We asked local physicians for their health-related book recommendations. Here’s what they said:
The Mind-Gut Connection
By Emeran Mayer, MD
“This book reviews how important it is to respect your gut with better food choices and how that can translate to feeling better both physically and mentally. This has been particularly relevant during this tumultuous time, when people lean toward comfort food to make themselves feel better, but ultimately [comfort food] has the opposite effect.”
— Sara Brown, DO, sports medicine physician at Advocate Aurora Health
The Year of Magical Thinking By Joan Didion
“I lost my dad about a year and a half ago. So this book was really hard but also really good to read. As clinicians, we think, ‘We got this.’ But we don’t! I like books that touch my heart and show me that I’m not alone, that other people are going through things.”
— Merle Diamond, MD, president and medical director of the Diamond Headache Clinic
Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself By William W. Li, MD
“Dr. Li does a fabulous job of translating the latest science into practical nutrition advice that has the potential to dramatically shift one’s risk for chronic disease. Here, he focuses on the evidence for how what we
eat impacts the body’s defense systems.”
— Melinda Ring, MD, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern University
Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future By Mary Robinson
Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future By Pope Francis
“These two books address the climate crisis we face. Climate Justice illustrates the meaning of environmental justice (and injustice) through storytelling. Let Us Dream calls for solidarity so we can move forward and make a better world for everyone.”
— Regina de Leon Gomez, MD, medical director of obstetrics hospitalist program at Northwest Community Healthcare
