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Health books for the non-nerd

I am a nerd. In fact I just finished my exam in Functional Medicine which took more two hundred hours to study for. I love learning because it is fun and allows our Genesis Gym team to help people more effectively. Also, this is my profession!

How about other people who want to take responsibility for their health, but may not have that kind of time to spend reading. What books would be entertaining, as well as informative?

Here are three that would be able to help almost anyone learn more about their bodies in a way that is engaging as well as informative.

Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

This is one of my favorite books that deals with one of Singapore's biggest problems. Stress. It is written by Dr Robert Sapolsky. A brilliant guy with a PhD who is a lecturer at Stanford. He is also an entertaining writer. And his studies are not boring lab work. They are done by studying the behaviour of baboons in the wild.

Baboons are smart and don't need to spend 10 hours a day finding food. They only spend a few hours feeding, so have a lot of free time to have social interactions. Somewhat like people do. There are "class systems", bullying, friendship, aggressors, victims and more within the social structure of the baboon tribe. Dr Sapolsky studies these interactions, then takes blood samples of the baboons after. For example if a big male bullies a smaller one, he will find out about the stress hormones and sex hormones from the respective baboons. Of course it is stressful to be bullied! However, if the victim has friends who groom him after being bullied, his stress hormones go down, showing that community support is important when you are stressed. These and many more interactions are presented in a wonderfully engaging way.

Achieving Victory Over A Toxic World

The author, Dr Mark Schauss writes from the perspective of both a scientist, as well as the loving father of a child suffering from seizures that no one else seems to have a clue about. So that sets him upon his journey of learning with great passion and enthusiasm.

Because of his wide range of experiences in the "health industry" while finding help for his daughter, I feel he has a very balanced viewpoint about both the pharmaceutical as well as the alternative fields of health care. His points are made in nice, short chapters so you could probably pick up this book and read it from any point instead of front to back.

Even fewer excuses for not reading it.

One (out of the many) nice points that relates to body composition i.e. weight loss or fat loss, is that because of the toxic world, we accumulate toxins in our body. To reduce the amount of damage done by these toxins, our body slows down its metabolism to minimize the toxic effect.

No wonder people with toxic issues that lead to hormonal disturbance can't lose weight. Their bodies are in slow down mode. There are also practical steps that you can take to minimize exposure and maximize health.
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Heart Disease

Dr Mark Houston runs probably the most successful heart disease fixing center in the world, in a place where this disease is extremely common. The Hypertension Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, where obesity is one of the highest in the world.

He has a very complete understanding of the causes of heart disease, as well as the multiple factors that go into prevention, and fixing risk factors. You will be surprised to find that cholesterol levels are NOT a good indicator of potential heart problems. And Dr Houston will show you exactly what you can do, naturally, to fix the issues that are big risk factors.

For the best fitness boot camp program, ExpressFIT program in the CBD, and personal training in Singapore visit www.genesisgym.com.sg or the Genesis Gym facebook page. Or visit Coach Jonathan's homepage and blog at www.coachjon.com