Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook or Cancer Recovery Eating Plan

Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook: Healthful, Healing Recipes for Life

Author: Amrita Sondhi

Ayurveda is a holistic healing tradition from India whose history is linked to the development of yoga. It is an ancient system in which physical and spiritual well-being comes from a number of sources, including a healthful diet based on one's individual constitution.

Ayurveda is about achieving a physical and spiritual balance through a number of means, including yoga, aromatherapy, and diet. This all-vegetarian cookbook based on Ayurvedic traditions features delectable and nutritious recipes that appeal to particular doshas, which are one's personal constitution based on physical and mental characteristics: fire (pitta), air (vata), and earth (kapha). (The book includes a dosha questionnaire so readers can determine their own.) And while the recipes are authentically Ayurvedic, they feature easy-to-find ingredients and modern-day cooking methods appropriate for busy schedules.

The book also includes yoga postures, cleansing programs, and information on aromatherapy, color therapy, and Abhyanga massage. There are also suggested meat substitutions for non-vegetarians. (Ayurveda is not exclusively vegetarian, although this book is.)

Written with both converts and beginners in mind, The Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook is a twenty-first-century approach to a five-thousand-year-old tradition that will restore your health, energy, and sense of well-being.
Two-color throughout.

Interesting textbook: Sushi Cookbook or History of Vodka

Cancer Recovery Eating Plan: The Right Foods to Help Fuel Your Recovery

Author: Daniel W Nixon

Dr. Nixon, editor-in-chief of the journal Cancer Prevention, cuts through the hype to explain the latest scientific findings on food and cancer. He presents individualized eating plans according to the type of cancer and offers a three-month plan to benefit the person with cancer. Over 100 recipes help put the plan into action.

Publishers Weekly

Nixon, detection and treatment vice-president for the American Cancer Society, here makes it clear that no miracle food or diet yet exists to prevent cancer, much less guarantee that it will not recur after treatment. Moreover, certain cancers-e.g., the lymphomas and leukemias-seem to bear little relation to dietary habits. Nonetheless, he tells us, dietary strategies and steps can be taken to minimize risk and maximize the benefits of preventing certain new or recurring cancers-breast, prostate and colon, for example. He provides a thoughtful, well-researched look at the controversial issues regarding diet and cancer, wading through much of the hype that pervades the world of megavitamin and supplement gurus. Alas, according to the author, there is no evidence suggesting that dietary manipulation significantly benefits patients with advanced, metastatic cancer. Still, certain dietary strategies-many of them stressing low-fat foods, fruits, vegetables and fiber-can be beneficial for overall good health. To that end, the book furnishes more than 100 recipes from American Culinary Federation certified master chef Mark Erickson. These may seem complicated but are, in fact, easy to prepare, and include nutritional information. Readers will appreciate the sense of empowerment provided by Nixon, as well as an extensive list of resources. Author tour. (Aug.)

Library Journal

Nixon, vice president for detection and treatment at the American Cancer Society, offers a nutritional guidebook for recovering cancer patients. He recommends reducing dietary fat and increasing dietary fiber, using the new (1992) food pyramid to obtain balanced nutrients from a variety of foods, eating foods containing chemopreventive agents that are (or may be) effective against specific cancers, and performing gentle exercises. Some chapters are quite technical, but since more than 70 percent of cancers may be related to what we eat, reading the more challenging material is worth the effort. Reporting on past and current cancer nutrition research, Nixon gives the best nutritional advice for specific cancers, plus a new eating plan that can be phased in gradually over three months. One chapter is addressed to physicians, who get little nutrition training, and a third of the book is devoted to recipes and menus provided by Mark Erickson, a certified master chef. Most are simple and easy to fix, though recipes for holidays and celebrations are more difficult. Highly recommended for all collections.-Loraine F. Sweetland, Rebok Memorial Lib., Silver Spring, Md.