readable.
He really does cover everything in this book – relationships, work stress, nutrition, weight loss, mental health, alcohol and other drugs, sex, exercise, ageing and even technology. He also looks at these issues in their social context, including his own experience of growing up in Glasgow where his parents smoked 20 a day and fired up the chippie with every hot meal.
Given the plethora of conflicting information available from medical practitioners, the pharmaceutical industry, celebrity peddlers of fad diets and the wellness industry, I appreciated that this book is so grounded in concrete research. It also outlines what we don’t know yet, which I found oddly reassuring.
Dr Norman Swan’s writing is warm and engaging, and you can hear his lovely Scottish accent in your head while you read. Highly recommend.
-Katrina Roe, RRL Administration Centre
