Customer Reviews

Food and Healing

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although I don't necessarily agree with everything Annemarie Colbin has to say about food & health (for example, I believe that certain immunizations are a critical part of one's health care and not unnecessary or harmful), "Food and Healing" is an excellent and thoughtful treatment of a complex subject. The title may erroneously give the impression that the book is just for those who are ill. In fact, the book has a lot to offer to anyone who is interested in learning more about nutrition, and how what we eat can make us feel better or worse. We know that caffeine can give you energy or make you nervous, and that a high-fat diet can cause heart disease; Colbin theorizes that other kinds of food, food ingredients and even methods of preparation affect the body in different but no less profound ways. Particularly intriguing are Colbin's musings on "food philosphy": e.g., multi-faceted comparisons of different diets; how different thinkers approach food in a different philosophical way; various ways to look at food choices and their effects on the body. I was impressed by the breadth of the sources Colbin cites (although occasionally one finds an outdated reference, like the ones to the now-debunked Tasaday "tribe") and how she weaves everything together into a coherent and readable book. What really won me over, however, was Colbin's insistence on taking a flexible approach to eating. Colbin emphasizes that no diet should remain static, and we need to choose different kinds of diets to reflect and address what is going on in our lives at different times. She is remarkably open-minded and tolerant of all points of view, allowing the reader to take away nuggets of wisdom from unlikely sources. If some of the opinions expressed seemed a bit too airy-fairy for me (e.g., auras, and her apparent rejection of the germ theory of disease transmission), even these sections were interesting and thought-provoking. Required reading for anyone who has "food issues," wants to improve her diet, has a chronic health problem, or works in the nutrition field.

Annemarie Colbin lays out a myriad of information as to how foods affect your mood, energy and overall wellbeing. She describes in detail what happens when we eat certain foods, particularly in combinations which may explain why many of us can't lose weight or remain sick and tired. The descriptions of various popular diets is enlightening.

If you missed Annemarie Colbin's fine book, Food and Healing, the first time around, it's back in a revised edition. First published in 1986, it rapidly became a classic exploration in detail of why and how we are what we eat. Reissued in 1996 by Ballantine with a new preface by the author, Food and Healing now incorporates the latest on low fat eating, findings on food combinations and new alternative medicine paths into what remains the Bible of the holistic view of food and health.

Ms. Colbin's view is thoroughly common sensical. She recognizes the fact that we are each individuals, and that once we have digested the facts, theories and proposals in her book we must make decide on what eating choices are best for us.

This is a thoughtful but not didactic book, solid and grounded in research, yet written with an entertaining touch. Rarely have we encountered a book that so well explains the nutritive quality of food, and its effects on body, mind and spirit. Don't miss it.

Review by Meredith Sayles Hughes

This book provided me with a new way of thinking about food and how it affects health and energy levels. Her explanations can be pretty "alternative" and many of them are not grounded in medical science, but as long as you're aware of that, this is a very practical book. As she points out, there are many connections in this world that conventional science is only starting to discover. Colbin's ideas work when put into practice.

If you're open to new ideas about food and diet, read this book. If you want to be vegetarian but don't feel good on a vegetarian diet, or if you aren't happy with how you eat but aren't sure what to do about it, read this book. She makes few judgements and refuses to label foods (or diets) "bad" or "good" - she just tells you what effects she's obseved and lets you draw your own conclusions. I appreciated her awareness that everybody's different; that depending on your climate, the season, your personal biochemistry, what you have eaten previously in your life, and even your job, your dietary needs will differ.

Colbin's cookbooks ("The Natural Gourmet" has delicious recipes) put her ideas into practice and prove that you can eat the way she recommends without feeling deprived.

I just borrowed this book from a friend, and Colbin covers everything--there were several pages I xeroxed before returning it. It doesn't propose any specific philosophy, rather it evaluates the effects of different foods on the body. She incorporates Chinese and ayurvedic philosophy also and details macrobiotics. I am vegan, and I especially recommend it for vegetarians since it explains how to balance your diet, making sure you get enough calcium and the essential B12. Colbin emphasizes all-natural foods and listening to your body. I'm gonna buy a copy when I get back to the states. Enjoy!

