Amazon.com
Foods have special effects on pain, and research studies substantiate this, says Neal Barnard, M.D., in Foods That Fight Pain, a book endorsed by fellow doctors Dean Ornish and Andrew Weil. You can use foods to fight pain in these ways:
1. Choose pain-safe foods. Reduce inflammation by avoiding foods that may be causing or aggravating your pain.
2. Add soothing foods that ease pain. Different foods may improve blood flow, relieve inflammation, or balance hormones.
3. Use supplements if needed. Herbs, extracts, and vitamins can relieve pain.
Barnard explores a variety of medical conditions, such as migraines, arthritis, digestive problems, fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, diabetes, herpes, sickle-cell anemia, kidney stones, urinary infections, and back, chest, breast, menstrual, and cancer pain. For each, Barnard explains the causes of the pain and what dietary changes are likely to alleviate it, with exercise and lifestyle recommendations. Barnard backs up his points with 30 pages of research citations.
Most of the recipes are quick to prepare, and include an elimination diet to avoid trigger foods. A nutritional breakdown (calories, fat, protein, carbohydrate, and sodium) accompanies each recipe. Following the advice in this book will not only relieve your pain, but increase your overall health. Highly recommended. --Joan Price
Book Description
Did you know that ginger can prevent migraines and that coffee sometimes cures them? Did you know that rice can calm your digestion, that sugar can make you more sensitive to pain, that evening primrose can ease the symptoms of arthritis?
Drawing on new and little-known research from prestigious medical centers around the world, Neal Barnard, M.D., author of
Eat Right, Live Longer and
Food for Life, shows readers how they can soothe everyday ailments and cure chronic pain by using common foods, traditional supplements, and herbs.
Dr. Barnard reveals which foods regularly contribute to pain and how to avoid them. He guides the reader to specific pain-safe foods that are high in nutrition but don't upset the body's natural balance, as well as foods that actively soothe pain by improving blood circulation, relieving inflammation, and balancing hormones. Complete with delicious recipes,
Foods That Fight Pain is a revolutionary approach to healing that will transform your life.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome Book, MUST Reading...Very well-documented.......2000-12-19
Excellent book from a physician who has researched this topic thoroughly. Many of the studies here are so informative and crucial to our health, yet you may not find them in other places. Finally a medical authority brave enough to tell the truth and the whole truth with all the science and studies well-documented. More than just a way to treat disease, this book helps you to prevent it in the first place. The chapter about the early human diet is worth its weight in gold. Must read this book...it may save your life, a wise purchase.
Excellent reader-friendly book!.......2000-02-29
Literally anyone who eats will benefit greatly from reading Foods That Fight Pain. This reader-friendly book persuasively sorts out what foods can cause pain and what ones do not. Author Neal D. Barnard, M.D., has some of the late astronomer Carl Sagan's special gift for explaining complicated and difficult issues in a lucid, lay-accessible manner. While the book recommends a vegan diet (free of animal products) as a good starting place, it documents that even normally terrific vegan foods such as citrus fruits and tomatoes make the "dirty dozen" list of potential "trigger foods" for causing pain in some people. A sample surprise: what you eat can cause back pain, because cholesterol- and fat-laden animal products can clog the arteries around your spine. The book is supplemented by a tasty smorgasbord's worth of recipes and a credibility-boosting wealth of footnoted scientific references in the back. After devouring this book, you will probably want to try going vegan (if you aren't already). If you do, you will have full confidence that it's an abundantly healthy diet and just wish you had made the switch long ago.
No Relative Pain.......2000-02-29
I just wanted to post a quickie review of Foods that Fight Pain. One of my relatives recently read the book and has since found tremendous relief for her arthritis. She has suffered for many years, always wondering if food could be part of her problem. As often seems to be the case, her doctors discounted her suspicions, telling her that food could not be to blame. However, she got a copy of Dr. Barnard's book, followed the elimination diet in it, and discovered which her trigger foods are--dairy, coffee, and citrus. Since changing her eating habits, she's had substantially less pain and she credits the book with her turnaround.
I think the book is a wonderful addition to the growing library of information about how foods affect our health.
Top recommendations from this Amazon customer!
Food Alert.......2000-01-22
It is helpful to know the bias or preconceived notions of any author before blindly following his/her advice (including the bias of this reviewer). I am glad I noticed that he was a vegan (very strict vegetarian) before resigning myself to a diet of water, rice and a handful of greens. For a migraine sufferer he bans dairy, eggs and all meat (fish as well), without telling the reader to make sure to eat every 5 hours and to stay away from alcohol in general until one finds one's triggers.
Also, he doesn't mention that hot, fresh yeast might be a trigger, but that the next day the yeast may be harmless.
I will state my biases up front: MSG is one of my triggers. And I am a crusader to have it labeled on food products, including the amount of grams, so that MSG sensitive persons can adjust their intake accordingly.
I know that when I am hungry, I will eat what is on hand and it probably won't be cooked, because I don't have a cook and I am in too much pain to even pop things in the microwave. In addition, when I need to take a pain pill, I must eat to avoid further nausea and I shall eat even forbidden or detested foods in order to get pain relief.
People on such restricted diets need a safe harbor, like crackers or cookies that can be found almost everywhere (unlike cooked pears and string beans) to abate their hunger, without losing the benefit of the trial diets; i.e. finding one's triggers.
Before a migraine patient starts an elimination diet, I implore them to first get a list of suspect foods from the National Headache Foundation, 1.800.843.2256, instead of using the vegan list in the book. I believe one's endeavors will be more fruitful (:-) if one has a variety of safe foods.
