If you are looking to be healthy through thoughtful and informed methods this book is an essential addition to your library. Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy, by Walter C. Willett, and P.J. Skerrett, attempts to do three major things; deconstruct and reconstruct the traditional food pyramid we all grew up with, give us a new idea of how to structure our eating habits based on intelligent and thorough medical and scientific studies, and give us a few recipes to get the whole thing kick started.

There are a lot of misconceptions and urban legends about what we put into our bodies. This book rounds up the villains and puts them in their places, showing the reader why some of these common misconceptions exist. For example, who exactly benefited from the way the traditional food pyramid was designed?

For someone who wants to make a healthy change in their lifestyle and isn’t sure where to start, this book provides a guideline for getting going by introducing some whole grains that you might not be familiar with and some simple ways to identify healthy and non-healthy foods. The book, which is based on research by Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health Research, also covers vitamins and alcohol intake. The only section that seems to be lacking is research into the relationship between herbs and health.

The last section is comprised of healthy recipes, which can be extremely helpful for someone who needs assistance in changing their eating habits. Shopping tips are also included as well as meal plan suggestions and ideas for finding some of the more “exotic� ingredients.

Overall, the book is an excellent introduction to healthy eating and also helps remind us that we need to take our food choices into our own hands. There’s no quick fix from an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one, but it’s not complicated either. There are a few charts, figures, and results of scientific studies, but nothing too overwhelming. In general the book is a quick read and full of useful tips.

Willett, Walter C., Skerrett, P.J.. Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating. New York: Free Press, 2005.