Health Books

This book has practical advice. And the recipes are pretty darn good, and amazingly inexpensive. He relies heavily on beans and canned tomatoes and lots of spices, so the food is interesting in flavor, color, and texture. Most recipes also make a LOT, so that you can have extras to freeze for later dinners or take some to work in your lunch. This not only saves your eating plan, but softens the blow to your pocketbook that eating out entails. We have not found too many recipes yet, that we dislike. Most are very delicious and filling and are even better the next day. This book was indeed worth the purchase price; equal amounts of advice and recipes. Well done!

I think any one concerned about their health should take a look at this book. The recipes are great too.

I started researching this topic about 2 years ago when my 35 year old husband became violently sick one night, he went the next morning for a blood test and his triglycerides were over 1800. They should be around 150 for a normal person. My husband has what Dr. Murkin calls Diabetic genes (all of his siblings and father suffer from high tri's & cholesterol). His HDL was 20 and his cholesterol was 400. After 2 weeks on Murkin, tricor and niacin he's bloods were in a good range. Since my husband & I prefer not to take medicine, he dropped the niacin and tricor after about a month. His bloods remained low with just the Murkin Diet. He began cheating about 6 months ago and spiraled out of control, a recent blood test showed tri's up above 2000. We are back on the diet in a big way and we will never go off of it again. I highly recommend this book!!

I edit cookbooks for a living, and this is one of my favorites from which to cook. If a strict fat-free diet isn't necessary for you, modify as I do by saut?eing veggies in a little olive oil, and feel free to improvise with substitutes. But this book is solid and full of creative, colorful food and wonderful flavor combinations.

Fat Free, Flavor Full is the book where Dr Mirkin lays down the thought and the science behind his 20-gram/ "20/30" plan. If a Mirkin book has been recommended to you by a doctor, this is the book to read (get it from the library if you must, but do get it). He lays out his story, explains why genuinely low-fat diet is important, and the links between high fat and disease. I cannot recommend this book enough for those with high cholesterol, who have typeII diabetes, or TypeII runs in their family.

For most Americans it requires a bit of a seachange in eating habits, but it's well worth it. With the right foods, you can lose weight while eating as much as you want(I work in a very physically demanding job, build up a whale of an appetite, and teeny portions of food are simply NOT going to cut it!).

His tone can be a bit magisterial at times and I personally don't share his dislike for soybean products, but the science and reasoning behind this book are undeniable. If you are serious about losing extra weight and living healthier, get this book. Read it, absorb it, make the change, and live better.

This is yet another book about dieting!!

It says that Diets are bad, they don't work etc etc etc etc but then offers it's own opinions on how to cut back which effectively make this a diet!

I found the tone very pretentious and the lady clearly has her own problems which she is pushing on the reader.

The fact is if you eat less calories you lose weight, if you eat more calories you put on weight, there is no secret!! So when the writer starts labelling everyone then people start believing that they have a problem whereas most of the time they haven't.

A painful read and I recommend you spend the money on a book with some healthy low fat recipes and lose weight properly!!

If your ready to say no more dieting and say hello to No-Diet Fitness.. this book is for you. Its a must read!!!!!

I own every diet/weight loss/fitness book known to man AND I've wasted thousands of dollars on various diets, prescription diet pills and alternative treatments for my weight. I've battled bulimia, starved myself, gone on all liquid diets, acupuncture, weight watchers - you name it! Nothing has worked long term. Now I know why. Pyatt lays it all out for you in plain english. I felt like she had witnessed my entire life and wrote this book especially for me!

Everything is addressed in this book - Unrealistic expectations set up by the media, medical issues, how not to pass the food obsession on to your children. She helps to take away the guilt without giving excuses. No more diets doesn't mean more weight gain. So don't worry. She's not trying to make you be happy with an overweight and unhealthy body.

Even though she does say that MY medical condition (PCOS) does require a diet with certain restrictions to achieve any kind of weight loss (bummer), I wish I had this book when I was 13 years old. It would have saved me alot of grief and I'd probably be a healthier more fit person today.