Also become familiar with ingredients that hide MSG (1.800.232.8674). Free glutamates that appear in food can turn into MONO-SODIUM glutamates when ingested. A list can be found at the www.nomsg.com site.
Each one of us can tolerate differing amounts, but we have no way of measuring the amount we get due to the clever way food companies disguise their ever-increasing use of the stuff.
The FDA admits that at least 2% of the US population might be sensitive. At their extremely conservative estimate, at least 6 million people are sensitive in this country and only a handful of them know about free glutamates.
MSG is not a preservative, but an "excito-toxin" that cons our brain into believing that what we are tasting is just downright delicious.
Amazon has books on this subject. Check for books written by Stanley Blayblock and George Schwatz, MD.
One food recommended by my own pain doctor is gelatin. However, the process that creates gelatin (description not for delicate stomachs) ensures that it is full of free glutamates. Also look out for malt, barley and hydrolyzed (insert name of protein here). Any soups, stocks or broths are to be regarded with suspicion unless made in your own kitchen until one is adept at reading ingredient labels.
Avoid soup and therefore sauces when dining out; it is not worth giving the cooks the third degree, especially if THEIR sources claim to be msg-free. I have found that restaurant staff are quite willing to review their list of ingredients, however, if they know their customer will become quite ill if unaware of the true nature of the food. Dr. Barnard advises avoiding meats merely because it has no fiber or complex carbohydrates. I hope the recipes included will tell the reader how to make a complete protein with the right combination of vegetables. The reason I gave the book 2 stars is that he does tell about international research results that are probably not found elsewhere and mentions herbs and spices that should at least be given a fair trial to help fight migraines.
However, it would be tragic for unsuspecting headache patients to waste weeks of using the elimination diet and not find their real triggers.
Sometimes it pays to be skeptical.
Easy to read, informative, valuable.......1999-03-20
This book contains all of the information you will need to learn about controlling pain through diet, including how brain chemistry influences sensitivities, sleep disorders, and chronic pain conditions. Organized according to illness, solutions are presented in an easy to follow program of eliminating potentially harmful foods. The book is chock full of delicious recipies that even the novice cook can prepare. As a sufferer of fibromyalgia, I followed the diet suggestions to the letter, and am now in full remission three months later. I now wake up pain free for the first time in over a year! The program should be followed to the letter, however, to obtain optimum results. Excellent book, well written and researched, Dr. Barnard should be commended for helping to change and better the lives of many suffering from chronic pain disorders.
Book Description
The stunning bestseller from Quebec, coming in English in May. Over 138,000 French-language copies sold!
Within this book is the perfect recipe for success: An author who is one of the world’s foremost experts in the groundbreaking area of how food chemistry can fight cancer. A highly accessible and practical text. A beautifully designed package accompanied by full-colour illustrations.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, an estimated 149,000 new cases of cancer occurred in Canada in 2005. While this statistic is alarming, current research is showing convincingly that elements in particular foods may significantly reduce the risk of cancer in healthy individuals and slow its progress in those already suffering from the disease. We can help ourselves and our families through healthy eating. But the information coming through the popular media is confusing and often hard to understand. Just what should we be eating and in what combinations? Do all cancer-fighting foods work the same way? Do they all fight all kinds of cancers?
In Foods That Fight Cancer, leading biochemist Richard Béliveau teams up with Denis Gingras to describe the science of food and which properties of particular foods are the active cancer-fighting elements. They deftly explain how different foods work to protect the body against different cancers and show which foods will be most effective. By understanding the science behind these therapeutic benefits, we come to realize not only why it is so critical to add these foods to our diet, but how easily it can be done.
Customer Reviews:
Things you should know.......2007-05-06
I read quite widely but this easy-to-read book has a large amount of information I had not come accross before. Its focus is to give you information that helps you to understand cancer so you can take steps to place yourself at lower risk for cancer. We all know about not smoking but there is lots more you can do. It is especially credible since its written by eminent cancer researchers who head up cancer research labs.
A must read for anyone who wants to enjoy good food and good health.......2007-01-09
A very easy to read but fascinating explanation of the biochemistry of cancer cells and how naturally occurring chemicals in certain foods can alter the chemical environment in the body to inhibit the various stages of cancer cell growth. Amazingly the action of these natural chemicals is doing what powerful man-made chemotherapy is doing, but without the collateral damage. By including some of the basic ingredients in your diet, you can signficantly help decrease the risk of cancerous cell growth in the body. The book provides some very thought provoking statistics on what are the real causes of cancer as opposed to many of the popular myths that people worry about so unnecessarily. It also makes these essential foods sound delicious and fun. No recipes but that's up to you!!! An essential read from the modern foodie!!
A Must-Read Book!.......2006-06-06
This is a life-altering book. Anyone interested in improving their health needs to read it! It's a little technical, but in an era of "quick fixes" and crazy fad-diets, I found it refreshing to read a book based on extensive research and empirical scientific data. Most encouraging is that the foods that have been shown to be so helpful to improving our ability to defend against cancer, are good too - berries, tomatoes, cabbage & citrus fruits to name a few. Read this book - your health and the health of our nation will improve as a result!
Book Description
The Farm Bill is perhaps the single most significant land use legislation enacted in the United States, yet many citizens remain unaware of its power and scope. With subsidies ballooning toward $25 billion dollars per year, the Farm Bill largely dictates who grows what crops, on what acreage, and under what conditions--all with major impacts on the country's rural economies, health and nutrition, national security, and biodiversity. As debate and wrangling over the 2007 Farm Bill intensifies, Food Fight offers a highly informative and visually engaging overview of legislation that literally shapes our food system, our bodies, and our future.
