THE TOTAL TEA EXPERIENCE
The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook
By Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss
TEN SPEED PRESS (www.tenspeed.com), 200 PAGES, $16.99
The World in Your Teacup
By Lisa Boalt Richardson
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
(www.harvesthousepublishers.com), 72 PAGES, $24.99
Culinary Tea
By Cynthia Gold and Lisë Stern
RUNNING PRESS (www.runningpresscooks.com), 288 PAGES, $22.95
“If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty,” says a Japanese proverb. Most tea drinkers wouldn’t go quite that far, but they couldn’t imagine a day without the beverage that is second only to water as the world’s favorite. Even in coffee-crazy America, tea—and the culture that surrounds it—has found an appreciative audience, which explains the continued outpouring of books on this subject from almost every possible angle.
If you want to learn more about the brew itself, The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook: A Guide to Enjoying the World’s Best Teas is a good place to start. Written by Mary Lou and Robert Heiss, long-time tea retailers and travelers in tea-producing areas of the world, this book provides an introduction to teas in six classes—green, yellow, white, oolong, black and pu-erh, a fermented type—along with helpful information on buying, storing and brewing tea. The Heisses believe that “learning as much as possible about tea and the process of artisan tea manufacture will heighten your enjoyment of each cup you steep.”
Part of the enjoyment tea brings lies in the different rituals that have grown up around teatime in various parts of the world. In The World in Your Teacup: Celebrating Tea Traditions Near and Far, certified tea specialist Lisa Boalt Richardson takes the reader on a tour of tea traditions in eight countries: China, England, Kenya, Russia, Iran, France, Morocco and the US. Each section gives an overview of how tea culture developed in that country down to the present day. For instance, the section on England describes the difference between “low” and “high” tea; the first was an afternoon amusement for people seated on low, comfy chairs, the second a workingman’s substantial dinner served at high dining room tables. Richardson also provides recipes in each section for favorite teatime dishes, such as noodle babka in Russia and a basil and goat cheese-accented burger as an accompaniment to iced tea in the United States.
From foods served with tea to foods made with tea: Culinary Tea provides more than 100 recipes in which tea stars as a main ingredient. “There are myriad ways in which tea can enhance a dish, and a variety of techniques that bring out the best flavor in both the tea and the complementary ingredients,” say Cynthia Gold, a chef, and Lisë Stern, a food writer. Their book begins with a guide to not only the different types of tea but also to their flavor profiles and which foods each complements: a strong black Assam with dark chocolate and sharp cheeses, a delicate green sencha with seafood, eggs and lightly cooked vegetables. Gold and Stern then show how to meld those flavors into specific recipes: Green Tea-Poached Chicken Salad, Lapsang Souchong Scallops Cerviche, Asian-Spiced Tea, Honey and Pink Peppercorn Ice Cream.
In the introduction to The World in Your Teacup, Richardson tells of how she talked tea with two nurses, one from Kenya and the other from Malawi, in her son’s hospital room after an operation. “It then dawned on me that here are three women, all from different countries, who have been united because of their love of tea,” she writes. “We might not have had anything else in common, but we experienced a bond by sharing our thoughts on that single beverage.” By helping you select, cook with and create rituals around tea, these three books give you the background you need to widen your own circle of tea-loving friends. —Lisa James
REVIEWS ARCHIVES
ADAPTING TO STRESS THROUGH CHINESE MEDICINE
Power of the Five Elements
By Charles Moss, MD
NORTH ATLANTIC BOOKS (www.northatlanticbooks.com),
298 PAGES, $18.95
One of stress’s most disturbing effects is a sense of being out of balance, that staggering, blown-sideways-through-life sensation which can lead to such unhealthy behaviors as eating too much and exercising too little. The best way to control stress is by gracefully adapting to the curveballs life throws at you. But how do you do that?
One answer comes from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), in which bringing the body’s energy patterns into balance is a key aspect of well-being. The key to this balance, according to integrative medicine practitioner Charles Moss, is learning healthy ways of adapting to stress. “Premature aging and most illnesses are the result of failed adaptation, which lead to elevated levels of the main stress hormone, cortisol,” Moss says in Power of the Five Elements. The elements in question—Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water—represent cycles of energy movement in both nature and the body. Moss says that once you know which element matches your adaptation type you can be at home in your own skin no matter what’s going on in your life.
For instance, you might be a Wood person. According to Moss, this means you are organized and self-assertive when adapted but inflexible and hostile when you’re not. Maladaption among Wood types is often associated with headaches, fatigue and vision issues. To overcome these problems, Moss offers 10 adaptation keys that include practicing forgiveness, learning patience and taking a big-picture view of life instead of obsessing over minor details. He also supplies a chart of acupressure points for self-treatment and a set of action steps, such as “when you have a cynical or hostile thought, mindfully observe it and let it go.” The book presents similar overviews of the other four elements.
Moss quotes the ancient Chinese philosopher Sengstan: “When the deep meaning of things is not understood the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.” Power of the Five Elements provides a unique way of finding that essential peace for the sake of both mind and body. –Lisa James
The Winner’s Brain: Eight Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success
DA CAPO PRESS (www.dacapopress.com), 226 PAGES, $25.00
“If only I was as smart as my sister.” “If only I didn’t have to drop out of school to support my family.” “If only I had gotten that job I really wanted.” “If only….”
Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske have heard all the reasons why people don’t get what they want out of life—and they’re not buying any of it. “Contrary to popular belief, high personal achievement has very little to do with your IQ, your life circumstances, your financial resources, knowing the right people or even luck,” they say in The Winner’s Brain. Instead, Brown, a psychologist, and Fenske, a neuroscientist, believe that anyone can make a conscious effort to improve their lives through eight inter-related factors: self-awareness, motivation, focus, emotional balance, memory, resilience, adaptability and proper brain care. In The Winner’s Brain Brown and Fenske present the latest research on behavior and brain physiology; they then explain how you can use that knowledge to turn obstacles into springboards for accomplishment. Interspersed throughout the book are “Brainstorms,” boxed items that offer tips on specific tasks, such as setting short-term goals and purging your brain of useless information.
“Success is attained by using your brain’s faculties to respond to the circumstances and challenges you face in life,” say Brown and Fenske. If success is your desired destination, The Winner’s Brain provides a useful road map. —Lisa James
The Uterine Health Companion
By Eve Agee, PhD
CELESTIAL ARTS (www.tenspeed.com), 248 PAGES, $16.99
Just as many women have love/hate relationships with their bodies in terms of their weight or shape, many also hold contradictory feelings about the uterus: The womb that nurtures new life is subject to a long list of ailments, some debilitating. And unlike breasts, which draw attention both from the opposite sex and in terms of cancer prevention advocacy, the uterus is something that’s not spoken of in polite company—or in most any company, for that matter.
“Forgotten, cursed or ignored, our uteruses are considered by most of us to be either problematic or insignificant—except on the occasions we focus our attention on becoming pregnant,” says Eve Agee, a medical anthropologist trained in various alternative healing arts. Her book, The Uterine Health Companion, is designed to help women relate to this often-misunderstood organ in a way that promotes uterine well-being from puberty to menopause.
