Own Your Health: How to Live Long and Avoid Chronic Illness

“This is a fabulous book! It’s filled with life-saving information presented with crystalline clarity. And as hard as this may be to believe considering this is a book about nutrition, it’s also side-splittingly funny. I found myself laughing out loud on nearly every page. This book is for you if you want to be healthy for the rest of your life — and if you don’t mind laughing a lot.”—John Robbins, Author of Diet For A New America; President, Food Revolution Network.
“Take Glen Merzer's wise nutritional advice, add Chef AJ's fabulous recipes, and you've got the formula for health.”—Dr. Neal Barnard, President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
"OWN YOUR HEALTH is one great book! It is engaging, thought-provoking, and persuasive. It’s different than a lot of vegan books—in a good way! The real hook for this book is Glen Merzer’s humor weaved through every page. As a special bonus, Chef AJ contributes an amazing set of recipes to live by. Glen and AJ are a dynamic duo, and the reader is the beneficiary!"—Brenda Davis, RD, co-author, Nourish and Becoming Vegan: Comprehensive Edition; author, Kick Diabetes Essentials.

OWN YOUR HEALTH is the third book in a trilogy by Chef AJ and Glen Merzer. First, in UNPROCESSED (2011), CHEF AJ tells the personal story of her journey towards health, and makes the case for a diet of whole plant foods. Then, in THE SECRETS TO ULTIMATE WEIGHT LOSS (2018), Chef AJ, founder of The Ultimate Weight Loss Program, explains how to overcome food addictions and apply a knowledge of calorie density to create healthy eating patterns, enabling you to achieve your optimal weight. (Glen Merzer was Chef AJ’s writing partner for both books.) Now, in OWN YOUR HEALTH, Glen narrates his own journey to health, tells the stories of how his parents saved each other’s lives and how his wife Joanna overcame lupus, explains why the science of nutrition is more settled than you think, suggests the best way to deal with doctors, takes on some leading historic opponents of the plant-based diet, blows apart the silly and misguided attacks on “carbs,” and gives us an action plan to reverse the epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, while obliterating demand for the kind of food-raising that risks future pandemics. Like the other books in the trilogy, OWN YOUR HEALTH boasts more than 100 delicious, vegan, whole-plant-food, oil-free, sugar-free, salt-free, gluten-free recipes (in the case of OWN YOUR HEALTH, 75+ of those recipes are from Chef AJ and 35 from other contributors).
Doctors are trained in treating illness with drugs and surgery. Most are not trained in how to keep you healthy. Medical schools ignore the subject of nutrition, implicitly sending the message to young doctors that it couldn't be very important. That's where OWN YOUR HEALTH comes in--to help you understand that the food you eat is likely to affect your health more than anything else.

"We highly recommend taking your health into your own hands today and truly Own Your Health for the rest of your life. This book will support you on this journey so that you can start reaping the benefits immediately!"—Alona Pulde, MD and Matthew Lederman, MD, NY Times Best Selling Authors, The Forks Over Knives Plan; Cofounders, Kinectin.com.
"OWN YOUR HEALTH is the funniest book on diet you'll ever read. And it's the diet that's right for the planet!"—Ed Begley, Jr., actor, environmentalist.
"Glen Merzer has written yet another essential book to add to your nutritional library. OWN YOUR HEALTH is loaded with important information about how you can actually take control of your health destiny. It features Merzer's dazzling wit, along with amazing recipes from legendary Chef AJ. A must-read!"—Jeff Nelson, Founder VegSource
"Own Your Health is a terrific read. Don’t miss it! And don't miss out on Chef AJ's latest and greatest recipes!"—Douglas J. Lisle, PhD, Founder of Esteemdynamics.com; Author, The Pleasure Trap.