Nutrition Books

A review of this book has been published in the following journal:

Houle, A. (1999). Book-Review: Foraging for survival: Yearling baboons in Africa. Behavioural Processes. (in press)

This is a story of how eleven juvenile baboons feed themselves. The setting: Amboseli National Park, Kenya. This is, however, much more than a simple story. Throughout, Altmann engages the reader with his elegant analysis - rich with ecological detail - of the costs and benefits primates must negotiate in their daily pursuit of requisite nutrients and energy. Baboons are exemplary eclectic omnivores; still, as Altmann quotes, "there is no such thing as a free lunch." Bearing this in mind, he sets out to evaluate the balancing act baboons must achieve in maximizing nutrient intake, while at the same time minimizing toxic accumulation of plant secondary metabolites.

At the outset, Altmann describes what the baboons ate, how they ate it, and what foods they avoided altogether during the study period (1975-1976). He then identifies what baboons should eat. A foraging strategy is an ultimate endpoint, achieved via an array of potential tactical routes. Altmann evaluates both the feeding tactics and the eclectic foraging strategy of his young baboons by identifying the degree to which they deviate from an optimum model of adaptive feeding traits. The baboons' actual dietary intake is compared to the specifications of adequate and optimal diets; this is done for both an average yearling's diet, as well as on individual variance from the predicted diets.

Deviations from the optimum are viewed as indicators of potential differences in reproductive fitness. Although the feeding data stem from research undertaken in the mid-1970s, Altmann takes advantage of the two succeeding decades to relate differences in juvenile diets to longevity and fitness outcomes later in life. This historical depth is particularly valuable because it tests the model by evaluating whether those baboons that come closer to the optimum as juveniles have higher fitness as adults.

Altmann expands on the extreme selectivity exhibited by baboons, providing details on the toxic load, protein, carbohydrate, water content, and load of various plant species and the manner in which baboons maximize (or minimize) their intake of these food components. Finally, he assesses the anatomical and behavioral attributes that may contribute to making baboons one of the most successful and broadly distributed primate species. To complement the main body of the text, Altmann includes a series of appendices and tables in which he evaluates various methodological and definitional issues relating to calculating feeding bouts and dietary intake. Here, he presents additional detail on diet composition and the nutritional and toxic attributes of plant foods.

The work's emphasis on juvenile feeding behavior is an unusual yet valuable feature. This developmental stage is often overlooked in studies of non-human primate behavior and ecology, despite the fact that this period, and the transition from a milk diet to an adult diet, are undoubtedly critical to our understanding of adult fitness and life history patterns.

However, some caution is warranted: This book was not intended for the casual student of animal feeding behavior, nor for those new to optimal foraging theory. Altmann's models, food intake calculations, and feeding bout formulae are exacting, and quite abstracted from the experience of observing feeding behavior. Before embarking into this volume, non-modelers will have to review the technical terminology that necessarily accompanies Optimization Theory. In addition, I do not view the generalizations (outlined in Chapter Two) based on the relationships among body size, patch size, and dietary selectivity to be particularly illuminating. Too many exceptions to his proposed relationships can be found for such generalizations to be of much explanatory utility.

Nonetheless, this book is destined to become a classic in primate feeding behavior. It is exhaustive in its breadth, a pleasure to read, and sets the standard for amalgamation of modeling theory and ecological observation.

Beckman's analysis of the Downwave in the early 1980's was a masterpiece of the application of Kondratiev theory to contemporary American economics and politics. He basically made the astonding predictions of the future of the American economy when many Americans believed we were heading to another round of hyper-inflation. Some of his economic forecasts:

(1) Collapse of the interest rates from 18% to 6% (2) The Collapse of Gold and Silver prices from a high of $850 to $280 per ounce. (3) Rise of Conservative Republican politics for the 1980's to 1993. (4) The coming creative destruction of the old technology in favor of the NEW TECH ECONOMY. (5) THE COLLAPSE OF THE STOCK MARKET AND RISE OF BLUE CHIP STOCK MARKET ECONOMY. (6) The rise of the new underclass known\ as homeless and other blue collar groups. (7) The bottome of crisis in 1999-2000 formally ending the deflation cup.

The updates to his theoretical analysis can be seen in Myron H. Ross, A Gale of Creative Destruction which gives a brilliant analysis of the 5th Upwave of wealth and prosperity and Harry Denton's The Roar 2000 builds a baby boomer portfolio on the theoretical foundations of these two early works. Beckman has to be credited with giving the general public and scholarly community a wake up call on the impact of economic cycles on the daily lives of American citizens. He even gave all the readers the greatest investment advice of the 1980's buy Treasury Bonds at 18% for the 20 year period. Bravo, to Mr. Beckman for being right!