The book’s first part provides what Agee calls a road map to the uterus, which, as she explains, is more than just temporary housing for a child. “The uterus is important hormonally, protecting our heart health,” Agee says. “It plays an essential role in our anatomical structure and posture.” Part One introduces Agee’s “cornerstones” of uterine health: stress reduction, whole foods, proper sleep, adequate exercise, detoxification, limited hormone use and effective practitioner-patient communication. Agee expands on these concepts in the book’s second part, which provides an “optimal uterine health plan” that includes such topics as breathwork, proper eating and strengthening the body. The third part covers specific aspects of uterine health, including normal occurrences—menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth, menopause—and the disorders endometriosis and fibroids, along with a chapter on hysterectomy. In each chapter Agee presents both biomedical and holistic options for maintaining healthy uterine functioning.
“Early humans were so in awe of the transformative and creative power of the uterus that they painted it on cave walls,” says Agee. “Along with incorporating nutrition, exercise and stress reduction into your life, develop beliefs that affirm your right to be healthy and happy.” The Uterine Health Companion offers valuable insights on how to achieve that goal. —Lisa James
It’s not too late to put your green thumb to work, and there’s a new crop of gardening books to get you started. Whether you are cultivating herbs in a small starter garden or tackling a large organic farm, Energy Times has selected a few highly practical books to help you nurture this healthy pastime. So slide your hands into the rich brown earth and follow through to the tableside family get-together. Enjoy the harvest.
A Complete Practical Guide to Planting, Cultivating,
and Harvesting Fruits and Vegetables
DK (WWW.DK.COM)
352 pages, $22.95
DK is known for its library of easily readable, practical and beautifully illustrated books. The Kitchen Garden fits that bill. The Kitchen Garden gives the reader his or her money’s worth because it explores gardening not just in springtime but as a year-round endeavor. A month-by-month calendar of tips includes pruning apple or pear trees in January to building raised beds in October to storing crops for the winter in November and December. A special “crop planner” section details ideas on tending an array of specific crops, from root and stem vegetables to onions and fruit, while a troubleshooting guide helps you diagnose problems, identify plant diseases and deal with common pests and parasites. For anyone wishing to follow the mantra “fresh, seasonal, local,” author Buckingham’s The Kitchen Garden is a healthy place to start.
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The Beginner’s Guide to Edible Herbs
26 Herbs Everyone Should Grow & Enjoy
STOREY PUBLISHING (WWW.STOREY.COM)
145 pages, $12.95
Good things come in small packages, as in the relatively small containers you might use to grow the herbs detailed in this little gem of a book. Many of the stars of the herb family show up here, like dill, mint, chives and oregano, but Smith also puts the spotlight on borage and calendula. In each of the 26 sections, advice on growing, harvesting, using and preserving accompanies recipes, for teas, juices, desserts, even ketchup. The aforementioned calendula is less-expensive saffron that Smith says not only has medicinal uses but would be a nice addition to lemon cheesecake. Like some of the herbs cited here, The Beginner’s Guide to Edible Herbs is short but sweet.
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24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens
STOREY PUBLISHING (WWW.STOREY.COM)
180 pages, $19.95 paper, $29.95 hardcover
Starter Vegetable Gardens includes lovely soft-colored illustrations of garden plans in grids that can help budding gardeners live up to the “no-fail” part of this book’s subtitle. Pleasant wants you to embrace gardening for the long haul; she opens Starter Vegetable Gardens by showing how these plans should evolve over three years. A suitable garden for first timers, for example, is the 8-ft x 8-ft. “Marinara Medley” plan, with room for tomatoes, Italian parsley, Greek oregano, basil, bulb onions and peppers. Pleasant doesn’t set you out on your own and leave you abandoned—she offers advice for different stages throughout the growing season. In the last section of Starter Vegetable Gardens, Pleasant lists her top choices for garden-worthy varieties, including beans, peppers and pumpkins, and her 10 “must-have” herbs, chives and dill among them.
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The Essential Guide to More Than 125 of Nature’s Most Potent Herbal Remedies
RODALE BOOKS (WWW.RODALESTORE.COM)
562 pages, $23.99
The New Healing Herbs offers some growing tips but is far more valuable for profiling up-and-coming herbs, including boswellia, hibiscus, maitake mushrooms and rhodiola, and shedding light on new discoveries about the therapeutic benefits of popular herbs such as gingko and St. John’s wort. With healing histories and therapeutic uses of the vast array of herbs it covers, The New Healing Herbs can certainly be embraced as a gardener’s companion, but best put to use either in deciding what you want to plant or once your herbs are cultivated.
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A Complete Guide for Every Meal of the Day
SKYHORSE PUBLISHING (WWW.SKYHORSEPUBLISHING.COM)
174 pages, $14.95
With stunning photographs and easy-to-follow recipes, Raw Food is a boon in any gardener’s kitchen. From detoxing to jumpstarting your morning with an energy-boosting breakfast, Raw Food is a mouth-watering guide to the many incarnations of fruits, berries, vegetables, seeds, nuts, algae, sprouts, legumes, honey, cold-pressed oil that can be brought to the table and liven up even the most traditional of dishes. Consider the unique spin on a Waldorf salad; authors Palmcrantz and Lilja add arame and clover sprouts to their version to bring out the taste of the other ingredients. After the harvest, here’s what to do with your raw food bounty.
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A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Running a Certified Organic Farm
STOREY PUBLISHING (WWW.STOREY.COM)
437 pages, $29.95
What this manual lacks in color and illustration, it more than makes up for in depth and breadth of useful guidance. This manual is not for the faint-hearted or the seasonal kitchen tiller: It’s for dedicated souls who want to get started raising poultry, livestock, produce, crops and dairy—and do it all organically. Getting certified and marketing your goods are also addressed. Particularly useful in helping you not feel like your charting new territory here are the profiles of successful farmers seeded throughout the book. Whether you take the big leap or not, the more folks that follow through on what this book offers, the more we all benefit.
CARING FOR THE EARTH,
ONE STEP AT A TIME
The Circumference of Home:
One Man’s Yearlong Quest for a Radically Local Life
By Kurt Hoelting
DA CAPO PRESS (www.dacapopress.com), 282 PAGES, $25.00
It is interesting to note how the environmental movement has evolved since the first Earth Day. The idea in 1970 was a simple one—saving the earth from ecological havoc. And while that was a necessary start, we have spent the past four decades refining that message into a series of interrelated concepts, from climate change to species preservation. One of the latest ideas is that of the carbon footprint, or the amount of carbon-spewing resources each of us consumes as we live our technologically sophisticated lives.
