A sensible guide to health from two genial experts.
Anything you want to know about what, when, and how to eat.
Food gurus Bittman (How To Cook Everything: Completely Revised 20th Anniversary Edition, 2019, etc.), special adviser on Food Policy at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, and Katz (The Truth About Food: Why Pandas Eat Bamboo and People Get Bamboozled, 2018, etc.), founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, bring their expertise and common sense to answering myriad questions about diet and nutrition. “The artful (or at least competent!) blend of science and sense is what we believe to be our signature contribution,” write the authors, as they impart their views on various diets, whether it’s advisable to always eat breakfast (“there is nothing holy about breakfast,” they assert), what makes a good snack (apples, walnuts, bananas, carrots, hummus, bean dip, salad are fine), whether dairy is good or bad (it depends on what you’re eating and what dairy replaces), and whether there are any true superfoods (the idea of a superfood “is a marketing ploy”). They ring in on how much protein an average person needs, the difference between complete and incomplete proteins, the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats and between fructose (the natural sugar found in plants) and high-fructose corn syrup, which is processed in factories and contains about 45% glucose. Overall, the authors advocate eating unprocessed foods from local sources, which leads to “reducing carbon footprint, supporting local economies, eating seasonally (and fresh), knowing where your food comes from and how it was raised…all these are inarguably positive attributes.” They deal with debates over questions such as eating eggs, avoiding foods that cause inflammation, adding probiotics to one’s diet, using artificial sweeteners, getting enough antioxidants, and whether to take vitamin and mineral supplements, which “should be supplements to a good diet, not substitutes for one.” The authors are straightforward when they can’t resolve a controversy (such as the health benefits of taking a multivitamin mineral mix) and cite scientific studies.
A sensible guide to health from two genial experts.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-12882-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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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