I'm planning on buying a copy of this book for all my friends and loved ones that have been and are going through the same thing. I may even buy an extra copy to give to my doctor and a few to leave in his waiting room!

Heck, I might even take up a collection to hire a fleet of helicopters to drop a few copies over every junior high and high school in the United States!

My fiance bought this book for me as a gift and I have been grateful ever since.I am on his account so the review will appear with his name, which is why I signed underneath.

This book changed my entire outlook on life, not just my weight. I was trapped in a vicious cycle of dieting that was causing me severe depression and a general lack of appreciation towards my entire existence. This book taught me to look at myself in the mirror and know that I am beautiful, and that there is so much more to life then food.

I think the best piece of advice is to really tell yourself that you can eat, anything you want whenever you want, then you just stop craving food and start having a healthy relationship with it.

I don't know what to say, now that food is slowly taking up the space it should be in my life (less space!), I have so much more energy and passion towards a lot of other things, so thanks wendy. one of my wishes in life now is; may every girl or guy who has struggled with their weight read this book and start to love themselves like they should!!

and wendy...thank you

-dalia

I first read a blurb about Dr. Pyatt's book in a fitness magazine. I was intrigued and, as a medical writer, wanted to learn more. So, with an editor's blessing, I arranged an interview with Dr. Pyatt and wrote a feature story about the work she has done throughout her life to help both men and women find their way back from the chaos created by dieting and disordered eating in response to the messages society bombards us with every day. We can never be thin enough. Thus, we are not "good enough." It's a vicious cycle, and difficult to break.

Dr. Pyatt's voice, in person and throughout her book, is encouraging, gentle, supportive, and wise. She does NOT ignore nutrition, potential medical problems, or the necessity for regular exercise. Neither does she leave readers feeling that if they DON'T exercise, they are "bad." In a world full of diet- and weight-related myths, "Fed Up" is a volume of common sense.

The method may be frightening at first to those of us who have been "brainwashed" from our youngest days--admonished for being overweight, perpetually dieting, falling prey to the promises of every new "program" that comes down the pike. It's hard to let go of the fear of NOT dieting, and Dr. Pyatt knows this. But by turning to her book again and again, readers will find that they gradually learn to accept their bodies, to set more realistic goals, and to stand up against the impossible expectations of a society obsessed with anorexic ideals.

As for myself, I have lost and gained weight time and again. I have re-read this book three times. Last night, I completed the questionnaire in Chapter 4 for the third time, and was extremely happy to see that my highly negative body image and damaging weight obsession has significantly decreased in intensity. I don't expect 40 years of brainwashing (and dieting from the age of 7) to go away overnight. I just want to live a life free from constant obsessing about food and weight and how I look. This is the peace of mind that Dr. Pyatt offers, through the process she outlines in "Fed Up."

I cannot recommend this book highly enough to any man or woman who 1)is tired of endless, futile dieting; 2)wants to lose (or gain) weight; and 3) wants to take a stand against the unrealistic messages and expectations of our weight-obsessed society.

This book is a must read. I've read it, my husband is reading it and I've bought it for friends. If every person in therapy would read it,their healing time would be cut in 1/2. Combine it with the author's Power of a Praying Wife and Power of a Praying Husband and the divorce rate would be cut in 1/2! Stormy Omartian is a blessing to those of us who didn't grow up in perfect homes, and have not lead perfect lives but want to grow in the Lord and in life! God Bless Her!

In the few days it took me to read this book I feel I am a new person. This is a must read for women and men alike. Don't let the title scare you away men. This is a man and a woman's guide to emotional health. I told my sister I would pass it on to her once I finished it but I think I will buy her one for her to keep as I think it will be very helpful for me to go back to from time to time and re-read many areas.

I have read countless books for emotional healing. This is by far the best and probably the only one that needs to be read. Unfortunately, the subtitle of the book may turn men away from reading this book. This book is for everyone! For women AND men. Even for those who have not suffered abuse. We all have low points in our lives. This book will guide you through them.

While I believe there is a time and place to see a shrink, there is also a time and place to get real with yourself and look deep within yourself to find the root of your problems.

