Customer Reviews

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

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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The Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones points out to me how many ideas I have accepted for years are actually based on out-of-date or inaccurate data...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.

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.

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.

Enhanced with the inclusion of 85 recipes, Annemarie Colbin's "The Whole-Food Guide To Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach" is an invaluable and informative guide to the role good nutrition plays in strengthen the human skeletal system and can be the key to naturally rebuilding bone mass. Among the vitally important issues comprehensively addressed are which foods can actually weaken bones, diminish bone mass, and why such approaches as estrogen therapy, calcium supplements, and even prescription medications may not be efficacious. Of special note is the information concerning what can place us at risk for bone fracture -- which is a hazard that can be increasingly dangerous as we grow older. Thoroughly 'reader friendly', "The Whole-Food Guide To Strong Bones" is a welcome and highly recommended addition to personal, family, and community library Holistic Medicine reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Colbin has been writing about food and health for over thirty years with logic and intelligence. She documents credible resources throughout this book and challenges the prevailing stronghold of the pharmaceutical and commercial food industries over our "well being". She also addresses the roles of exercise and the tenor of emotional energy we embrace upon our whole-being and the health of our living, dynamic skeletal system.
I was trained as a clinical nutritionist and she brings up important factors that were previously never academically addressed, such as crucial pH levels and the utilization of bone calcium to compensate for the out of balance diet, which is standard American fare. This book complements the increasingly popular voice of Michael Pollan, championing the importance of a back-to-basics approach to food: Eat your greens, and lots of them. This simple advice may be the key to surviving, by avoiding, our complex and expensive medical system.

Annemarie Colbin knows health and food. I bought one of her ealier cookbooks over 35 years ago when I was first learning to cook. I bought the "Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones" a couple of years ago and let it sit on the shelf, because I was not taking care of myself, getting caught up in responsibility and rushing. After hitting a health wall I pulled out this book.

It is a wonderful guide to healing and strengthening your bones. The recipes are wonderful. So far I have tried the "Root Stew With White Beans And Wild Mushrooms", "Sunflower Seed Soup with Celeriac"(substituting garlic cloves and thyme for the tarragon), and "Oat Dulse Crackers"(substituting half the oats with rye flakes, quinona flakes, and barley flakes, and adding whole pumpkin seeds.) Whole Foods Market carried all of the ingredients, including fresh burdock root. Everything is SO delicious. I am not even tempted to return to my bad habits.

Every woman of a certain age will benefit from this book. Mrs. Colbin points to evidence that we can completely rebuild our bones in 7 years. She illustrates this with the case history of a woman in her early 40s who did so using natural foods after receiving a diagnosis of advanced osteoporosis. Whatever your particular symptoms are, reading this book will guide you to what foods to use and avoid and how that can change as you heal your condition. This is important information to incorporate into our lives and share with our families.

I have been a fan of Anne Marie Colbin for many years. She has good basic common sense which resounds through out this book. Her point that bone density does not automatically translate into bone health nor does it necessarily correlate with reduced rate of fractures is a fact that every woman and man should know. She questions 'conventional wisdom' and the 'one size fits all' method of medical practice. I believe in her multi-faceted approach to bone health as well as health in general.
I recommend this book as one source of information regarding bone health.

On Labor Day, my mother-in-law fell off her bike and due to her brittle bones, she shattered her ankle. (She is finally able to start her physical therapy and seems to be healing well.) Since then I have been thinking about how I really don't eat as good as I should and I started wondering about my own bones. I mean she is only 50 years old and for her bones to be that weak scared me. She is also a super healthy eater and a personal trainer, while I am the complete opposite!

So when I heard about the book The Whole Food Guide to Strong Bones: A Holistic Approach by Annemarie Colbin, PH.D. I knew I wanted to check it out. It is a book all about maintaining strong bones and even has 85 easy delicious sounding recipes in the back! Throughout the book it tells you the best foods to eat to build bone mass and it even tells you which foods can actually weaken your bones! I had no idea eating potatoes and eggplant could disturb my calcium metabolism and actually remove calcium from my bones. When calcium is removed or loss, you can feel aches, pains, and even deformation. Now eating potatoes, eggplant, and other "nightshade" vegetables can even out calcium overload too.

Overall, I found the book very helpful and it is not a book that just tells you what you can't do or what you need to avoid, but it gives tips and suggestions for how to live while eating foods and doing activities you enjoy. I am glad I am reading this book now so I have a chance to work on my lifestyle, but I also don't think it is ever too late to start eating and living better. The book is a 240 page softcover book and great for anyone looking to improve their quality of live, especially when it comes to your bones.

I received this book to review it but this review is 100% my opinion.

This book is an excellent summary of all what I been reading and learning about bone strengthening. It is easy to read and full of very interesting and useful recipies! I just finished and soon starting to test some of them.