Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fifth Edition (Revised and Updated) A PRACTICAL A-TO-Z REFERENCE TO DRUG-FREE REMEDIES USING VITAMINS, MINERALS, HERBS & FOOD SUPPLEMENTS — By Phyllis A. Balch, CNC

We have turned to this book for years when looking for insights on how to enhance our health. It was a pioneer. And, I give copies of it to young people moving away from home — and Mom's care — for the first time. It was my Mom Away From Home when I went to college and moved further away from home after school for a new job. Things always are changing, and I have found this volume to be a wonderful base of knowledge to gain important and guiding insights to help inform the everyday journey for good health.

Prescription for Nutritional Healing Fifth Edition is the nation’s #1 best-selling guide to natural remedies.

The latest fifth edition incorporates the most recent information on a variety of alternative healing and preventive therapies and unveils new science on vitamins, supplements, and herbs.

With an A-to-Z reference to illnesses, updates include: How omega-3 and exercise may help those suffering from Alzheimer’s; information on the drug therapies for treating AIDs; what you need to know about H1N1 virus; nutritional information for combating prostate cancer; leading research on menopause and bio identical hormones;  and much, much more.

In the twenty years since the first edition was released, the natural health movement has gone mainstream, and the quest for optimal nutrition is no longer relegated to speciality stores.

With more than 800 pages of comprehensive facts about all aspects of alternative ways to wellness, Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fifth Edition, unites the best of age-old remedies with twenty-first-century science.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Format: New, Paperback

Published: October 5, 2010 (Revised and Updated)

Publisher: Penguin Group USA

ISBN:  9781583334003

Pages: 883

Dimensions: 11" inches H x 2" inches D x 8.5" inches W

Weight: 4.35 pounds, before shipping

Rating: ✭✭✭✭1/2 (See FAQs)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Phyllis A. Balch was a certified nutritional consultant and leading nutritional counselor and advocate of natural therapies for more than two decades, and she spent more than 25 years researching natural approaches to health and healing.

She came to the field after experiencing in her own life the health benefits of diet and nutrition.

Convinced that nutrition was, in many cases, the answer to regaining and maintaining health, Ms. Balch opened a health food store called Good Things Naturally, testified before Congress on the efficacy of natural healing, and in 1983 she published what is now known as Prescription for Nutritional Healing. Through five editions, this book has had millions of readers in many different countries, and has been translated into six foreign languages.

Born in 1930, Ms. Balch passed away in 2004. 

The baton for keeping the information worked and invaluable education source that Prescription for Nutritional Healing is alive and well was passed to Stacey Bell, D.SC and a large, committed community of experts in the dietary health field.

Stacey Bell, D.SC., is a registered dietitian and has worked as a nutritional researcher while on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, where she also counseled patients on how to eat in the face of disease.

She has worked with Tom Robbins and Dr. Andrew Weil, coauthored over 100 scientific articles, and lectured extensively around the world on most aspects of nutrition.

Q&A WITH STACEY BELL

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH THE BOOK PROCESS?

When Ms Balch died, Avery (the publisher) asked key leaders in the dietary supplement industry for someone to continue the editing task.

A friend of mine, Dr. Mark Blumenthal, who is the founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council, recommended me.

Avery asked me to review the book and I was immediately hooked. The book captured my passion—use of conventional medicine along with complementary and alternative therapies to help manage disease.

Most people I come in contact with want both conventional and alternative treatments. Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 5th Edition shows readers, in an orderly fashion, how to accomplish that task for a wide variety of common, and not so common, disorders.

WHAT WILL PEOPLE GET OUT OF THIS FIFTH EDITION THAT IS NEW?

Updated care of certain diseases. Since the last edition of Prescription for Nutritional Healing, there have been new developments in the world of nutrition.

I added new information on low-glycemic index diets, which seem to be better than the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets. I added some new thinking about dietary fish oil. The importance of omega-3s has been realized recently for a variety of conditions (e.g., heart disease, arthritis, obesity, etc.).

In addition, obesity research has advanced since the last edition of Prescription for Nutritional Healing, there are new techniques for losing weight.

More considerations: For each chapter related to a disease, at the end of each section, is a list of other things to consider. For most conditions, I added some things to ponder based on the latest research.

For example, although vitamins were recommended for children with autism, newer science questions this wisdom. Similarly for heart disease, the use of excess amounts of all of the B vitamins may not help reduce the severity of the condition.

Manufacturers updated for all of the dietary supplements recommended: Each condition mentioned in the book has associated supplements that should be taken. I've updated the listing of the companies where you can get these products.

HOW HAS THE NATURAL AND ALTERNATIVE HEALTH WORLD CHANGED SINCE THE PREVIOUS EDITION OF PRESCRIPTION FOR NUTRITIONAL HEALING?

Since the last edition of the book, much as has changed—and for the better.

First, many more high-quality scientific articles have been published on the use of dietary supplements and other alternative therapies to help with disease management.

Many of these are published in conventional medical journals that mainstream physicians read. To me, this shows that many supplements work but this may not been fully appreciated until now. Because of this, conventional medicine can no longer ignore the use of supplements.

This is good for the patients, who no longer have to hide the fact that they are seeking alternative remedies. Second, oversight of manufacturing, and therefore safety issues related to dietary supplements, has improved.

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enacted methods by which supplements must be manufactured. Companies are subjected to spot-checks at their manufacturing facilities of their products.

This should increase the likelihood that what is on the label is what is in the product, and that it is free of contaminants.

Third, the importance of diet has come into the forefront of medical care. When I started as a dietitian over 30 years ago, we were seen by most physicians as not adding much value to patient care. Today, and as captured in this book, diet is key for convalescence and for maintaining a healthy state.

WHAT DO PEOPLE NOT KNOW ABOUT NUTRITIONAL HEALTH THAT PRESCRIPTION FOR NUTRITIONAL HEALING, 5TH EDITION PROVIDES?

I am always a bit surprised at the questions that I get regarding how to eat, whether someone is healthy or has a disease, and what supplements to take.

Ms. Balch carefully and thoughtfully made it easy to answer these questions. The beginning is an overview of how to eat and which dietary supplements to take. Ms. Balch carefully considered all of the essential nutrients that a healthy person needs in a day to remain healthy, and assembled them into an easy-to-read table.

If you are healthy, that table is worth the price of the whole book. If you have a specific condition, or suspect that you do, the middle sections spell out how to eat and which supplements to take based on a certain disease. There are numerous references to children, so if your child is ill, the book offers a comforting guide to caring for them naturally with foods and supplements.