Guest Author - Alegra M. Bartzat


Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition
by Paul Pitchford

For anyone who has enjoyed books on health and alternative healing, this book will help you take your home healing to the next level. Paul Pitchford outlines the basics of oriental medicine, and how the principles of yin and yang can be applied to your diet to improve your health. Facts in this book are well documented, and theories are well-balanced. In other words, this is NOT a book of extremes, fads, or cult-like practices.

This book can be frustrating to some because it is not designed to be used as a reference book (even though the index is extensive and thorough), but rather as a book you read from start to finish. It is encyclopedic in length, but reading chapters in their entirety is much more beneficial than trying to skim for answers.

The chapters address such subjects as Yin and Yang, but it goes beyond he basics to explain how this principle of balance fits into the world as a whole, your body, and how you eat can affect the balance of your body. In "Essential of Nutrition" Pitchford recommends a diet based on the food groups of a tradition that dates back thousands of years, not the food group created by lobbyists and government. THe food groups are: grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits, and animal products, and the basis of the diet is whole grains and fresh vegetables, with fruits and legumes a close second, and animal products suggestsed as much as the USA FDA reccomends sugar and fat: rarely.

Thos books details toxins we may be exposed to, how to avoid and counteract these toxins, the importnace of clean, fresh water, protein and vitamins, and fats, sweetneners, and salt. After addressing the basics, the books details the organs in terms of oriental medicine, and has a final chapter dedicated to recipes.

There are no "quick fixes" in this book. It advises you on how to make lifestyle and dietary changes in order to realign your health. It takes TIME to follow the approaches suggested inthis book, and it's not always convenient. But if you're ready to dedicate yourself to truly healing your body with the foods you eat, then this book is highly advised.