Foods That harm, Foods That Heal (Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal - Reader's Digest)

Member Name: faithlessone

Product:	Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal - Reader's Digest
Date:	30/09/08 (359 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An excellent food reference book for all minor and serious ailments and diseases

Disadvantages: None

As an avid book reader I bought Foods that harm, Foods that heal some ten years ago. I had at that time a subscrition with the Readers Digest and because of that was sent information on some of their other publications. It was quite expensive, £25.00 if my memory serves me correctly, however, over the years it has more than paid for itself by the numerous occassions I have turned to it for reference for one reason or another.

The book itself is hardbacked and contains some 400 pages. All of the references in the book have come from respected sources, (Doctors with fancy letters after their names) and you should therefore have faith in the information you are reading.

The reason I bought it was I had recently been diagnosed with IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome) and was finding it depressing having to methodically look at everything that I ate, food shopping would take forever and having young twin girls who wanted to grab everything of the shelves and put it in the trolley I decided that there must be an easier way, so I bought this book and took to online shopping!!

The book starts off with a brief two page introduction on what the book should be used for and how best to use it, it advises what foods to avoid and what foods to implement into your diet. Following this, it starts at the beginning of the alphabet, letter "A". Think of all the possible ailments, diseases and acute problems beginning with the letter A and this is what you get, a directory of illnesses, common complaints and diseases. Each listed ailment is broke down with three sub headings on the complaint.

Firstly, Eat plenty of;

Following this sub heading it lists at least three items to help with the condition

Secondly, Cut down on;

Following this sub heading it lists a minimum of three items to avoid (chocolate unfortunately usually features heavily, but I usually ignore that one!).

Thirdly, Avoid;

Following this sub heading it lists at least one item to avoid for the particular complaint.

It then goes on to detail how the problem can affect people, whether the problem is genetic, caused by bad diet or occurs in old age etc and then is followed by a case study. This is extrememly helpful as it helps you to determine whether you or a member of your family are in fact suffering from that particular complaint and lets you know if it is considered serious enough for medical intervention or if infact a diet change may help.

Also in the book in beween the listed complaints are other sections; Alcohol, babies and food, food intolerances, cereals and all the different types and their benefits, mushrooms, all the different types that are edible or poisinous each displayed in beautiful colour illustrations for easy reference. Minerals and how they help in our diet, the English countryside and the wealth of healthy foods you can pick for free, the list goes on and on.

Towards the end of the book is a useful section on vitamins and the vital role that they play in our diets. If you ever wondered what they all do and if you overdose on a particular one what the symptoms are then this details it very clearly explaining the daily requirements for each one and their purpose.

Following this at the end of the book is a glossary, which details some of the ingredients in foods that you never knew exactly what they were and their purpose and whether they are infact good or bad for you, it also decribes some other medical terms and offers definitions.

This is then followed by a helpful organisations section and lists lots of useful addresses and telephone numbers for people who require further information or help.

This is then rounded up by the index, always an extremely useful addition to any reference book for quickness and ease of use.

Throughout the book are some very nice colour pictures of suggested meals for a particular complaint. I found this quite inspiring and they are beautifully presented and although they are not listed ingredient by ingredient it certainly offers some nutritional ideas.

I love this book and I have referred to it on numerous occassions not just for myself but for my husband and my children. I even referred to it last year for support on making pumpkin soup!! Not for a recipe but to relay the benefits of pumpkins to my family. Pumpkins are a good source of beta carotene, an anti oxidant which is supposed to be helpful in protection against free radicals known to cause some cancers. Some people just won't eat anything unless they think it's good for them!

The only downside to this book is of course if you read it for too long you think you have every single illness going!!

I would certainly reccommend this book to everybody, although, it is especially useful to families and anybody who cares about exactly what they eat and how it affects their body. As I said at the beginning it is published by the Readers Digest and therefore you can purchase it from them direct or on Amazon.co.uk for a very reasonable £17.54 This is still quite alot I know but I would say it would probably be one of the best expenditures you will ever make.


Thanks for reading.

Summary: A useful guide to common ailments and foods to implement to aid problems.