Vim & Vigor via Vinegar? November 2, 2011
Posted by nrhatch in Food & Drink, Health & Wellness, Sustainable Living.trackback
When I want a quick answer to a trivial question, there is NOTHING like the world wide web.
With few quick flicks of my wrist on the keyboard, I type in a query and the answer magically appears from the almost infinite depths of cyber space.
Huzzah!
When I want more in depth understanding of a subject matter of importance, such as nutrition, I visit the library to peruse the collected wisdom of doctors, lawyers, and indian chiefs.
On Saturday, I popped into the Island Library and left in short order with three enticing books on Nutrition.
I am not planning to digest these books and regurgitate them here because: (1) I don’t believe in spoon-feeding, (2) I have other topics I want to address, and (3) your health is your responsibility.
Instead, I’ll just skim the surface to inspire anyone who is interested in better health, wellness, and nutrition to do a bit of digging for themselves:
The Top 100 Healing Foods ~ 100 Foods to Relieve Common Ailments and Enhance Health and Vitality, by Paula Bartimeus
If you suffer from ailments such as eczema, asthma, migraines, high blood pressure, diabetes, or allergies; if you are plagued by stress and insomnia; if you feel depressed and tired all the time, or if you simply seek to boost your physical and mental health, nature’s wonder foods can provide the answers!
With this portable handbook, you’ll discover that bananas and turkey can help you to sleep, flax seeds will help control your blood pressure, and ginger will treat the coughing and fever of a cold or flu. Flip through the color-coded sections to find authoritative information, delicious and easy recipes, lists of nutrients, at-a-glance symbols, and tips for each of the 100 featured foods. Illustrated throughout with full color photography.
Clean Up Your Diet ~ The Pure Food Program to Cleanse, Energize, and Revitalize, by Max Tomlinson
Today’s processed foods are seriously lacking in nutritional value, and almost every week we hear about dangerous additives or carcinogenic pollutants in our meat, fish, grains, vegetables, or fruits. The results of this poor diet are increased susceptibility to illness, low energy, and premature aging.
World-renowned naturopath Max Tomlinson has the antidote. He reveals how to choose and prepare healthy natural foods, and follow a diet free from toxins. The benefits include long-term well-being and vitality as well as protection from such diseases as arthritis, diabetes, and cancer. With tasty recipes and clear, authoritative advice on detoxing, improving digestion, and combating ailments, this is a plan that will help anyone harness the power of food to attain outstanding health.
What To Eat For What Ails You ~ How to Treat Illnesses by Changing the Food and Vitamins in Your Diet, by Winnie Yu
While it seems hard to believe, most doctors, in general, do not provide their patients with a natural health program after diagnosing them with a medical condition. While most illnesses can’t necessarily be cured through diet and nutrition, often times you can help to control them, or improve your symptoms by identifying and avoiding specific foods, as well as lifestyle or environmental factors that trigger flare-ups or aggravate individual conditions.
The Encyclopedia of What to Eat for What Ails You is a comprehensive guide to health conditions ranging from everyday ailments, such as bad breath or acne, to uncommon or less known maladies like rosacea and fibromyalgia, to serious diseases such as AIDS and cancer. Each entry in The Encyclopedia of What to Eat for What Ails You offers expert medical and nutritional advice from the respected medical field in which the professional works. The book is arranged alphabetically, and provides a description of the disease, instructs readers on the foods they should eat, the foods to avoid, and also offers suggestions on helpful nutritional supplements.
Quote to Ponder: Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food. ~ Hippocrates
Related posts: Great Nutrition Starts On Your Plate * 10 Ways to Fiber Up Your Diet * Only A Fool Would Say That * Food, Inc. * Food Matters ~ You Are What You Eat * Top Ten Reasons To Become A Vegetarian (AgriGirl)
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Spirit Lights The Way 
You’re talking my language here! So many do not believe in holistic measures, but where do they think medicine originated?
Exactly! As I go through the books, I may share a few enticing examples for natural cures and remedies. 😀
I know that switching from a meat based diet to a plant based diet has helped me in so many ways.
