A highly scientific, impressively researched map to better health through a plant-based diet.
A diet and lifestyle guide based on evolutionary science that compares humans and gorillas.
At the age of 16, Goldfarb (The 6 Principle Strategy for Creating a Successful & Happy Life, 2015, etc.) became obsessed with finding the perfect diet. At the time, she struggled with eating disorders, and as an adult, she faced two bouts of cancer. She now has multiple degrees in nutrition and medical science, and here, she analyzes the similarities between humans and gorillas to explore the diet that restored her health. She divides the guide into two sections: the first traces evolutionary evidence of why her diet works, and the second outlines the lifestyle itself. Anthropology buffs will be impressed with the depth of Goldfarb’s supporting research, which makes up two-thirds of the book. Epigenetics—the study of how genes are expressed, based upon external or environmental factors—provides the basis for her theory for the ideal human diet. Gorillas have much in common with humans, she says, but the foods they consume stand in contrast to the typical Western diet. In captivity, gorillas who were fed processed foods suffered from obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, and sugar addiction; after returning to their natural high-fiber, low-protein, and low-fat diet, the animals thrived. Similarly, she says, humans would benefit from a return to the food that led them to succeed as a species. Goldfarb provides examples of the consequences of eating too much animal protein, dairy, and processed foods, which may scare any burger-loving American reader straight. Taking on a natural, mostly plant-based diet, she says, helps people break free from disease and general malaise. For readers who aren’t convinced, Goldfarb provides evidence that leading an unhealthy lifestyle can predispose one’s children to disease and early death. The description of the Guerrilla/Gorilla Diet is dissimilar to those of other diets in that it provides intricate scientific and historic explanations. Such comprehensiveness may almost be too dense for casual readers, but even those seeking a new route to better health will find detailed 12-week and 30-day plans to follow as well as a bounty of food charts.
A highly scientific, impressively researched map to better health through a plant-based diet.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5176-7476-2
Page Count: 398
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A superb work that paints the resilient athlete as a fierce competitor and an unforgettable sportsman.
Heartfelt biography of a Texas football star whose life was cut short by cancer.
Inspired by interviews with coaches, teammates and friends and a 1971 autobiography, award-winning sportswriter Dent (Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football, 2007, etc.) tracks Freddie Joe Steinmark’s early years and burgeoning career with the Texas Longhorns. From his childhood in 1950s Denver, Colo., Steinmark’s interest in sports flourished, carefully groomed and profoundly encouraged by his father, a self-made athlete turned cop who’d sacrificed a professional baseball career to raise his son. “A small child with fragile bones” yet dubbed “a born winner” by early mentors, Steinmark’s diminutive stature proved a surprisingly suitable match for his steely, fearless determination on the field. Dent budgets his narrative wisely, proffering equal parts sports achievement and personal accomplishment in tracing his subject’s incremental ascent to greatness as he earned the admiration of fellow teammates like star quarterback Roger Behler. As the Longhorns’ “golden boy” key safety, the “155-pound peach-fuzz kid” exhibited drive and tireless perseverance on the gridiron, making him a respected letterman under Coach Darrell Royal. However, soon after a game-saving field performance, Steinmark suffered a crushing blow when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone cancer that would eventually claim his life at 22. Dent also includes the story of Steinmark’s shyly romantic courtship of high-school sweetheart Linda Wheeler, an intensive love that endured throughout their tenure together at the University of Texas. The author also bolsters the biography with a fond foreword from current Texas head coach Mack Brown, who, to this day, continues to memorialize Steinmark’s legacy by bringing his photograph along to the team’s away-games.
A superb work that paints the resilient athlete as a fierce competitor and an unforgettable sportsman.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-65285-2
Page Count: 307
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
A dramatic demystification of suicide from detailed accounts of failed suicide attempts, their circumstances, and their aftermaths. Therapist and psychology professor Heckler (John F. Kennedy Univ.) interviews 50 people, ranging from teenagers to septuagenarians, mechanics to physicians. What these people share is their ability to live meaningful lives after having failed in their suicide attempts. Heckler opens with an analysis of the most common preludes to suicide. In their own words, his subjects reveal the devastating effects of traumatic loss, extreme family dysfunction, and alienation. As each of their stories unfolds, the critical elements in the suicidal urge become identifiable. Early unresolved pain compounded by present adversity is a chief precursor of suicide. Many of the interviewees relate early experiences of loss and trauma—such as the death of a parent or sexual abuse—that they were not able to mourn: They were experts at putting up a facade. But once this facade could no longer be maintained, many of those interviewed fell into a state that Heckler identifies as the ``suicidal trance.'' At this stage, suicide seems a logical option—almost an imperative. It becomes the only sensible way to both gain control and kill the pain. But when suicide attempts fail, survivors are forced to face the reality of their self-abuse and the crisis that they were trying to ``resolve.'' In addition to grappling with the more recent calamity, Heckler's interviewees underwent a grieving process in which their original pain finally surfaced and could then be dealt with. ``Grieving actually represents the successful beginning of resolving one's past,'' he writes. The catharsis of their suicide attempts were so powerful, in fact, that many of the survivors have moved on to success in helping and counseling professions. A bibliography and resource list round out the volume. Revealing and inspiring.
Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1994
ISBN: 0-399-13945-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
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