In Finding Peace for Your Heart, Stormie shows us how vital a role God plays in our healing, and how important it is for us to be willing to look at the root of our problems. It's truly the first step towards healing and spiritual growth.

I read this book with great intensity, found areas in my life that the Lord wanted me to work on, and finished it feeling truly inspired to lean on God more.

Stormie manages to help us see God's truth for what it really is with a straightforward, sincere, down-to-earth conversation-like writing style which gives the realistic, positive and wonderful perspective of our Father's purpose for our lives. LOVED IT!!! Who needs counceling after this book?

I have thought I could just read a bunch of books and then use flower essences artfully, at least on myself. You see, I have 2 books including this one, they seem to have a lot of info but at the end of the day I felt I needed more structured learning.Luckily I found it, it's a long distance class, 325 bucks for 5 lessons, I have a mentor, assignments etc. Now you're talking!
Bottomline, if you're new to flower essences don't even hope you're just going to read something and then go ahead and use them properly, no matter what book you're reading.

This book is incredibly useful for it's categories and cross references. You can find almost any symptom you're looking in this big book. You can self-diagnose psychological, physical, emotional, sexual and spiritual issues. Whatever you're going through, this book can help you pinpoint it. Each category goes through several essences, and how each one may or may not apply to you individually.

The last part of the book profiles each essences. They all list the positive qualities each essence is capable of, and the patterns of imbalance they're most likely of clearing. They're all cross referenced to the previous lists, and also makes you are aware of everything else they're capable of treating.

The beginning of the book is an overview of Bach flower therapy, how flower essences are used, and selecting and verifying the properties of each one. This part is informative, but the purpose of the book isn't to go into at length. This book is very comprehensive, but the focus book is on the last two sections. Hence my mentioning them first.

The whole notion of using flower essences not just for treatment, but to support wellness and even aid psychological and spiritual development may seem illogical.

Except that these flower essences work. The few controlled studies are not strong, but against that is a wealth of experience gained by thousands of patients and practitioners on every continent.

By a strange "coincidence" the publication of this book "coincided" with my final immigration into the United States. After nearly twenty years steeped in the use of the original Bach flower essences created in England and Wales, it seemed only right to see what the plants of the New World had provided for our ever-changing species. Much as I loved my Bach remedies, I felt sure that people on this side of the Atlantic might need something more. So I was interested to see what these New World essences had to offer and I bought my first copy of this book within weeks of my arrival.

I was astonished by what I learned and by the extraordinary work that had been done by Patricia Kaminski, Richard Katz and a small group of dedicated helpers. I soon obtained and started using many of these new remedies and I was - and remain - extremely impressed. I have seen some extraordinary results, despite being a big skeptic.

This is a classic textbook, now thirteen years old. It is beautifully produced and I would be hard pressed to come up with any major improvements.

Though the work is in no way dated, it might be nice to see a new edition, perhaps with plant photographs and more cross tables, to help introduce a new generation to these wondrous treatments.

If you have any interest in natural medicine or wellness, or if you are interested in finding out which essences were provided to help the spiritual practices unique to North America, this book should not just be on your bookshelf, but should quickly become dog-eared from use!

Highly recommended.

I've studied flower essences for over ten years. I am giving this book five stars. For anyone thinking of becoming a flower essence practitioner, this is a ~MUST HAVE~ book. This book would also benefit anyone informally giving flower essences to self, family, friends or animals. The authors work with flowers of northern California, USA (a definite plus), in addition to Bach's. A newer edition is in the works, and I'm waiting on the edge of my seat for it to come out.

BACKGROUND

These days, flower essences include flowers from Canada and USA in North America (Northern California, deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, Florida); Scotland; Australia bush; New Zealand; South Africa; South America; Central America; much more than Bach's first 39. Bach died young in 1936, leaving his work unfinished, and many people in the last 70 years have taken up where he left off, expanding on the number and quality of essences (depending on where on the planet the flowers are indigenous).

