RUN YOUR BODY LIKE A BUSINESS

This unique guide is cleverly constructed to explain the operation and health of the human body in business terms.

Instead of offering the typical prescription for healthy eating, exercise and stress reduction, as so many books do, debut author Foard compares the body to a large corporation. He chose to explain it this way as he was diagnosed with a chronic, irreversible health condition, and he wanted to use his knowledge of biology, combined with his experience as a business consultant, to learn as much as possible about how the body works so he could possibly beat the disease. Using the metaphor of the body as a business, Foard ingeniously describes the body’s various functions: “Within our body are the standard systems we find in any business.” The digestive tract becomes a “disassembly plant,” the immune system is the body’s “security,” and the intestines and colon are a “delicate nutrient extraction system.” The author covers how to take control and become “the CEO of our Body.” Foard criticizes the “Western diet,” noting that “consumers today are willing to compromise health for convenience.” He recommends reducing reliance on processed foods, cooking at home and avoiding artificial ingredients, and he includes a discussion of probiotics, cautioning that “we have to be careful of the marketing messages when making buying decisions based on buzzwords.” The guide proposes a “Strategic Framework for Health,” which highlights the need to be proactive about the health of the body. Readers may find some of his recommendations extreme; for example, he advocates doing a “decomposition analysis”—analyzing the nutritional content of every food consumed over a period of time. Still, he bases much of his advice on research that he scrupulously documents.

Comprehensive, cogent and smartly packaged; should have great appeal to those with a real interest in better body management.