Customer Reviews:
Food- a political opportunity.......2007-06-11
No one goes to the grocery store thinking that the government legislates what they buy or eat. But in fact, the government plays an enormously influential role on what products and foods are grown and produced, as well as distributed in your local grocery. The legislation known as the Farm Bill (some call it the Food Bill) has greatly altered the way that farms operate, thereby changing the landscape of food choice, nutrition, biodiversity in our country as well as other poorer countries, quality of life for farmers and eaters, as well as a multitude of other issues. Interestingly, this is legislation that not many citizens know about or realize has such far-reaching implications. This book is simple to read but clearly lays out many of the prominent issues that the Bill deals with and why the allocation of money and priorities in the Bill are so important for us to confront and influence, as eaters and as citizens.
Here is an example of an outcome of the Farm Bill's mismanagement and where we are now: (with some knowledge also gleaned from Michael Pollan's excellent book The Omnivore's Dilemma)
You may think that the US grows a lot of corn and that's a good thing- did you know that most of the corn is not edible by humans and b/c of subsidies by the government to grow it big and cheap, most corn actually gets processed into byproducts: animal feed (forcing cows, who are physically designed to eat grass, to eat corn), processed sugars (corn syrup replaced sugar in many foods simply b/c it is cheaper and it's subsidized) or gets dumped onto poorer countries, driving those country's economics beserk b/c of our subsidization policy?
CHeck this book out if only so that you can be better informed about how the government has their hands in your meal. The Bill is up for re-legislation this year in 2007 so we have to get involved fast!
Farm Policy for Dummies (Like Me).......2007-06-07
Word of the day: "cornification." Cornification, in a nutshell, is the takeover of a diverse landscape by one mighty plant: corn. The "Effects of Cornification" graphic on page 17 of Dan Imhoff's new book shows the results: the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, factory livestock farms, obesity, immigration problems, food deserts (that's "deserts" not desserts"), the emptying of our rural communities, etc., etc. One look at the "cornification" graphic and a message comes through loud and clear: what the government tells farmers to raise has ramifications far beyond Renville County, Minnesota. Imhoff's book, Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, is full of these kinds of eye-opening, mind-expanding graphics. His message isn't new, but the way he presents it is fresh and important. The phrase "must-read" is much abused (I've thought that ever since someone used "must-read" and the book The Bridges of Madison County in the same sentence). But if you are interested in how U.S. farm policy affects our environment, our communities and what we eat, and you want to do something about reforming the system, then Food Fight, is, yes, a must-read.
Imhoff's book provides a valuable service in a year when a new federal Farm Bill is being written up. It's time to take the development of ag policy out of the hands of large agribusiness and narrowly-focused commodity groups. But creating a Farm Bill that's accountable to society requires an informed public.
That's where Food Fight comes in--it makes a dense topic quite accessible. In a succinct, clear, USA Today-type format, Imhoff's chapters relate information that anyone who reads newspaper investigative pieces or watches PBS regularly probably has an inkling of: federal farm policy in this country is dysfunctional and expensive, as well as harmful to the environment, human health and our communities.
Imhoff, who is the writing/publishing force behind such books as Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature and Farming with the Wild, knows the power of images. He's summarized studies, media reports and sleep-inducing statistics in brief, easy to digest graphics. He's read the think-tank white papers and plowed through the USDA data, so you don't have to. And then he's put it all in context.
Don't let the readability of this book fool you into thinking this is lightweight material; these are some heavy topics Imhoff is addressing: "...nearly 40 million Americans, 12 percent of all households, confront food insecurity, meaning that they often experience hunger or need to skip meals to get by. Many are children," reads one sentence above a heartbreaking photo of a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk.
This isn't all graphics, charts and photos. Imhoff also uses clearly-written text to explain complicated issues like the history of U.S. farm programs, how New Zealand reformed its system and what can be done here, now, to reform ours. With chapter titles like, "Why the Farm Bill Matters," "What Is The Farm Bill?" and "Where It All Started," this book lives up to its "Citizen's Guide" claim.
Glancing over Food Fight's facts and figures, I was surprised at how many of them I was familiar with. But the sheer weight of their overall impact had not struck me before. Having all of this information put together into one cohesive piece provides a powerful tool for action. As I was reading the book, I was also chagrined at how I've become numbed to the ludicrousness of federal ag policy. Over the years, I've read about the major corporations that receive the lion's share of crop subsidies, but it wasn't until I saw Imhoff's top 20 "Subsidy Recipients" list that the sheer criminality of it struck home.
For example, J.G. Boswell Company received over $17 million in USDA ag subsidies between 1994 and 2004. Boswell grows cotton in the bottom of what was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Sixty percent of U.S. cotton is dumped on the world market at cut-rate prices, threatening the livelihood of farmers all over the planet. I've met a few of those Third-World farmers and they don't want a handout. All they want is to be able to sell their crop at a fair price. But they can't because our tax money is subsidizing behemoths like Boswell. Free market agriculture? Give me a break. I know a West African farmer (Ear to the Ground No. 20) that could teach us a thing or two about the free market.
Food Fight is a quick read and that's good; the 2007 Farm Bill deliberations are upon us and may be wrapped up as early as this fall. Read this book and call your Senators and Representatives armed with facts, figures...and a lot of righteous citizen anger.
