Diet and Nutrition: A Holistic Approach

by Rudolph M. Ballentine

Book Overview

Diet & Nutrition is a holistic and comprehensive overview of the Eastern and Western perspectives of nutrition. Years ahead of its time upon publication, this modern classic continues to be the go-to wellness resource for teachers, physicians, and scholars of nutrition and holistic health.

This eye-opening text on healthy living brings the ageless insights of the East together with the modern scientific discoveries of the West. The...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0893890480
• ISBN13: 9780893890483
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Himalayan Institute Press
• Length: 634 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Ahead of its time

This is the best book on the subject that I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot. In a universe of high quality books, this one stands out as exceptional. The author is both brilliant and original. He goes beyond telling us that it is important and beneficial to eat our organic fruits and veggies. Most books stop right there, when you really analyze them. Why do some people need 100 times more Vitamin C than others do? What is the connection between our minds and our bodies? Where another book may tell us that the path to health is through diet, nutrition, vitamins, etc., Ballentine tells us that the most important element is your own mind. You have to deal with your issues. In this regard, he agrees with Gary Null, who always says that the single most important factor in health is happiness, and that all the vitamins and organics in the world don't match the importance of living a happy life. I just got to the part in this book where Ballentine explains that our chemistry and physics teachers were wrong when they told us that the elements in the periodic table can't be transformed into each other without a nuclear reactor operating on them. The enzymes in our bodies, and in the bodies of chickens, fish, etc., are quite capable of transforming one element into another, gently, without that nuclear explosion. Potassium, sodium, iron, copper, calcium, are being switched around inside the bodies of living creatures. Nitrogen is sometimes transformed into carbon monoxide. Amazing. Chickens are capable of making their own calcium, out of other elements, in order to make egg shells. It's nice to find such an original thinker in this field. And you get the impression that he definitely knows what he's talking about. The fact that this book was written decades ago means nothing. We still haven't caught up to him. He's still ahead of us. He was a century ahead of us 20 years ago.

Never though diet & nutrition could be so groovy

Required reading is never fun, but I've been sucked in to this book through my more-holistic health leaning anatomy & physiology course. I'm stunned by this piece of work. The author is truly amazing. Not only can he present all this seemingly phantasmagoric information in an understandable way, but he also writes quite beautifully in certain passages. I love how this book goes beyond just eating alone, informing us about the importance of organic food and preserving the soil, which we depend so much upon, among other things. And I'm glad it's scientifically backed up, as well as historically - makes for more convincing evidence when debating others about it.

in response to "A Reader"'s concerns (1998)...

Considering that many (all?) of the ideas presented in Dr. B's book are age-old, tried and true... no, I think you need not be concerned in the least about them being 'outdated'. I also happen to know Dr. B and have been treated by him on occasion, as a child (at the 'tute -- the same place where this book was published, actually). He knows his stuff. So there you go, a personal testimony, even.

Great Timeless Reference

This is a great book that has a lot of timeless and priceless info on food and its effects on our physical body and our consciousness. It was written years ago, but one point the author makes is that we should take our advice on diet from those cultures who have been living and eating healthfully for thousands of years instead of jumping on the latest nutrition trend that originated three years ago. Who knows how the trendy thinking on diet, which originated in the past several years, will pan out over coming decades? Since this book's publication, several of its ideas have first fallen out of fashion only to be later praised by nutrition gurus. Overall it's an important read and reference for anyone interested in holistic health.

a real page-turner

This book is an encyclopedia of information, but I read it front-to-back like a novel. Not only does it describe the different food groups, vitamins and minerals, but it also explains the digestive process and how nutrients are absorbed by the body. Scientific principles are explained in a way that anyone can understand. As far as the information being outdated, the human body today works the same way that it did 20 years ago, so the information is still relevant.