Review of Depression-Free, Naturally: 7 Weeks to Eliminating Anxiety, Despair, Fatigue, and Anger from Your Life (Paperback)

I found it to be a well researched book with scientific, NON-DRUG solutions for depression, and anxiety that are working for me. I like the fact that the author developed and tested all of these formulas at a clinicin real life situations. If you have been disappointed with theeffectiveness of drugs in solving your health problems, you will bedelighted with the results from this logical approach.



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Review of Taming the Beast Within (Paperback)

"You are what you eat".I'm sure we're all familiar with that saying.Well, it's what this book is about. MitchWeiss takes us on a journey from our origins to the present, showing that we are the result of natural selection. As such the experiences and behaviors that ensured our survival as a species are coded into our genes and, even more intriguingly, are stored in that vast data base of our subconscious. Not all of the behaviors that ensured our survival were noble. They manifest themselves today in our aggression and in our racism: thus the title 'Taming The Beast Within'.
Perhaps the most speculative premise is the one that suggests that our subconscious may carry recorded memories of the past existence of our ancestors, that 'some of our ancestor's actual conscious memories downloaded into our head by our genetic instructions'.That would explain the feeling of déjà vu that we all experience. Even a talented child prodigy may have inherited the talents of a number of direct ancestors.
A work of such scope and depth as this would be remiss if it ignored religion. And it does not. It challenges our beliefs, our insistence that our God is the true and only one and that our neighbor's is the false one.And of course our neighbor believes the exact same thing.
These are just glimpses into this ambitious work and, in some ways, do it an injustice because you may be tempted to think that this is one of those boring scholarly tomes that you avoid like the plague.Well, it isn't.It's very accessible and very readable.The author's conversational style is engaging and seductive.He can take a thesis of this magnitude, from the atomic structure of matter to the chemistry of the brain, and present it in language that all of us will find interesting and even entertaining.
So what is this book all about.To borrow the author's own words his 'intention is to 'indict' the conventional wisdom and ideologies so that they may stand trial using common sense rules of evidence'.
Let the trial begin.I can't wait !

Product Description
Taming The Beast Within, by M.H. Weiss, is the ultimate self-help book. The logical and believable secrets of successful weight control, great mental and physical health, personal confidence and success become crystal clear as this story of life's reality unfolds.
Surely a controversial book, Taming The Beast Within attacks all aspects of the conventional wisdom and prevalent ideologies without mercy. The Author lays out a superb case for the realistic, spontaneous and natural origin of life through a believable journey from the beginning of our universe until the chaotic time in which we live. The open-minded and curious reader will find this book witty, informative, arrogant, sarcastic and charming, all at the same time.
New facts about many aspects of the origins of life, learned from recent genetic and archaeological discoveries, give real explanations to many of life's mysteries. The reader gets a logical and plausible look into the mechanisms at work behind phenomena like the sixth sense, deja vu, premonitions, hunches, intuition plus an intimate understanding of the real causes of mankind's seemingly animalistic behavior. Taming The Beast Within may well be the most important book you have ever read.

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Review of Breaking Out of Food Jail: How to Free Yourself from Diets and Problem Eating, Once and for All (Paperback)

If everyone followed the advice in this book, it would put a lot of eating disorders therapists, as well as diet gurus out of business. The author's theory is that eating disorders are biological in origin rather than emotional, and that the artificial food restriction of dieting causes a rebound effect in the body. If you stop the artifical restriction, and eat according to your hunger signals, your normal eating patterns will return and your weight will normalize. Unlike some books that advocate a similar philosophy, the author does not advocate eating poor quality foods. She explicitly states that you should eat high quality real foods whenever you are hungry. Thus, this book DOES NOT ignore good nutrition which some of these books do. She states that if your appetite always satisified, you'll soon lose interest in poor quality foods. I cured my own binge eating problem by following this advice, and don't eat much in the way of junk type foods anymore. I don't understand why more obesity researchers don't advocate this approach,and why Ms. Antonello seems to be a lone voice of sanity crying out in the wilderness.

