Fit Friday: Six Health Books You Should Be Reading

Hey ladies and gents! Welcome to this week's FIT FRIDAY! Today I will be sharing some health related books that I think you should read if you are serious about being healthy and living a healthy lifestyle.

Speaking of living healthfully... have you entered my Whirlybird Granola GIVEAWAY yet?! It ends at 11:59PM TONIGHT! Go enter while you still can!

The books below are books I either have read or am reading currently, and I think they are worthy of your time. Take a look and see if any strike your fancy!

Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels

The title makes it sound like a book for women going through menopause, and - yes - it does talk about that. But this is a book for EVERYONE, and I don't say that lightly. Jillian goes into great detail by explaining various hormones and the effect they have on your body, weight, and metabolism, and she explains how to make those hormones work for you. It's really interesting. 

The China Study by T. Colin Campbell

This is a classic book in the vegan health world, and T. Colin Campbell is quite possibly one of the most famous doctors in the world. He knows what he is talking about, and the vast amount of info you will learn from him about meat and dairy will shock you.

Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr

If you didn't learn enough from reading The China Study, this book will teach you everything else you need to know. Kris Carr overcame cancer by switching to a mostly raw, vegan diet. She is amaze-balls.

Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure

Otherwise known as "Stephanie" from Full House, Candace shares her story of struggling with her weight and how faith & fitness helped her through it. She's one tough cookie. She's also the sister of Kirk Cameron, the famous Christian actor, if you have heard of him.

Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and and Kim Barnouin

This was the book I read that made me turn vegan a couple years ago. Although I'm no longer vegan, this book was my first look into the world of animal abuse and the negative effects meat and dairy have on your body. Even if it doesn't cause you to change your lifestyle, you'll learn a lot. Plus, these women have a lot of attitude and snark to their writing, so you will be thoroughly entertained.

The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper

Bob Harper, star of The Biggest Loser, breaks down healthy living into 10 simple rules. They are very straightforward and easy to follow, and Harper helps you integrate the rules into your daily life.

Others {Haven't read these, but heard they are great}:

Food Rules by Michael Pollan

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

What books do YOU recommend?

The 2013 Gift Guide For....[THE BLOGGER]

So, you're friend is a blogger and you don't know what to buy them for Christmas. 

Well, you're in the right place. Welcome to the next edition of your holiday gift guide! Here's what we've done so far:

[The HIPSTER]

[The VEGAN]

[The MUSIC JUNKIE]

And here is what's to come:

[The GEEK]

[The BOOK NERD]

[The VINTAGE]

[The TRAVELER]

[The DRINK SNOB]

[The DIY ENTHUSIAST]

So, about that blogger friend...here's what to buy!

Amazon Gift Card

If there is something your blogger friend needs to buy for their blog, Amazon probably has it.

A Beautiful Mess by Elsie Larson

A store I used to work at had this book, and I really wanted to buy it. It gives so many great tips and ideas for taking quality pictures. I highly recommend it.

The Best of Food Writing 2013 by Holly Hughes

I've also been wanting this book, but that's the food writer in my talking. There is literally nothing better than reading quality, well written articles about food. If your friend is a food blogger, they probably want this book too!

Journals from Target

I think Target sells the BEST journals. This is the one I have right now, and I LOVE it! It's almost filled, so I'm looking forward to buying a new journal once it's all used up! Perfect for writing up any fun new ideas for the blog.

Blog Planner

I just downloaded and printed this planner a couple weeks ago, and I LOVE it. It has made my blogging so much more organized. It's free, and if you are willing to pay a couple bucks, you can get it bound. Or you can do what I did and just print it, hole punch the pages, and put them in a three ring binder. This one was designed by Confessions of a Homeschooler, so go check it out.

Bamboo Create Tablet

I have one of these, and it's pretty awesome. It really helps when I want to actually sketch my graphics & web design instead of messing around with Photoshop. I'm using this to design a new website I plan to launch next year, Anchored in Hope.

Adobe Lightroom

I bought this for when I want to do photo editing that is a little more complex than something Google's Picasa can do. It's expensive, but if your friend is also interested in photography (and a lot of bloggers are), this is a good purchase. I use Lightroom 4, but this is the newest edition.

Ad Space

This might sound weird, but if you're a blogger, one of the things you REALLY want is free advertising on another, more popular blog. I want to do this, but I can't afford it, so I would LOVE if someone agreed to buy ad space for me. Find out some blogs that your friends sees as "role model" blogs, and try to buy ad space there.

Blog, Inc. by Joy Deangdeelert Cho

I haven't read this, but it looks and sounds good. It also got great reviews. It's supposed to teach you all about blogging for profit while building community and being passionate...sounds good to me!

How To Blog For Profit Without Selling Your Soul by Ruth Soukup

If you have Amazon Prime and a Kindle, you can borrow this for free from their Kindle Library. I just borrowed it today, so I'll let you know how it is. Sounds promising!

External hard drive

I store all my pictures and blog-related things on my external hard drive. That way, if my computer ever crashes, I still have all my stuff! Smart, huh? Plus, this baby holds a ton of stuff. I recommend getting the 1TB - it holds a heck of a lot of stuff. 

Well, there you have it! Hope that gave you some ideas of what to buy your friend. It definitely gave me more stuff to add my list of blogging "needs".....