This remains one of my favorite books on eating for health. Annemarie offers sensible, and do-able guidelines, not rules, and a lot of information to mull over.
I go back to this book over, and over again.
I also recommend her cookbooks. Healthy, delicious, easy to make dishes, with
simple ingredients.

When I first borrowed this book from my acupuncturist/naturopath, I didn't think I'd ever actually get through it. But what I found was that I ended up reading it like a novel -- fascinated to learn about foods the way she presented it.

For example -- it really helped me to undertand the effects of sugar in a new way. Sugar in small amounts creates individuation and sugar in large amounts creates alientation. Also, Americans eat about 20 times more sugar than we did 100 years ago, and the average juvenile delinquent does 40 times more. And when the juvenile delinquents had sugar removed from their diet and replaced with fruits and vegges, they violence reduced and they began falling into the range of normal.

I used to keep it in my cube at work, and refer to it to offer suggestions to handling ailments. One time a guy at work cancelled an appointment because of a migraine. So when he made it in a few days later, we went through the book to see the cause an found some foods he had eaten a day or so before the migraine. He came to me 9 months later and said he had not had a migraine since.

This book provides a great model for understanding how diet can be used to help balance us from a physical, mental and emotional perspective.

Thanks Dr. Colbin!

A powerful, thought-provoking book. Ms. Colbin is extremely knowledgeable and readable. This is a great book for vegetarians and would be vegetarians who have dabbled in natural hygiene, macrobiotics and other "branches" and have trouble sorting through all the conflicting information and dogmas.

I have given away quite a few copies of this book and refer to it often, both as a fine source to explain and heal (in the most organic, natural way) common ills of the human body in today's world AND to expand the awareness of my friends to include alternative methods or perspective on the subject of health. This woman gets it. She incorporates the Chinese five-phase system, provides the pros and cons of all the various diets people often choose to embrace, and above all else, how to balance your life by listening to and understanding the signals you get from your body's reactions to food, as well as the environment. I was warned when I first received this book years ago that I should not try to read it cover to cover, so I am passing that sage advice on in this review. It is very dense, chock full of very valuable information and yet very easy to read. That said, I would definitely recommend devouring at least the first three chapters from start to finish, and then read what you need. You will know where to go next. In the same manner in which she advocates the employment of one's intuitive powers and truly listening and noticing how the body responds, so too, do I firmly believe you, the reader, will know what to take on for your own health, and what to put down for now. This is a must-have for the library of anybody who is serious about understanding nutrition, at the very least. Happy eating, happy reading, and God Bless Ms. Colbin for writing this book, which I believe is still as important today as when it was first published, and which I absolutely hold up as required reading for anybody who is interested in truly understanding how what we ingest impacts our health, our ability to heal, and indeed our quality and perception of life.

Food is such an integral dynamic of our lives that we should all at least consider its impact on our bodies. In a modern age of fast food, uninhibited consumption and the cosmetic manipulation of basic commodities we truly need to reflect and refresh our blitzed minds with regard to what is truly good and that which is actually causing us considerable harm.

Ann Marie Colbin does this with methodical and systematic gusto. From the basics of living systems, the inherent energy fields and forces in foods, balance, quality and quantity, and to modern diets, wholeness, food preparation, diets, and food as medicine. Importantly, she concludes that we can employ our natural wisdom of foods to bring a valuable balance between our mind, body and spirit.

Food and healing is a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between good health and the quality of our consumption. This book is one amongst many in a new wave of scientific and natural dietetics that correctly identifies the source of many modern illnesses with the food that we eat. Colbin is objective and knowledgeable in her approach and advice, and I cannot recommend this book enough. Much of the information she offers is of a practical nature, and her seven criteria for food selection is a good example to follow; buy food that is 1)whole, 2)fresh, natural, real, organic, 3)seasonal, harmonic, 4)locally grown, 5)traditional, native, 6)balanced, nutritious, 7)delicious.

Bon appetit!