A short, accessible guide to common ailments, with quick explanations of their causes and possible remedies.
Cullen isn’t a doctor, nutritionist or health expert, but she has a natural curiosity toward healthy, holistic living and a knack for sharing her research. Her book looks at a wide range of everyday health problems that women face, from premenstrual syndrome to liver and kidney dysfunction, and attempts to delineate some easily fixable nutritional and environmental causes. Cullen shows how anyone can avoid these common ailments with medication and/or changes to diet and daily practices. For example, she posits that PMS symptoms can be completely avoided if one becomes more mindful of one’s consumption of xenoestrogens, chemicals in food that imitate estrogen and throw one’s hormonal balance out of whack. Avoiding xenoestrogens, she says, means eschewing animal products produced by factory farming, as such farming methods encourage the use of xenoestrogens in livestock to speed growth and production. The author also discusses natural herbal remedies that have been shown to improve kidney and liver function, among other topics. Although some passages aren’t backed up by statistical research or citations, most of the information presented is basic enough that readers could easily study the topics further with a quick Internet search. Cullen also clearly explains a variety of healthy habits, such as eating whole foods and various herbs while steering clear of chemical-laden convenience foods that contribute to poor nutrition. Most herbal remedies and nutritional fixes are successful on a case-by-case basis; one body may react negatively to gluten, for example, while another might have trouble digesting meat and dairy. But it would be hard to refute this book’s overall notion that most human bodies would benefit from a diet rich in natural, plant-based foods, and an absence of highly acidic, highly processed substances.
A conversational, persuasive guide to health problems that plague many women.Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-1490439495
Page Count: 210
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: HEALTH & FITNESS
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The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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Fans will find comfort in Lawson’s dependably winning mix of shameless irreverence, wicked humor, and vulnerability.
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The Bloggess is back to survey the hazards and hilarity of imperfection.
Lawson is a wanderer. Whether on her award-winning blog or in the pages of her bestselling books, she reliably takes readers to places they weren’t even aware they wanted to go—e.g., shopping for dog condoms or witnessing what appears to be a satanic ritual. Longtime fans of the author’s prose know that the destinations really aren’t the point; it’s the laugh-out-loud, tears-streaming-down-your-face journeys that make her writing so irresistible. This book is another solid collection of humorous musings on everyday life, or at least the life of a self-described “super introvert” who has a fantastic imagination and dozens of chosen spirit animals. While Furiously Happy centered on the idea of making good mental health days exceptionally good, her latest celebrates the notion that being broken is beautiful—or at least nothing to be ashamed of. “I have managed to fuck shit up in shockingly impressive ways and still be considered a fairly acceptable person,” writes Lawson, who has made something of an art form out of awkward confessionals. For example, she chronicles a mix-up at the post office that left her with a “big ol’ sack filled with a dozen small squishy penises [with] smiley faces painted on them.” It’s not all laughs, though, as the author addresses her ongoing battle with both physical and mental illness, including a trial of transcranial magnetic stimulation, a relatively new therapy for people who suffer from treatment-resistant depression. The author’s colloquial narrative style may not suit the linear-narrative crowd, but this isn’t for them. “What we really want,” she writes, “is to know we’re not alone in our terribleness….Human foibles are what make us us, and the art of mortification is what brings us all together.” The material is fresh, but the scaffolding is the same.
Fans will find comfort in Lawson’s dependably winning mix of shameless irreverence, wicked humor, and vulnerability.Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-07703-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
Categories: BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | PSYCHOLOGY | HEALTH & FITNESS | BODY, MIND & SPIRIT
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