Product Description

FINALLY YOU CAN SET YOURSELF FREE
If you've tried every diet out there, if you've counted every gram of fat, every last calorie and every meal exchange, and you're still fighting the food wars, it's time for Breaking Out of Food Jail, a commonsense approach to food, eating, and appetites.
Jean Antonello's practical, step-by-step program pinpoints and eliminates the most common cause of eating problems -- the fear of overeating. That's right -- if you've tried everything and you're still battling your appetite, it's probably because you're not getting enough to eat at the right time. When you deprive your body of food for any reason -- and as you do on most diels -- your body goes into a famine state. Your hunger soars, along with cravings for fatty foods and sugars -- the foods your body can most quickly turn into stored fuel to protect you from starvation. If you're like most dieters, you eventually respond to those signals by bingeing. And then you go back to your restrictive eating and start the cycle all over again. Breaking Out of Food Jail will release you from this trap and show you:
* How not eating enough results in cravings, overeating, disturbed eating behavior, and weight gain
* How the "feast or famine" pattern undermines even the most conscientious eater
* How to have a normal relationship with food -- including learning to eat whenever you're hungry and stopping when you are full
* Why most eating problems are not psychological but physiological
* How to prevent eating problems in children and young adults by teaching kids how to tune into their hunger and eat right
Filled with self-tests, affirmations, simple exercises, and the latest research on dieting, as well as Jean's list of "real foods" that should be in every refrigerator and pantry, Breaking Out of Food Jail will transform your relationship with food and your body and eliminate dieting from your life, once and for all.

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Review of Body Sense: Balancing Your Weight and Emotions (Paperback)

Most books about weighing more than you want, or having eating disorders, treat the issue like a chemistry problem.Change what you put in your mouth, and the weight will reach more appropriate levels.While that's certainly true to a point, many people are using food as a source of badly needed emotional solace.If they ignore their emotional needs, inappropriate uses of food may well continue.That's the situation that this book approaches.
Body Sense is unusually good at helping you locate sources of explicit and repressed emotions that can be influencing your eating.I was astonished at how many childhood memories the questions dredged up that I had not thought about in 40 or more years.The book also wisely focuses you on identifying which foods trigger binges and other inappropriate behavior, allergic reactions, blood sugar highs and lows, and other individual-specific reactions.There's also some basic information about how body chemicals affect mood and physiology, and ways that choice of foods can help.
Body Sense overcomes my main complaint about books offering new diets in that they usually offer one solution for everyone, and each person has to follow the advice pretty rigidly.As more research is conducted, it is becoming clear that individual reactions to foods vary quite a lot.For example, Live Right 4 Your Type shows that blood type is one important differentiating factor.In the future, we will probably learn more.For example, other research has shown that some people just have slower metabolisms than others, and will weigh more than people who eat more.Until better methods of finding out about our bodies is available, carefully understanding our reactions to food in an emotional and physiological sense is a logical and constructive step to take.
I had three negative reactions to the book that concerned me, as much as I liked what I described above.
First, we all have had bad experiences in our lives.If we are 5 pounds overweight, do we need to drag through all of that?10 pounds overweight?20 pounds overweight?30 pounds overweight?I'm not sure that this degree of psychological self-examination is required unless the degree of eating disorder is pretty great.If more examination is needed, shouldn't we have some professional help?
Second, the book doesn't say much about exercise except to warn against overdoing it.Most people would benefit from more fitness from exercise more than they would from losing a few pounds.I can imagine that people have very big hang-ups about exercise from their psychological backgrounds that need to be addressed as well.I was surprised that a book called Body Sense didn't include this topic.
Third, the process described here would take many months to do for most people.How many people will have the persistence and patience to work through this many issues on their own?In my experience, very few.The process here needs either some streamlining, or some way to make a person want to keep pursuing it.
Ultimately, who's to say that your weight is the biggest symptom you should be challenging?After all, it's mostly social norms that cause people to even think about their weight.I would argue that the harm we do to others and ourselves outside of how we eat is often worse.Perhaps the psychological approach here should be more like in Life Strategies, in trying to identify where change is needed first . . . before launching off into dealing with that area.
What can you do today that will be positive, gratifying, and something you would be proud to share with the world?


