• Current guidelines on nutrition basics, such as the protein/vitamin B12 group, fats and oils, sugars and sweeteners, water, salt, seaweeds, "green foods" (micro-algae and cereal grasses), calcium, oxygen, and other nutritional concerns

• Discussions of the Chinese healing arts applied to physical and emotional conditions, including the Eight Priniciples (Six Divisions of Yin and Yang), Five Elements, and syndromes of the internal organs

• Information on making a gentle transition from a diet based on animal products to one centered on whole grains and fresh vegetables. Over 300 hearty, purely vegetarian (vegan) recipes, as well as the healing properties of plant and animal foods

• Sections on weight loss, heart and vascular renewal, female health, digestive problems, candida yeast infections, root canals, food combining, fasting, children, pregnancy, and aging. Includes insights from Ayurvedic medicine of India

• Detailed "Regeneration Diets" and herbal treatments for cancer, arthritis, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, AIDS, and other degenerative conditions. Also features a "Parasite Purge Program" tailored to specific body types.

This book is what you need to make enlightened decisions about what to eat, when to eat it and what to combine in order to have a balanced and self-healing diet.

What I liked most about this reference work is that Pitchford doesn't seem to have an "axe to grind" or a new age philosophy to spout. He gives you the bottom line about food, how to prepare it, when to avoid it, how to evaluate it, how to use it to heal yourself or your patients. He doesn't ask you to believe, just to experiment and use your intelligence.

When you buy this book you will find yourself referring to it for years to come. Warning: You will probably end up giving it to someone you love, so get an extra copy for yourself.

I also recommend you check out Conscious Eating by Gabriel Cousens. It is a good companion to this one and presents a raw food Ayurvedic approach. Enjoy.

102 of 104 found the following review helpful:


An exquisite journey into health with whole foods.

  Nov 03, 1996
This is quite simply one of the best books ever published on the subject of health and whole foods.
There are no platitudes in this book.

The symptoms of both health and un-health are delineated; the technical workings of the body are explained; the solutions to physical health are presented.
Whole foods in all their forms are described -- what to eat, how to prepare them, recipes, how they work in the body, what they fix.

This book is two inches thick, and probably contains enough information for a degree in nutrition.
It is extremely readable, but don't think you can read it without a good dictionary. The author takes care to define technical terms, but that's no excuse for not clearing up words you don't know as you read.
Published in 1993, the book contains up-to-date nutritional research as well as traditional herbal remedies.
A good index helps you find exactly what information you need for specific conditions.

While the emphasis is obviously on a vegetarian diet, the author treats meat products as therapeutic for particular nutritional problems, and describes how to use meat products in the most ethical manner.
The book even gets into subjects of health such as root canals, parasites and microwave cooking.
Wherever possible, the author compares Oriental and Occidental viewpoints on health and nutrition, leaving the reader with insights that just are not available from references that only consider one or the other.

I hope I've stimulated your interest. Following recommendations in this book will most certainly improve your health.

141 of 149 found the following review helpful:


MORE COMPLETE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!!!!!  Oct 26, 2003 By Vanessa "musicaleyes9"
If I could give this book 10,000 stars I would. This book is absolutely incredible! Some points:

- This book is HUGE!! 750 pages full of information (I was surprised I didn't have to pay much more for it -- for the amount of info this books contains, I would have easily expected to pay at least twice what it costs!)
- Amazingly well-written!
- Takes no sides, gives you the facts in a clear, concise way
- Complete with theories of Chinese Medicine and descriptions of disease patterns and how to cure them
- Very up-to-date -- this book is not just about old remedies -- it discusses all the issues of the "modern westerner"
- Very well organized with an incredible index that you can use to find absolutely anything
- Lists more foods than you probably know of, as well as the characteristics and therapeutic uses of each
- Provides numerous recipes (though it's not meant to be a cookbook, I was surprised to find that it not only describes the foods, it tells you how to *use* them, how to *prepare* them, and even how to store them!)

If you are looking for a guide to foods that is modern and up-to-date, yet helds to the traditional premises, this is it!
This book made me think about what I've been eating and drinking (and I don't mean alcohol -- you'll find some eye-opening truths here about the water you drink, as well as what the meat, poultry, and eggs go through before they get to your fridge.)
This book made me become a vegan.
This book made me purify my water before I drink it.
This book made me a conscious citizen of the planet!
But don't worry -- there is NO preaching! If you are intent on eating meat -- fine! All the suggestions in this book provide for carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, and everyone in between! It simply tells you te facts and allows you to think for yourself.
Thank you, Paul Pitchford, for putting together such an incredible book -- it's an immense achievment!

43 of 43 found the following review helpful:


Exceptional and pragmatic teaching tool for healers  Oct 24, 1998 By rusyp@mindspring.com
This is possibly the best instructional book of any I have ever read. Pritchford conveys the tenets of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), modern nutrition, biology and spitituality in this primer for healing arts.

This book teaches the symptoms and causes of illness and makes clear recommendations about foods and herbs that should be used to lessen the impacts of toxicity and bring the sick back to health. I have used it extensively and have bought several copies for others, the latest for someone who is responsible for cooking for adolescents in a halfway house for substance abusers. About 1/4 of the book is recipes. Book is extremely well indexed for relationships between disease and herbs/foods that minimize impact of disease.

I have used this book to learn basic - but very solid - understanding of energetic balances between diet, psyche and spirit. Well footnoted with current research. It is a must have.

46 of 47 found the following review helpful:


healing with whole foods  Feb 09, 2001 By Bing Shao
If everyone in this country follows the suggestions about food and health in this book, I believe, there will be much fewer health problems in America.

As an organic integration of Chinese healing practice and western nutrition, this book provides one of the most systematic and comprehensive discussions of the relationship between food and health. Basically, there are three aspects I find most helpful about this book. First, the large scope it covers: from raw food to cooked food, from herbs to animal product, from water to minerals, from food combination to the art of chewing...the book explores these topics in an unhurried, sensible, and lucid manner. The analysis on each of the major foods near the end of the book is useful for the reader to select meal ingredients that can best help improve his/her health. Second, I like the "middle path" approach the author takes, without going to extremes with either his theory or practice. For instance, the author himself practises vegetarianism, as shown by some parts of the book, but he also acknowleges the effectiveness of meat in treating certain deficiencies. Third, I like its flexibility in tuning into each reader's different individual need and condition. For instance, raw vegetables and fruits may help the person who has "heat" signs, but may be too cooling for the person who feels cold constantly, especially in the colder season. So each person can use this book to fit his/her individual needs.

Because of my interest in food, health, and nutrition, I have read widely in these fields. But more often than not, I encounter books that take a narrow-minded, absolute, almost fanatic approach that makes you wonder what they are really selling. Paul Pitchford's book, however, impresses me as honest, intelligent advices given by a trusted friend, who has a full grasp of the eastern (mostly Chinese) food healing art, and discusses it from the perspective of western nutrition.

I only wish my copy of this book were a hard-cover so it probably could better withstand my frequent consulting (for almost three years).

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