Low-carbohydrate or low-fat, butter or margarine, fresh or processed, organic or conventional? With so much conflicting advice about nutrition, Andrew Weil, M.D., comes to the aid of confused consumers in his latest book, Eating Well for Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Food, Diet, and Nutrition. Two of Weil’s previous books, Spontaneous Healing and 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, gained wide public attention and helped establish him as an authority on health-related issues. Refreshed from escorting his mother to Antarctica for her 89th birthday, Weil recently spoke to BookPage. Highlights of the conversation follow.

BookPage: What prompted you to start writing your books?
Andrew Weil: Over the years I had really built up a lot of ideas about the nature of healing and its relationship to treatment. It seemed to me that these ideas were new to most patients and doctors. I thought that it could be very helpful for people to learn the concept that the body has an innate ability to heal itself.

BP: In preparation for your books, with whom did you study?
AW: I’ve studied all over the world with many different kinds of practitioners. I’ve worked with an osteopathic physician, energy healers, naturopaths, Chinese medical doctors, and shamans of different cultures. I’ve also been practicing as a physician doing natural and preventive medicine for many years.

BP: Your books have been so successful. How has that changed your life?
AW: All the celebrity stuff has really turned my life upside down. The good side is that it’s made it possible for me to get the ear of the medical establishment. My main work is to try to change the way we educate doctors, and that is the work I’ve been doing at the University of Arizona. It is very important to realize that most doctors are uneducated about nutrition. I’m actively involved in trying to develop new models of medical education. I think that the success of the books with the general public has made it easier for me to do that.

BP: There are so many doctors who are publishing books that it’s almost overwhelming. What advice do you give to consumers who wonder which method is the right one?
AW: I think you have to develop a good instinct for good information and reliable sources. I try very hard in all the books I write, and in my newsletters and website, to put out the best information I can that’s consistent with what we know scientifically. I think a lot of people like my work because it guides them in the right direction.

BP: I’ve heard that our food supply is suffering because of our conventional production methods. Lately I’ve heard much about the bad effects from how our livestock are treated and the antibiotics they are given.
AW: I think that’s true. In the new book, I do talk about how the fat of chicken, beef, and pork is now very different from what it was in the days when animals grazed in the wild. It’s probably much less healthy for us, and that’s apart from the whole issue of concentration of toxins and antibiotics. I think if you’re going to eat animal foods, you want to try as much as possible to get those that are from free range, organically produced animals.

BP: Another thing I’ve heard is that one should eat canned vegetables instead of fresh ones because of the pesticides on the produce.
AW: I don’t agree with that at all. I think it’s worth trying to get fresh, organic produce wherever you can, and it is getting cheaper and more available. In my book, I also mention the study that was done in Texas last year that showed that simple washing of fruits and vegetables in warm water and a little dishwasher soap will remove a huge percentage of pesticides. Peeling helps too.

BP: In your latest book, you discuss how our culture has an idea of thinness that just may be unobtainable for most people.
AW: I think that people will really respond to this. I think that our obsession with thinness has warped our medical knowledge. If people are heavier than the charts say they should be, I think the most important thing that they can do is to keep themselves fit. If people exercise and have a healthy lifestyle, I think they’re just fine. The problem is to learn to like oneself that way.

BP: If you wanted to sum up your latest book, what would you say?
AW: That how you eat has a very important influence on how you feel and on your health and longevity. It’s really worth informing yourself about what the principles of healthy eating are. This is one of the big variables over which each person has a lot of control.

The former Texas governor fights a crippling disease When Ann Richards fractured her hand in a fall nine years ago, she went to the doctor for a bone density test only to learn that she had osteopenia, an early form of osteoporosis. The diagnosis spurred the former Texas governor, whose mother and grandmother also suffered from the disease, to write I’m Not Slowing Down: Winning My Battle with Osteoporosis, an inspiring little volume filled with the author’s shrewd insights into health care, gender and, yes, politics.

Co-written with Richard U. Levine, M.D., I’m Not Slowing Down is an accessible, informative look at a disease that dogs 28 million people, 80 percent of whom are women. Offering information on diet, medication and bone density, as well as instructional photos and tips on exercise, the book also provides a fascinating peek into Richards’ personal life. Her indomitable spirit and sassy attitude are in evidence throughout. BookPage recently discussed the book with its author, who turned 69 this year.

BookPage: How did being diagnosed with osteopenia change your life? Ann Richards: My mother’s last years and my own diagnosis caused me to become really aggressive about taking care of myself. Although I had always led an active life, I was not diligent about physical exercise. Weight-bearing exercises build bones. I now work out in a gym lifting weights twice a week, and I try to walk six to nine miles each week. For the first time, I am taking responsibility for my own health.