Frankly, books on Bach's first 39 flower essences are so ubiquitous that I now avoid them in favor of books covering flower essences from other parts of the world besides England. Plants of England are not the only plants in existence! I am REAL tired of books getting published involving only Bach's original 39 essences. Even though Bach "bumped into" his first 39 essences, Bach's essences are not the holy grail of flower essences! Look further afield than Bach's.

I decided to buy a book on flower essences after seeing how much they helped me. I found that, beyond other books on the subject- and there are other good ones- this one was incredibly well written, laid out, informative, you name it. It allowed me, in the absence of a trained flower essence therapist, to make well informed choices as to which essence would most benefit at what time. The cross referencing, much like a thesaurus, helps to narrow down between similar essences. These authors have another tool that I found for free online that compliments this book. That tool lists each essence and a general paragraph of its effect along with a never to always scale for you to determine which essences are core ones for you. Even without that tool, this book lays out how to approach that process. I use it frequently and, like other reviers, expect to for a long time.

Brilliantly photographed. The sheer joy of yoga shows on all of the little faces. I plan to use it as a teaching tool and hope my little yogis find joy in my classes.
Namaste

"Fly Like a Butterfly" is truely exhilarating and simply FUN! The photos are absolutely beautiful.
I have nine nieces and nephews and practice yoga with them weekly. They LOVE the "Frog". Because of your book we have a new found love.... YOGA!
Thank you Shakta for bringing "Children and Yoga" into my life.

This book is great! I like to do a lot of fun things with my kids and this book helps me to "instruct" the under 3 crowd in my house. The kids love it and everyone laughs when we do it! A definite must buy!

This was my first children's yoga purchase which I still use today when teaching young ones. This book gives many different stories to tell as you are teaching children to move their bodies and breath within the poses. A great tool for educators and parents of children preschool through elementary age.

Out of three Children Yoga books I bought off of Amazon, this was far the best! it gave me a lot of ideas to work with and was able to build up a lot of lessons to teach the children. Children love the chanting meditaions and acting like the animals in the jungle story.

Yes, this book is well-researched and smartly-written and engaging to boot, but most importantly, it literally changed our childbirth plans. I'd been hoping to have a natural childbirth in a freestanding birth center, but since there are none in my state (!!), I thought I'd go with a natural birth in the hospital, or better yet, in a hospital with birthing rooms. Reading this book made me see that this kind of birth puts you at risk for the exact kinds of things you seek to avoid in a hospital birth. We ended up choosing a homebirth and it was the best decision I've ever made. My birth was beautiful, empowering, and completely safe, though because it was very long, if I had been in a hospital, I would have ended up with a C-section.

I wouldn't trade my homebirth, one of the best experiences of my life, for anything, and I credit this book with helping me come to that choice.

This book is a very good read. Catherine Taylor is a skillful author and though this book is very factual and informative, it reads with the pace, intensity, and "intrigue" of a novel. It is unique among the many birth books I have read in its interweaving of her personal experiences and personal journey, with factual journalistic impressions and stats. I finished this book in two days--it was completely absorbing and interesting. I enjoyed her descriptive style and the verbal portraits of the variety of midwives she encountered. The book also gave me some new perspectives on hospital based CNM practices as compared to traditional midwifery and homebirth-oriented midwifery practices.

In short, this was an enjoyable, informative book!

My number one title to give to women. Easy to read and chock full of truth telling about birthing babies in America today. Delightfully debunks the myths surrounding midwifery with hard facts and a fascinating story.

Ms. Taylor,

I was one month along in my first pregnancy and, without much real thought, I bought your book "Giving Birth." I think I liked the tasteful cover and that it didn't seem to be a dry catalog of what to expect during pregnancy.

I read your book twice during my pregnancy, and it completely changed the way I approached my medical care and how I wanted to give birth. Before reading "Giving Birth," I had just assumed that I would trust the doctor and do whatever he said while I was in the hospital. I naively trusted his and the hospital's authority. But because your writing style is so vivid and thoughtful, I learned a tremendous amount about labor and delivery (going far beyond the mechanics of the process) without even realizing it. I feel like I entered the larger conversation about how best to give birth, and that I acquired a real voice of my own.