Kurt Hoelting, a fisherman, wilderness guide and meditation teacher, thought he was leading a fairly low-carbon lifestyle in Washington state; he drove a hybrid car and otherwise limited his personal energy usage. So Hoelting was shocked when he took an online carbon footprint survey and learned that, thanks to a penchant for jet travel, his footprint was more than twice the national average. “For someone who prides himself on living low on the energy food chain, this was not something I could take sitting down,” Hoelting says. He meant that literally: Hoelting decided to spend a year traveling “exclusively by foot, bicycle, kayak and public transportation” inside a 100-kilometer (62 mile) circle around his Whidbey Island home.
The Circumference of Home chronicles Hoelting’s year of traveling lightly. His trips include a four-mile hike to the ferry, a three-day paddle around the island and a 200-mile bicycle ride with his collage-age son, Alex. Hoelting notes the physical discipline of travel by muscle power: “I study the weariness in my body with…fascination, almost like meeting an old friend again,” he says. But just as important as his travels by foot, pedal and oar is the inner journey that takes Hoelting back to his environmental principles. “If there is any integrity in what I have done, I will not stop here,” he says in the book’s epilogue. “This year was simply my own first step toward a more enduring practice of place.”
You might not be ready to give up your car, no matter what the environmental or health benefits might be. But if you’ve been wondering what practices could bring you closer to an earth-friendly lifestyle, reading The Circumference of Home would be a good place to start. —Lisa James
Our Chemical Lives and the Hijacking of Our DNA
By Catherine J. Frompovich
www.catherinejfrompovich.com, 394 PAGES, $20.99
Most of us are aware—on some level, at least—of the number and variety of man-made chemicals in which we and our environment are drenched. The powers that be tell us not to worry, that they are working to protect us, that we are safe. But how safe are we, exactly?
Not very, according to Catherine Frompovich. “Whether we are aware of it or not, toxic residues accumulate moment to moment, day by day, and with every interaction consumers have with most commodities because of the ubiquitous presence of untold toxic chemicals in food, water, consumer products and the air we breathe. It’s truly disturbing,” writes Frompovich in the introduction to Our Chemical Lives. She then uses the next 26 chapters to make her case: Powerful chemicals in food, cosmetics and other products sicken countless people by causing mutations in DNA, the molecule that contains our genetic code—while the government agencies charged with protecting us act as a “paper tiger without teeth.”
Frompovich not only has a knack for making the heavy science involved in Our Chemical Lives comprehensible to the average reader but also lightens what could be a depressing read with a basically optimistic outlook. “I believe a transformation can take place if we want it to,” she says.
“The first step begins with educating ourselves about the possibilities of what can happen if we don’t change our chemical lives.” (You can obtain the book and sign the Consumers Toxin-free Bill of Rights by visiting Frompovich’s website; see above.) —Lisa James
Radical Forgiveness
SOUNDS TRUE (www.soundstrue.com), 364 PAGES, $16.95
Anger over wrongs, real or perceived, is a universal human condition—we have all felt betrayed at one time or another. And while the old adage “to err is human, to forgive divine” may be true no one will claim it’s easy, even though research indicates that being able to forgive and move on can promote emotional and physical well-being.
Colin Tipping, who has been giving forgiveness workshops for nearly 20 years, knows something about that vast sea of pain. “I have heard enough horror stories,” he writes in Radical Forgiveness, “to convince me that there is not a human being on the planet who has not been seriously victimized at least once, and in minor ways more times than they could count.” Founder of the Institute for Radical Forgiveness Therapy and Coaching in Atlanta (www.radicalforgiveness.com), Tipping has created a program based on telling the story of your life—and then telling it anew after being transformed by what he calls “spiritual intelligence.”
Radical Forgiveness opens with a chapter showing Tipping’s plan in action. This case study, in which Tipping helps his sister resolve a marital crisis, gives the reader an immediate sense of how radical forgiveness works. The next two parts of the book explain this concept in detail; basically Tipping says that we are spiritual beings who have been sent to a classroom—the world around us—to learn how to return to the unity from which we all came. This point of view sees suffering as a necessary step. “At the soul level, we get precisely what we need in our lives for our spiritual growth,” Tipping writes. Part of this process involves attracting other people into our lives, through the Law of Resonance, who help us work through our issues without anyone being conscious of that fact. For example, if you fear abandonment, you’ll tend to attract people who leave you.
In the last part of the book, Tipping explains how to put Radical Forgiveness into action. First you tell your story (“My father abandoned me, and now my husband is threatening to leave me”) to someone who honors it compassionately. Then you allow yourself to feel the feelings that story generates (“I feel scared and lonely when someone I love leaves”). You then collapse your story by re-examining the beliefs it created (“My father abandoned me, so all men will abandon me”); and reframe it by shifting your perceptions (“I don’t have to keep being a victim”). Finally, you integrate your new knowledge into the old story (“I can forgive my husband whether he leaves or not”). Worksheets are provided to help you work through the process yourself.
Tipping calls radical forgiveness “a way for each of us, both individually and collectively, to make a significant difference in the world.” But before we can change the world we must change ourselves. Radical Forgiveness provides a blueprint for that often painful, but crucial, transformation. —Lisa James
HEALTHY DECADENCE
The Healing Powers of Chocolate
By Cal Orey
KENSINGTON (www.kensingtonbooks.com), 302 PAGES, $14.00
In mid-February, a young (or not-so-young) girl’s thoughts turn to…chocolate. Running neck-and-neck with a rose bouquet as the most popular Valentine’s Day gift ever, this seductive sweet is a well-known ladies’ favorite. (That explains the presence of refrigerator magnets which proclaim, “Promise me anything but give me chocolate.”) The reports that first surfaced several years ago of chocolate actually being good for you (in reasonable amounts, of course) was a female dream come true.
And the news regarding chocolate and health keeps getting better. That’s the premise of The Healing Powers of Chocolate, a compendium of just about everything you would want to know on the subject. Along with remedies, recipes and resources, author Cal Orey provides an overview of the substances that give chocolate—specifically, the dark variety—its antioxidant, heart-healthy and immune-supporting properties. When used as part of an overall healthy diet, dark chocolate can aid in keeping a diet on track as well as helping to control blood pressure and cholesterol levels. It can also help protect the hearts of people who have diabetes; chocolate’s flavonols “seem to make the arteries expand—and this will help lessen the risk of heart disease that often comes with type 2 diabetes,” Orey says. Other chapters in the book cover topics such as chocolate’s history, its use in beauty regimens and a rundown of chocolate types and terms, along with discussions of other healthy foods, such as nuts, that work well with chocolate.
“I’ll show you, page by page, how this ancient ‘food of the gods’ can be your best friend,” Orey writes in the preface to The Healing Powers of Chocolate. The rest of the book lives up to that claim—and should claim a place on every chocoholic’s bookshelf. —Lisa James
Watchful Eyes: A Caregiver’s Companion
By Sheila Singleton
iUNIVERSE (www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore), 120 PAGES
In study after study, caregivers—people who, with no medical training, help loved ones deal with serious health issues—often suffer physical and emotional harm themselves. Feelings of loss and depression, grinding fatigue, social withdrawal, poor dietary habits and work difficulties have all been recognized as signs of caregiver burnout.
