Book Reviews Category
Integrative MedicineThe Inflammation Spectrum
Following an anti-inflammatory diet can be confusing. Where do I start? What are the most inflammatory foods? How can I personalize such a diet for the food intolerances I have? Will Cole, DC, a functional medicine expert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, simplifies this topic in his new book, The Inflammation Spectrum Read more…
Integrative MedicineThe Nature Cure: A Doctor’s Guide to the Science of Natural Medicine
In Germany, doctors must complete medical school and specialty training before they can become trained and certified in naturopathic medicine. Andreas Michalsen, MD, is professor of clinical complementary medicine in Berlin at the largest university hospital in Europe. He is board-certified in internal medicine, emergency medicine, nutritional medicine, and physical Read more…
Medical NewsThe Art of Dying Well
Benjamin Franklin said that nothing in this world is certain except death and taxes. Since some people do not pay income taxes, death has become the only certainty. No one gets out of this world alive. Given that inevitability, you would think that all of us would prepare for dying. Read more…
Integrative MedicineA Review of Ornishes’ UnDo It!
Dean Ornish and his wife Anne have a formula for achieving great health and avoiding or reversing heart disease and cancer, as well as the risk factors that lead to these. Ornish was the first to show coronary heart disease could be reversed by a very low fat diet (Dr. Read more…
Integrative MedicineBook Review: The Diabetes Code
Author Jason Fung, MD, of the University of Toronto has taken “Ockham’s razor” to simplify the management of type 2 diabetes. William of Ockham (1287-1347) was an English friar and philosopher famous for postulating that with complex problems, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions is usually correct. In his book Read more…
Through the GenerationsAn Awakening Walk
Jennifer Johnson was looking for something to lift the weight of negative self-image that had plagued her most of her life. As a desert resident, she had a successful catering business, was a practicing yogi, and had many close friends, but was seeking something more. In March 2015 she first Read more…
Integrative MedicineAre There Genius Foods?
A young filmmaker and health care journalist, Max Lugavere, teamed with a concierge wellness physician in New York, Paul Grewal, MD, to write Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life (HarperWave, 2018). After reading three detailed books on brain health and nutrition: Brain Read more…
Integrative MedicineFood: What the Heck Should I Eat?
It is important news for the healthy nutrition world when Mark Hyman, MD, comes out with a new book. Dr. Hyman is the director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and chairman of the board of the Institute for Functional Medicine. He practices and directs the UltraWellness Center Read more…
Integrative MedicineA Review of Gundry’s The Plant Paradox
The Coachella Valley is fortunate to have Steven Gundry, MD, practicing restorative medicine here since 2002. The former head of cardiothoracic surgery at Loma Linda University, he changed careers when he realized the power of nutrition to transform health. I share several patients with Dr. Gundry and they all sing Read more…
Medical NewsReversing Cognitive Decline
Fifty percent of Americans will have dementia by age 85. This is a growing epidemic. Cognitive decline starts much earlier. We now know the causes: too much sugar and other carbs in our diet and an unhealthy lifestyle with too much stress, not enough exercise, not enough sleep and a Read more…
FitnessThe Overweight Mind
What if the inability to lose those unwanted pounds was all in your head? According to local fitness guru and Thrive Tribe leader, Jay Nixon, it is. Nixon, who has been implementing his theory of mind-over-matter for over twenty years, has transformed hundreds of lives. Now, through his new book, Read more…
Integrative MedicineThe Microbiome Solution
The Microbiome Solution is not your ordinary diet book. It’s more of an education in how our bodies work and how we can impact them to produce better health. Health expert and author Dr. Robynne Chutkan honed the information she shares in the book through observation, trial and error in Read more…
Medical NewsMedicine vs. Health
How many doctors do you know who are truly healthy and fit? Why is that? Aren’t they in the health industry? The answer to that is no. Most doctors learned their trade in traditional medical schools which taught little about health and wellness, and a lot about medicine. We can Read more…
Integrative MedicineBacteria That’s Good For You
It’s a fact that the brain controls the body, but what controls the brain? In his new book, Brain Maker, David Perlmutter, MD, describes an emerging field of science that contends that the gut controls the health of the body, including the health of the brain. As you may recall Read more…
Natural OptionsTools for Training a Positive Brain
You’ve heard the term “knee jerk reaction”? Well, our brains do the same type of thing. Throughout our lives, our brains create neurological pathways which connect thoughts to reactions. These reactions manifest as emotions and physical experiences. Until recently, it was generally accepted by medical professionals that once the brain Read more…
InspirationHealth is a Choice: Lisa Genova
Lisa Genova had a dream. She wanted to someday write a book, but as a Harvard-trained neuroscientist, her family and colleagues laughed at the thought. Ironically, life circumstances led her to that dream sooner than expected, while her grandmother’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s led her to the valuable research that made Read more…
Integrative MedicineWheat Belly’s William Davis, M.D.
William Davis, M.D., changed the way many of us view “healthy whole grains” with his New York Times bestseller, Wheat Belly. Describing his first book as a means of “easing consumers into the real conversation,” Davis takes it a step further in his new book, Wheat Belly Total Health, explaining Read more…
Natural OptionsGrain Brain Makes You Think
Dr. David Perlmutter’s 2013 book Grain Brain has a lot of people questioning previously held beliefs regarding low-fat diets, grains and cholesterol. Much of what Perlmutter has to say about these subjects is completely opposite from what most Americans have been taught for the past 40 years. Regardless of what Read more…
Medical NewsTop Doc Recommends Wheat Belly: Joe Scherger, MD notes science and results
Joseph Scherger, MD, MPH is Vice President of Primary Care at Eisenhower Medical Center. He is also the Marie E. Pinizzotto, MD, Chair of Academic Affairs, and the Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at both the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and the University of Southern California’s Read more…
Natural OptionsThe Virgin Crusade
There is something special about Palm Desert resident JJ Virgin. She appears to be the girl next door all the boys adored (tall, blonde, athletic build); yet, the inquisitive tomboy who could play and explore with the best of them. In high school, she studied ballet while weight training with Read more…