Book Description
The United States is currently embroiled in a national debate over the growing public health crisis caused by poor diet. People are starting to ask who is to blame and how can we fix the problem, especially among children. Major food companies are responding with a massive public relations campaign. These companies, including McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Kraft, and General Mills, are increasingly on the defensive. In response, they pretend to sell healthier food and otherwise position themselves as "part of the solution." Yet they continue to lobby against commonsense nutrition policies.
Appetite for Profit exposes this hypocrisy and explains how to fight back by offering reliable resources. Readers will learn how to spot the PR and how to organize to improve food in schools and elsewhere.
For the first time, author Michele Simon explains why we cannot trust food corporations to "do the right thing." She describes the local battles of going up against the powerful food lobbies and offers a comprehensive guide to the public relations, front groups, and lobbying tactics that food companies employ to trick the American public. Simon also provides an entertaining glossary that explains corporate rhetoric, including phrases like "better-for-you foods" and "frivolous lawsuit."
Customer Reviews:
A great resource for those who want to protect themselves and their families.......2007-10-03
This book will teach you how to spot the PR, how to not be fooled, and how to organize, for example, to improve school food. The government and large corporations have a lot of big bucks at stake. They do not care about your health. They care about profits. This is true in all business.
So you, the consumer, must learn what is hype (PR) and what is real. You need to protect yourself and your family.
This book gives you a comprehensive guide to the public relations, front groups, and lobbying tactics that food companies employ to trick the American public.
Highly recommended.
No solution in sight.......2007-07-26
I agree with Michelle Simon that
(1) we cannot believe anything the corporate food giants tell us
(2) they haven't the slightest interest in promoting healthy eating habits, not even for our children
(3) they are in it for profit, pure and simple
(4) they are in part responsible for the obesity epidemic that is sweeping the country
(5) their reaction to criticism is to spin, not to change.
What I don't agree with is that they are to be condemned for their practices any more than corporations in other industries. As Simon points out in the first chapter, "Anatomy of a Food Corporation: Why We Can't Trust Them," their officers have a fiduciary responsibility under the law to look out for the interests of their stock holders. In making this point Simon is following Joel Bakan whose excellent book (and film documentary) The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power (2004), made it clear that corporations are, effectively speaking, pathological entities that externalize the costs of doing business whenever possible. Just as coal mining companies prefer not to clean up the mess they make, food companies prefer not to pay for the medical and other costs associated with the food they produce and sell.
I emphatically agree that it would be wonderful if there were some way we could make MacDonald's, PepsiCo, etc. foot some of the bills for obesity-related diseases. But that would require an enlightened Congress and White House, something we don't have, and are not likely to have for the foreseeable future.
What food corporations have is the power to invade our consciousnesses with their advertising. Because virtually all media is under corporate control, its central message to consumers and the public at large, like a pit inside a peach, is "Conform your behavior in a way that benefits the corporation." Corporations not only get us to eat what we shouldn't eat, and to eat more than we should, but they get us to vote for people we shouldn't vote for. The advertising is paid for by the corporations. The politicians are beholden to the corporations.
What we are experiencing is the power of the mass media on a mass population. No one could predict just how awesome that power would be. People are more easily indoctrinated than, say, Washington or Jefferson could have imagined. We live in a democracy by capitalism. An individual's vote is nearly meaningless compared to the votes that can be bought through advertising. Most Americans are too busy making a living and dealing with the day-to-day events of their lives to become knowledgeable about the secret agendas of the corporations and their servants in the Congress, and so few people know what is right and what is wrong regarding any complex issue.
Only education--knowledge about what is really going on--is going to change the direction in which this country is headed. It's going to take a sustained effort at the grass roots level over generations to stem the tide. One result of education would be to change the legal status of corporations to make them responsible for what are now "externalized" costs of doing business. If--and only if--that were done would they behave more nearly in the public interest.
However what knowledge and education are up against is the nearly irresistible lure of products--sugar, fats, salt, easily consumed and easily digested--that were prize products in the prehistory when our ingrained appetites were forged. Big Food is seducing the primordial human in all of us, and the seduction begins at an early age and never lets up.
So there are no easy solutions. The battle against the bulge, as it used to be called, is being fought in all industrialized societies and it is being lost. For myself and some of the people I know, it is not being lost because, like Michelle Simon, we know how to eat properly and how to avoid (most!) of the temptations. The problem is how to get that message to a greater percentage of the population.
Simon's book is a step in the right direction, but only a step. She focuses on the deceptions and lies of the food industry giants, how they spin the news, how they attack opponents, etc., and she gives a lot of information on just who the spinners and liars are, and she describes the tricks they use. But as for a solution... Well, if the knowledge in this book could somehow reach all Americans through their schools and religious organizations, that would be a giant step toward a solution.
Sad but true.......2007-06-18
This is a wonderful book covering more than you probably want to know about the collusion between our government and the food industry. This knowledge is essential, however, in understanding what you're actually buying when you buy fast food, or anything with high fructose corn syrup...any processed foods, really.
1. You're buying poison
2. You're paying for the continuation of a poisonous system...
hah, I sense no bitterness.......2007-05-29
Undoubtedly just one person is going through one five-star review after another and clicking "No" to "Was this review helpful to you?" judging by the patterns in the reviews below. Well, whoever he or she is, the person will just have to go through another. People can discredit Michele Simon all they want, but it doesn't change the fact that pretty much everything she's saying in "Appetite For Profit" is right.
There is nothing more American than what this book is trying to do: bring to light one of the toughest issues our society faces today (aside from the sustainability argument and climate change). While her views and frustration are evident, along with the massive scale of this problem, Simon successfully reframes the question with Big Food. All their cloying slogans, their favourite phrases, their dirty lobbying tactics and their endless pocketbook are exposed in "Appetite for Profit." All this hoopla about "personal responsibility" and "freedom of choice" coupled with the American "rugged individualism" are thrown out the window when we find out who's really calling the shots, and how they're managing to not get caught.