Exactly! Couldn’t agree more with this sentiment!
If we add one “better choice” each week . . . that would be 52 better choices by the end of the year. 😀
I’m going to the library this weekend. Want to check out “The Top 100 Healing Foods” by Paula Bartimeus. Sounds like an easy, yet informative, read. Thank you.
It’s a cool little book.
Each page features a single food . . . with its “claim to fame,” a list of its nutrients, and a SIMPLE recipe to try if you want to incorporate it into your “bag of nutritional tricks.”
I definitely don’t like eating processed foods. But I can’t afford all organic, grass fed and so on. I have a garden, skip the boxes and do my best.
Hmm . . . maybe if we didn’t have to pay so much for health insurance (our biggest expense each month), we could afford to buy 100% healthy organic real food.
As it is, we are eliminating most processed foods and ramping up the foods found in the produce department . . . in all colors of the rainbow.
Good health is about the food you eat, not the pills you take to make up for years of eating the wrong things.
I agree, Maggie. I’d much rather change my diet than be buried in a sea of drug prescriptions with untoward side effects.
I am taking two pills a day ~ a multi-vitamin and a Vitamin C to give my immune system a boost.
Thinking about food is a relatively new concept for me. Food is pretty much just fuel for whatever I’m doing, but it certainly does matter, especially over the longer run. Which hasn’t stopped me from eating cookie dough and beer for breakfast–but deep down, I knew it was wrong.
There have been periods in my life when my only focus on food was whether it tasted good, filled me up (without filling me out), and didn’t break the bank. Once I became a vegetarian in my mid-30’s that changed. Since then, I’ve been more aware of the interplay between what I eat and how I feel.
Eating cookie dough washed down with beer for breakfast would NOT make me feel good. 😉
I always like to read books like these and tweak my daily eating. Currently I am trying to eat more organic… but it’s so expensive… I also wonder why big box grocers don’t carry fresh organic meat (here in Canada).
Like you, reading books like these encourages me to focus on making better choices when dining in or dining out.
If your grocery store doesn’t carry something you want, speak with the manager to explain why they should.
Thanks Nancy I will be on the lookout for these books at my library. The costs of eating well is so high. When I bought all of the ingrediants to make the green bean fennel salad it cost a lot. I can’t find the receipt for I am going on memory. Fennel bulb – 2.99, mushrooms – 2.49, greenbeans – 2 something, balsamic vinegar – 4.00! All of that for something that tasted awful. I ate it though. As much as I possibly could. It did go a long way. I gave extras to my single neighbor along with the recipe so he could make it also and I gave my DIL a good portion of the salad. I guess as I encorporate more of the healthy recipes the costs will get better with the staples.
That’s sounds like an expensive salad . . . especially if you didn’t enjoy the taste of it.
For a salad today, I mixed together garbanzo beans, black olives, celery, carrots, and tomatoes with a drizzle of italian vinaigrette. Yummy and inexpensive.
Nancy, “The Top 100 Healing Foods” sounds great. Will be checking it out!
By the way, I am almost done with “The Brain That Changes Itself”, what an eye opener, and I have read other books on the brain. I will be purchasing Posit Science software (mentioned by the author) in the near future (probably in January) to improve auditory response and fine tune my mind. 🙂 It’s expensive, so I have to be ready mentally to commit myself to doing the exercises every week no matter how busy I may get.
That sounds GREAT, marie. Wouldn’t it be terrific if your hearing improved as a result of the exercises? Fingers crossed that’s exactly what happens.
The more it costs, the more committed you must be to getting your money’s worth.
Reading books like these would help us to make wiser choices in the supermarket and also when we eat out.
That’s what it does for me. It makes me more mindful of ALL the terrific food choices we have available to us and encourages me to add variety to my diet.
Not only does one’s body respond to healthy eating – so does the mind. It’s amazing how outlook changes with the consumption of plant-based, healthy, and vital foods.
Go, Nancy!
Yes, I believe that you are right, Amy. I’m going to pay particular attention to “good mood foods” and memory sharpeners as I look through each book.
