Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand April / May 2015 - The Health & Wellness Issue | Page 59

Travel & Lifestyle The Book List Zara Adcock—founder of Bookommended—suggests four titles about health and wellness for Wanderlust’s Health & Wellness issue. These books will leave you feeling enlightened in mind and body. Alexandra Hemingsley is neither a professional athlete nor a fitness expert. She’s just a girl who in her 30s decided to start running. But even though the only thing fast about her first run was how swiftly it became a disillusioned walk, the allure of running never left her. So when her brother announced he was entering a marathon, Alexandra decided to join him. With the support of her family and months of training, Hemingsley re-learnt what had come naturally as a child—the ability to run. She didn’t stop after that race either, continuing to make the sport integral to her life. This personal, funny, and emotional memoir takes a new look at running and why we do it. Without sugarcoating the triumphs and challenges, exhilaration and pain, or pros and cons of running, Hemingsley reveals her own discovery of how it has enhanced her life, concluding that, above all, she runs for the sheer joy of it. Windmill Books, 2013, paperback, 240 pages, Bookommended Price: 450 THB* 1 NUTRITION: FOOD, HEALTH AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT BY RUDOLF STEINER, COMPILED BY CHRISTIAN VON ARMIN With an introduction, commentary, and notes by Christian Von Armin, this slim book gathers the unique writings on nutrition by Austrian scientist, Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). Steiner—who is widely known for his spiritual ‘anthroposophy’ and for founding biodynamic farming—approaches the topic of nutrition from his unusual perspective as someone whose work is born out of the knowledge that natural science and spirituality exist in conjunction with one another. Steiner’s respect for the reader is evident in every carefully chosen word and reflects his belief that “the job of a scientist is to explain how things act and what effect they have,” leaving what his reader ultimately does with that information up to him or herself. In this gentle way, he explains how both our physical health and spiritual development are impacted by: raw food, vegetarian and meat diets; protein, fats, carbohydrates and salts; nicotine and alcohol; and individual foodstuffs. His refreshing insights are invaluable to anyone wanting to further their und