I simply cannot see how anyone can make a coherent argument for the goodness and harmlessness of Big Food after reading this book. Simon includes every false, manipulative, deceiving tactic employed by the food industry and presents a lucid counterargument. She covers all her bases; no issue is too small to go unaddressed. From vending machines in schools to the 30-year battle of making restaurants put out nutrition information, to Big Food blaming the lawyers to falsifying scientific evidence, Simon research shines.
Whoever the naysayer is on these Amazon review tabs, he or she
a) has not picked up the book and therefore has not read Simon's arguments
b) works for Big Food.
Please, anyone who can seriously debate Michele Simon's points addressed in this book, I welcome you to share them, for I would love to hear it. But if the first word out is "Energy balance" or "Personal responsibility", do us all a favour and read "Appetite for Profit."
Concise Truth-Telling: What a Concept!.......2007-01-24
This is an incredibly important book that finally explains why the answer to our food problems does not lie in the corporations themselves. We've all become so duped into believing the PR hype of the food INDUSTRY and have given away our power and our health. This isn't all gloom and doom, however. I especially like that Simon offers solutions for individuals who want to get on board and make a difference. Though they have the power and the money, our voices can still be heard, and I appreciate that Simon offers us that hope. (Oh - and do check out the Anti-Glossary. It's brilliant!) Highly recommended.
Book Description
A child psychologist explains how to teach children to find pleasure in eating not only the foods they like, but also those that are good for them
• Explains the negative attitudes children develop toward food and how to overcome these dietary aversions
• Shows how a child’s natural instinct to experiment can provide the inspiration needed to broaden his or her food tastes
• Translates the latest research in this field into practical suggestions for parents
One of the most common problems faced by parents is how to inspire their children to taste a new food--to try just one bite! Natalie Rigal, a child psychologist who has extensively researched questions of taste, explains the often complex attitudes children bring with them to the dinner table and offers parents creative ways to get children to approach eating with the same curiosity and enthusiasm they display toward other activities. Using her own experiences as well as the latest research in the field, she shows that children’s tastes, which often manifest at a very young age, are connected to an intricate combination of family habits and social influences. She reveals why most children prefer sweet foods to salty ones, familiar foods to new ones, and why children often prefer the meals they share with their grandparents and friends over those with their parents and siblings--and what parents can do about this.
Rigal explains that the aversion children express to most foods can be overcome by learning how to speak with them about what they are going to be eating--not just its flavor, but its consistency, appearance, and the sound it makes when eaten. She shows that encouraging a child’s natural instinct to experiment can provide the inspiration needed to try even those vegetables that are most universally loathed by children such as lima beans, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. Finding pleasure in eating has been shown to be the secret to “why French women don’t get fat.” It is also the secret gateway to getting your children to eat the nutritious foods they need.
Book Description
As an endocrinologist at Harvard, Dr. David Ludwig pioneered the use of a low-glycemic diet in combating obesity. His groundbreaking research is the basis for some of the most successful diets of the last decade, including the South Beach Diet and SugarBusters. Ten years ago, Dr. Ludwig founded the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) program at Children's Hospital Boston. There, he and his team tailored his low-glycemic diet for children and combined it with a nine-week progressive plan that benefits the patient and the entire family. Dr. Ludwig wins parents' trust but also offers hope to their children, who often feel teased, bullied, and defeated. This scientifically proven approach addresses, for the first time, all three key factors affecting body weight -- biology, behavior, and environment -- and integrates them into a powerful prescription for weight loss. Dr. Ludwig compassionately recognizes the challenges children and their parents face in today's fast food/fake food world and guides them from conflict to cooperation along the road to health.
In Ending the Food Fight, Dr. Ludwig shares his program with parents everywhere, giving them all the tools they need to help their children win the food fight, once and for all.
Customer Reviews:
Truth Hurts!.......2007-09-20
Dr. Ludwig is saying things that too few others dare. It's hard to give up the fast, instant food that is everywhere but if we don't, it's the children who will suffer the most.
scientific answers to obestiy.......2007-09-16
This book isn't just another diet book based on somebody's single theory. It is a compilation of much testing and research in regards to overcoming weight issues. The information is well presented and easily understood. It has helped our family make and keep to better eating and exercise habits and has helped us all trim a few pounds. Highly recommended.
A Good Book Could Have Lost a Little Weight.......2007-07-13
This is a good, helpful book, though a bit of a chore to slog through. There are too many sidebars, which I found disruptive, and the book seems to be written as though the author is talking to a young child, that is, simplistic, if not, sophmoric. However, what the author has to say and some of his advice and insights are very much worthwhile. I do think it may have been more effective without the "case studies;" a more straightforward account of children's relationships with foods in the early part of this century.
Terrific Book .......2007-06-04
This is a really terrific book! Dr. Ludwig has done brilliant research on the cause of obesity. This book is actually the second food fight he has ended. The first was between the low carbohydrate and the low fat diet proponents. His definitive research findings show that the low glycemic carbohydrate diet is superior to the low fat diet. This book ends the food fight between the loving parents who want the best for their child and the food producers who just want your children to eat as much as possible to fatten their profits.
If any of your children are overweight, you MUST read this book. Dr. Ludwig addresses the problem of motivating your child to lose weight in a loving, down to earth, practical way.
