Optimum Nutrition Bible [Paperback]

Patrick Holford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 1998

Optimum nutrition means giving yourself the best possible intake of nutrients to allow your body to be as healthy as it possibly can. This guide shows how to achieve this, and also: what a well-balanced diet really means; how to boost your immune system; how to increase your energy and fitness levels; how to prevent cancer and turn back the ageing clock; how to avoid heart disease and lower your blood pressure without drugs; why the wrong fats can kill and the right fats can heal; and how to increase your IQ, memory and mental performance. Answer the questionnaires in the book to discover exactly which nutrients you need to supplement, then follow the step-by-step plan to create your own personal supplement programme.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Do you want more energy, emotional balance, health, mental sharpness, resistance to disease, and a longer, productive life? You can achieve this by changing your eating habits to achieve the ideal balance of essential nutrients, asserts Patrick Holford, a leading British nutritional author and founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in London.

While it may sound simple, this isn't an easy task--Holford identifies 50 essential nutrients, and each person's need for each nutrient may be different--so you'll need a healthful diet plus supplementation. In its simplest terms, Holford recommends a diet that is 70 percent carbohydrates (whole grains, beans, vegetables, fruit, avoiding sugar and refined foods), 15 percent protein (mostly vegetable protein from beans, lentils, quinoa, soy, and legumes), and 15 percent fat (Omega-3 and Omega-6 oils), supplemented with a high-strength vitamin and mineral preparation and 1,000 mg of vitamin C a day. This book goes much deeper than these recommendations, with discussions of antioxidants, phytochemicals, heart health, immune boosters, hormonal balance, bone health, infection fighting, and much more. Questionnaires help you pinpoint your individual need for dietary change and supplementation. Holford also includes the nutrient needs and dietary advice for specific diseases. A valuable resource. --Joan Price --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

This is the breakthrough we've been waiting for. Professor Andre Tylee, Institute of Psychiatry, London If you care about your mind, your moods or even your mental alertness, OPTIMUM NUTRITION FOR THE MIND will change your attitudes to the foods you eat- for the better! This comprehensive work will provide you with food for thought. An excellent book. Dr Chris Steele, ITV's This Morning --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Piatkus Books (September 24, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749918551
• ISBN-13: 978-0749918552
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,978,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read, digest and feel better than ever before!, March 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Optimum Nutrition Bible (Paperback)

Having read this book from cover to cover, and now using it as a reference, it provides invaluable information about how to live a dramatically healthier life than you're used to.

This book does not just tell you what to eat, but why you should eat it. Consider what the human race ate before the chemical age, before processed foods and our taste buds were subjected to the sugar full foods of the 20th century.

This book explains why eating fresh (unprocessed) foods, preferably organic; taking vitamin and mineral supplements; eating the correct fats and cutting out unnecessary stimulates such as caffiene can make such a huge difference.

Having changed my eating habits and also, having started taking vitamins and mineral supplements, I can honestly say that the effect has been better than I ever expected.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Take the plunge, you may surprise yourself.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anti-meat tendencies require reader awareness, December 28, 2004

By 

Naweko San-Joyz "Noixia-ist" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Optimum Nutrition Bible (Paperback)

Labeling meat a bad food, Patrick Holford is clearly anti-meat in "Optimal Nutrition Bible". That's fine. However, Holford's poor treatment of the protein controversy needs deeper examination and placed me on guard as I read "Optimal Nutrition Bible". For example, his deduction regarding how much protein a person needs is scantily, if hardly justified.

The author quotes a US Olympic trainer that says a person can gain 8 pounds maximum of muscle in a year (even that number is controversial, by the way). OK that's fine. So, Holford deduces that a person can only gain 0.3 ounces of muscle a day. He adds muscle is only 22% protein. Fine. So how does Holford conclude that one only needs an extra quarter of a teaspoon a day of protein (above the RDA, this is not clear in the section) to obtain maximum muscle growth? Protein is not only utilized by the muscles- it's used all over the body. Even some bacteria are comprised of protein.

Several factors influence the digestion of protein. As a nutritional author, Holford should have addressed the possible loss or conversion of protein into fat or a carbohydrate. This all depends on when you eat the protein and what you consume along with the protein. He trivializes muscle building when it is actually quite a complex subject.

Otherwise, I found Holford's work to be worthy of a Nutrition library because it briefly and clearly covers several concerns related to nutrition. Just crack open the Table of Contents, and you can read his book in bits and pieces as needed.

Holford's vitamin and mineral lists, which include symptoms of nutritional shortages, allows the reader to create a nutritional program suitable to her own needs. In the spirit of Noixia, this book offered me a chance to discover something about myself that I did not know. I'm sure you'll likewise have nutritional epiphanies while reading. Just make sure you do your own health research as well.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book if You're Serious about your Health, May 9, 2002

By 

Rayne Malkavitch (Madison, Tennessee United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Optimum Nutrition Bible (Paperback)

I recomend this book to everyone that is conscerned about their health. I was required to purchase this book for my N.D. program and it was one of the best, effective health books I have ever read. I have lost 20lbs. and have been able to go off of my blood pressure medicine. In addition when I wake up in the morning I am full of vitality and energy. I feel good instead of feeling sluggish and worn down throughout the day. Anyone can feel this good with diet and nutrition alteration and this is just the book to show you how to transform your life and physical well-being.