If you think Jillian Michaels is too harsh on her charges in “The Biggest Loser,” well, tough. “I’ve got a group of people who are committing suicide and they need to understand how bad they’ve let things get,” she tells The Post. “If you’re gonna quit six times in six minutes, I’m gonna throw you out of the gym!” According to Michaels, a personal trainer and certified nutritionist, weight loss is a 50/50 proposition: equal amounts diet and workouts. Her new book, “Slim for Life,” focuses on both, dismissing myths (there’s no way, she says, you can “spot reduce”) and offering easy ways to cut calories, as well as a recipe for a Slimmojito (white rum, muddled mint, fresh lime juice, club soda and Truvia sweetener). Here are four books she loves.
Organic Manifesto
by Maria Rodale
My partner is an organic gardener, and she wanted me to understand the business of pesticides and big food and big chemicals. Rodale, whose father started the Rodale brand about health and wellness, shows how we can solve serious issues like world hunger. This book is in the back of my mind in everything I do.
A New Earth
by Eckhart Tolle
I had Tolle’s “Power of Now” and couldn’t get past the first page: I get it — live in the now. Why read 200 pages? But a friend recommended this book, which really resonated with me. It’s about self-exploration and understanding what makes you tick so that you can get to the bottom of why you engage in certain destructive behaviors and not let them rule you.
The Long Walk to Freedom
by Nelson Mandela
I never met him, but he’s on my bucket list! I was headed to South Africa in 2010 and a friend said “You can’t go there without reading this book.” I couldn’t put this book down. His bravery, his resilience! Nelson Mandela is the kind of human being who makes you want to be a better human being.
Physics of the Impossible
by Michio Kaku
I read some Stephen Hawking but it’s very tough to understand. Kaku’s a quantum physicist who specializes in string theory and dumbs it down in ways you can grasp. He’ll use science fiction as a jumping-off point for talking about the nature of the universe, and how the Empire in “Star Wars” is an example of what a third-level civilization would be like.