The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach (The New Harbinger Whole-Body Healing Series) [Paperback]

Annemarie Colbin (Author)

Book Description

Series: The New Harbinger Whole-Body Healing Series | Publication Date: February 2, 2009

It's essential to maintain strong bones to keep an active lifestyle, but aside from taking a daily calcium supplement, is there really anything you can do to improve your bone health? With this complete program for stronger bones created by health educator Annemarie Colbin, you'll learn the best foods to eat to build bone mass and find out which foods actually weaken bones. In The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones, you'll also discover how exercise and finding personal balance can improve your health and prevent fragility fractures, menopause-related bone loss, and osteoporosis.

• What puts you at risk for bone fracture
• Why medication and estrogen therapy may not work for you
• How the nutrients in whole foods build bone mass
• 85 easy recipes that maximize the bone-building effects of whole foods

The bones of the body renew themselves every seven years. With the wholesome wisdom of this book, you can help your bones provide a firm scaffold for your body.
-Mehmet C. Oz, MD, coauthor of YOU: The Owner's Manual and YOU: Staying Young

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The bones of the body renew themselves every seven years. With the wholesome wisdom of this book, you can help your bones provide a firm scaffold for your body."
—Mehmet C. Oz, MD, coauthor of YOU: The Owner’s Manual and YOU: Staying Young

"Annemarie Colbin is a long-time mentor of mine. The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones combines her wisdom with much common sense."
—Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause

"The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones gives readers the recipe for maintaining bone health without medication. It is a must-read for anyone interested in preserving or restoring the health of their bones."
—Joel M. Evans, MD, assistant clinical professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, founder and director of the Center for Women’s Health in Stamford, CT, and author of The Whole Pregnancy Handbook

From the Publisher

In Whole Foods for Strong Bones, maverick nutritional theorist and best-selling author Annemarie Colbin gives readers a complete lifestyle program, including some 100 delicious and satisfying recipes, that can strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications; 1 edition (February 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572245808
• ISBN-13: 978-1572245808
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,379 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Aging > Osteoporosis
  • #19 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Whole Foods

More About the Author

Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D., has been called "a maverick nutritional theorist" (1986) because of her original, unconventional and practical points of view about using fresh, whole, natural, real foods as the basis for a healthy diet. Interestingly, the whole mainstream has shifted in her direction, so she is no longer such an outsider. The school she founded on her principles in 1977, known as The Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, has been a major resource for people interested in a career in healthful cooking for more than 30 years. Website: www.naturalgourmetinstitute.com.


Her 20+-year bestseller Food and Healing, is used as a textbook in natural healing schools. She expressed her points of view in her other books, and in her numerous articles, columns, interviews and classes. Her latest book is "The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones - a wholistic approach."

Dr Colbin is a health educator and an award-winning writer, consultant and lecturer; she has won awards for her writing, her business activities, and her teaching. She has taught at Empire State and Touro Colleges, at the Open Center, and yearly at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, as well as regularly at the NGI. Dr Colbin offers private wellness consultations, and is generally recognized as an expert in the uses of food for health. Website: www.foodandhealing.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Guide to a Bone Healthy Diet, August 18, 2009

By 

Cynthia Sue Larson "www.realityshifters.com" (San Francisco bay area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach (The New Harbinger Whole-Body Healing Series) (Paperback)

The Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones provides an outstanding summary of basic principles medical experts now agree on that can tremendously reduce risk of bone fractures and injury. Armed with current information and common sense, it really is possible to greatly improve one's bone health with balanced diet and exercise, and this marvelous book shows how this can be done.

My interest in the subject of bone health has increased as I enter my midlife years, and hear of so many women who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis and low bone density. I have felt I was aware of some basics for good nutrition that improve bone strength and resiliency, but The Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones points out to me how many ideas I have accepted for years are actually based on out-of-date or inaccurate data... such as getting lots of dairy products and/or calcium is one of the best things you can do for your bones.

I was surprised to learn that 75% of people seeking osteoporosis advice are Vitamin D deficient, perhaps due to people spending so much time indoors and using sunblock every time they go outside. Daily lettuce added to one's diet can lead to 45% reduced risk of hip fractures, and some people who eat low calcium diets suffer fewer fractures than their high-calcium diet counterparts, such as people living in the USA and Scandanavia. I am really happy to learn of the advantages of exercise in helping bring the calcium we eat into our bones, as well as the way that we can increase magnesium while reducing calcium intake and actually increase our bone density.

While the fully detailed analysis of how we can best ensure good bone health may seem complex, author Annemarie Colbin cuts through the piles of research and cutting-edge medical theories to make it easy to understand what we most need to know about diet and weight-bearing exercise. I love the examples given of how people have successfully turned their bone health around, and the one third of the book dedicated to bone-healthy, tasty recipes.

I highly recommend The Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones to anyone wishing to enjoy many years of good bone health.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A most informative and well written book, February 28, 2009

By 

Penny Friedberg (Columbia, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach (The New Harbinger Whole-Body Healing Series) (Paperback)

Annemarie Colbin's book on bone health is marvelous. Easily read with delicious and interesting recipes, it takes one through the science and common sense of eating whole foods for bone health and good health.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A truly holistic approach, December 19, 2009

By 

Library Girl Reads - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Whole-Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach (The New Harbinger Whole-Body Healing Series) (Paperback)

I am one of those people who can only digest non-fiction books full of scientific-based information in small doses at a time. Luckily for me, the layout of this book is perfect for this approach. Colbin breaks each chapter into even smaller, more manageable sections. It was easy for me to read a bit, put the book aside for a bit to digest that information, and then pick up the book again without having to reread to regain my bearings in the book. Colbin uses a lot of references and scientific studies to back up the information she presents, which in some cases flies in the face of traditional thinking about bone health. She truly takes a holistic approach to the subject: explaining how the skeletal system functions when healthy, looking at how problems develop with the bones, and demonstrating how healthy eating, exercise, and mental/emotional/spiritual well-being can improve overall bone health.

Then there are the recipes. Colbin focuses on leafy greens as a vegetable source of calcium but she also provides many other recipes as well. A few that I would like to try are Broccoli with Mushrooms, Salmon Frittata with Fresh Dill, Avocado-Cucumber Soup, and Hearty Shrimp Bisque. Colbin also provides recipes for many types of stock, which she says are rich in minerals that we need for our bones.

Overall, I found Colbin's book to be very informative and easy to follow. As with any book on health, please talk to your doctor or health care professional before self-diagnosing or self-treating any health condition.