health updates

may 2007

We are frequently asked to review new books and so it was with anticipation that I opened Food Cures by Joy Bauer who is a regular on the Today Show. She opens the book with the following quotation: “My motto is this: Life is hard…food should be easy.” We all know that this is easy to say, but difficult to impact, otherwise we would not be in the middle of an obesity epidemic. What Ms. Bauer presents to us is a number of meal plans with healthy pantry lists for a list of diseases and conditions. So in the Feeling Good section she discusses Mood, Migrane Headaches, PMS, Insomnia, IBS, Celiac disease, and in the Living Long and Strong, she does the same for Cardiovascular disease, Arthritis, Type 2 Diabetes, Osteoporosis, Cataracts and Macular Degeneration, and Memory. There is also a chapter dedicated to those who need to lose weight. The book is full if side bars which are in the form of answering questions as posed by a patient, or which explain a term used in the text. For example there is a sidebar on Carbo-counting and the exchange system. The book has excellent shopping lists of healthy foods. As in our Cleveland Clinic Healthy Heart Lifestyle Guide and Cookbook, Broadway Books, 2007, the book stresses using healthier fats, few saturated and hydrogenated fats, high fiber carbohydrates, plant protein, and limited animal protein. Limits are placed on grams of fats per day as well as sodium. Albeit ours is a cardio-protective cookbook and lifestyle guide so it does what it sets out to do—protect our cardiovascular system.

Now what do I really like about Food Cures? The menus give even the casual reader an Idea of how to put a meal together and the amount of food that makes up a 1,200-1,500 calorie per day regime. Simple meal plans are listed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, using easily available foods from the super market and the recipes included in the book. Most of the shopping lists are very similar. One would surmise, this is true because fresh vegetables and fruits are just plain healthy. I did note that these lists change to promote those varieties that meet Ms.Bauer’s nutritional guidelines. For example apples are not suggested for treatment of Osteoporosis, however, they are for Memory, Type 2 diabetes and others. For a diabetic the book is very informative about the diseases presented, however recipes from other chapters so not include exchanges, leaving the diabetic up in the air. This is not a cookbook. When I review a book, I make some of the recipes, and I make the Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Cinnamon and Walnuts which is in the Type 2 Diabetes section. The head note says this is a “perfect dessert to bake when you’re looking for something special.” I made the cake just as it was presented and both my husband and I found it just OK. It is very high in fat,12g per serving, and calories, 240 per serving. To be honest I wouldn’t waste calories or carbs on this recipe. The cake is tasteless, dry, and it was certainly nothing like the real sour cream coffee cakes we’ve all tasted. By the way each chapter has 4 recipes and the type 2 Diabetes chapter has 3 desserts. So how does this book rate with this reader? I must say that I liked the style of the book. There is a great deal of information presented in an easy manner. I liked the author’s meal plans. Although repetitive, they are easy to make and use easily accessible ingredients. I would question the presentation of some of these diseases like Hair Health and Beauty in the same book as Cardiovascular Disease. The two seem very unequal. I would use this book to educate myself on illnesses so I could become an informed consumer of health care. We are often over whelmed when we visit physicians and this book is a good first step to educating yourself. BSP