I want to be 90 years old and have people say, “She’s sharp as a tack!” 😉
This really does drive home point 3, Nancy. It is the responsibility of the individual and the choice. But as you indicate here, self-education is key and once we’re armed with that, there’s no excuse for interminable complaints about self-inflicted health problems
I agree, BlueBee. If I summarized, in detail, all the neat stuff I’m learning . . . people would skim my posts, taking a point or two with them on the way out, and go right back to whatever they’ve been doing.
Instead, I’m taunting and tantalizing with bite-sized morsels and tiny tidbits designed to whet their whistle and tickle their taste buds in order to increase their appetite to learn MORE! 😀
oh wow, three great choices. I just finished reading Andrea Beaman’s The Whole Truth and after borrowing The Vegan Cook’s Bible by Pat Crocker from the library a couple of weeks ago, I ordered a copy from the bookstore for myself. That quote by Hippocrates, “the father of modern medicine” is one I use often. Boy have we wandered far…
I am moving closer and closer to a vegan diet ~ we haven’t bought dairy milk or eggs in ages and are using much less cheese and sour cream.
But I still like veggie pizza and spinach lasagna with mozzarella and macaroni and cheese with sharp Vermont Cheddar. Not sure that I will ever give them up without a fight. 😉
Grains make a good addition to salads, nr, and are used frequently in Mediterranean, mid-Eastern, Indian cuisine, among others. Kasha, couscous, bulgar wheat and things like toboulleh come to mind. I’d make my own dressing, though.
Linda, $4 for balsamic is scraping the dregs from the barrel. True “aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena” is cask aged a minimum of 12 years and $20 for a half pint is about the entry level. It’s worth every penny and lasts a good long time. Much better value for the money, and significantly better taste.
I had tabbouli this week with tomatoes, black olives, and garbanzo beans. It has as many variations as spellings. In addition to the grains you mentioned, I also love quinoi which is very versatile.
Thanks for giving Linda a tip on Balsamic Vinegar.
Well, I’ve managed to combine a week’s worth of veggies into a huge, yummy soup/stew….not sure about the medicinal value, but there sure must be lots of nutritional benefits…and delicious flavors, too! Thanks for the idea!
Veggie soup is delicious and nutritious. Enjoy every spoonful, Kathy!
Your books sound great, Nancy, and your post is a great lesson 🙂
The biggest issue I see . . . if I ate EVERYTHING suggested, I would have no time for anything but eating. 😉
Healthy eating, is now very much part of my life. I feel SOOOOOO much better and I am even losing weight with trying. The books look good I am going to investigate further!
That’s great, PiP! There is nothing better than feeling GOOD!
A lot of our health issues could be addressed by eating properly, I’m sure.
One of the books (What To Eat For What Ails You) makes several suggestions for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ~ including eating a vegan diet for 3 months then transitioning to a vegetarian diet:
A vegan diet will improve your immunity, lower your body-mass index, and reduce and pain and stiffness. It may also help improve the quality of your sleep. Good foods to eat include uncooked vegetables, berries, nuts, fruits, seeds, and sprouts.
I think we could open our own library with all the books Wendy and I have acquired in the last two weeks!
Are you learning lots from them? Or did you buy them for relaxation and stress relief?
I changed my (horrendous) eating habits a few months ago. I lost weight which was wonderful but more than that I feel better all the way down to my bones. More energy, less ailments, and all I had to do was eat a little better 🙂
That’s TERRIFIC, Tori. Having more energy and fewer aches and pains makes life MUCH MORE BETTER! 😀
Some great books here, Nancy. This series really has made me begin to think carefully about getting the most from our food.
Good for you, Nancy! Think I’ll dash off now and stock up on fruit & veg for our daily juicing…if nothing else, we start off well 😀
What a great way to start the day . . . do you vary the blends or make the same “tonic” each morning?
Great selection of books Nancy. I’m enjoying this as I’ve been on a nutritional turn around and enjoying the process… 🙂
I’ve been out of the loop with power outages and conferences… Will catch up on comments soon. TY! 🙂
The better I eat . . . the better I feel. 😀