May 2012 by Jack Challem, et al. This lovely volume has a wealth of information. It discusses the fact that diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc., are not individual problems to be dealt with one by one, but that they are all related and should be treated as such. One of the points that I loved about this book was their emphasis on Nutritional Therapy instead of taking a million drugs. They discuss the pros and cons of many different diets and give ideas how to help reverse the symptoms of Syndrome X itself. There is a section at the back all about vitamin/herbal supplements, as well. While I am not one to take a lot of supplements (i believe that if you're eating lots of fresh food then you don't need to take supplements, as you're getting your vitamins naturally) I found the information about the different vitamins and what they do to be very interesting and helpful. I do wish there would have been a more comprehensive list of which foods actually contain the specific vitamins. I think that would have been more helpful than a list of where to buy specific supplements. It was a great reminder of the REASONS why I want to change my food choices in the first place. Why do I want to give up chocolate again? Oh, yes. I don't want to have high cholesterol, heart attacks, heart disease, strokes, diabetes or cancer. These are reasons enough for me to have the willpower to give up things that I KNOW are bad for me. And when you try out this diet, you will find AMAZING benefits...well, at least I did. My only problem with this book (aside from the supplement section) was purely linguistical. By about 2/3 of the way through the book, the wording became extremely repetitive. I know that's not something that should take away from the fantastic information found inside the pages, but for me personally, it became a little annoying. However, I won't let that stop me from using many of their suggestions and loving this book for what it is: A great life-changing book with the inspiration and ideas you can actually use to change your diet for the better for the rest of your life! A solid 4.5 stars for this very helpful nutrition book! ***After reading this, my mom found a site that has all the vitamins/minerals and lists the top 10 foods that include the most of that vitamin! Go to healthaliciousness to find all kinds of nutritional information and to find what fruits, veggies and other healthy foods have the vitamins you need to stop taking all those supplements! :)***
0 Comments
by Cheryle R. Hart, M.D. and Mary Kay Grossman, R.D. First of all, I do like to try to stay positive in my reviews, so I will start off with what I liked: I liked the reminder to link carbs and proteins. I liked that they reiterate often that you SHOULD have both, just not overdo it. It is true that if I eat protein first, then carbs, I'm satisfied on less for longer and I don't eat as much of the carbs. That's good advice. Also, the advice to eat smaller portions more often (eating 5 or more times a day). That is wise, but not new. That's why this book got 2 stars instead of negative! The book starts out saying that it's not a diet book and won't make you count fat grams or calories; that THIS diet (note they now call it a diet??) will let you eat anything you want and you can still lose weight; that you don't have to do aerobics anymore; that this easily fits into your lifestyle and is healthy and balanced. Then comes the *double-standard* *hypocritical* *opposite* advice where it turns around and spouts the need to eat EVERYTHING as low-fat as possible (forget the fact that most low-fat foods are FULL of processed chemicals and a lot of extra sugar to make up for the taste!!); you need to count the GRAMS and watch for fat and carbs and read all the labels and work out how much you should eat before you start (portion control is important, but this seems a little obsessive--aside from the fact that they just got through telling me that they weren't going to make me count anything); eat as little as possible in 2-3 hours increments (yes, as I said before, I agree with eating a little at a time as often as you can, but how many people can actually DO that? How does that easily fit into your lifestyle?); you must exercise every day and do aerobics at least 3 times a week for at least 25 minutes (what happened to not doing aerobics anymore? although, quite frankly I'm a HUGE advocate for exercise and aerobics, but if you say you don't need to do it, then later tell how important it is...where is the continuity?); the list of snacks was laughable and ridiculous (shelf-stable microwaveable meals and instant bean soup, anyone?) including LONG lists of pretty much everything being LOW-FAT dairy (which also causes huge problems if eaten in the quantities and exclusivity that they recommend)... The recipes were pretty terrible. All the ingredients included things like low-fat margarine sprays (after touting the evils of maragarines, they put it in almost every recipe?), and 'butter sprinkles', and every low-fat and processed substitute you can think of. How can eating all of those high-fructose corn syrups, hydrogenated oils, and highly processed chemicals be HEALTHY and BALANCED??? How can you REDUCE the effects of a disease that is caused by the foods we eat by eating ONLY those foods which cause problems in the first place?? Overall, I was very disappointed in this book. It is definitely not one I would recommend as something to help you overcome insulin resistance and pre-diabetes. |
Reading!The best way to learn about something is to read about it! Here I'm compiling the books on Health and Nutrition, some fun go-to websites, plus many cookbooks that I've used. I'm not being recompensed in any way for this, it's just for my personal information. If it helps someone else, so be it. ArchivesCategories |