A number of books have been written to guide caregivers through the perils they face. One of the most down-to-earth, yet heart-wrenching, examples of this growing genre is Watchful Eyes. “My fifteen-year-old sister tried to commit suicide by attempting to jump off a tenth-floor terrace after our mother died in 1974,” writes Sheila Singleton in the book’s first sentence. Singleton became a caregiver early when, at age 25, she took Nancy, her mentally ill sister, into her home to live with Singleton’s family of two children and a husband who “wanted nothing to do with [Nancy’s] ‘crazy problems.’”
Watchful Eyes shows how Singleton rose to the challenge of caring for Nancy, who was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. Each chapter concludes with one or more insights, bits of wisdom that Singleton has gleaned from her experiences. One example: “When caring for a sick person, you must take an objective look into yourself. Make sure you are ready to take on the task of caregiving in a nonthreatening and positive way.” The last chapter is aimed squarely at caregivers who neglect their own health. “It is not so easy to focus on your wellness while you’re busy caring for a sick relative,” Singleton writes, “but it is important for you to be attentive to the warning signals your body sends.” Appendices and a bibliography provide additional information.
Caring for Nancy led Singleton to a new calling as a licensed social worker. You may not go that far in your efforts to help someone you love. But Watchful Eyes provides the kind of thoughtful, I’ve-been-there advice that can help you be a good caregiver without burning out. (To order this book, go to the website above and type “Watchful Eyes” into the search engine, top right.) —Lisa James
Books for Healthy Eating
The new year no doubt will see the release of troves of diet and health books, but there are plenty that have come out in 2009 and earlier that are worth another look--or a first look if you missed them the first time around. We've identified a few that will help you take care of yourself and those you care about.
Gourmet Today:
More than 1000 All-New Recipes for the
Contemporary Kitchen
Edited by Ruth Reichl (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt),
1,024 pages, $40.
These recipes from Gourmet magazine editor in chief Ruth Reichl consider new healthy and conscientious consumer thinking. The book takes into account the rapidly accelerating farmers’ market movement. And though the book also aims to demystify cooking beef, a whole chapter is devoted to vegetarian main dishes like Roast Pumpkin with Cheese Fondue, Bean Burritos and Zucchini Curry. Reichl offers recipes and tips to expand your fish repertoire healthfully and sustainably. As Reichl notes, “Conspicuous consumption has become an embarrassment rather than a point of pride.”
The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook:
How to Bake Without Gluten, Wheat, Dairy, Eggs, Soy, Peanuts, Tree Nuts and Sesame
By Cybele Pascal
Celestial Arts (www.randomhouse.com/crown/tenspeed),
190 pages, $25.00
It seems that more people nowadays are allergic to one or more common foods. And all of them want to enjoy what they’re eating instead of simply enduring a bland, no-taste diet. If you or someone you love falls into this category, The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook will let you create muffins, cookies, cakes and other baked goods that are both tasty and good for you. Author Cybele Pascal—a food writer whose son suffers from food allergies—supports her 100 vegan recipes with chapters on stocking, and baking with, an allergen-free pantry. The book also includes a resource list for hard-to-find specialty items.
I Know How to Cook
By Ginette Mathiot (Phaidon Press) 976 pages, $45
Considered the bible of French cooking, this volume was first published in 1932 and is just now available in English. Considering the early era in which her book was first published, Mathiot was remarkably forward-thinking in considering the deeper values that go into cooking and consuming food. “In modern times,” she writes, “as the science behind food becomes better known—sometimes to the exclusion of simple pleasures—our diet is too often left to habit and prejudice, or depends on chance or whim. But knowing how to provide food for yourself is a science thst cannot be neglected without harming your health and your family budget.” Again, it’s a general and thorough cookbook, with loads of meat and poultry recipes, but you’ll relish Mathiot’s many delicious sauces, vegetables and salads.
How to Cook Everything
(Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition),
2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food
By Mark Bittman (Wiley) 1,056 pages, $35.
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian:
Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food
By Mark Bittman (Wiley) 1,024 pages, $35.
Food Matters:
A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes
By Mark Bittman (Simon & Schuster) 336 pages, $25.
An avid home cook for more than 40 years, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman has gained popularity for his book How to Cook Everything, published in 1998, and other works. Keeping up with the times and the increasingly popular trend to eat for health and sustainably, Bittman followed up with How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food in 2007 and Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes in late 2008. With the thorough, recipe-rich How to… books, in particular, you’ll be hard-pressed to feel the need to pick up another cookbook, and the original is available in a revised 10th anniversary edition whose graphics make it more user-friendly. There are plenty of healthy dishes in that first volume, too.
JOYFUL BY DESIGN
Emotional Wisdom:
Daily Tools for Transforming Anger, Depression and Fear
By Mantak Chia and Dena Saxer
NEW WORLD LIBRARY (www.newworldlibrary.com), 224 PAGES, $14.95
Anger. Depression. Fear. Most of us try as hard as we can to keep these dark feelings at bay. At the very least, we tolerate them as necessary evils. But what if instead of turning away from negative emotions we tuned into them, listening carefully to the life-changing messages they might contain?
Turning joy-sapping lemons into wellness lemonade is the approach recommended by the authors of Emotional Wisdom. Drawing on the Tao, the ancient philosophy that supports Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Mantak Chia and Dena Saxer believe that these feelings “tell us that something is out of balance and needs to be changed.” According to Chia and Saxer, no emotion is “good” or “bad” in and of itself. Each is simply a form of the energy that permeates all creation, and as such can be put to use in helping both body and mind achieve harmony and well-being.
The heart of Emotional Wisdom is the second part; in it each chapter deals with a different set of emotions, explaining the messages these feelings signal and how they affect the TCM organ system before giving advice on how to resolve them. In the chapter on sadness and depression, for example, Chia and Saxer address the different sources of these emotions—the death of a loved one, the loss of a business or a relationship, the loneliness that permeates modern life. They suggest grieving setbacks deeply and sincerely but to not linger in them; as the authors put it, “Since life is finite, we’d best concentrate on what is truly important to us.” Chia and Saxer then show how sadness and depression affect the body by settling into the lungs and large intestine, where they can produce ailments that include frequent respiratory infections and constipation. Food is the first line of defense in TCM, so Chia and Saxer recommend foods that can promote healing. For example, “fall is the season when our lungs and large intestine are working the hardest,” they write. “Fruits that ripen primarily in the fall, such as grapes, persimmons, apples and pears, are excellent for these organs.” In addition to food, chapters in this part discuss such paths to healing as color therapy and specific exercises. Other parts of the book provide an overview of the Tao, instructions on how to use healing sounds and an emotional picker-upper Chia and Saxer call “the Inner Smile,” and ways to release resistant emotions.
