📚 94 health books to CHANGE YOUR LIFE (plus, healthy school lunch resources!)

Author

Casey Means
September 10, 2024

Welcome back!

Every day I get questions asking for resources for specific health conditions. I get it: if you are suffering from a specific symptom or disease, you want to get help and answers for that.

A suggestion I would offer to anyone pursuing answers for a specific symptom is to also make sure to address the foundational layer of cellular health that can’t be siloed into a specialty, like metabolic health. Often, when we get foundational metabolic health in better shape, it's a virtuous cycle of improvement in many aspects of health. This is what my book, Good Energy, is all about.

With that said, there are INCREDIBLE resources available that speak to specific health issues while also holding in mind root causes and holistic health. In this newsletter, I am sharing 94 books that I have personally read and loved on my journey to understanding a root cause approach to different diseases.

Do I agree with every point in every book? No. But together, these books have formed part of the tapestry for my understanding of holistic health. They’ve all played a part in helping me “wake up” from the narrowly-focused conventional medical education that I got in medical school.

If you’re on your health journey, I recommend starting with Good Energy (and not just because I wrote it 😄 ). I say that because it is a strong, first-principles scaffolding for which all other health books that go into specialty areas can fold into. Good Energy helps you understand how your body works on the fundamental level, how lab testing works, what food really is on the molecular level, mindset shifts, and the systems issues that make being healthy hard. Through that scaffold, a lot of other health books can fold in in a way that lets you stay empowered, not confused. Good Energy has remained the #1 book on Amazon for another week and we’re going on 13 weeks on the NYT Bestseller list.

So, if there is a specific aspect of health that you want to learn about, consider this list of 94 books a way to point your arrow towards resources that may benefit you. 🏹 

You’ll notice that these books are all across the spectrum of “dietary philosophies.” I think it is incredibly important to expose yourself to the spectrum of science and thought around health and nutrition. But you needn’t be confused: As I explain in Good Energy, I believe that we can cut through the noise in the nutrition space by regularly tracking our symptoms, our key biomarkers, and other important health metrics (like coronary artery calcium scores, DEXA scans, nutrient testing, etc).  If you are tracking these things, you can KNOW if your diet and lifestyle is working for you at this moment in time, and don’t have to fall prey to the diet wars. This is what “n-of-1” research is all about (learn more about “n-of-1” here and here). I say in Good Energy:

📚️ My recommended health book list

 🩺 Systems Issues in Healthcare and Food

🌱 Overall Health and Nutrition

These books are all part of my “awakening” to root cause health.

🏃 Fitness

  1. Forever Strong by Gabrielle Lyon, D.O. (we MUST be lifting weights regularly for longevity)

🫀 Cardiometabolic Health + Blood Sugar

🫁 Respiratory Health

😖 Cravings

🧠 Mental Health, Depression, Anxiety

Each of these books absolutely blew my mind.

🧠 Alzheimer’s Dementia

📱Follow on Instagram: Dale Bredesen, David Perlmutter, Louisa Nicola

🗣️ Thyroid Disease (Hypothyroidism)

📱Follow on Instagram: Izabella Wentz, Pharm.D.

 🛡️ Autoimmune Disease

📱Follow on Instagram: Terry Wahls, Sara Gottfried

🚺️ Women’s Hormones

  1. The Hormone Cure by Sara Gottfried, M.D. (and all books by Sara Gottfried!)

🤰 Pregnancy

⏰ Fasting

📱Follow on Instagram: Mindy Pelz, Jason Fung

Each of these books has had a profound impact on my life.

🤕 Back Pain

  1. Healing Back Pain by John E. Sarno, M.D. (this book helped me heal my debilitating chronic neck pain I developed in surgical residency)

😴 Sleep and Circadian Biology

🍎 Uric Acid, Fructose, Weight, and Health

📱Follow on Instagram: David Perlmutter

😄 Oral Health

Follow on Instagram: Leedia Riman and Gerry Curtola

💪 Biohacking

📱Follow on Instagram: Aggie Lal and Dave Asprey

⏳️ Longevity

🏡 Non-Toxic Home

📱Follow on Instagram: Yvonne Burkart, Dr. Vivian Chen

I am indebted to each of these bold authors!

🫂 Mindset + Therapy

📱Follow on Instagram: Nicole LaPera, Jay Shetty

🎨 Creativity and Purpose

🧘 Spirituality + Meditation

A curriculum for figuring out your life! 😄 

😩 Addiction (Phone and Otherwise)

🦸 Leadership

💕 Relationships

🌀 Psychedelics

💉 Vaccines

🍖 Keto/Carnivore

Note: I don’t adhere to a strict keto diet and believe that we each need to understand how our own diets and lifestyles are affecting our health outcomes through tracking our biomarkers, symptoms, and other key health metrics (like coronary artery calcium scores, DEXA scans, etc) regularly. With that said, these books present a case for the benefits of ketones in the body that is useful to learn about.