My doctor wanted me to shut up and let him do what he thought was best. I switched providers at 37 weeks after realizing that I couldn't just wish him into being the doctor I wanted. (He patted my head at one point and told me that I couldn't possibly know what labor was going to be like, so I shouldn't even plan on trying for an unmedicated birth.) Through a series of comedy of errors with my insurance provider, and the fact that I went into labor at 38 weeks, I wasn't able to switch to the birthing center in time. My original doctor still caught the baby. But I did everything else as I had hoped, with no medical interventions and the majority of my labor at home. (I gave birth thirty minutes after my arrival.)

I gave birth almost six months ago and I have always thought I should find a way to write and thank you. As cheesy as it sounds, your book truly changed my life!

I had a wonderful recovery and I honestly can't wait to give birth again.

I read this book when I was about 4 months pregnant for the first time. Before I became pregnant I had been very interested in birthing and I knew I wanted a natural birth. During my early weeks of pregnancy, while I was overcome by intense nausea and vomiting, I had so much difficulty setting up appointments and birthplaces between my insurance and medical groups that I ended up settling with an OB that was not my first choice. I spent the next months of my pregnancy researching what my options were in my area and my insurance options.

After reading this book I had a much better idea of what I was looking for and within a month my search was complete and the changes had been made. I went to a midwife/OB practice that ran a natural, free-standing birth center, I took Bradley natural childbirth classes along with my husband, and I hired a wonderful doula who worked at the birth center. I chose, for insurance reasons, to labor at home for as long as possible with my doula and then continued my natural birth in a birthing room with the OB that supports natural birthing. Because I arrived at the hospital (with my birthing ball) far along in labor, coping beautifully and had such a supportive doctor, the nurses read my birth plan and immediately respected all my wishes. I labored, moving about the room, and occasionally a nurse would put a dopp-tone to my belly to hear my baby's heart beat while I stayed in focus. Pain medication was never offered and I was asked before even being touched. I felt that I was laboring in a room full of friends.

This book was wonderful to read, helped me really examine what I wanted for my own pregnancy and birth, and gave me insight if I ever decide to go into the childbirth field as a doula or childbirth educator.

I had a beautiful, empowering, healing first birth that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

For my second birth I gave birth at home and it was a life changing experience. I would definitely recommend finding a way to have a home birth with a trained midwife.

I recommend this thoughtful, empowering book to all women and people working in pregnancy, labor and childbirth. I also highly recommend natural birth if that is what you desire. Giving birth was a deeply spiritual experience, and no one can take that from you.

The Happiness Solution is subtitled Finding Joy and Meaning in
an Upside Down World. The author's premise is that happiness is
not an elusive 'something' you'll have if you're lucky--but
it's a quality of life everyone can find and learn to
experience.

There's an Indian proverb: "Tell me a fact and I'll learn. Tell
me the truth and I'll believe. But tell me a story and it will
live in my heart forever." This book isn't some psychologist's
textbook about the science of happiness. It's more like a
friend's journal, in which he shares anecdotes and stories
about happiness.

It's not a book that's stuffy and hard-to-read. It contains
over 80 short chapters, each one focussing on an anecdote or a
quotation. I love these: they make me think about my own life.
Here are a couple of quotes that made me ponder:

"Everyone dies, but not everyone lives." (Zoe Kaplowitz)

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you
do are in harmony." (Mahatma Gandhi)

In one chapter, I came across two little anecdotes that made me
think:

"If one places gnats inside a test tube and closes the top, at
first the gnats try to jump out and each time they hit the
closed top. After about an hour, they give up and one can open
the top and the gnats will remain put and eventually die of
hunger." Have I given up because of some past negative
experiences?

"In India, elephant keepers train baby elephants to stay put by
tying a rope, with a stake on the one side, round one leg and
placing the stake in the ground. The baby elephant pulls and
pulls on the rope to no avail. This teaches the elephant that
no matter what he does, he cannot get away when attached to the
rope. Later, when the elephant is grown up and the keeper wants
the elephant to stay put, all he does is tie a small piece of
rope on that leg and the giant elephant is held in place by his
own mind." And I think: to what extent am I being held in
place--limited and bound--by my own mind? Have I "learned" to
not be happy unless I have this possession or that relationship
or these experiences happening just right?