According to the authors, Emotional Wisdom provides “concise, accessible formulas for releasing the toxins of anger, sadness, fear or anxiety.” If you have been dogged by these powerful—but potentially transformative—emotions, you may find this book helpful.—Lisa James
THE SKINNY ON BODY FAT
The Brown Fat Revolution:
Trigger Your Body’s Good Fat to Lose Weight and Be Healthier
By James R. Lyons, MD
St. Martin’s Press (www.stmartins.com), 276 PAGES, $24.99
Fat has undergone quite an evolution over the past two decades. At first it was always bad, bad in the body and bad on the plate. Then we learned that some kinds of dietary fat, most notably the omega-3 fatty acids, were actually good for you. Now we are learning that body fat isn’t always a bad thing, either. Scientists have recently discovered a difference between yellow fat, the stuff that pads middles and hangs from arms, and brown fat—a type that burns excess calories instead of storing them.
In a world in which every dietary discovery winds up in the bookstores, it’s no surprise that someone has seized upon the brown-fat phenomenon as the basis of a new diet. In this case it is James Lyons, MD, Connecticut plastic surgeon and author of The Brown Fat Revolution, who says that fat composition is associated with age. “Brown fat is typical of youthful curves and excellent nutrition and health,” he writes. “Yellow fat is typical of age and poor nutrition; it creates the characteristic face and body shapes that we associate with aging.” Taking its color from a rich supply of blood vessels, brown fat is compact and firmly bound to surrounding bodily structures. In contrast, the yellow type is loosely bound by overstretched connective tissue, which gives it a blobby look and texture.
In the first part of his book Lyons lays out the science behind brown fat, showing how the changeover from brown fat to yellow accounts for such outward signs of age as facial wrinkles and flabby thighs. He also explains how these changes stem from the effect brown/yellow fat balances has on hormonal levels, especially the hormonal changes women go through as the pass through their thirties and forties into their fifties.
The second and third parts of Brown Fat Revolution provide eating and exercise plans, respectively, designed to raise your metabolism so that the yellow fat is burned off, leaving only the brown variety behind. Lyons believes in eating six times a day to “keep your metabolism on an even keel,” especially before and after workouts. However, the most distinctive diet recommendation in this book is that you eat carbohydrates and proteins on alternative days. As a result “insulin will be evenly secreted in your body,” according to Lyons, which he says will translate into more fat being metabolized—with fewer cases of the raging munchies. To make things easier for the reader, specific meal plans are provided. Lyons’ exercise program focuses on core strength developed through use of bungee cords and hand weights; again, detailed, day-by-day plans make the program easier to follow.
“Good brown fat is transformative,” says Lyons. If such a transformation interests you, you should check out The Brown Fat Revolution.—Lisa James
Think Confident, Be Confident:
A Four-Step Program to Eliminate Doubt and Achieve Lifelong Self-Esteem
By Leslie Sokol, PhD and Marci G. Fox, PhD
PERIGEE (www.perigeebooks.com), 240 PAGES, $14.95
A life without self-confidence is a life filled with “should’ve, could’ve, would’ve”: jobs not taken, relationships not pursued, dreams not fulfilled. The good news, according to the authors of Think Confident, Be Confident, is that such self-assurance isn’t just an inborn gift. “Doubt is a needless barrier to success,” say psychologists Leslie Sokol and Marci Fox. They have based their book on cognitive therapy, the idea that you can change your emotions (and the behaviors they trigger) by changing your thinking patterns.
As the subtitle indicates, the authors’ program is divided into four steps. The first, “Label It,” helps the reader determine where doubt comes from and how it influences one’s self-image. In “Question It,” the reader learns how to check doubt against reality—“It’s time to put that logical part of your brain back in the driver’s seat and stop accepting doubt as irrefutable evidence,” according to the authors—and how to let go of the distortions in perception that doubt produces. “Rethink It” contains advice on how to form healthier thinking patterns and live without self-doubt. The final part, “Take Action,” shows the reader how to put the lessons learned in previous sections to use in the real world. Throughout the book Sokol and Fox use bulleted lists, quizzes and self-analytical tools to keep the reader moving smartly through the program.
If doubt and a lack of self-confidence have kept you from living the life you’ve always wanted, take heart. Think Confident, Be Confident can help turn frustration into fruition. —Lisa James
FIGHTING CANCER WITH A FORK
The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen:
Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery
By Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson
CELESTIAL ARTS (www.tenspeed.com), 222 PAGES, $32.50
While cancer continues to strike millions of Americans each year, it is important to remember the progress we’ve made in what was once called “the war on cancer.” For one thing, we know more than we ever did of how malignancies start, develop and spread. We also know that cancer isn’t just a random calamity born of faulty genetics—that a healthy lifestyle can do a great deal to help reduce one’s cancer risk.
However, perhaps the biggest sign of progress is the fact that there are millions of Americans who are surviving encounters with what was once thought of as an invariably fatal disease. It is to those people that The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen is addressed. Working with what she calls “the power of yum,” author Rebecca Katz (www.rebeccakatz.com)—nutrition educator at Commonweal's Cancer Help Program in Bolinas, California—believes that food can be both therapeutic and tasty. To that end she tells the reader which of the book’s 150 recipes are best suited for which therapy side effects, such as fatigue or nausea, and gives advice on menu planning for chemotherapy.
(Many people experience a metallic taste in their mouths when undergoing treatment; this troublesome side effect rates its own section in the chapter.) In addition to providing nutrition information for each recipe, Katz also gives prep/cook times and storage tips, a thoughtful touch for people whose energy levels can fluctuate throughout treatment. The recipes themselves lean heavily on fresh produce and spices, making them healthy for both cancer patients and their families—and making the book a valuable resource for anyone looking to reduce their risk of either recurrent or first-time cancer.
“Think of this book as a toolbox, full of great ideas that can entice you to eat with a minimum of stress in the kitchen,” writes Katz. If you or someone you love is battling this tough, tenacious illness, you’ll want to use every tool The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen provides.—Lisa James
Creamy Millet
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup water
1 cup millet*, rinsed well
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp allspice
3/4 cup almond milk (can substitute soy or rice milk)
1/4 tsp orange zest
1 tbsp unrefined virgin coconut oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
*Millet is a nutritious, small-seeded grain popular in arid parts of Africa, China and India.
Topping
Blueberry Compote (see below)
2 tbsp toasted slivered almonds
- Bring the orange juice and water to a boil in a small saucepan, then stir in the millet, salt and spices. Once it returns to a gentle boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
- Pour in the almond milk and stir until incorporated, breaking up any clumps of millet (which should be soft and have the consistency of oatmeal). Stir in the orange zest, coconut oil and maple syrup. Serve topped with the compote and almonds.
Serves 4. Analysis per serving: 355 calories, 8g protein, 8.4g fat (3.5g saturated), 7g fiber,
64g carbohydrates, 330 mg sodium
Reprinted with permission from The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery. Copyright © 2009 by Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson, Celestial Arts, a division of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA. Photo Credit: Leo Gong
Blueberry Compote
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
1 tsp freshly squeezed orange or lemon juice
1 tsp orange or lemon zest
1 tsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp ground ginger
- Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture bubbles, pulls away from the side of the pan and becomes syrupy.
