123 of 127 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deeply Informative and Fun to Read, April 25, 2007
I loved this book! It was deeply informative, stimulating and fun to read. It was not only "an eating plan that helps fight everything from asthma to heart disease," but truly a guide to leading a healthy lifestyle.
The authors, Christopher Cannon, M.D., a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Elizabeth Vierck, an accomplished writer in the medical and aging fields, pulled together an enormous amount of research about the wide variety of diseases that are related to high levels of inflammation in our bodies. Of equal importance they offer a simple guide including food shopping, recipes, exercise and family care plans that reduce inflammatory triggers and promote a healthier life with fewer chronic health problems.
Although my 89 year old mother-in-law assumed from the title that this book only addressed digestive problems, and a colleague thought it was aimed at his wife who has fibromyalgia, the truth is that inflammation has connections to many health and age related problems including heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, many of the forms of arthritis, autoimmune diseases, allergies and inflammatory bowel diseases, among others.
What's truly fun about this book is the style in which it is written and the way it is designed. To me, it reads like a Tony Hillerman novel - a page turner and yet when you reach the end you realize you've learned about a whole new culture! In this case, the culture is discovering a healthy alternative to the American way of eating.
At the end of one chapter I couldn't wait to see what was coming in the next. And within each chapter, the layout leads the reader from the most important to the least important information, so you can browse through a chapter and focus on the technical/medical explanations or move on to the food selections, recipes and other lifestyle choices. Type set and visual set-asides also help the reader move from one set of facts to another.
I consider myself a healthy eater, but I learned a wealth of information that will promote my family's health as I cook healthier meals. Among the facts I now understand are the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats and that if you mix legumes and rice or a grain to create a full, non-animal protein meal, you don't have to eat them all at the same time to get the protein punch, but can consume the combination within a 24 hour period. There's also a full chapter titled "fast-food survival" - how to select healthier foods in fast-food and other restaurants.
The final third of the book has a chapter on herbs and supplements, exercise and stress-reduction, exercise and weight control, and special and popular diets including the wheat-free and dairy-free kitchens. The authors' attention to detail is impressive. For example, as someone who has meditated for 30 years, I found the description of different mediation techniques to be accurate, simple and instructive.
These authors are steeped in the material, have done their research and know how to convey this impressive amount of technical/scientific information to a lay audience. I have purchased the book as a gift for many friends and family members and would highly recommend it to students, teachers, health-care providers and the general reading public from teens to older adults.
Mary Ann Wilner
Oliverea, New York
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68 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous Book - This is a Lifestyle, March 30, 2007
I highly recommend this book! I bought it because of my esophagitis, and learned all about how inflammation is involved in it and so many other diseases that run in my family, such as arthritis, migraines and diabetes.
The chapter on "Fat is Not Just Fat Anymore" is a real eye opener - the fatter you are the more inflammation you have. WOW!!!
I gave a copy to my mother because I think it will help her to manage her arthritis more effectively. And the chapter (3) that gives the nutritional guidelines for older people is really important for her. She is tired alot but tends to choose sweets over real food like protein and dark-colored veggies.
Here's the deal: this diet is NOT a quick fix, it is a way of life - a lifestyle. I think the book should have been called the Complete Idiot's Guide to the Anti-inflammation Lifestyle - because, as the author's say, exercisse and stress reduction are an important part of the plan.
But, Dr. Cannon does tell us how we SHOULD all eat. It seems that all the books these days have "seven habits" or "six steps" or "three blessings" but I have to say that, in this case, the book's "seven principles" are great. The authors have a taken a diet that is science-based and made it easy to follow!
I have given up refined sugar except in dark chocolates and I doon't even miss it because I feel so much better. The hardest psrt for me is at airports and because I travel frequently I have a history of running for the cinnabun or a slice of pizza and I am sure they are full of trans-fats. So now I carry almonds and appleswith me everywhere I go.
I highly recommend this book, and this lifestyle. I works!
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41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comprehensive and well presented, March 29, 2007
I am generally not a big diet book fan, but my wife gave me the Anti-Inflammation Diet after some medical friends were talking about inflammation. I didn't get at all how diet could affect inflammation or even what chronic inflammation is. This book makes it very clear. It also spells out the health risks associated with inflammation.
The information is comprehensive and well presented. The authors are credible experts and don't appear to be selling a line of supplements or other quackery.
I found the book's "seven principles" easy to understand and apply. They make eating healthy less complicated to understand - and maybe even a little less work. Love the Flax, Apple, Walnut Muffins - but stay away from the green tea smoothie. I'm sold on brown rice and whole grains, fruits, veges and olive oil. Now if I could just give up all that sugar....
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