Prescription for Nutritional Healing Hot

I purchased the second edition of this book (it is now in its 4th edition) many years ago and still dip into it on a fairly frequent basis. The first thing I would say about this title is the great way it is laid out which makes it perfect when you need to quickly find specific information. As the title suggests, a large portion of the book is taken up with nutritional recommendations for specific conditions. A fairly comprehensive list of conditions is included and each is afforded a description, a set of nutritional recommendations in the form of easy to read tables, recommended herbs, and dietary advice. It is this section of the book that really makes it stand out from the pack and greatly enhances its usefulness.

Besides the above, the book starts off with a very readable introduction to the basics of nutrition. We learn about the macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fats) before moving on to the micronurients (vitamins and minerals). For each vitamin and mineral there is a detailed description of its function, the foods it is found in, and instances where supplementation may be helpful. The same goes for the amino acids. There are also sections devoted to medicinal herbs and other nutritional supplements such as probiotics which are equally detailed.

The finally section of the book is devoted to complementary therapies. This is a fantastic addition to an already good book. I'm sure this title would have stood up just as well without this final section but with its inclusion it succeeds in being a complete reference for anybody wishing to take control of their own health and explore all of the available options. All major (and minor more obscure) complementary therapies are described here from reflexology to meditation.

I do have a few gripes that detract a little from what is othewise a very good book. For example, it would be easy for anyone looking at the recommendations for a particular disease to assume that if they go out and buy all of the recommended supplements (and there are a lot!) that they will be cured. Things of course are never as simple as this so I feel the author should be more willing to suggest that readers work with a qualified healthcare practitioner before they end up spending a fortune on supplements that may not be suitable to their individual case. The dietary advice is also somewhat inaccuate and outdated with a vegetarian/vegan approach being strongly advocated despite much recent research that for example, shows that cholesterol is not the major cause of heart disease it was previously thought to be. Finally, I would have liked to see more solid referencing of scientific studies to back up the recommendtions given in the book. A lack of such referencing leaves questions about the reliability of the information

Overall I would certainly recommend people buy this book and use it as a guide and reference and a starting point for further research. Used in this way this title can be an invaluable addition to the library of anyone seeking alternatives to standard medical care.