Makes 1 1/4 cups. Analysis per serving: 30 calories, 0g protein, 0.4g fat (0g saturated), 2g fiber, 8g carbohydrates, 0 mg sodium
Reprinted with permission from The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen
JOYFUL TALES OF CHANGE
The Secret Pleasures of
Menopause Playbook
By Christiane Northrup, MD
HAY HOUSE, 222 PAGES, $15.95
When you were 15, your mother was hopelessly out of touch.
Secretly, perhaps, you admired her. You might have even wanted to be like her someday. But when you were 15, you were certain that your mother was the most un-hip person in the world.
When you were 15, 45 seemed so old.
Don’t you wish you could tell your former 15-year-old self a thing or two? By now, you’ve conquered 45 and beyond; you are seasoned and more experienced, and life is good. But it’s always informative to see how other women have learned to embrace midlife. That’s the subject of The Secret Pleasures of Menopause Playbook by Christiane Northrup, MD, a recognized authority on women’s health.
Northrup, whose books include Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause, says she has been surprised and pleased at the number of personal stories readers have sent her. These stories have been “touching and creative,” she says, “from women who definitely saw midlife as the start of the absolute best years of their lives.” She adds, “Their stories prove that the pursuit of pleasure is hardly an indulgence; it’s a life-affirming necessity!”
To live passionate and joyful lives, Northrup claims, women should learn to bring more nitric oxide into their lives. Not to be confused with nitrous oxide, the stuff your dentist uses, nitric oxide is a natural molecule that Northrup believes helps your body to stay healthy and thus, happy. “It literally resets your power grid,” she says.
According to Northrup, there are six ways to maximize nitric oxide: Associate yourself with positive people; eat well, exercise and watch your weight; take pride in yourself; move forward, not backward; realize that you are what you believe you are; and know that sex and health go hand-in-hand.
Search “nitric oxide” online and you might be a little skeptical about the idea of maximizing this substance by doing good things for yourself. But what Northrup herself writes isn’t where the real joy in this book lies; the best parts are the stories that she includes.
The Secret Pleasures of Menopause Playbook is filled with short testimonies from women in their forties, fifties, sixties and beyond who embrace the six tenets that Northrup advocates. Following each chapter are lined pages for you to add your own thoughts, the challenges you want to overcome and the commitments you will make for your future.
The tales in this book are told by women who have survived, thrived and learned to embrace this time of their lives. They’ve “found” exercise, stopped dying their hair, practiced gratitude, gone back to school, discovered a passionate side, become comfortable with their bodies and learned to let go of anger. They’ve found joy and peace in midlife. What’s not to love about that?
If you’re feeling blue, feeling old or think menopause means a fast-forward to misery, read The Secret Pleasures of Menopause Playbook. It’s not your mother’s change-of-life tome.
—Terri Schlichenmeyer
HOMESPUN VEGETARIAN
The Healing Patch Cookbook:
A Gentle Transition from
Cooked to Raw Foods
By Julie Cara Hoffenberg and Sarah Woodward
HEALING PATCH PUBLISHING, 134 PAGES, $20.00
Sometimes the most difficult part of adopting a new way of eating is getting started. You want to cut down on your sugar intake, or eat more fresh food instead of packaged, or keep an eye on your calorie count…but taking that first step can be a little intimidating. One of the biggest dietary jumps of all is when a standard omnivore/carnivore tries to go vegetarian. And the stakes are even higher when the target diet is not only vegan—no food of any kind from animal sources—but raw as well.
The authors of The Healing Patch Cookbook, who operate an online seed store and blog of the same name (www.rawhealingpatch.com), understand those concerns. They’ve made that difficult transition themselves, coming from totally different directions. Julie Hoffenberg got hooked on the raw vegetarian lifestyle after working seven years in the natural health field. Sarah Woodward’s switch in diet was made under more dire circumstances: She has survived a bout of ovarian cancer.
The Healing Patch Cookbook holds up the “cookbook” part of its title with a number of tasty-sounding recipes, all thoughtfully labeled “cooked vegetarian,” “raw vegetarian” or “raw vegan.” And the authors provide lists of kitchen staples and recommended readings, along with a ton of useful tips.
But this playful, deeply personal book also serves as a reflection of Hoffenberg and Woodward’s belief that “[t]here is no one, specific way to be a vegetarian.” They encourage you to find your path to healthy raw vegetarian eating by becoming aware of how and why you eat the way you do. “Food relationships are important to analyze,” the authors write. “They help us decipher why we have cravings and addictions.” You might not become a raw vegan. But if The Healing Patch Cookbook helps you understand and change your dietary patterns, it will have been worth your while.
—Lisa James
Tuna: Love, Death and Mercury
By Richard Ellis
Tuna: For most Americans, the word conjures up images of tins filled with the stuff of lunch-hour sandwiches. But behind those little cans lies a world in which big business, deep ecology and dietary preferences meet—and often clash.
Marine artist and author Richard Ellis explores this world in Tuna: Love, Death and Mercury. He says that bluefin, one of the largest and most desirable tuna species, went from being scorned as trash fish at the turn of the previous century to being a commercial and sport-fishing favorite at the turn of this one. Thanks to commercial practices such as long-lining, in which 100-mile lines support thousands of hooks, along with modern transportation and refrigeration capacities, bluefin is now prized in Japan for use in sashimi; individual specimens command hundreds of dollars a pound at auction in Tokyo’s fish markets. And tuna’s impressive protein and omega-3 levels have put it on the plates of health-minded diners the world over.
There lies the rub. Among bluefins, “North Atlantic breeding populations are estimated to have gone down about 90%,” says Ellis. Equally disturbing is the problem of mercury contamination. As large predators, tuna accumulate concentrations of this metal within their flesh and Ellis tells the story of several individuals who suffered from mercury poisoning after eating tuna-heavy diets. Complicating matters has been the growth of the tuna industry—and the lobbying groups designed to protect that industry’s interests, which, as Ellis shows, don’t always coincide with the interests of either the tuna or fish-eating humans.
“I have concluded that there really is no ‘safe’ level of mercury, and I’m going to stop eating tuna,” says Ellis in the book’s epilogue. Tuna: Love, Death and Mercury may not get you to forgo tuna, but it will give you something to think about as you reach for another little can on the supermarket shelf.
The Inexpressible Under a Microscope
The Blissful Brain:
Neuroscience and Proof of the Power of Meditation
By Shanida Nataraja, PhD
GAIA, 238 PAGES, $12.99
The Extraordinary Power of Everyday Beauty to Heal Your Life
By Piero Ferrucci
TARCHER, 304 PAGES, $22.95
Once upon a time, there was no division between “conventional” and “holistic” medicine—if you were sick you sought healing without wondering if the difficulty emanated from your body or your mind.
Then science arose as a way to explain the world, and through its prism human beings were split into three wavelengths: physical, mental and spiritual. The physical dimension, amenable to graphs and charts, came to dominate the discussion. But even as scientific medicine became ever more skilled at repairing the body’s many ills, the human heart still craved wholeness and healing that went beyond what the laboratory could offer.