Product Description
This book holds that losing weight is not about willpower or miracle cures, but about becoming comfortable with difficult feelings. Emphasizing individual choice, it offers an action plan, a process, and a ray of hope for chronic dieters.

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Review of Mosby Medical Encyclopedia, The Signet: Revised Edition (Paperback)

I have the CD version of the Mosby's, and although I still prefer books to CDs most ways, the CD version is still a good product, so I thought I'd make a few comments on it.
First the interface, unlike a lot of reference works on CD that I have, is attractive, simple, and overall well done. I have at least 10 different encyclopedias and reference works on CDs at this point, and the Mosby's is one of the best I've seen. It's easier to use than the Britannica or World Book encyclopedias, for example, and more attractive. It's actually very similar to the Oxford Encyclopedia that I have, which divides the screen up into articles on the right-hand side, with the photos or other media and search boxes on the left. This makes for a nice, uncluttered screen. It probably looks best on a 17-inch monitor (16-inch viewable) or better where you can run at 1024 x 768 resolution.
The CD's main features, accessible by icons on the top left of the interface, include a drug guide, handbook of diseases, a human body atlas, resource lists, multimedia, search, and online, which is websites for further information and reseach.
The resource lists include lists and charts of various things such as height and weight measurements for girls and boys, selected genetic disorders,sexually transmitted diseases, safe sex pointers and risks, summary of carbohydrate classes, mode of action of antibiotics, types and causes of fractures, teratogens, and so on. There are about a hundred of these.
The multimedia section includes about 1400 photos, over 70 video animations, many useful tables, and a prounouncing dictionary of over 4000 terms. The voice has that computer-synthesized quality, but it's okay and this feature has certainly improved over earlier programs I've seen incorporating this feature.
Probably most people will be using the drug and disease entries. These aren't too technical and can usually be understand by the lay person with a little knowledge of basic human physiology and anatomy. I wish the drug entries weren't so short and the disease entries were a little more technical myself, but that's just my preference and one has to consider that this isn't a reference work intended for use by physicians. Overall, this is a quality medical reference for many things and a good value for your money, as the CD isn't very expensive compared to the book.

Product Description
The Signet Mosby Medical Encyclopedia is the largest, most complete mass market medical guide in print, with over 20,000 entries on such topocs as prescriptionand non-prescription drugs, setailed discussions of medical conditions, and the latest medical terminology. There is no other guide that provides this much medical information!

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Review of A Thinking Person's Step by Step Guide to Weight Loss & Exercise Program (Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading this book and found it refreshingly helpful.It provided an approach to dieting and exercise that I had not thought about before.I liked that a "system approach" was examined to meet the challenge of changing one's lifestyle as well as an emphasis on team work for succcess.I took the suggestion of tracking my progress and that proved to be informative as well.This is so much better than individual motivation and guilt that are used in most diet and exercise books!

Product Description
This book presents a groundbreaking approach to keeping up with weight loss and exercise plans. The method described - and shown to work based on empirical results - is radically different from traditional methods that single-mindedly emphasize personal motivation. Instead of promoting the establishment of overly ambitious goals, the selection of diet or workout "buddies," and the pairing of idealized outcomes with guilt trips as an ultimately destructive carrot - stick combination, the book sets out effectively to demolish these common and frequently toxic approaches. In a calmly reasoned, analytical way, the authors identify decisive elements in each person's environment and show how seemingly small changes in our surroundings and habits lead to lasting results.

Among the many innovative angles presented in the book are recordkeeping tools that bring out patterns hidden in our lifestyles and help us distinguish between real improvement and insignificant blips. After walking the reader through the steps of their unique strategy, the authors offer a full case study that brings the facts and figures to life. The book closes with a discussion on the pitfalls of the self-improvement movement when taken to unhealthy extremes and reiterates the sensible approach that defines its entire content.

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Review of Healing Your Emotional Self: A Powerful Program to Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem, Quiet Your Inner Critic, and Overcome Your Shame (Paperback)

Beverly Engel is quickly becoming one of my favorite self-help book writers. This is her newest book, and a must read for anyone who was abused or who had a difficult childhood. Beverly Engel describes the various negative parental mirrors and how they effect children, and how these negative thoughts and beliefs about the self are carried into adulthood. She also provides are powerful step by step program (including journal writing) to help you move through your feelings, coming out the other side with a renewed sense of hope and with new tools to use for the furture. This may also be good for anyone who is harsh and critical of his/herself and would like some tools to be kinder to him/herself. Very validating and empowering book.