Bob Beckman - one time wall street investor, current fund manager prolific author and publisher of a London based journal since 1968. This book is both theoretical, imperical and provides practical advice on investing in and protecting one's assets from deflationary financial dislocations. This book deals with longwave economic cycles and was first published in 1982. The author examines the posibility of long wave (Kondratieff) cycles with a periodicity in the 55-70 year range. Demonstrations of the phenomenon is made through a number of price charts - including one for grain prices in the UK going back several hundred years, and one for intrest rates dating back several thousand. Stock market history is discussed and parallels drawn between 1929 and predicted similar events during the late 80's. Well researched and written in an approachable style, it makes interesting reading for anyone wishing to develop a broad perspective on matters financial. His thinking seems to be more relevant now in 1997 than when the book was first written. Take the predicted dates and scale of the calamity anticipated with an appropriate pinch of salt. I enjoyed it at do not hesitate to reccomend it.

This book is full of the fundementals needed for those that need to get up off the couch and start moving in the right direction! Easy to read, humorous in just the right places, and totally honest. A book we can all relate to! I truly enjoyed it!

Highly Recommended! From Couch Potato to Baked Potato taught me the basics about improving my diet and exercise routine in a fun and interesting read. Through the easy to read story (not a typical text book type approach)you learn very valuable, common sense tools and techniques that you can use right away and stick with you (ie. enjoy your red meat, just keep the portion size to approx the size of a deck of cards). The author also writes a short daily "e-mail newsletter"/healthy living lesson for the day (no charge) that I find very informative and enjoyable. Well done Mr. Dald!

This is a great book for anyone looking to grow a "good" healthy garden .... to someone who wants to understand what we are doing our soil & to our bodies. I enjoyed this book and the information it gave me to make choices!

For anyone wanting to start taking nutrition seriously or looking for more sources of information this is a great book. She gives a lot of references to her material as well. Wonderful!.

Finally, how to listen to my body and to not have to follow all the rules of some diet. And amazingly, it works. What a relief! The book is filled with tips on how to trust my intuition which I have never done before with my food.

I myself have went through a program called weigh down.It was the best thing i could have done.I was just about 15lbs or so over weight.This is the first time I have ever heard anyone else talk about this eating when hungry and quitting when full.I was excited when I read about your book over the internet.I hope that people will benifit from your book as I have from weigh down.People need to learn to replace their head hunger with a relationship with their Lord. Thank You, Rhonda

This book was the clearest at explaining the workings of the body as it relates to eating. I really understood, for instance, how a can of pop is contributing to the health or deterioration of my body. There is nothing preachy about their appoach. The authors respect that we have the right to make our own decisions about our health. They simply equip us with the knowledge to make educationed decisions for ourselves. In layman's terms this book teaches a no diet approach to eating healthy for our physical wellbeing and also for maintaining a healthy emotional and spiritual self - all in the context of eating. What I like also, is that the book is set up so that, after reading it once, you can continue using it as a daily guide as you facilitate changes.

The book is great! It makes the mystery of the body and how it works so clear. It puts all the pieces together so you can clearly see how you get stuck and how to move on in your life. Thank You Thank You Thank You

I appreciate how Donald Rizzo explains the assortment of topics in his book. At first I considered I would be turned off to all the information to learn. I found how he explained cephalad, caudal, medial and lateral with much clearness. The examples of how to use each one was uncomplicated to learn from. The Integumentary System and Nervous System chapters were complex to a degree. This subject is not as easy as intro to biology. This book ranks high in my mind. Other recommendations.....

Anatomy and Physiology Study Guide:Key Review Questions and Answers by Patrick Leonardi

Anatomy and Physiology(Flash Cards) by Alcamo Edward, isbn 1878576151

Donald C. Rizzo has done an excellent job in making this book. If you never took A&P in college, and you want to learn the subject on your own for whatever reason, this is the book to start with, hands down. It does exactly what the title implies; it covers the fundamentals without a lot of wordiness, making the material easier to retain. My point: you definitely learn the subject, and fast! The book is so easy to read, its like a novel. I simply couldn't put it down. By following the mantra to independent study and learning (repetition, repetition, repetition), I believe I am as competent in the subject as anyone who took one year of A&P (as far as the fundamentals go), due to the fact that the text is straightforward, concise, and well written. I haven't found a recognizable mistake in the text yet. I also recommend buying the study guide, which helps retention.

