You’ll be starting the book with a quiz that will ask you just how much you know about your body. The questions are not terribly difficult, but you may be surprised by just how many you get wrong and how many you get right. This was an interesting way to open the book and offers the reader motivation to keep going to figure out what they don’t know. A very clever first entry and one that undoubtedly served the author well.

After the quiz, you’ll be learning about each organ and part in your body through each successive chapter. I enjoyed the sections in each chapter that were devoted to dispelling common myths about that particular part or organ and found that the information was presented very well. At no time did the book become hard to read, which could not have been easy for the author. Much of this information is hard to digest, but he did an incredible job of breaking everything down into easy to understand terms.

The book also includes a great selection of recipes that are designed to help you implement the advice given throughout the book. This was a nice tough and the recipes actually ended up turning out very well. Including a plan that readers could follow once they’ve read the book was a terrific idea and makes it quite easy to put all of this information to good use.

Overall, while this may not be a book that you are dying to read, it is certainly one that is ideal for a rainy day. There is always something to be gained by learning more about how your body functions and what you can do to keep it in good working order. I was pleasantly surprised by many sections in the book and would recommend it to anyone that was looking for more information on the basics of how to stay fit and healthy.

There are times when it lags a bit, but overall, when it comes to understanding how your body works, this is one of the better books on the subject that I have ever read. The book is certainly well worth the price and will provide you with many different things to think about. If you slept through science as a kid, you’ll probably learn quite a few new things about yourself in this book and even if you’re well versed in the human body and how it operates, you still may learn a few more things. Well worth the read and the money.

150 Healthiest Foods on Earth?

Are these 150 foods really the healthiest on Earth?

Have you ever wished that someone would just sit you down and say here – these are the foods you need to be eating? You could look up these nine foods, but you might want more variety. Well, if you need more, the book 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, may be just what you were looking for. This is an interesting book that contains many things to think about, even if you don’t agree with many of the food choices or the reasoning behind them.

Books that tell you about foods are pretty run of the mill these days. However, most will focus on only a few “super foods” or provide a little advice. It couldn’t have been an easy task putting together 150 healthy foods. Dr. Bowden did a very good job of being thorough and completely explaining the benefits of the foods he selected. While there is the problem of “ask a hundred nutritionists which foods are best and get a hundred different answers,” at the very least, most of the choices appear to be pretty sound.

Everything is very well organized and foods are divided up into different chapters, based on their main group. For example, chapter one deals with vegetables, chapter seven tackles dairy and so on. The chapter on herbs, spices, and condiments was fascinating and well worth the cost of the book. I learned how these small additives can actually have a big impact on your overall health. Cinnamon and its benefits is discussed at length and I found this section to be very interesting.

Also of note is chapter fourteen which goes into sweeteners. The different brands are discussed at length and some of the information included herein may shock some readers.

I recommend this book to those that are interested in learning how to eat properly and which foods should be in their diets. The book also covers foods that should be avoided and supplies some pretty strong reasoning as to why. As expected, carbs were not treated well, at least not the type that are found in baked goods and pasta. The author seems to be against just about any type of flour and for those that cannot do away with this addiction, it may be hard to follow the advice contained herein.

While I might have said different things about the foods – there’s a reason he’s the doctor. Overall, I did enjoy the book. There could have been a little more scientific fact to back up some of the claims made by the author, but generally, the foods that he chose are accepted as being healthy and good for you. There were no real off the wall food suggestions that could be harmful, so overall, this is a good book for dieters or for those interested in learning more about the basic nutritional value of different foods.

Ever since man figured out that aging wasn’t all that hot, we’ve been trying to figure out how to stay young. From Ponce de Leon to the snake oil salesman of yore, people have hungrily searched for the fountain of life. You’ll find a million theories out there, but so far, no one has really discovered how to stop the aging process entirely. The Official Anti-Aging Revolution by Drs. Klatz and Goldman is the latest in a long line of books that promise to help you at least slow the aging process, but is it any good? Let’s find out!

The first section starts off well, with theories on aging and a discussion on the parts of our bodies that stop functioning properly as we age. This was a very interesting section and had a lot to share. While it’s hard to enjoy reading about how your body is slowly going into decline, the authors did a good job of laying out their information here.

The next section was a little disappointing, and covered the newer hormones that are in use to help delay aging. This is an area where there is still not enough research to prove anything. As major league sports move to ban human growth hormone, more attention is being given to these supposed wonder drugs. We would have liked to have seen more of a discussion on their side effects and less touting of these hormones as the answer to all of our problems. Until long term studies are done, they are just not reliable.

The third section redeemed the book a little and went into a discussion on the various supplements that can assist your body in keeping healthy and fit. We appreciated the mention of amino acids and overall, this was very interesting reading. They covered a lot of vitamins and minerals that are very important in keeping our bodily functions operating as they should and a lot of people should be able to benefit from this.

Longevity through Lifestyle was also very useful and covered different changes you can make in the way that you live your life to ensure that you’re around to enjoy it longer. Again, there was verifiable information in there that everyone can put to good use. The book closes with a section on putting everything together as well as the author’s personal thoughts on the aging process. The included longevity test was fun to take and very interesting.

Overall, if you skip the third section, this is a great book. You’ll be able to take away a lot of good information, but it is important to note that aging is something we all have to go through. Whether we do it gracefully is up to us and the way we keep up our bodies. There is no miracle cure for aging, but you can get through it a lot easier when you’ve got the right diet, supplements and outlook.