Today the same scientific method that downplayed mind and spirit has finally developed technology sensitive enough to track the invisible world within. In The Blissful Brain, British medical writer Shanida Nataraja, who combines a neurophysiology background with a personal yoga practice, explores this connection between internal mystic experience and external logic.
Nataraja explains how meditation, a practice designed to promote a more profound level of understanding, leaves measurable changes in the brain. Working from brain-wave studies and other types of research, she presents evidence of differences in the ways meditators and non-meditators process information, coming to the conclusion that we are all “hard-wir[ed]…to experience both higher states of consciousness and an all-pervading unity that can be equated to God.” What’s more, Nataraja argues that mediation further fosters well-being by dampening the stress response, reducing the risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, counteracting addictions and allowing for a healthier emotional life.
If there’s something ultimately indescribable about the inner experience of meditation, at least there are ways to quantify its results. Pining down the effects of beauty—a concept that’s even more subjective—would seem nearly impossible. But in Beauty and the Soul, Italian psychotherapist Piero Ferrucci claims that beauty goes far beyond that which is aesthetically pleasing. “At its highest, beauty…shakes us, confronts us, transforms us,” he says. “Our obsolete beliefs vanish…[o]ur old self dies, the new one comes to light.” Ferrucci goes on to explain the underpinnings of what we mean by beauty: The effects of social pressure, the importance of spontaneity, the passion of creativity. He then discusses ways that the reader can access beauty as a path to both deep happiness and—like meditation—a transcendent connection to ultimate reality.—Lisa James
The 10 Best Questions for Recovering from a Heart Attack:
The Script You Need to Take Control of Your Health
By Dede Bonner, PhD
It happens twice every single minute of the day: Someone in the US suffers a heart attack. For some victims, it is the first and final sign that something is—was—terribly amiss. But thanks to advances in emergency response and treatment, more and more Americans are surviving their heart attacks. Question is, what happens after the crisis is over?
Finding an answer requires asking more questions, according to Dede Bonner, PhD, the author of The 10 Best Questions for Recovering from a Heart Attack. “The most important questions are often the ones you didn’t know to ask,” says Bonner, an Australian management consultant who specializes in coming up with insightful questions for her corporate clients, at the book’s beginning. She then brings her inquiry expertise to bear in four crucial areas: Talking to the practitioner, choosing treatments, making lifestyle changes and thinking about the future.
The 10 Best Questions is a slight misnomer. Each area actually gets its own section of chapters, with each chapter containing 10 questions apiece plus a “Magic Question,” which Bonner describes as the “one great question that even smart people rarely think to ask.” Some of the queries seem almost simplistic—the first one is “Did I have a heart attack? How do you know for sure?”—until you realize that heart attacks come in many varieties other than the stereotypical crushing-chest-pain model. Other questions—such as “What is my ejection fraction?”—give Bonner an opportunity to explain medical concepts in a straightforward, this-is-why-it’s-important manner. The chapters cover an impressive range of topics, including cardiac rehab, alternative treatments, healthy eating, the financial ramifications of chronic illness and communicating with one’s partner about the relationship issues that heart disease often brings to light. (The sensitive subject of post-attack sexual relations rates 10 questions of its own.) Each chapter includes a resource list.
Getting past the immediate crisis is just the first step to recovery. The 10 Best Questions for Recovering from a Heart Attack is designed to help cardiac patients go from surviving to thriving.—Lisa James
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering:
A Doctor’s Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices
By Sarah J. Buckley, MD
CELESTIAL ARTS, 348 PAGES, $16.95
Helping Baby Sleep:
The Science and Practice of Gentle Bedtime Parenting
By Anni Gethin, PhD and Beth Macgregor
CELESTIAL ARTS, 224 PAGES, $15.95
In today’s increasingly interconnected world, new parents have plenty of Internet resources on accelerating their baby’s development in terms of motor skills, intelligence and sociability; as one website tagline puts it, “Stimulate the little genius in your arms!” But if there truly is a season for everything, then it certainly seems that infancy should be as much about quietude and tenderness as it is about sound and motion.
That’s the premise of two books from Celestial Arts. Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering is by Sarah J. Buckley, MD, an Australian family physician who has written extensively on pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. In the book’s first part, “Gentle Birth,” Buckley says the emphasis on childbirth as medical procedure needs to be balanced against “the personal impact of birth for mothers, babies, fathers and families.” She expands on that statement through chapters that discuss such matters as proper pre-birth tests and whether to use epidurals during labor, interspersed with descriptions of home-birthing her four children. Buckley’s main message: Listen to your doctor, but don’t discount your own instincts.
In the book’s second part, “Gentle Mothering,” Buckley focuses on the infant’s need for the kind of warm emotional attachment that fosters not only optimal brain development but also a child’s ability to form secure relationships in the future. She is a strong proponent of breastfeeding as a source of physical nourishment for baby and emotional nourishment for both child and mother; again she writes of her own breastfeeding experiences. Buckley also dedicates a chapter to “cosleeping,” any arrangement in which a child and caregiver sleep close enough together so that the baby’s needs can be easily met, that includes 10 safe-cosleeping tips.
Promoting proper slumber for little ones is the subject of Helping Baby Sleep by Anni Gethin PhD, a health social scientist with special interests in early childhood development, and Beth Macgregor, a psychologist who trains health and welfare workers in infant mental health. Mothers themselves, Gethin and Macgregor believe that sleep training—which involves teaching independence at bedtime by letting kids cry themselves to sleep—can be a source of lasting stress and anxiety for a young child. In Helping Baby Sleep, the authors build a case for “responsive parenting” by explaining why babies wake in the night (and why they need their parents nearby) and providing ways to develop a “baby-friendly” bedtime routine. Gethin and Macgregor also present a chapter on why parents need to take care of their own needs so that they can more fully attend to the needs of their children. (This book is scheduled for release in August; to place an early order, contact Random House customer service at csorders@randomhouse.com or 800-793-2665).—Lisa James
Second Spring:
Dr. Mao’s Hundreds of Natural Secrets for Women to
Revitalize and Regenerate at Any Age
Free Press, 349 pages, $17.99
To the Chinese, middle age and menopause are graced with optimism. The latter part of a woman’s life is a new season to be relished and is filled with potential. Eased out of the responsibilities of birthing and raising a child, women are free to come into their own. The Chinese refer to this midlife transition as a second spring.
That also happens to be the title of an insightful new book on aging by Maoshing Ni, PhD, DOM, Lac, a 38th generation doctor of traditional Chinese medicine who teaches and practices in the Los Angeles area and counts Sheryl Crow, Debbie Allen and Arianna Huffington among his clients.
For Dr. Mao, as he is well known, the natural healing methods of Chinese culture are deeply personal. An almost deadly accident as a child introduced him to tai chi and qigong to help him rehabilitate, paving the road to his pursuit of a life in healing. His mother’s transformation in the second half of her life inspired “Second Spring.”