However, I consider this book a primer, because other textbooks I've examined, such as Thibodeau and Patton's "Anatomy & Physiology (5th)," and John W. Hole Jr.'s "Essentials of Human Anatomy & Physiology (6th)," explain the material in somewhat greater detail, with more to learn. But so do the A&P books used in medical school courses. The bottom line is this: once you have gotten the fundamentals from Rizzo's book stabilized in your memory, you can step up to the larger, more detailed texts, not just the two mentioned above, but even the texts used in medical school. That is what makes Rizzo's book an excellent primer to the subject.

Genetic engineering "is probably the largest nutritional experiment the world has ever seen, and we are the guinea pigs" say Laura and Robin Ticciati in their book, Genetically Engineered Foods: Are They Safe? You Decide. They answer with a resounding "No!" to the question of whether genetically engineered foods are safe.

The Ticciatis briefly define genes and DNA, then explain how genetic engineers insert the genes from one organism into another. Genes from flounders, for example, have been inserted in tomato DNA to produce a tomato that has a longer growing season. They maintain that genetic engineering breaks natural crossbreeding rules because species are combined that would never mate in Nature.

Their primary concern lies in the lack of knowlege of the long-term effects from eating genetically engineered foods. They are especially concerned about children. At the least, they want genetically engineered foods to be labeled so that consumers know what they are buying and eating.

The authors say that "Right now, it is estimated that 60-70 percent of the foods in our stores contain genetically engineered components" with 100-150 more expected to be added by the year 2000. "These foods have not been subjected to thorough pre-market safety testing, nor are they labeled."

Genetically Engineered Foods: Are They Safe? You Decide is must reading for consumers who want to know about the ramifications of modifying foods by artificial gene transfer.

Food technology has turned much of what we eat in this country into artificial, processed, chemicalized mishmash. No wonder forty percent of the population is sick! Now comes the latest insult -- genetically engineered food. You won't know that you are eating it because the government doesn't require food manufacturers/producers to specially label GE food nor does it require any independent safety testing. What you are increasingly eating, as this book shockingly reveals, is unnatural food with the potential to create who-knows-what-damage to your health and the environment. This is a small, easy-to-read, and must-read book, about a huge, serious issue that affects all of us. Science is tampering with our food, and we, the consumers, are the unwitting guinea pigs in this mad experiment.

I was wondering in the book stores fitness section, when I came accross Get fit in a Crunch. At the time, I was doing some research on current fitness books, looking for a fitness program that produced fast results. When I first opened the book, I was pleasantly surprised with the content and advice the book suggested. I was even more surprised when I started implementing the training routines into my fitness regime. The programs really work! and work very, very well. One I began the routine, I noticed results within the first week. What I also loved about the book, was how they give you specific work-outs for the specific amount of time you have or need to get in shape. If you only have four weeks to get in shape, they've got the solution. If you have twelve weeks to get in shape, they have the perfect routine to get in perfect shape!

I highly recommend Get fit in a Crunch to anyone who is looking to get in great shape fast!

I was wondering in the book stores fitness section, when I came accross Get fit in a Crunch. At the time, I was doing some research on current fitness books, looking for a fitness program that produced fast results. When I first opened the book, I was pleasantly surprised with the content and advice the book suggested. I was even more surprised when I started implementing the training routines into my fitness regime. The programs really work! and work very, very well. One I began the routine, I noticed results within the first week. What I also loved about the book, was how they give you specific work-outs for the specific amount of time you have or need to get in shape. If you only have four weeks to get in shape, they've got the solution. If you have twelve weeks to get in shape, they have the perfect routine to get in perfect shape!

I highly recommend Get fit in a Crunch to anyone who is looking to get in great shape fast!

I bought this book back in 1993 after listening to Larry North's Saturday afternoon radio show while living in Dallas, Texas. It was an "easy" read and made such perfect sense. Larry North is just simply inspiring.I have referred to this book on and off, rereading parts of it again for almost 10 years now. Each time I am reinspired and more motivated. This is not a fad diet or exercise program, it's a way of life.

I read several newsletters and magazines on health, nutrition, fitness, and longevity every month, and have read dozens of books on health and fitness. GET FIT is the ONLY book I've ever read where I could find NO misinformation. (Believe me, I looked hard!) And this book covers a lot of ground. Granted, GET FIT is no literary masterpiece, but it's easy to understand and enjoyable to read. If you're tired of fads and quackery, Larry North is the real deal.