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The Wellness Concierge Amazon.com Reader Reviews A Voice of Reason! Dynamite! And it really works!
Pros Cons The Bottom Line Full Review Since reading parts of her excellent, up-to-date website at bodyfueling.com, she has become a vegetarian and recommends a moderately high complex carbohydrate, moderate protein and moderately low fat diet, or basically one with a 55-65, 25-30. 15-20 percent range. I like this better, but having so much whole grain, also endorsed by the USDA, is just too much for me, it seems. I'd be perpetually tired from experience. In the book, she has detailed recommendations for how your three meals and three carbo snacks a day may look like, which is how she has been eating for at least two years. She does not add any oils or butters and likes some vegetables, but only as "garnish." Fruit is more of a simple carbohydrate, as well as potatoes, candy and junk food, (gives an immediate sugar rush as opposed to the much slower use of glucose/sugar in complex carbohydrates) and should be limited, also. Animal protein adds fat and protein that if eaten in excess of a few ounces a day will turn to stored fat. Soy milk and tofu were cautioned against in the book, but were highly recommended on her website. She now even drinks a Spiru-tein shake that uses soy milk or fruit juice like I do, though I use soy milk and fruit always. What You'll Find In The Book FOREWORD by Kaaren A. Nichols, M.D. INTRODUCTION: Lies and Truth-Your World
Turned Upside Down CHAPTER ONE: Fueling Your Future (Why fuel?)
I can't tell you how provoking this book has been for me. Not that her debunking of the diet mind and the weight-loss programs surprised me in the slightest. That all made perfect sense and it was wonderful that someone as level-headed and personable as Robyn Landis exposed what so many yoyo dieters who are obese or with around forty percent bodyfat need to hear desperately. It's provoking to me because I have been eating a more balanced percentage of complex carbohydrates, protein and fat. I do eat nuts, seeds, olives, avocadoes and add walnut or canola oil to stir frys, salads and what I bake. Robyn says we don't need added fat, but then she was not vegetarian and I am a vegan to boot without fat from meat, dairy or eggs. She says that fats are not fuel unless we're serious athletes, which is why I ran a marathon with a lot of peanut butter as well as complex carbs and vegetable protein in my diet. Maybe, though, she's inspired me to add more servings of whole grains to my diet now. There's one big question I have, however, in spite of all her evidence. Why were so many people for so many years able to live off of what they hunted, fished or gathered? Domesticated crops were developed over in China in the Neolithic Age, ten thousand years ago, and they were not plentiful really until many, many centuries later. American Indians didn't eat bread until long after the Europeans came over. Obviously meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds have been the staple of diets for billions of people, but perhaps their health wasn't too good. Or maybe I'm missing some information and our bodies are different today? That aside, this information is still excellent for helping people get off the diet merry-go-round and to eat healthier, more substantial food. She may have improved the newly rereleased book, too. Landis has written a new book, Herbal Defense, which sounds like more than just talk about herbs. As in Bodyfueling, a 290-page book (originally at least) of nonstop challenging insight and practical ways to change your body's composition, her new book looks to be our first line of defense against heart problems, diabetes, obesity and cancer because when the body is fueled properly, the body will happily work like it is meant to. I hope you will find the book as enjoyable as I did and check out bodyfueling.com, too. She will definitely give you lots to think about and, I think, a lot of pretty good advice you can take or leave according to how it feels to you. Recommended Yes Ingram Booklist Fitness Partner Connection Jumpsite BookPage If you are serious about your health and interested in alternative methods, "Herbal Defense" should be an addition to your bookshelf. Don't be fooled by the title -- this book does emphasize the use of herbs for health, but it contains a lot more information including one of the best explanations of the immune system I have encountered to date. While "Herbal Defense" is not encyclopedic in scope, many of the herbs mentioned are covered in detail which reflects the latest scientific research. You'll discover facts about herbs not often found in popular books. The amount of practical information is impressive. Author Robyn Landis clears up myths surrounding herbs and explores how herbs are gentler and more user-friendly than many of today's synthesized pharmaceuticals. Landis informs us up front that she is not a health practitioner but an informed and empowered "ordinary" consumer who has studied and worked with herbs extensively. She draws from her personal experience in overcoming illness and from her studies with renowned herbalist and educator Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa. Many books of this ilk present cursory listings of herbs, their basic properties, and most common uses. "Herbal Defense" is compact and dense but follows a mostly narrative form, listing herbs within chapters such as "Health-Building Herbs, Foods, and Nutrients," "Herbs for Depression, Addictions, Anxiety, and Insomnia," "Herbs for Skin" and "Herbs for Longevity." There are several chapters dealing with specific concerns including allergies, arthritis, heart disease, headaches and digestion. Landis, with the support of her mentor Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, has
created an expansive whole health resource which provides enough information
for anyone to start a regimen of health supported by nutrients and herbal
remedies that are available on the shelves of health food stores, grocery
stores and many allopathic pharmacies -- or even in your own backyard. Library Journal If you are serious about your health and interested in alternative methods, "Herbal Defense" should be an addition to your bookshelf. Don't be fooled by the title-this book does emphasize the use of herbs for health, but it contains a lot more information including one of the best explanations of the immune system I have encountered to date. While "Herbal Defense" is not encyclopedic in scope, many of the herbs mentioned are covered in detail which reflects the latest scientific research. You'll discover facts about herbs not often found in popular books. The amount of practical information is impressive. Author Robyn Landis clears up myths surrounding herbs and explores how herbs are gentler and more user-friendly than many of today's synthesized pharmaceuticals. Landis informs us up front that she is not a health practitioner but an informed and empowered "ordinary" consumer who has studied and worked with herbs extensively. She draws from her personal experience in overcoming illness and from her studies with renowned herbalist and educator Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa. Many books of this ilk present cursory listings of herbs, their basic properties, and most common uses. "Herbal Defense" is compact and dense but follows a mostly narrative form, listing herbs within chapters such as "Health-Building Herbs, Foods, and Nutrients," "Herbs for Depression, Addictions, Anxiety, and Insomnia," "Herbs for Skin" and "Herbs for Longevity." There are several chapters dealing with specific concerns including allergies, arthritis, heart disease, headaches and digestion. Landis, with the support of her mentor Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, has created an expansive whole health resource which provides enough information for anyone to start a regimen of health supported by nutrients and herbal remedies that are available on the shelves of health food stores, grocery stores and many allopathic pharmacies-or even in your own backyard. -Eleanor Sommer "This work looks at wellness and healing from a natural perspective. .. . {It} includes case studies and recipes. . . . The authors explain Ayurvedic principles . . . and include charts describing the three doshas, or energy/body types; Ayurvedic principles also underline much of the herbal lore. . . .Landis includes information on selecting a practitioner, preparations to buy or avoid, and dosage guidelines." (Libr J) Bibliography.
