Tag: Medical/Health

a Guide to Living with Gluten Intolerance

by Sylvia Llewelyn Bower

This book was written by a nurse who has celiac disease. It has two co-authors who wrote some of the chapters: Mary Kay Sharrett, a dietician who ran a support group for celiac patients at a children’s hospital, and Steve Plogsted who is a pharmacist specializing in helping patients avoid gluten in medications. Like other books I’ve read about celiac disease and/or gluten intolerance, this starts out by defining the condition, describing how a diagnosis is obtained, and outlining how to successfully live gluten-free. How to change your eating habits, read labels more carefully, source gluten-free foods, maintain a gluten-free kitchen (whether living solo or sharing space with others), deal with eating out and social events, how to help your children stick to a gluten-free diet if needed, and so on.

A lot of this is familiar information to me by now. Things that were new to me: the entire chapter on a skin affliction linked to celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis. The explanation of why gluten intolerant people often also have lactose intolerance (me included).  Ideas on what to consume after an accidental exposure, to help your body recover faster. New recipes are always appreciated, I will be copying some of these down and trying them out! Some of the tips on keeping kitchen areas free of contamination were helpful to me (though I’m not going to stick a huge sign over my dedicated cutting board, I think that would be too much for my family). I also appreciated that this book discussed the presence of gluten in medications (though it sounds like the risk level is very minimal), and dealt extensively with the emotional upheaval of dealing with celiac disease. Both from having an undiagnosed malady for most of your life (and maybe the discouragement of everyone around you thinking you’re a hypochondriac), and then the shock of a diagnosis, how overwhelming it feels to need to change everything, how isolating and frustrating to have to avoid something so ubiquitous- the social aspects. There are a lot of personal stories in this book- from children, teens and adults. From people who knew they were celiac from a young age, to those who found out after decades of struggle with their health. I appreciated those stories. Some of them I really could relate to, others described an experience very different from my own- whether in the symptoms experienced or the interactions with people around them- but all of them I learned something from.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
216 pages, 2014

by Patrick Ness

It is hard to know what to say about this short, powerful book without giving too much away. And I am not very clear-thinking right now but I will try. It’s so emotional. About a boy who feels isolated, lonely and upset and very very angry (though he doesn’t want to admit it). His mother has a terminal illness- cancer. It’s never stated outright in the book, but it was obvious not too far into the story how serious that was. Only nobody seems to want to talk about it with Conor. Or they try, but he isn’t ready or can’t face it yet. Kids at school don’t know what to say so they avoid him. Bullies pick on him. When his mother’s illness worsens and she goes into the hospital, Conor has to stay with his grandmother who is strict. His father comes to visit but that’s mostly awkward. Meanwhile, all this time Conor keeps having nightmares. Nightmares in the daytime, too. Where he’s visited by a monster personified in a giant yew tree. The monster tells him stories that have strange outcomes- people not getting what you’d expect (in terms of justice). Those really made me think a lot. They made Conor angry. But in the end, he comes to understand, and to be able to speak his own truth. To accept what’s happening. And even start to patch up a friendship.

This book reminded me very strongly of one I read many years ago, My Friend the Painter by Lygia Bojunga Nunes- also about grief. Looking back through my blog, I’m surprised I haven’t written about that one here yet. I wish I had more to say right now but just can’t. Perhaps I will come back and add to this post or make notes in the comments.

Rating: 4/5
205 pages, 2011

Growing Healthy Kids with Food Straight from the Soil

by Maya Shetreat-Klein

It took me much longer than normal to get through this book, because I kept getting overwhelmed by all the information, and tired of the alarmist attitude, so I’d shut it off and come back to the next day. Or the day after that. Funny, the subtitle has changed with a reprint- other covers I see online say Healthy Food, Healthy Gut, Happy Child. I thought it was going to be mostly about gardening, or sourcing organic food. There is some of that, but mostly it came across to me as a huge long list of things to avoid. Pesticides, GMOs, additives, airborne toxins, plastics, pasteurized milk, non-organic produce, processed anything and so on. It also feels repetitive, for all the length it should have gone into far more detail on certain things. For example, she talks about how wheat is not the same as it used to be, with no mention of how the protein structure has changed through genetic breeding, just how roundup is in the soil and pesticides on the plants. (I don’t think that’s what gluten-intolerant people are reacting to?) I felt like a lot of stuff was just mentioned and then skipped right over, leaving the reader with questions.

She makes it sound like you should only eat things you grew with your own two hands, drink milk straight from the cow, and have eggs from your own backyard-ranging chickens. But obviously most people can’t. What about the rest of us. I have a garden and I don’t even grow half of the fresh food we eat, not even in the middle of the harvest season. I have no way to keep chickens, meat rabbits, goats or a cow. For a while my husband and I bought our meat from a local farm that did its own butchering- it was an hour’s drive away and closed when the pandemic started. We haven’t been able to go back since.

The book feels entirely written from the standpoint of being a parent and helping your child have better overall health. At the end there’s chapters about encouraging your kids to try new foods when you switch to healthier options, how important togetherness at the dinner table is, and how to get kids involved in choosing healthy food and preparing it. Personally I could relate to that, though most of the ideas were not new to me: getting outside is good for you, exposure to some dirt is beneficial, buy the freshest produce possible, etc. On the other hand, quite a few of the food items the author praised for health benefits were new to me. Never heard of salmon candy before!