I like the book. It's Zen and psychology and practical. It
challenged me to not settle for less than what is possible.

I interviewed Dr. Gettis for an article I wrote on his book, which is a compilation of short stories, each with its own message. His book taught me how it's so important to slow down and be grateful for everything around you, even if it's something as small as your car starting or waking up healthy and without a headache.

Before, I used to rush through tasks like washing dishes or pumping gas, thinking of them as moments that were mundane and not part of my "real" life. But reading the book taught me to appreciate every moment, even if I'm doing something simple or "boring." I love this quote he gave me: "Every day, there are a million things that go right."

I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels bored or unsatisfied in life, or is just stuck in a rut.

On a scale of 1-5, "The Happiness Solution is a 20. I have just one word for "The Happiness Solution", and that is AMAZING. I believe this is one of the best books I have ever read. Alan Gettis has done a fantabulous job of bringing happiness into this world. This book is so easy to read. Many authors just write useless words that do not get to the meat of the book, but Alan uses very short chapters to get his message across. I had a hard time putting down this book. I felt so inspired to do great things every time I read it. I know now that anything is possible, and you can be happy doing it. Thank you Alan for changing my life.

Michael Monji, author of "Does It Pay To Die?"

Alan helps us to turn our life around literally by changing the way we think. With the econonmy in such turmoil sadness and depression are more rampant than ever. Many people are losing their jobs, their homes, due to the credit crisis and natural disasters. With Alan's book you can read real stories that will help you to have a different outlook and bring more joy into your life, no matter what your circumstances are.

By Sofia Steryo-Bartmus, Author, "Paws of Wisdom"- Valuable Lessons We
Can Learn From Our Pets

Stories are the best way to make a point and Dr. Gettis does that so well. Everyone will find a story which they can relate to. Therefore, through a collection of easy and simple advice you can use, this book will take you to the next level of happiness regardless of where you are now. Each story will add value to your life through perspectives you may not have thought about before. It is a book you can read over and over. Read a chapter or two at a time as a daily devotion and then apply what you learned.

We all have challenges in life, but it is how we perceive them that will make us happy or unhappy. There are too many illustrations to mention here, but I liked the question asked in one of the chapters: How can I be happier? And the answer? Consider the Chinese Parable: If you want
happiness for a year, inherit a fortune, if you want happiness for a lifetime, help others...What a great advice!

Not only did I enjoy the book very much, I also learned a lot about myself. I recommend it to everyone, young and old, happy or unhappy. There is no one who would not benefit from at least one new idea for more happiness in this Upside down World!

I purhcased this book for my mother and she absolutely loves it. Then one day she showned to my Aunt (a retired nurse) and she wanted to buy it too. It's a very informative medical book using terms/phrases people can easily understand. I highly recommended adding this book to your library.

I recently purchased the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide and have found it to be informative and easy to use. The book fulfills our need for a quick reference book on ailments and treatments. This book is priced less expensively than some of the other medical books available. It provides good value for the cost. I recommend it to individuals looking for a comprehensive, informative, easy to read, home health guide.

I think that everyone need to read this book to find out the best way for family healthy life.

Chock full of great information - a suggested book to keep on your bookshelf.

This is an excellent, affordable resource to have in your home. It is very easy to use and self-explanatory. We love it!!

Got this book as a gift for my son whom is into herbs and fitness. I like the book for myself. Since we live in different households, I guess I have to get my own. This book is good to have around. Make it part of your library.

A friend lent me this book and I liked it so much I had to have my own! It has pictures on every page and lists any ailment you can think of and then some. It has two sections, one in the front that explains symptoms and one in the back that explains the herbs and vitamins. Very well done!

so far my favorite book. easy to read and understand. very helpful too.

For each ailment, (acne, depression etc), it provides a list of vitamins that can help solve that ailment. In the second half it lists each vitamin and the amount to take. It's a great way to figure out what supplements can help you, how much to take, and what to look for when shopping for the supplements. It's a wonderful reference book.