Fast and Fake Foods Potential Risks in Children with Food Allergies.......2007-06-01
We are thrilled to highlight Dr. Ludwig's book to our families dealing with food allergies in children, as processed foods (Dr. Ludwig's "fake foods") may present risks to children with food allergies given the hidden allergens that they can contain. Dr. Ludwig's book offers inspiring guidelines of how parents can affect healthy changes in the diets of their families.
Average customer rating:
- It's not my fault, save the children and other clichés
- Weak Argument
- Not an entirely satisfying read
- Eye popping look at America's march to obesity!
- Being overweight isn't your fault, he says
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Food Fight The Inside Story of the Food Industry, America's Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It
Kelly D. Brownell , and
Katherine Battle Horgen
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Weight Loss
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| Diets & Weight Loss
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| Health, Mind & Body
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Fed Up!: Winning the War Against Childhood Obesity
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Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (California Studies in Food and Culture, 3)
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A Hunger So Wide and So Deep: American Women Speak Out on Eating Problems
Accessories:
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
ASIN: 0071402500 |
Book Description
Advance Praise for Food Fight
"This is a fascinating, empowering book must-read filled with practical ways to take action" -- Shape Magazine
“Food Fight is a blueprint for the nation taking action on the obesity crisis. In his analysis, Brownell is balanced but bold, courageous and creative. A public health landmark.” --David A. Kessler, M.D., Dean, Yale School of Medicine, Former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
“We are indeed involved in a food fight. It is a fight for the health of America---especially our children. This book provides much of the necessary ammunition to win this fight.” --David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., former Surgeon General, Director of the National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine
“Provides a compelling approach to reverse the obesity epidemic now gripping our nation. Anyone concerned about this crisis, and that should include all Americans, will find this book enlightening.” --Walter C. Willett, M.D., Dr.P.H., Chair, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health
“Food Fight is a very informative, provocative, and well-written account of the role of food in the growing public health problem of obesity. I highly recommend it.” --Steven N. Blair, P.E.D., President and CEO, the Cooper Institute
“Food Fight rings the alarm to enlist Americans in an effort to protect children from the ‘toxic environment’ that is leading to skyrocketing rates of obesity and other health problems.” --Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., Executive Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest
“Kelly Brownell and colleagues were among the first to sound the alarm, that an increasingly "toxic environment" puts everyone, and especially children, at risk for obesity. Food Fight enters the front lines in the battle between public health and private profit.” --David S. Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Obesity Program, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School
How America is eating itself into a national health crisis and what we can do about it
In Food Fight, one of the world's best-known and most respected experts on nutrition, obesity, and eating disorders delivers the sobering message that America is quickly succumbing to a "toxic" food environment guaranteed to produce obesity, disability, and death.
Dr. Kelly D. Brownell goes beyond the bestselling Fast Food Nation to explore the roots of the obesity epidemic and the enormous toll it is taking on the nation's health, vitality, and productivity. And he offers an unflinching assessment of a culture that feeds its pets better than its children, that targets the poor and children as a market for high-calorie, low-nutrition junk food and manipulates children into poor eating habits with toy giveaways and in-school promotions.
But Food Fight isn't all bad news. It is also an inspiring call to action from one of the nation's most effective public health advocates. Dr. Brownell suggests bold public policy initiatives for stemming the rising tide of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, such as imposing taxes on junk food and using the proceeds to make healthy foods more affordable and available. He describes steps individuals can take to help safeguard their and their families' health, including pressuring schools to remove junk food vending machines. And he offers a workable plan for improving individual and family eating and exercise habits.
Customer Reviews:
It's not my fault, save the children and other clichés.......2005-10-13
I've read both the book and the reviews, and it's funny how saving the children is the "it's not my fault" finger-pointing device du jour. I don't purport to be a cross-section of America, but I have no problems getting my toddlers out of a grocery store without their Sponge-Bob cereal (my wife is a different story...she loves the stuff) and can drive by a McDonalds while ignoring the shrieks of "we want a happy meal!"
However, I am overweight. I don't blame Kraft or McDonalds (although I wouldn't mind getting in on that cash cow once the lawsuits hit), I can perfectly well on my own decide to down the entire bag of Oreos without a 30-second ad telling me to.
Mr. Brownell's anecdotal descriptions of the effects of advertising on obesity do not create any link. As a matter of fact (forget citation of study...but could look it up if anyone wants it) the amount of calories consumed by the average person has increased about 1% over the last 20 years, while the obesity rate has soared. So...somehow the food industry has been plotting against my children by adding 400% more calories into that 1%? It doesn't make sense, as do most of the arguments in the book.
Weak Argument.......2005-03-22
Yes, fast food is everywhere. No, Americans don't eat enough "real" food (that is, food which was prepared from fresh, natural ingredients). Yes, if we ate more real food and less fast food, we'd be healthier.
But here's where Dr. Brownell goes wrong. He pushes the popular myth (already rejected by cooler heads within the medical profession) that if we were healthier, we'd automatically be *slimmer.* As others have mentioned, he doesn't take individual choice into account. Nor does he so much as mention the ill effects of dieting; from a researcher of eating disorders, such an oversight seems huge.
It has also already been said that Dr. Brownell--also the author of several weight-loss books--is himself a fat man. Does this mean that he *himself* follows an unhealthy lifestyle rather than heeding his own advice to others...and is therefore no better off than anyone *else* his size? Or does it mean that weight loss is *not,* in fact, always a health solution or even a likelihood--and that he is therefore a living flaw in his own argument? Let the reader be the judge.