Ingram Can Herbal Medicine Help Thyroid
Disease? Khalsa, in addition to being an accomplished master of Kundalini yoga and natural healing, focuses his herbal studies on Ayurvedic medicine, and also teaches and writes about Chinese and North American herbalism. After years in patient practice, Khalsa now concentrates his efforts on writing, speaking at conferences, providing in-person and web training for other professional herbalists around the nation, and consulting for Herb Technology, a company that provides herbal medicines for practitioners. Khalsa is widely known as author of an immensely respected book that everyone should have as part of his/her health library, "Herbal Defense." I consider "Herbal Defense" one of the truly essential works for anyone who takes herbs, and in particular, for those with chronic health conditions and an interest in long-term wellness. Herbal Defense offers a comprehensive approach to understanding health through herbs and food. The book integrates herbal information from a variety of traditions, including Ayurveda (the medical system of India), Chinese medicine, and Native American herbalism. The book offers information on both preventing and treating conditions using herbal medicine, and a special focus on the immune system and how to support it. I had the honor of exploring Khalsa's view of thyroid disease, and to learn of his perspectives on using herbs to treat thyroid and autoimmune disease, in a phone interview earlier this summer. First, Khalsa believes one must identify what some of the general health triggers are that are allowing for the thyroid condition to take place. Says Khalsa, "as people begin to degenerate and experience imbalance, they begin to develop inflammation in various places. Why does one person get arthritis, another thyroiditis? Because they have a particular familiar tendency, or ate a lot of something that triggers an allergic sensitivity, or for some reason, the immune system didn't have the resources it needed to support appropriate vigilance. Ultimately what works very well is to get healthy. The way to treat this disease and many of these other slipperier, obscure inflammatory and autoimmune diseases is to treat what ails them." Next, Khalsa believes that the objective for any chronic disease such as thyroid disease is to provide overall support for the immune system herbally, and then provide support to the targeted organ -- in this case, the thyroid -- using herbal medicine. At the same time, with thyroid disease, Khalsa also recommends that yoga shoulderstands, and exercises that use neck rotation and neck extension are all classic help for the thyroid. "Anything that puts blood into and out of the thyroid can be a help," says Khalsa. What types of herbal remedies should be taken? That's a question that can't really be answered in an article. Trying to pick your own herbs and self-treat autoimmune disease is tricky, says Khalsa. "The most common story is that people are interested in herbal medicine, enthusiastic, they go to Walmart and buy a particular remedy, try it, and it doesn't work. Practitioners will suggest things that are more potent, effective and really do the job." Khalsa feels that there's not a "one-size fits all" formula for thyroid disease. "You probably can't really self-treat an autoimmune disease in general," says Khalsa, " as you have to take a whole body point of view to get better results." In fact, he doesn't even feel that an herbal approach focused on the thyroid is always even called for, when there is a thyroid condition. Says Khalsa, "I don't think that the approach always needs to be specially focused on the thyroid. What people almost always have is generalized chaos in the endocrine system, a chronic endocrine dysregulation. You can see thyroid disease, or adrenal disease, or even female hormone imbalance. It depends on the lens the practitioner is looking through." Solving the problems are doable, says Khalsa, but it points up the need for assessment and treatment by an expert. Khalsa describes the interplay of hormones as a "symphony," and "by working on the whole system, an expert can get all the glands come into play." Says Khalsa, "I always encourage people to see a practitioner at least once or twice." Even in the most expert of hands, Khalsa counsels patience. "Hypothyroidism responds very slowly to natural therapies." According to Khalsa, he has found that autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto's and Graves' disease are "some of the slowest responding conditions." His advice was, "expect a year for complete recovery and transition to a maintenance protocol." To find a world-class herbalist like Khalsa Contact the American Herbalists Guild and see their Herbalist Referral page. Enter your state in the search box and hit submit, and you'll see AHG herbalists in your area. |