Product Description
Healing Your Emotional Self

"Emotionally abusive parents are indeed toxic parents, and they cause significant damage to their children's self-esteem, self-image, and body image. In this remarkable book, Beverly Engel shares her powerful Mirror Therapy program for helping adult survivors to overcome their shame and self-criticism, become more compassionate and accepting of themselves, and create a more posititve self-image. I strongly recommend it for anyone who was abused or neglected as a child."
--Susan Forward, Ph.D., author of Toxic Parents

"In this book, Beverly Engel documents the wide range of psychological abuses that so many children experience in growing up. Her case examples and personal accounts are poignant and powerful reminders that as adults, many of us are still limited by the defenses we formed when trying to protect ourselves in the face of the painful circumstances we found ourselves in as children. Engle's insightful questionnaires and exercises provide concrete help in the healing process, and her writing style is lively and engaging. This book is destined to positively affect many lives."
--Joyce Catlett, M.A., coauthor of Fear of Intimacy

The Emotionally Abusive Relationship

"Beverly Engel clearly and with caring offers step-by-step strategies to stop emotional abuse . . . helping both victims and abusers to identify the patterns of this painful and traumatic type of abuse."
--Marti Tamm Loring, Ph.D., author of Emotional Abuse

Loving Him without Losing You

"A powerful and practical guide to relationships that every woman should read."
--Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D., author of Are You the One for Me?

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Review of Feel Good Naked: 10 No-Diet Secrets to a Fabulous Body (Paperback)

Laure Redmond asks us to examine our predisposition toward hating our bodies and offers us real-world alternatives: a different way to be in our skin, a different way to look at life, a different way to look at ourselves. It's a great gift she offers, made especially powerful by the fact that it is within reach. Redmond's program is down-to-earth and do-able. And her own story is so inspiring, you want to start following her advice as soon as you finish chapter 1; I implemented a couple of thesteps she presents right away, and I felt uplifted immediately.
I particularly liked the voice of the author. The honesty with which Redmond talks about her own trials makes me wish I could call her up on the phone and spill my guts to her. She's warm and understanding and has been through a lot. Because she's so frank about her own life--and she treats it all as grist for the learning mill--she makes me less afraid to look at myself, warts and all, and try to make changes.
This is a great book.

Product Description
Some women are obsessed with their bodies, never happy with how much they weigh or how they look. Laure Redmond used to be one of those women, paralyzed by female body hatred, insecure and uncomfortable with her overweight appearance. With self-motivation, her specially-designed 10-step program (and a few setbacks along the way), Laure changed her perspective and her appearance. She has spent the last 20 years counseling other women with a unique 10-step program that sheds pounds easily and naturally while building self-esteem. Her clients are always amazed at ho good they feel - lean, energetic, and most important, confident! Laure's Feel Good Naked program is the secret to finally loving the way you look.
Her fabulous innovative program has worked for countless women all over the country, and ten of these women share their success stories in Feel Good Naked.
You'll meet:Erin, who needed to exercise less and eat more to lose weightSusan, who lost 100 pounds - without dietingKathy, who saved her marriage by learning to feel better about herself and her body
The 10 steps are simple, gradual, and require no special equipment, foods, or gadgets. All you need is the desire to feel better about yourself!

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Review of Count Down Your Age: Look, Feel, and Live Better Than You Ever Have Before (Hardcover)

"Count Down Your Age" takes a personalized and wholistic view of health, from an everyday perspective.First, there's the "antiaging test" in the beginning of the book [...]

Then the book offers thoroughly researched and practical plans on lifestyle, nutrition, exercise and medical care.
The plans speak to both vegetarians and nonvegetarians.For me, the most difficult part of the diet plan is that it recommends eating no refined sugar, which would mean no ice cream and cookies.The easiest part of the diet plan is that it recommends eating whole grains, veggies and fruits, which we love.It also recommends eating fish, and YES there is a thorough evaluation of the issue of mercury contamination in fish.One interesting idea about the exercise plan is that we should take up new exercise classes or routines once in a while, in order to keep our minds and bodies sharp and learning new things.Then there are detailed instructions about how to get really effective sleep each night, what affects our sleep, and how to eliminate things which interfere with good sleep.I love about the book that it emphasizes how important it is to laugh, yes LAUGH.Ha, ha ha!!!