Not an entirely satisfying read.......2004-11-13
This book hopes to explain why the world is currently facing a childhood obesity crsis. It places blame on multimedia and national apathy, rather than on individual action. While most of the authors points are well made and researched, the book covers material that has been widely available to most North Americans. Solutions are suggested, but some are not well thought out, and perpetuate other social and global concerns such as child labour in third world countries. While educational, this is not an entirely satisfying read.
Eye popping look at America's march to obesity!.......2004-08-03
Yowsa! This is a well researched account of how the food manufacturers are luring Americans into obesity beginning with our children.
Companies use product placement, product endorsement, product sizing and other factors to lure us into purchasing items that are not always the best for our health. By starting with our children, these manufacturers can capture a market and make profits for life.
Take soft drinks for example. Through active promotion, soda companies have encouraged greater consumption. According to Brownell, soda consumption in the eleven through seventeen age group has doubled within the past 20 years. Stores like 7-Eleven have increased the large size of pop from 16 oz to a 64 oz Double Gulp. Celebrities are used to push pop and brand name bottles show up on popular television shows.A twenty ounce bottle of a typical soft drink has 15 teaspoons of sugar. Is it any wonder that soda is the number one cause of obesity in children?
Brownell walks you through shocking examples of how Disney and other characters that are plastered on boxes of usually processed food items capture the child's desire. How sports heros like Michael Jordan (McDonald's) and entertainers like Garth Brooks (Dr. Pepper) are used to sell foods many of which are not in the consumers best interest.
Different manufactureres are out there lobbying to get your dollars and they are not thinking of your expanding girth or health. The sugar industry, for example, encourages the addition of sugar to everything from peanut butter to cereal to condiments to increase their bottomline (Americans consume 152 pounds per person per year).
The idea of MORE FOOD equals value is also covered. Why buy 1 taco at 89cents when you can have two for only a few cents more. Again encouraging consumption. Yes you can upgrade from that minibon to a classic cinnabon for only 48cents. But that 48cents will buy you 370 extra un-needed calories!
Brownell shares in depth the temptation our schools are facing. Many schools are selling out to pizza and soda companies. These rich producers offer millions of dollars to the educational system in exchange for brand placement. The schools eager to supplement their meager resources are loathe to turn it down.
Brownell also gives information on what we can do to stem the tide of the unhealthy food that is being foisted on us. He gives a number of suggestions including incentives for purchasing healthy foods, taxes on non-nutritious food, greater access and lower prices on real food and much more.
Most of us recognize that we are being targeted by the food producers. But as you read through this 358 page book you will realize just how far reaching the problem is. An excellent read for parents who are having a hard time resisting the call of "Blues Clues" fruit treats and for the eater who wonders why they just sucked in a muffin that could easily feed 4.
Excellent information and resource!
Lee Mellott
Being overweight isn't your fault, he says.......2004-07-22
Wow, what a depressing book Kelly Brownell has written. Agribusiness is apparently creating a "toxic environment" for us, especially children, and that environment makes it IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to choose foods wisely.
As social science goes, this is garbage. As for even remotely enlightened insight into how any business works, it's one of the stupidest books I've ever read.
To begin with, Mr. Brownell is obese himself, which is rather shocking from the director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders. Like Dr. Phil McGraw, he has ZERO business writing a book about obesity.
This topic is absolutely, concretely germane to his work. After all, a constant theme in the book is that Big Scary Food Companies have Big Scary Vested Interests in producing "toxic" foods. Wouldn't a fat person have a vested interest in writing a book blaming his fatness on anything other than himself?
Where to begin with the distortions here? My favorite, which is an overarching narrative throughout Food Fight: It's apparently cheaper to eat junk food, according to Brownell, which is why the poor are so much more likely to be obese than the rest of the population.
As someone who made his way through grad school on a weekly food budget of about $25, I'm here to tell you that black beans, brown rice and non-exotic fruits/vegetables bought in season are MUCH cheaper than a $5 trip to McDonald's or Taco Bell three times a day. And the beans/rice/vegetables diet has the added advantage of being nutritionally dense instead of calorically so.
Poor people also smoke, drink alcohol and do drugs at much higher rates than the general population. Is this because ciggies are cheaper than air, gin cheaper than water and drugs cheaper than jogging for endorphins? Does Mr. Brownell not understand that the same people who make poor money/employment/education choices often make poor dietary/substance consumption choices as well? But because he, an important Yale faculty member, is obese, he cannot see the general impulse-control problems that rule poor people's lives.
Brownell is right that we're genetically programmed to want high concentrations of calories. Where he's so wrong it hurts is that he believes the producers, not the consumers, are at fault when eaters overindulge. Again, being obese himself, he probably really believes that he's not in control when he's stuffing Malomars down his gullet.
Bottom line to Kelly Brownell's "science:" People are so dad-blamed stupid that they eat whatever's advertised on TV. They're just zombies with a taste for Big Macs instead of human flesh. Parents are powerless to refuse their children's demands for Ding Dongs and Frosted Flakes. Food companies must quit selling the high-calorie items that are their most popular, or governments must start suing them, a la the tobacco industry.
Moronic. Mr. Brownell needs to start where the real responsibility lies: In his own (obese) mouth.
Book Description
All foods are good. That is the message of this commonsense book that helps parents speak to their kids about food and nutrition. It is a message that is long overdue, especially when you consider that 81 percent of ten-year-olds are afraid of being fat -- half are already dieting -- and twelve million American children are obese. There is a disease gripping our nation's children and it strikes early. Take the Fight Out of Food offers a cure.