The book is a wonderful blend of autobiography and invaluable health information, as well as a memorial to your mother and a tribute to womanhood. What specific goals did you have in mind when you wrote it? My real goal in writing this book was to get women and men to be aware of osteoporosis and its debilitating affects and to ask their doctors for a bone density test. I wanted the book to be short and simple. I specifically asked for photographs of myself lifting weights because most women foolishly think they are too old to build muscle, or that they will have a male physique as a consequence. The stories and the discussions about women are simply to encourage women to think independently and care for themselves. Dr. Levine made the medical part understandable and helpful. What tips for avoiding osteoporosis can you offer a young woman? Young women should begin to build bone mass early in their lives. The more mass there is, the less they will lose in later life. They should enjoy a diet of calcium-rich foods and avoid food and drink that causes bone loss. This book has easy-to-read charts and assists in choosing those foods. Exercise is important for young women to build bone mass and muscle strength. In the book, you encourage people of all ages to take charge of their health and not be afraid to ask questions of their doctors. Why do you think people have such a hard time doing these things? Most people assume that physician language is akin to technical, non-understandable jargon. It does not have to be that way. Doctors do not perform witchcraft. They simply interpret what they are told and what tests reveal. They diagnose and prescribe treatment. Our responsibility is to help doctors know what is going on in our bodies and to insist on clear, precise, understandable language in response. Doctors are our partners, and they need all the assistance we can give them to be sure we get the right diagnosis. What are your goals at this point in your life? I intend to lead a busy, fulfilling, active life. I want to travel the world and see new places and learn new things. I want to remain interesting to my children and grandchildren, and I want them to hurry to keep up with me and not the other way around. I want to work and I want to play.

Big grins will break out on faces across America when readers check out the diet menus devised by Mireille Guiliano for French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes and Pleasure, the sequel to her surprise bestseller, French Women Don’t Get Fat.

Chocolate, champagne, cauliflower gratin, duck breasts with honey glaze, pork chops with apples this isn’t crash dieting, but a liberating philosophy that imbues life and eating with joy, satisfaction and sensory sensation. Guiliano has already received thousands of e-mails describing how her approach has created newly minted Francophiles with a fresh way of seeing the world.

"The best compliment is from friends who say the book is like having a conversation with you," Guiliano says with an accent full of the energy and charm that fill her books. "I write like I speak . . . and I speak my mind."   Fans of the first book will recall that Guiliano gorged on pastries and became chubby while in America as an exchange student, and began her quest to lose the weight after a blunt comment from her father ("You look like a sack of potatoes") upon her return home to France.

Enlisting the help of family physician Dr. Miracle, Guiliano reacquainted herself with fresh, homemade food and revisited the tenets her mother and grandmother taught her about tiny indulgences. She eventually returned, svelte and stylish, to the U.S., married an American and landed a job as CEO of Veuve Clicquot, the venerable champagne house established during the French Revolution with Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, an equally impressive female, at the helm. Before Guiliano ever thought of writing a book, however, women often noted that while she traveled the world, entertained constantly and was passionate about food and wine, she didn’t become fat. Not wanting to share her personal history ("I couldn’t say been there done that," she says) she would instead shrug in the French way and say offhandedly that French women don’t get fat.

After her co-workers and friends begged her for more specific advice and began to lose weight with her approach, a Francophile friend finally persuaded Guiliano over lunch in a Paris café to sit down and write about what she had taught them.

French Women for All Seasons presents more easy recipes from family and friends featuring fresh, seasonal ingredients, along with Guiliano’s recommendations for adding gentle exercise and simple, sensual pleasures throughout the day, from dressing and working to relaxing, eating and entertaining (she even shares the secrets of tying scarves à la Francaise).

"The first one is about joie de vivre,"  Guiliano says of her books,  "the second about the art of living." Guiliano’s cheerful confidence and flair have made her popular on the speaking circuit where she presents her ideas to women’s groups and college students, and continues to inspire readers of both sexes and all ages to shed pounds and tons of anxiety. "I’ve learned a lot since the first book came out,"  she says.  "People like being made aware of quality and freshness." Call it natural female suspicion, or looking for evidence of theory in action, but women are now scrutinizing every detail of Guiliano’s life ("Oh, yes, it’s crazy,"  she says) as she moves from continent to continent, from green market to café to charity cocktail function, watching what she buys and eats for proof that her secrets really work.

And it does: The balance of indulgences and compensations can lead to good health, and she often hears comments that "it’s a shame that it had to come from someone outside the culture,"  Guiliano says. Americans apparently needed to hear the message from someone representing a culture known for its rigorous dedication to aesthetics flabby and fat is something the French won’t abide, even in their pigeons. "If I were a sociologist or anthropologist, I could write about it,"  she laughs. But Guiliano somehow manages to turn unrealistic European standards into a gentle, non-recriminatory exercise in living well in her two sensible guides.  "When you desire it, eat a rich crepe take the time to savor it and eat it with pleasure. Eating on autopilot is the biggest no-no,"  Guiliano says.  "Don’t deprive your body, because we all know everything is in the mind."

"And,"  she finishes with characteristic, no-nonsense flair, "it’s just not necessary."  

Deanna Larson writes from Nashville.

Timothy Ferriss published his first book, The 4-Hour Workweek, in 2007, and in a self-promotion tour de force, went from a little-known investor and business advisor to a best-selling author whose blog garners a million-plus visitors a month.

When it came time to find volunteers for his new book, The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman, hundreds of his fans joined experiments in diet, exercise, sex and more. But the title of head guinea pig goes to Ferriss himself. He underwent thousands of blood tests, traveled as many miles and compiled hundreds of case studies on everything from weight loss to sexual behavior to learning to swim in 10 days. Ferriss took some downtime to answer questions about the new book, his obsessions and why his methods are most likely to succeed.

Your first book struck a chord with readers. What made you write your second book about body rather than work? Did you view the change in topics as a risk or a natural progression?