The books authors first reveal their own past mistakes and bad habits, and the fulfillment of becoming healthy and strong and shedding those bad habits (and shedding pounds and years!).I like this part, because Dave Bunnell is my father, and I have seen the positive changes in his lifestyle and attitude which inspire me to live better and take better care of my family.You don't have to know the authors to be inspired by the section on their personal lives, but if you have worked in the computer or publishing industry,you can read how Dave used to live during the MacWorld days, and how he's changed.It's inspiring to see how a man approaching sixty can knock off 15 years of his life, but moreso how he changed his definition of success from "having it all" to living well, peaceful and in good health.





Product Description

How would you like to take 5, 10, even 20 years off your age? PREPARE FOR COUNTDOWN!


Why worry about growing older when you can feel younger now? That's the brilliantly simple premise behind this amazing new lifestyle guide for men and women of all ages. Dr. Frederic Vagnini and Dave Bunnell, two of the top experts in the field of antiaging, have combined the latest breakthroughs in health, beauty, fitness, nutrition, and medicine to create a complete, customized, all-in-one program.


Reverse aging with:

• Tips for a longer, happier life
• The 20 top antiaging foods
• The best longevity supplements

Imagine how much better you would feel if you could magically "count down" your age. More energy. Increased strength. Extra flexibility. Healthier skin. Stronger sex drive. Better sleep. The list goes on and on.


It's not magic. It's Count Down Your Age, the incredible new program that lets you customize and combine the best antiaging treatments in the world today. This comprehensive, step-by-step guide will show you how to:

• Maximize your health and stabilize your weight
• Soup up your stamina and double your strength
• Conspire with your doctor, and accelerate the countdown
• Improve your health through laughter
• Use the book's point-by-point checklist to create your very own customized plan

Count Down Your Age gives you the most up-to-date information on the smartest diets, most effective supplements, alternative treatments, healing plans, stress busters, exercises, checkups, tests, and other secrets of longevity. You're not going to believe how young you can look, how great you can feel, and how much better you can live.



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Review of The Craving Cure: Break the Hold Carbs and Sweets Have on Your Life (Paperback)

Like most people, I've been on the merry go round with dieting for all my life.And - you guessed it - some things have worked but not for long.

In retrospect, there is a very good reason why this has happened.
This book is absolutely life changing.It puts the whole picture together and has you draw on your "wise self" to make decisions about food, exercise and your sense of well being.What's more important, is Rena teaches you step by step how to do this in a systematic way.

Working with her material has been a phenomenal experience for me.
In terms of effects, things have changed very steadily.The first thing I noticed was that I could sleep through the night.Then, the aches and pains started diminishing.Then, my energy came back and before you know it, I'm looking forward to walking my dog every night (and I used to hate being outside) doing Power Yoga and meditating.

They are no longer a struggle for me but instead have become an integral part of my daily life.Not to mention, I've been losing weight slowly and steadily. I highly recommend this book.

I have all the rest of her materials as well including her other book and CD set.Having all these tools at my disposal is amazing - I feel so supported and I don't even know her!

Thank you Rena.You've changed my life. . . . for the better!!

Product Description

"The Craving Cure is a wonderful resource for personal insight and transformation."
--Caroline Myss, Ph.D.
Author of Entering the Castleand Anatomy of the Spirit


Free yourself from food addictions!


Excessive consumption of sugar in all its forms--including simple carbohydrates, caffeine, alcohol--can lead to weight problems, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and other mental and physical disorders. Whatever you are craving weakness, this book will give you the knowledge and techniques you need to overcome it.


The Craving Cure will help you

• Understand the psychological and physical basis of food addictions
• Use affirmations, imagery, and relaxation techniques to overcome your addictions
• Develop a healthier, more satisfying lifestyle--without feeling deprived--through the author's two-week detox program

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