This practical guide is filled with hands-on tools and in-depth advice for putting a stop to unhealthy eating habits before they begin. In Take the Fight Out of Food parents will learn how to:
• Understand their own "food legacy" and how it affects their children
• Keep their children connected to food in a positive way
• Talk to their kids about food and nutrition
• Recognize and deal with the six types of eaters --
including the Picky Eater, the Grazer, and the Beige Food Eater
With guidance, inspiration, and encouragement, this invaluable book helps parents to teach their children to eat for life in a positive and healthy family environment.
Customer Reviews:
For PICKY EATERS !!!.......2007-07-30
My grandson is THE pickiest eater I have ever experienced, and this book gave me insight on how to relate to it! Relax, children will eat when they are hungry!!!
makes you feel better.......2005-10-17
There wasn't anything that I thought was revolutionary here, but since I tend to get really stressed when my son doesn't eat (especially since he's pretty slim) this book helped and continues to help me relax some about it. I understand that my pushing food on him is a bad tactic in the long run. So, I'm glad I have it. Two unique things: a focus on our own "food legacy" that for some may ring true but for me was just not really an issue (I didn't have overly involved parents pushing or preventing my food habits) and two-a stronger focus on OVEReaters (reasonable in this era of obesity but far from my area of concern).
It may give you some peace of mind.
Finally a book that really helps.......2005-06-11
Finally a book that really addresses the needs and wants of both parents and children. As a mother of four, I am finally able to help each one of my children develop their own eating styles that will enable them to have a healthy lifestyle. Thank you!
Saved me and my child!.......2005-05-25
"I was constantly running after my 2 year old with food; that's how worried I was that he was too thin. Even though my doctor said not to worry, I always left the office wondering what to do, and how to stop worrying; this book saved me from becoming a nervous wreck and from creating more problems!"
This book saved my life!.......2005-05-14
I was being driven nuts by all my kids' different demands for meals! This book helped me figure out how to deal with all of their differences, and to stop fighting about it with my husband! Excellent guide !
Book Description
An authoritative easy-to-use reference arranged in an A-to-Z format, packed with nutrition tips for a healthier life. Part 1 reveals 50 superstar foods with the most potential to treat and prevent disease. Part 2 provides a powerful food arsenal to help fight 50 common ailments. Part 3 has over 100 recipes for treating and fighting disease.
Customer Reviews:
Eat Your Way to Health.......2004-03-14
I am a culinary student at Le Cordon Bleu, and I just finished my required class on nutrition. This book was most helpful in understanding and supplementing my studies regarding phytochemicals, disease prevention and recipe development. I borrowed it from the library and have renewed it twice, and I love the page per food format for quick reference to see what your favorite meals can do for your health. I have asthma and allergies, and I found out that I should be making meals with amaranth, avocados, quinoa and sunflower seeds (page 141) because they supply magnesium, which may help relax muscles in the lungs. I found that I should be eating apples, berries, cherries, and red onions, which contain quercetin, which has an ability to reduce histamine. I found that I should be incorporating Brazil nuts, fish, oysters, and sunflower seeds again because of their selenium content, which also happens to be an antioxidant, and low selenium blood levels have been found in asthmatics. Finally I found that I should be increasing my consumption of broccoli, citrus fruits, peppers and strawberries, containing vitamin C, which helps reduce the harmful oxidants in the envoronment that can worsen allergy and asthma symptoms. I will be adjusting my menus accordingly!
Book Description
"The evergreen subject of American gluttony and sloth brings out the best in scientist-advocates, and the authors, while drawing on a mountain of statistics and studies, make their indictment both funny and appalling."
--Publishers Weekly
"Brownell and Horgen uncover some of America's biggest diet hazards and how to avoid them."
--Self magazine
"This is a fascinating, empowering must-read filled with practical ways to take action."
--Shape magazine
"Food Fight is . . . an important contribution to the discourse around the obesity epidemic. I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn more about the role of the food industry, and especially to public health advocates looking for clearly presented research and ideas for positive change."
--Michele Simon, founder and director of the Center for Informed Food Choices
Download Description
"Food Fight is... an important contribution to the discourse around the obesity epidemic. I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn more about the role of the food industry, and especially to public health advocates looking for clearly presented research and ideas for positive change."
Customer Reviews:
Bite-Sized Solutions to a Super-Sized Problem.......2005-12-01
After reading the first few chapters of Food Fight, I thought "same old stuff." Americans are too fat, eat a poor diet, don't get enough exercise, what else is new.
After a few more chapters, I became overwhelmed with the magnitude of the problem. The fast food companies and agribusiness corporations are too powerful, health care organizations are not really interested in solving the problem, and even the schools are inundated with Channel One advertising and contracts from soft drink companies. How on earth can we even begin to address this problem? Is there any hope?
Then Brownell gets into solutions. Of course the individual needs to take responsibility and eat less, eat better, and exercise more. But communities need to demand changes, such as limits on what kind of advertising the kids see while they are in school, classes (for kids and adults) on nutrition and exercise, neighborhood walking and bicycle paths in safe places. And governments should be involved as well, providing national ad spots about health and fitness, perhaps using the anti-tobacco campaigns as a guideline.
Brownell discusses the solutions in the last part of the book, then ends with a handy summary of recommended actions. What starts as a rather depressing book turns out to be a positive, optimistic look at what we can do at different levels to tackle a growing problem.
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- Handbook of Emergency Cardiovascular Care: for Healthcare Providers (AHA Handbook of Emergency Cardiovascular Care)
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- He Comes Next: The Thinking Woman's Guide to Pleasuring a Man
- Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations For Working Through Grief
- High-Yield Biostatistics
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Holding and Interpretation: Fragment of an Analysis
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