THE THERAPIST PSYCHOLOGIST BOOK STORE

  Nutritional emphasis for healthier living ( bookmaven987 )

The underpinnings of Golan's philosophy are nutritional, with an emphasis on natural foods, balance, and avoidance of sugar and processed foods. He has observed ten "common denominators" of chronic illness which undermine the immune system and exhibit a wide variety of symptoms which often cannot be diagnosed as specific illnesses.

Golan begins his book with two case histories illustrating his approach. The second chapter is a master symptom survey for each of the ten common denominators, allowing the reader to rate his or her health in accordance with each. Golan then devotes three chapters to diet - presenting the most common American hazards, discussing the importance of dietary balance and the specific properties and energies of various foods and offering menus and recipes.

And then, having given the reader an understanding of how food works chemically in the body, Golan devotes a chapter to each of the common denominators - nutritional deficiencies, poor digestion and assimilation, the toxic bowel, the sluggish liver, hypoglycemia, adrenal exhaustion, yeast overgrowth, food allergies, chemical hypersensitivity and environmental illness and finally psychoneuroimmunology or the body-mind connection. A last chapter in this section discusses the relationship of the immune system with these underlying conditions. Readers may want to use their symptom surveys to determine which chapters will be of primary interest - reading all of them at once can lead to information overload.

The next hundred pages lists common ailments and natural remedies. Discussions of alternative medicine follow, including fasting and cleansing (which he embraces enthusiastically), herbs, massage, hydrotherapy, acupuncture, homeopathy and more. And Golan concludes with a chapter on choosing and relating to your doctor.

While much of his advice is common sense, Golan gives lots of specifics. For instance, it's not enough to choose oils that are polyunsaturated. Heat triggers generation of tissue-damaging free radicals in many oils and almost all supermarket oils (except extra virgin olive) are processed with heat.

Excess sugar is seen as an underlying factor in a dizzying number of health problems from depression to gallstones and Golan offers tables listing sugar amounts in popular cereals as well as other foods. There are also tables describing the purpose and consequences of numerous food additives, tables showing symptoms associated with excess consumption of popular foods from milk to peanut butter, tables illustrating symptoms of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, tables listing sources of heavy metals and their consequences. You get the picture.

Golan does not expect readers to instantly adopt lives of disciplined asceticism. He advocates a gradual introduction of healthier foods and avoidance of toxins until a healthier diet becomes a joy rather than a chore. Unlike many nutritionists, he is a strong advocate of vitamin supplements, and prescribes them for individual ailments as well as general health.

This is book for anyone willing to take a few extra steps in the interests of general health and well being.

  An excellent reference for taking control of one's health... ( pathfindersfarm )

Golan's book is less encyclopedic than the Balch & Balch, and focuses more on the roots of disease and disorders, both the physical roots as well as the mental and emotional ones. His book is truly "holistic", he sees the human entity as a whole, and understands that we are all like giant mobiles; if one aspect of our lives is out of balance, it throws the others off as well.

The book is easy to read, thorough, and, for the most part, the suggestions of changes to make are practical and relatively easy to do (for most of us). It's an excellent resource for anyone who wishes to take control of their health and their life, and I recommend it highly.