THE BEST OF THE BEST:

To put it simply, this is the ideal reference book for the application of vitamins, minerals, and herbs for medicinal purposes. It is the perfect complimentary companion to James Duke's "The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook".

ORGANIZED TO BE USER FRIENDLY:

After the introduction which goes through the user basics and preliminaries for the products to be discussed, the book is essentially divided into two main parts -- "AILMENTS" & "SUPPLEMENTS".

The first section ["AILMENTS"] is alphabetically organized by ailment so that you can simply look up some malady like "Heartburn" and you'll find a two-page section organized like this: "What It Is", "What Causes It", "How Supplements Can Help" + "Symptoms", "When To Call A Doctor", "Supplement Recommendations" and "What Else You Can Do". Each ailment's section ends with inserts titled "Facts & Tips" and "The Latest Findings". This is repeated for 90 ailments in precisely the same format, making it very easy retrieve information when you need it -- fast.

The second section ["SUPPLEMENTS"] is alphabetically organized by supplement with each supplement color coded in the table of contents to distinguish between vitamins, minerals, and herbs. Pick a supplement, say "Garlic", and you'll find its entry in the contents and in section two highlighted with green to indicate that it is an herb. Again, there is convention to the listing, it is 2 pages per supplement and is organized like this: "What It Is", "What It Does" ["PREVENTION" & "ADDITIONAL BENEFITS"], plus "Common Uses", "Forms", "Caution!", "How To Take It" ["DOSAGE" & "GUIDELINES FOR USE"], & "Possible Side Effects". Border inserts at the end of each supplement's section include "Shopping Hints" and "The Latest Findings".

Appendices at the end of the book include "Other Supplements", "Glossary" and "Drug Interactions", all of which relate directly to the supplements and ailments that are specifically discussed in the book in at least one of the two main sections. For instance, if a supplement is listed under "Supplement Recommendations" for an ailment in Section 1 and it is not also cross-referenced under "Supplements" in section 2, it will always be included in the "Other Supplements" appendix before the glossary. For example, Bromelain is mentioned several times for ailments, but is not included under supplements with its own heading, so there is an "Other Supplements" listing for it.

OVERALL:

This book is seamlessly-organized and smartly-illustrated making it ideal both as a good read and as a first-aid guide to using supplements prudently. When my 16-year-old daughter asked for a book about supplements this is what I gave her. She still has not returned it. From what I have read here, I am not the only one waiting for this book to return.

The work points to many of the negations in the current health
care delivery systems in the USA. It spends too much money and
the paperwork is burdensome, generally uninformative and
inefficient. The system needs a separation between the doctor
and the pharmaceutical industry because the needs of the general
public demand an independent attitude on the part of physicians.
Emergency rooms are utilized instead of patient clinics.
This contributes to bloated costs. The HMO co-pay can be burdensome for patients. In addition, there is a slow migration
toward the universal health care coverage in order to correct
some of these inefficiencies and distribute the resource to
persons uncovered or undercovered by the present protocols
and medical delivery systems.

In more than 20 years teaching a course focusing on analysis of American health care history and policy, I have yet to discover a more persuasive diagnosis of our health care delivery system's ills or a more convincing case for how to cure them. Dr. Lebow brings to this examination direct experience as a practicing physician from which he draws numerous stirring personal accounts. To his clinical perspective, he adds an extraordinary command of the broader economic and political issues essential for understanding the context and causes of America's current health care crisis epitomized by the alarming number of our country's uninsured--now about 44 million and growing. The book is honest, engaging, and sure to stimulate discussion with its clear prescription for change. With lively prose and strategically placed humor, he makes complex matters understandable. His humanity and passion are the earmarks of a brilliant teacher. Regardless of how deeply you presently understand America's health care system, you can learn from this book. And regardless of your political inclinations in respect to his advocacy of a single-payer solution, you can't ignore his meticulous presentation of the facts or the relentless logic of his conclusions from them.

