Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford (2002, Paperback, Revised)

This is a mega resource book, fascinating and valuable for your whole life.
I've referred to my copy for 8 or 9 years. My first readings in it related to my own personal health and diet. It absolutely helped me ground myself in healthful & wholesome dietary practices.

My grandfather was in the chocolate & candy business, my father raised livestock, our neighbors were dairy farmers, and my
parents best friends worked for the RJ Reynolds tobacco company.
So, impressionable me, I ruined my teeth with sweets, ate mountains of beef, drank rivers of milk, and got hooked on cigarettes by age 15.

I'm 59 now, from my mid twenties I began to realize that I had the same bad habits that killed my parents.

If you compare populations around the world
you see that heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are not a plague in all countries. But those diseases all become prevalent in Koreans, Japanese, East Indians when they move to the US and adopt our eating habits.

This book gives you a very very broad perspective. The American diet has changed radically over the past 60+ years. In 1860 we all ate fresh baked breads
from organically grown whole grains. By 1960 white bread from chemicalized farming totally dominated the marketplace. Why didn't our schools or the US Surgeon General, or our parents warn us that white bread is empty calories, a denatured, unwholesome junk food that can't support life. (It is you know)

Well, my parents didn't know that but what you don't know can hurt you, and your loved ones, and your community.

This book is revolutionary. Think of any brand name in the food industry.
They would all like this book suppressed. Books like this will never be discussed on Oprah because sponsors and the food industry are way powerful.

Denatured foods can destroy your health and whole foods can often restore it.

Stress, electrical radiation, polluted air are part of our lives and
there are whole foods which offer significant protection.

There is amazing and useful information about grains, beans,nuts, seeds,
vegetables, greens, eggs, water, milk, fish, chicken, duck, lamb, pork, beef, etc.

This is a 700 page book. Information on SOY beans, and fermented soy products
like tofu, miso, tempeh and soy sauce, with some terrific recipes runs for 12 pages. And, by golly, it's interesting and not just because it could cure what
ails you.

Paul Pitchford feels that Rye is a signicant and neglected grain and with historical perspective & Black bread and Pumpernickle recipes, 5 pages wizz by.

This is largely a book about how our cells, and organs, veins, blood and bones work. When and why our bodies thrive & what are the obstacles to good health.

If you have a specific ailment there is an explaination of what environment, diet, habits, etc tend to lead to that ailment. Happily
there is also a massive but readily digestible quantity of information on the wholesome foods and practices which lead back to health.

This book is a monumental achievement. It's life changing & practical, well writen and has a very accessible & navigable structure. Just when I think I've gotten out of it everything I need, I discover more goodies and am often drawn to reread sections.

This might well be the best investment you ever make in your health, & you will likely put others on a better path. Bless you in advance.

Gordon W Ellis
Naples, NY

I love the fact that it covers Asian traditions as well as modern. I am currently under a chinese herbal doctor for my high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity. In six months I have lowered my blood pressure, my weight by 35 lbs (40 more to go), and am walking better (bad arthritis in my feet). This book seems to be broken down in such a way that you can look up the healing properties of food, your health issue and what foods to focus on for it, how to properly combine foods, nutrients/vitamins, healthy types of fats & oils vs. unhealtlhy, and some good recipes. In other words a very comprehensive book to meet the needs of someone trying to live a healthier lifestyle. I think the only thing it doesn't have is an exercise guide to go with it. I am at an age where I have to eat less and exercise more. If I can find one as thorough as this book, I'll be in excellent shape.