The Complete Guide to Health and Nutrition: A Sourcebook for a Healthier Life

by Gary Null

Book Overview

Arranged for easy reference, this sourcebook of data about human health and nutrition includes up-to-date information about vital nutrients, diet, and complex health issues. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440506123
• ISBN13: 9780440506126
• Release Date: August 1986
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 600 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

My favorite book!

I bought this book almost 5 years ago. It was easy to read and very informative. Perfect for someone looking for information on food and what it does to the human body. I still refer to it occationally. After reading this book we totally changed the foods we eat. When you know it's easy to choose. We have lost weight, feel better and wouldn't go back the our old style of eating for anything.

Great Information

Great Information in the book, although there seems to be a lot of type O's. The information is there but i feel it could have been designed to be a bit more interesting read. The carbohydrate section gets very drawn out and boring in my opinion. However i would still recommend it.

Great Reference Book

Have this book at home on your reference shelf. Gary Null covers every condition with thoughtful references to vitamin deficiencies. A must for those who want more than just a pill to cover up the symptoms.

The Best Book on Health and Nutrition

Gary Null's book is perhaps the best out there, certainly it's the best I've ever seen, on nutrition. The broad sections are Protein (50 pages), Carbohydrates (121 pages), Lipids: How Fats and Oils Affect Your Health (65 pages), Vitamins (Vitamin A, Vitamin B (140 pages) Minerals (136 pages). Mine is the 1984 edition, I believe Gary's updated the book since then.Here's a random section from the book:"SummaryAll of the proteins we ate are made up of twenty-three amino acids. These, in turn, are chainlike molecules containing the elements carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. There are eight essential amino acids that our bodies require every day, in the right proportions, in order to keep every cell in our bodies functioning properly. These eight (and their proportional relationships) are: (section removed for brevity)Egg Whites contain all these amino acids in just about these ratios. The complete protein foods -- meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, and soybeans in the form of tofu or bean curd -- contain all eight. Incomplete proteins have some of them, in less perfect proportions. But if you combine two or more complementary protein foods, you are competing the protein...."He goes on to describe the function of protein, how much protein is necessary, how to know if you're getting enough, etc. This thick (511 pages, plus endnotes and index) book covers a broad range in a good depth. Just flipping through it you'll learn a lot. I find that I get sucked in and read whole chapters where I had only been looking up one fact. In other words, it's fascinating, and very readable.I admit (and personally like) that this book is baised somewhat towards a wholistic, vegetarian lifestyle. He also speaks (for a page or two) against high protein diets, which were also a fad during the late 70's when this book was written. "All the fat she is eating, along with the meat, is causing her body to produce compounds called ketones. At low levels ketones are relatively harmless. But eating too little carbohydrates is causing some toxicity effects. She's pleased to note that she's not particularly hungry -- in fact, she feels somewhat nauseous on this diet. This is one effect of those ketones. There are at least forty known cases - as of 1977 - of people on high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets (mostly using liquid protein) dying. The diet can contribute to a host of medical problems."But even if you are a heavy meat eater and love the Atkins diet, there are plenty of just-plain-facts in this book that you should know about if you're interested in your health. "Meats are among the food that supply complete protein... and they also supply other nutrients such as iron and B vitamins, in which many vegetables are deficient. They contain fats we use for energy, heat insulation, and a variety of matabolic functions. Many of our organs, including our nerves, can make good use of this fat (although unsaturated fats from vegetables or fish sources would be preferable)." From

Comprehensive and enlightening

I felt that this book was useful in getting to know exactly what vitamins and minerals do in our body. In addition, Mr. Null makes the reading easy and not too much like a science book. I think the book is good reading since the author discusses a lot of pitfalls we all tend to get into with our eating habits, i.e. our intake of saccharin as a diet food. Anyone who's interested in their health and their loved one's health should be sure to read this book and take note of what the author's trying to tell us...to be more aware of what we put into our mouths.