The Diet Selector By Judith Rodriguez

This is a nifty book. I picked it up at Smiths (Kroger). I feel it was well worth the money.

The purpose of this book to to review the diets out there. Nearly every diet is in this from "3 Apple-a-Day " to "You, On A Diet".

So in the beginning the author, Dr. Rodriguez talks about diet myths and about dieting today and how portions sizes have double and even tripled. Sound advice that pertains to any diet is given.

The bulk of this book an overview of diets which includes:

• The origin/history


• Diet claims and how it works


• At a glance ratings which include long term plan, flexibility, being family friendly, cost, strength of science.


• A sample menu to provide some ideas of what following the diet means in terms of everyday eating.


• Useful resources for further info


• Lists "treats" and "forbidden foods"


• My favorite: the Pro's and Con's

There is also a section on diets for disease management such as DASH, GI, Gluten Free, Mayo etc.

A very good book to have as a reference.

Braggs Healthy Lifestyle By Paul C. and Patricia Bragg

I think this book is one of the first to start the raw diet movement. While I learned several new things, I don't agree with the Braggs philosophy on all subjects.

It did inspire me to do a 66 hour fast of raw apple juice and raw apple cider vinegar only. (At 66 hours I had 1/2 of an avocado, but went on to 72 hours). I have been trying to detox forever and just decided to bite the bullet; Since fasting is one of the fastest ways to detox.

One piece of advice if doing a fast: Raw apple cider vinegar (not the stuff you get at Walmart, like Heinz. Raw organic, like Braggs) really helps with the hunger pains and over all sense of well being. The recipe is all over the bottle. but is 1tsp. RAW honey, 2 t. ACV and a cup of water. Can be taken three times a day. This cocktail is good for a variety of ills. My sister in law suggested it and I have been drinking it for three weeks now. Apparently it was the original Gatorade, I can believe it.

I made Patricia's popcorn recipe: air popped of course. with olive oil, brewer's yeast and Braggs sprinkle seasoning and it was really good. Matter of fact my kids ate it all and I plan on making more today.

My favorite part of the book was the "Chinese tongue Chart". The tongue is the magic mirror of the stomach and entire mucus membrane system, so if it's coated in a particular area, that's where the toxins are.

My review of this book is questionable. I learned from it, but the tone of the book is arrogant-calling people who eat unhealthily "living dead" and "walking piles of manure".The information rendered becomes redundant. The book could easily be less than 50 pages instead of 132.

If you are considering the raw food or vegan diet, you will like it, but I'm not to that point. I like my cheese and meat to much.

Paul Bragg has a slew of accomplishments such as opening the first health food store in America and was the first to introduce juicing. Even Jack LaLanne is one of his students (we hear about that every few pages).

The Liver Cleansing Diet By Sandra Cabot

So before I review this book I need to preface this and say:

I have been to the doctor and had blood tests done. I do not have high cholesterol or triglycerides; on the contrary I have low cholesterol (if that's possible, and it is) and low triglycerides. Ironically, the symptoms are quite similar.

So after my doctor informed me that I have a congested liver and I would never loose weight until it was functioning more efficiently- I decided it was time to clean that baby up and went online to find out how. The liverdoctor.com caught my eye. Dr. Cabot told me everything my doctor already had and even more.

The Liver Cleansing Diet by Dr. Sandra Cabot

The liver is the biggest organ in the body and is often overlooked. Dr. Cabot does an excellent job of explaining the functions of the liver and how important the liver is for the over all well being of the body. She also gives you the symptoms of a "fatty" or congested liver.

Keep in mind, if you see a traditional doctor for tests your levels may be in healthy perimeters according to that doctor. If you go to a nature path or alternative health provider you will get better help with this problem. Alternative health Providers are not quacks. They like to fix the problems rather than treat the symptoms.

I can not tell you how much I learned about the process of the liver in this book and found it so interesting. Did you know that the liver regulates carbohydrate metabolism, stores certain vitamins such as B12,regulates protein metabolism, detoxifies many toxic substance sand chemicals,and is an internal cleanser:

If the liver filter and/or detoxification pathways become overloaded. this will cause toxins, dead cells, cancer cells, fat globules and microorganisms to build up to undesirably high levels in the blood stream. This increases the workload of the immune system. The immune system becomes overloaded and irritated causing it to produce excessive inflammatory chemicals....This leads to symptoms of allergies, chronic fatigue, recurrent inflections, or auto immune diseases. page 52

Some other symptoms of a fatty liver are coated tongue, foggy brain, circles under eyes, bloated abdomen and bad breath. Itching skin and brown spots or skin rashes. Sugar cravings, inability to loose weight, sluggish metabolism, poor digestion, headaches, high cholesterol.

I looked at this as a liver-cleansing diet, not a diet to loose weight. However; it makes total sense that anyone following this diet would loose weight. Dr. Cabot suggests you eat food that do not burden the liver any more than it already is for 8 weeks. So no refined foods such as white flour or sugar, dairy or red meat. Basically lots of fresh vegetables/fruits and chicken or seafood. With the summer gardens and harvest time approaching I thought this would be a perfect time for me to try it.

The book is a quick read for the second half is full of recipes. I read it in one evening.

Dr. Cabot writes in an easy to read style that is very thorough and uplifting (there is hope to be thin again!). Before another diet is tried, a person should really think about this, since it is genetic and very common. Not to mention it is very easy to get your liver in this condition by not eating good healthy foods.

Although I purchased this book (which I feel was worth the price of $10). This and several of her other books I found at the county library in my area. Her website is great and a lot of the material is covered there.