In “Second Spring” (Free Press), the occasional health tip that you’ve heard before rears its head. Parking a few blocks from work or taking the stairs to fit some exercise into a busy day is one such recognizable tip. But for each tip that has the familiar ring of common sense, many more are practical, fresh distillations of traditional Chinese practices that have been millennia in the making.
Among these are healing self-massage techniques, visualization meditations and simple qi gong exercises to help relieve pain. To help prevent wrinkles and provide a non-surgical face lift, Dr. Mao, a board certified anti-aging specialist with the American Board of Anti-Aging Health Practitioners, offers instruction on facial gymnastics.
“Second Spring” mirrors the format of Dr. Mao’s “Secrets of Longevity”—quick, page-long tips that are easily digestible. A reference in the back of “Second Spring” details specific ailments and points to pages that cite their remedies. Chinese club moss can help fight memory loss, chasteberry supplements can help control hot flashes and “Second Spring” just may be what the doctor ordered for easing you into that next glorious phase of your life.—Allan Richter
Food Books That
Explore Beyond the Table
Almost Meatless
By Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond
Ten Speed Press, 208 pages, $22.50
Simple Food for Busy Families: The Whole Life Nutrition Approach
By Jeanette Bessinger, CHHC, and Tracee Yablon-Brenner, RD, CHHC
Celestial Arts, 244 pages, $19.95
Edible: An Illustrated Guide to the World’s Food Plants
National Geographic Books, 360 pages, $40.00
Gillian McKeith’s Food Bible: How to Use Food to Cure What Ails You
By Gillian McKeith
Plume, 397 pages, $20.00
Food doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is associated with culture, celebration, social status, lifestyle and more—and several new food books are gateways to some of these larger issues. Two volumes, for instance, concern themselves primarily with creating a healthy table but also serve as lifestyle guides during tough economic times. After all, physical health and fiscal well-being are often related: Cutting back on meat, particularly the red variety, has been a tenet of both heart-healthy diets and cost-conscious consumers for years.
Some people prefer to omit meat from their diets entirely. Anyone who finds the adjustment to a vegetarian lifestyle too abrupt, however, will probably find comfort in the recipes in Almost Meatless (Ten Speed Press) by former vegan Joy Manning and unabashed meat eater Tara Matarazza Desmond. Its recipes sacrifice neither flavor nor protein while minimizing pressure on the wallet.
Relishing the “palette of possibilities” beyond meat, Desmond writes that “night after night of the traditional American dinner—with a big piece of meat at the center of the plate—seems a waste of the terrific potential of so many other foods.” The authors make that case in one recipe after another.
In Manning and Desmond’s recipe for gourmet-style pizza with chicken, arugula pesto and sun-dried tomatoes, meat is more seasoning than centerpiece. Likewise for a barley pilaf stuffed squash that calls for a mere 4 ounces of sweet Italian sausage—this in a dish that serves four. In a burger recipe, ground beef is just a passenger along for the ride with black beans and bulgur. And in a dish incorporating the Italian sauce puttanesca, sliced eggplants and chicken breasts are equal partners.
To help lighten the grocery bill, Manning and Desmond identify less expensive cuts of meat. Pork shoulder, for example, doesn’t tug at the purse strings the way other cuts can; at the same time, it is tender and easily broken down into healthier, smaller portions.
Families tend to find themselves cocooning during recessions, and Simple Food for Busy Families: The Whole Life Nutrition Approach (Celestial Arts) is a practical guide for finding peace and health spending more time at home. As its subtitle suggests, Simple Food… is about how we nourish our minds as well as our bodies. To wit, authors Jeanette Bessinger, CHHC, and Tracee Yablon-Brenner, RD, CHHC, offer tips on spending quality family nights together—game and healthy pizza nights, for instance—with less computer and TV time.
Like Almost Meatless, Simple Food… encourages measured rather than drastic lifestyle changes. Gradually replace white foods like refined-wheat breads and pastas with higher quality sweet carbohydrates like quinoa and sprouted grain breads, for example. Introduce one new grain or bean item at a time, adding it to different meals throughout the week. If portions are too big, reduce them by 5% to 10% each week. And, if you must eat ground meat and cold cuts, trim fat and choose nitrate-free options.
These are remedies to what Bessinger and Yablon-Brenner call the Standard American Diet (SAD) Lifestyle, which they take to task throughout Simple Food… They make a strong case for consuming locally grown, seasonal foods and they simplify nutrition with explanations that make the subject digestible and relevant.
But what ultimately makes the tips and recipes in Simple Food… so accessible is the underlying idea that its approaches (like eating seasonal foods) are, in the words of the authors, attuned to “the natural rhythms of life.”
Simple Food… does a good job of concisely demystifying herbs, spices, leafy greens and various grains, but it’s tough to be as exhaustive as National Geographic’s Edible: An Illustrated Guide to the World’s Food Plants. Taking a multidimensional approach, Edible serves as food reference, history book and travel guide via the world’s vineyards and fields all in one volume.
True to National Geographic form, Edible is illustrated with rich color photographs—reds pop off a two-page spread of cherries, strawberries and cranberries—and historic illustrations and renderings. A photo of a French tapestry depicting a West Indian carrying a tropical fruit basket illustrates the confluence of European explorers with the New World, for example.
Such historical cultural mixes, often violent, are reminders of how various fusions of foods evolved over the centuries, culminating in the modern cuisine we know today. Edible also explores food storage and processing over the ages—at one point waxes were poured over roots to keep moisture in. Yet, through it all, the top three staples of the ancient world—wheat, rice and maize—have not only survived but retained their dominance in today’s diet.
An eight-chapter directory of some 250 edible food plants make up the bulk of the book, complete with historical origins (bay leaves were once strewn around the floor to enhance a home’s overall fragrance). But Edible’s most practical material comes buried near the end, in 11 pages of tables grading each plant for its nutritional value and detailing antioxidant levels and even a glycemic index. These tables alone may very well be worth Edible’s coffee-table book price, with its encyclopedic and colorful plant history as a bonus.
Rather than categorize healthful foods by type, Gillian McKeith’s Food Bible: How to Use Food to Cure What Ails You (Plume) takes the natural pharmacy approach. McKeith, a holistic nutritionist and host of the British television series “You Are What You Eat” (also on the BBC American network here), has laid out this handy reference guide by ailment.
The first half of Food Bible offers more of a food and health overview, with a particularly valuable chapter on how to nurture and nourish the body and mind at various stages of life. But McKeith shines in her pragmatic action plans and recommendations of herbs and supplements to tackle afflictions from abscesses to worms, while highlighting foods to avoid. Lung-strengthening herbs like astragalus, mucus expectorants such as mullein tea and anti-inflammatory vitamin C are recommended (among other remedies) for asthma, for example. Along with this counsel are fun bonus tips, like taking up singing to help improve lung capacity and oxygen flow “without conscious effort.”
Whether meal or snack, these books illustrate how food is much more than the sum of its ingredients.
