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As entrepreneurs, we do not necessarily need more information. We need better filters.
Every week, we hear about a new trend promising more energy, sharper focus, better metabolism or a more optimized life. But most founders I know have had enough of the noise. We seek practical tools that help us feel better in our bodies, think more clearly and lead with more stamina.
There is real science behind what reading does to our brains — it builds focus, reduces stress and sharpens how we process information. That is why I keep coming back to books. A powerful read inspires you, encourages you to focus and offers a framework that actually shifts the way you move through your day.
The health and wellness books I cover below feel especially relevant because they go deeper than surface-level self-improvement. These authors revolve around what really matters for ambitious people trying to build businesses and healthy lives at the same time: sustainable exercise, meaningful excellence, smarter food choices, healthcare innovation and mental resilience. They were certainly worth my time, and hopefully will be worth yours.
1. The Way of Excellence by Brad Stulberg
Some books stay with you — and on your nightstand — long after you finish them, and this is one of those. Brad Stulberg’s The Way of Excellence, published this January, tackles the tension every high achiever eventually runs into: the difference between being productive and being fulfilled. His subtitle: A Guide to True Greatness and Deep Satisfaction in a Chaotic World gets right to the heart of it.
What resonates with me most is his emphasis on progress over perfection and the science he brings to rest and recovery. He makes a compelling case, backed by real examples, that you cannot perform at your best if you are grinding without relief. I live this. Sundays in my house are sacred — a long walk with my husband, time with family, the sauna, the hot tub, good food and a show worth watching.
This downshift allows me to show up strong and eager to kick off the week focused and energized. The same principle applies to my workouts. I cannot lift heavy or do hard intervals every day and expect to hit a personal record. The recovery IS the training. Stulberg permits readers to think this way, and more importantly, he gives them the science and real-life examples to back it up. This one is worth reading slowly.
2. Massively Better Healthcare by Halle Tecco
This may be the outlier on the list, but it belongs here. Halle Tecco’s Massively Better Healthcare, published in early 2026, comes from someone who knows this space deeply. Tecco is the founder of Rock Health, an investor in more than 50 digital health companies, and a professor at both Columbia Business School and Harvard Medical School. She understands the urgent need for innovation in healthcare and where the system continues to fall short.
The book examines how innovation can address healthcare’s biggest structural problems while building companies that are both mission-driven and financially sustainable. I like this book because it expands the conversation around wellness. Feeling good and being your best self are not just about what you eat, how you train or what supplements you take. They are also about whether the larger system around health is accessible, evidence-based and built to actually help people. For anyone who invests in health, works in health tech or simply cares about where this industry is headed, this is a smart and necessary read.
The best companies in wellness and healthcare will be the ones that pair outcomes with trust, and Tecco offers a compelling blueprint for how to get there.
3. The Menopause Gut by Cynthia Thurlow
(Forthcoming April 28, 2026)
Cynthia Thurlow’s The Menopause Gut brings needed attention to an area that has been underserved for far too long. The book focuses on the relationship between the gut microbiome, hormones, inflammation, metabolism, mood and cognition during perimenopause and menopause, while also offering practical guidance on nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress and hormone therapy.
I can speak to this one from experience. Over the past year, I have shifted several of my own protocols based on emerging research in this space. I have dramatically increased my protein intake, made sure I am not avoiding carbs, which women in this chapter of life are often told to cut when the opposite can serve them better, and I have moved toward shorter, high-intensity interval or sprint workouts rather than long, grinding sessions.
I also focus on more Zone 2 heart rate workouts, such as walking outdoors, and mobility work. The results have led to better body composition, more strength, steadier energy and a clearer mind. Thurlow’s work reinforces what the science is increasingly showing: that women in midlife need to train and eat differently, not less. This book matters well beyond its obvious audience. Anyone leading teams, households or businesses while navigating hormonal changes deserves better information and better support.
4. Eat to Hustle by Robin Arzón
Robin Arzón is Peloton’s Vice President of Fitness Programming, a three-time New York Times bestselling author, 27x marathoner and mother of two, so when she writes about food, it comes from someone who has spent years thinking seriously about how nutrition and movement work together. Eat to Hustle, published March 10, 2026, includes 75 high-protein, high-fiber, plant-based recipes aimed at supporting energy, workouts and everyday life.