🌱 Plant-Based Health Books

Note: I love these Plant Based books because they really open your mind to the power of plants for healing. I don’t adhere to a strictly plant-based diet and, again, I believe that we each need to understand how our own diets and lifestyles are affecting our health outcomes through tracking our biomarkers, symptoms, and other key health metrics (like coronary artery calcium scores, DEXA scans, etc) regularly.

🧒 Children’s Health

😋 Gut Health

📱Follow on Instagram: Robynne Chutkan, M.D., Will Bulsiewicz M.D.

🧑‍⚕️ Medical Humanities to Inspire Awe for Our Biology

📚️ Just for Fun: My Favorite Novels

Although not health books, these have been integral in shaping how I think about the world and systems issues.

This list is NOT comprehensive. There are SO MANY OTHER brilliant thought leaders out there who I love learning from but I haven’t had a chance to read their books yet, such as:

🔖  Topics of Books I'm Reading In Coming Months👇️ 

Which books are on your MUST READ health list? Share with me by replying to this email!

With good energy 💓

Dr. Casey

Sponsors ensure this newsletter remains freely accessible to everyone. All sponsors are brands I already use daily and absolutely love!

Laird Superfood 🎉 

I am SO excited to share Laird Superfood as this week’s newsletter sponsor! Laird Superfood is founded by two of the most inspirational, healthy, and earth-loving people I know: Laird Hamilton and Gabby Reece. Laird Superfood is committed to inspiring people to take control of their health and includes over 100 health-focused products that are clean and nutrient-dense. I love this brand because they use many organic ingredients, the coconuts used in so many of their products are confirmed pesticide free (!), no artificial flavors, the brand is committed to sustainable packaging (packaging is between 30% and 35% post-consumer recycled and they are looking to expand this further), and the founders are people I know and admire greatly.

My personal favorite products that I use regularly include the:

The way I use the products:

  • 🥛 Flavored Milky Latte: In a stand-up milk frother, I’ll add homemade almond milk or A2 grass fed dairy milk, 1-2 tablespoons of the flavored creamers and 1 tsp of the Performance Mushrooms.

  • ☕️ Coffee: In a milk frother, I’ll add brewed Laird Decaf coffee, a couple tablespoons of the Laird Superfood creamer, 1 tsp Laird Performance Mushrooms, creatine, and a scoop of collagen powder.

  • 🍹 Smoothies: I will add the Turmeric Superfood Creamer to smoothies for the anti-inflammatory effects of turmeric and a little sweetness.

  • 🏃 Workout drink: The Hydrate Coconut Water is a clean and simple alternative to health-damaging sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade (which are filled with artificial dyes and processed sugar).

New customers save 20% and get free shipping on their first order with code DRMEANS20!

Note: The discount code cannot be combined with other offers and cannot be used for subscriptions, limited to one use per customer, and valid until September 30th, 2024 only.

💪 One thing you can do this week to make a difference

Talk to your children’s school about BETTER FOOD.

Eat Real nourishes the future of American school kids by putting real food on the table.

The passion of this community is amazing. Thousands of you are reaching out and it’s clear you want to make change for your families. I received lots of questions about making an impact at school. One of my favorite nonprofits is Eat Real. They are working directly with public schools, families, and policy makers nationwide to transform America's food system. They have a great how-to guide for bringing real food to your school district. Give them a follow on Instagram @eatrealcertified, donate if you can, and most importantly check out the guide! They can support YOU and your school in getting REAL, declicious, high quality food for your kids.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🤳 Upcoming IG Live with Kimberly Snyder

I will be going live on Instagram with Kimberly Snyder, New York Times Bestselling Author and Founder of Solluna, on September 17th, 11:00am PT! We’ll be talking all about her new book The Hidden Power of the Five Hearts, which is about awakening the power of your “heart brain”, through teachings and the science of heart coherence.

Follow us on Instagram at @_kimberlysnyder and @drcaseyskitchen so you don’t miss out.

📺️ Recent media features

🎙️ I’m in a new documentary episode: In The Arena with Evan Baehr

In this documentary, I sit down with Evan Baehr and share 3 foods to avoid that are messing up your metabolism, plus how ultra-processed foods are sabotaging our efforts to get healthy. A theme of this episode: If you are bothered by something in our world today, YOU CAN BUILD SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Yes, you! We need all hands on deck. Let’s go. Watch the full episode on YouTube here.

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