The Balanced Diet: What Fitness Experts Read

From science and philosophy of detoxification to food and gene interaction. From a campaign against sugar to how processed food industry manipulates eating habits. These books can help maintain the balance between flavour and health at a time there's rising prevalence of lifestyle diseases.

BloombergQuint spoke to fitness experts about their top reads.

Anjali Mukherjee

Founder, Health Total

Healing With Whole Foods, By Paul Pitchford

Healing is an art and if you want comprehensive information on healing, then this book is a must read, according to Mukherjee. “It's the most detailed book that combines the wisdom of Chinese healing arts and western research to help plan a perfect protocol that corrects various lifestyle diseases.”

Natural Detoxification: A Practical Encyclopedia, By Jacqueline Krohn MD And Frances Taylor MA

This book is a detailed guide on how toxins enter our body, how they impact our endocrine system and sabotage our health and what to do about it, Mukherjee said. “It teaches you the science and philosophy of detoxification. It makes one realise that we live in a toxic world, but we don't have to live in a toxic body.”

The APO E Gene Diet, By Pamela McDonald

This book speaks about food and gene interaction. It offers a unique and personalised approach to nutritional therapy by ‘honouring our genetic uniqueness'. It provides the latest information which helps you to eat according to your genetic profile. It throws light on how your diet and lifestyle affects gene expression and how you can promote expression of the ‘good genes' and suppress the ill effects of the ‘bad genes', according to Mukherjee.

Pooja Makhija

Founder, Nourish

Pure, White And Deadly, By John Yudkin

The book is an anti-campaign for sugar consumption which was written by Professor Yudkin in 1972 when research in food and nutrition was scarce, according to Makhija. “How he has highlighted the deadly nature of this substance and its ability to wreck havoc in our system is creditable.”

Salt Sugar Fat: How The Food Giants Hooked Us, By Michael Moss

“It was heart wrenching and eye-opening to know how processed food industry manipulated our eating habits to be the main cause of the explosion of health ailments we see rampantly today,” Makhija said.

Younger Skin Starts In The Gut, By Dr. Nigma Talib

According to Makhija, she is glued to the book's comprehensive biochemical analysis of the root cause of problems that people have with their body and their skin health—which is related to their gut health.

Mickey Mehta

Founder, Mickey Mehta Health Beyond Fitness; holistic health ‘guru'

Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight By Rujuta Diwekar

This book is ‘extremely Indianised' and very practical to follow, according to Mehta. “It's very simple. They look out for Indianised wholesome food.”

Healing With Food, By Anjali Mukherjee

In this book, Mukherjee talks about how your kitchen can help you heal with food through the Indian system of eating, Mehta said.

The Live Well Diet, By Sanjeev Kapoor And Sarita Davare

“This is a great book because it shows how people can eat nutritious food that is still delicious,” Mehta said.