While I am not plant-based, this is the kind of cookbook I love recommending because it is not about restriction but about fuel. When my schedule is packed, the last thing I need are complicated recipes. I want meals that taste good, support my energy and keep me from under-eating all day, which for many people leads straight to questionable dinner decisions. My personal favorites include the Loaded Cobb Salad, the Oatmeal Raisin Power Cookies and the Apple Chocolate “Nachos.” If you want to explore tempeh, her kale salad with tempeh croutons is next on my list.
I have been taking Robin’s Peloton classes since 2020 and her energy, programming and consistency are genuinely unmatched. She is the kind of instructor who pushes you further than you thought you wanted to go, and this book brings that same spirit to the kitchen.
5. The Meaning of Your Life by Arthur C. Brooks
Arthur Brooks has a rare gift. He takes complex research on happiness, purpose and human flourishing and makes it feel immediately actionable. The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness — now a #1 New York Times bestseller — tackles something many high achievers quietly wrestle with: what happens when you are successful on paper but still feel untethered. Brooks explains how rapid societal and technological changes have rewired our brains, making it harder to find purpose, and then gives you a practical, science-backed path forward.
What makes this book stand out is that it does not hand you simple answers. It leads you to ask yourself better questions. I listened to his episode on The Tamsen Show and immediately shared it with a few friends. Brooks speaks with such clarity and honesty about purpose, anxiety and loneliness that I found myself pausing to take notes mid-walk. He walks through six concrete ways to rebuild a meaningful life, and most ambitious people will realize pretty quickly, sitting with his list, that their own priorities have been quietly out of order for years.
For founders and executives who are constantly producing, solving and pushing, this is a timely reminder that clarity of purpose is not separate from performance — it is the foundation of it. Whether your life actually feels aligned is one of the most important questions you can ask yourself. This book helps you work through that.
6. Landon: A Memoir by Landon Donovan
Landon Donovan’s memoir, published March 24, 2026, is not a traditional wellness book, but it is the one on this list I could not put down.
I grew up traveling the world with my father, who spent the latter part of his career promoting World Cup Soccer and CONCACAF athletes and matches. Fútbol is in my bones. So when Donovan speaks about what it feels like to carry the weight of a nation’s sporting hopes, to perform at the highest level under relentless public pressure and to navigate the complicated interior life of a world-class competitor, I do not just hear an athlete’s story. I hear something familiar.
Before reading this book, I was unaware of how much Donovan was bearing beneath the surface. He grew up without his father, finding in soccer the belonging and validation that home could not provide. That hunger drove him to extraordinary heights that included multiple World Cups, six MLS championships, and the extra-time winner against Algeria in 2010 that still gives American soccer fans chills. But the 2006 World Cup loss hit differently. It was the first crack that led to three serious bouts of depression. When MLS renamed its MVP award in his honor, most people saw a legacy. This book reveals what it actually costs.
For entrepreneurs, the relevance is not the sport. It is what high performers do when the pressure gets heavy, the expectations rise and the internal narrative starts to fracture. Ambition without emotional health catches up to you eventually. Donovan’s story is proof, and with the World Cup ahead, this is exactly the right moment to read it.
Wellness is infrastructure
The throughline across all of these books is one I have lived: wellness is infrastructure. The leaders who perform well over the long haul are not the ones chasing every trend. They are the ones who build better systems around how they move, eat, think, recover and lead, and who understand that purpose and mental health are part of that system too.
These books will not do the work for you. But the right one at the right time can shift how you think, and that is how change happens.
As entrepreneurs, we do not necessarily need more information. We need better filters.
Every week, we hear about a new trend promising more energy, sharper focus, better metabolism or a more optimized life. But most founders I know have had enough of the noise. We seek practical tools that help us feel better in our bodies, think more clearly and lead with more stamina.
There is real science behind what reading does to our brains — it builds focus, reduces stress and sharpens how we process information. That is why I keep coming back to books. A powerful read inspires you, encourages you to focus and offers a framework that actually shifts the way you move through your day.