Health Care Meltdown: Confronting The Myths And Fixing Our Failing System by Robert H. LeBow (former Medical Director of an Idaho community health center for more than 25 years and who was paralyzed in a cycling accident shortly after completing this book) is a clarion wake up call focused upon the medical care system's rampant excesses, over billings, neglects, and quagmires that floods the American health care system to near incapacitation. Over 40,000,000 Americans have no health insurance. This places an unsupportable burden on Emergency Room Care (one the most expensive health care provider resources), and while money is in unnecessary and wasteful bureaucratic and law-suit avoidance oriented testing, far to many people simply go without the medical service they desperately need. A sharply worded criticism that also offers models for reform and improvement, Health Care Meltdown should be mandatory reading for health care providers, citizen health care activists, anyone charged with the responsibility of developing policies and guidelines for managing health care services.

I'd like to give this book 4 stars, but there are just too many holes for me to do so. Dr. Lebow presents many important points, but the book simply is not the answer to our prayers regarding the current healthcare mess.

As Dr. Lebow points out, in the health insurance industry, competition among health insurers has led to less efficiency rather than more efficiency. 10 different credentialing applications, 12 different contract types, no standardization whatsoever and an administrative mess for any doctor who doesn't have the luxury of a seasoned healthcare administrator in his office. Add to that the eligibility trouble. Multiple phone calls for every patient to check eligibility for every appointment. Worst of all, the current health insurance system provides no incentive to managed care to pay for preventive care.

These are the issues that single-payer would fix for the insured population, saving billions of dollars. Dr. Lebow is right on, though I wish he spent as much time on eligibility and insurance company hassles as he did on preventive care. He also does great work in presenting the myths of healthcare today. Many of them can't be repeated enough (like the corporate welfare given to prescription drug companies).

But I have several issues as well.

My biggest complaint is that his solution only delays the inevitable a little longer. He deals only with the healthcare funding system and has little to say about the healthcare delivery system. "Market Driven Healthcare" by Regina Herzlinger and "From Chaos to Care" by David Lawrence offer real long-term solutions to the healthcare delivery problems we face in our current environment. Unless those market principles are imposed on healthcare, single payor will only delay the final implosion of medical care. Once the financial gains from single-payor healthcare are realized and exhausted, the costs will continue to spiral out of control.

Another issue is that he gives few details in the "how" of his solutions. Focusing on prevention and public health is a good and obvious point. Everybody agrees on it, but I don't think simply saying "it will happen once a grassroots movement demands it" is sufficiently descriptive of how he sees prevention and public health becoming the standard. Who will implement it? How?

Because of these problems, Dr. Lebow does not make a convincing case to those in power that change is good for them. He persuades the persuaded brilliantly, but I can't imagine why someone who opposes single-payer would change his mind after reading this book. And those in power are whose minds must be changed if change is to come.

The way I see it, healthcare as we know it is a very young industry. Only 16 years ago, managed care was almost an unkown in the healthcare world. Now, it dominates. Unfortunately, that insurance model grew so quickly there was no way anyone could have planned it properly. Imagine how the computer industry would have destroyed itself if it weren't entirely made up of systems thinkers known for their planning ability. ISO-9000 was brilliant, as is settling on the PC as the standard. Healthcare needs, and is getting, more of that now. HIPAA and state-mandated credentialing applications perfectly demonstrate the government's role in fixing healthcare. It should be a regulator, an agent for the lowly to make sure the big guys play fair, and a standard-setter to make commercial insurance more efficient. But it's entirely too early to declare the market dead and single payer as the only way out of this mess.

As an Adjunct instructor in the Concordia University system, I have had the opportunity to encourage my MBA students to read this book for my Special Topics in Health care class. After reviewing other possible textbooks during the last 6 months, I have decided to now use this text as the basis for my 8-week adult education class. Offering ample examples and 'myths' that portray our fractured health care system of today, this author has summarily provided a springboard for ongoing conversations and possible answers for this country. Granted all, the HC system will not be corrected for some time, but an accounting will be made when the public becomes a focused participant at the table.
As health care professionals, it is our responsibility to study, learn, participate and educate others, as well as ourselves.
This will begin that process and it will be well worth your effort and consideration.
Thank you
ESchwarz, RN, MBA, CCM