But the main issue I have with this book is the things I find alarming, or outright disagree with. The book says more than once, that childhood exposure to diseases like mumps and measles helps train your immune system so it doesn’t overreact to other things later on. Also makes vague negative remarks about vaccines, which made me uncomfortable (I strongly feel that children should be vaccinated). While I agree that drinking certain teas can boost your immune system and walking through the woods lift your mood, I am personally skeptical about the benefits of burning sage in your house or “earthing” (also called “grounding”) which just means coming into physical contact with the ground- because apparently your body can absorb electrical charges from the Earth. Really? Never heard of this before. I’m open to learning new things, but a bit too much about this book struck me as a being out there. Plus the author seems to think that autism, attention deficit disorders and other neurological issues can be remedied by changing diet alone. Another concept I’m skeptical about.

I find it really hard to think critically about this book, because I shouldn’t judge it on the fact that I disagree with the author on some points. And I’m so overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of things it tells me are bad (bottled water, sunscreen, vaccines, cereal bars, tuna fish etc etc) I can’t objectively view the way it’s written at all. Except to note: a lot of alarmist tone, and not much solid information that makes me feel sure I’m reading real facts.

Borrowed from the public library, as an audiobook. Read aloud by Marguerite Gavin, 11.5 hours

 

Rating: 3/5
384 pages, 2016

by David B.Agus, MD

I picked up this one on a whim when browsing audiobooks at the library- it was right next to What to Eat When. Found this a much better read (or listen, ha) even though, like usual, I am not quite sure how to judge the veracity of all that’s said here. Certainly a lot to think about. I admit he lost me a few times with the details, and one section where he promotes his own company I really zoned out on. But I feel it was worth my time getting to the end.

It’s about improving your health individually, and starts by explaining how very complicated the human body is, how anything that affects something, will have an influence on something else. This is down to the cellular level, protein interactions, etc. Then it goes into genetics, but it gets into a lot of future projections, what medicine might be able to do in the future. There’s also plenty of very familiar advice: get better sleep, eat real food, exercise regularly – but some of the particulars were a bit different than I’ve heard before. Another main point was to eat the freshest food possible (frozen sometimes being a better choice than what’s in the produce section!) and that juicing produce to make drinks might not give your body the best nutrition. I’m not into juicing things, but wonder about that idea- that juicing oxidizes things quickly, and apparently that degrades the food quality. I was surprised that this doctor says daily multivitamins are worthless and possibly even harmful, but claims everyone over forty should be on baby aspirin and statin drugs. Hm. Not sure what to think about that. There’s a lot more in here, and most of it about cancer (even though he says near the beginning this isn’t a book about cancer, it really feels like it is) but the main takeaway is: take care of yourself, prevention is better than a cure. Which most of us probably already agree with. In the end he goes into a lot about how medical knowledge and patient info should be more freely shared, and laments the lack of young people going into research, which is stalling progress in the field. It was kind of an odd note to leave the book on.

Borrowed from the public library in audiobook format, 10.7 listening hours. Voice by Holter Graham (intro and conclusion read by the author).

Rating: 3/5
384 pages, 2012

by Michael Crupain, Michael Roizen and Ted Spiker

I picked up this book off a shelf out of pure curiosity. Thinking how I habitually eat oranges for vitamin C when facing a headcold, or have chicken soup when recovering from the flu or even just the daily cup of tea in the morning (coffee for my husband)- this book purports that when you eat certain foods is just as important for your body’s health and optimal function as what exactly you’re eating. The main takeaways I got from the little I listened to (DNF), was: front-load your daily calories ie eat a big breakfast, a lighter lunch and a small supper. Don’t indulge in late-night snacking. And the usual no-brainer: eat less processed stuff, more whole foods, more vegetables, etc. There’s a lot more info but I kept tuning out because it went on and on about things I purposefully avoid, so I had trouble listening to more. Frequently says how great walnuts are- well, I have an alarming reaction to walnuts. He purports how good oatmeal is for dinner (and cold to boot) but oatmeal gives me stomachaches. (Also kept saying you should eat potatoes cold, I’m not sure I understand why). And of course there’s constant touting of the benefits of whole grain bread- but I’m still adamantly gluten-free. It’s not too hard to mentally stick amaranth cereal or sorghum in my head every time he said whole grains but that alongside the frequent references to excellent walnuts just made me feel tired. So I quit listening to this one for personal reasons, not because I think it’s full of poor or unsound advice. (Although this is the first time I’ve heard that egg yolks are bad for you- really?) I didn’t get far enough to assess it that way.

Borrowed from the public library in audiobook format, 7 hours narrated by Lloyd James. I made it through 3 discs of 8 or 10 (don’t have it in front of me now and can’t recall exactly how many were in the case).

Rating: Abandoned
352 pages, 2018

by Oliver Sacks

Fascinating and strange, what the mind can create seemingly right in front of your eyes. This book is all about different types of hallucinations that people experience- from many different causes. Oliver Sacks, neurologist, describes case studies of patients, as well as his own visual distubrances caused by migranes and intentional drug use (back in the 60’s and 70’s). Each chapter has a focus on the type of hallucination- some caused by illness, others by brain damage, sensory deprivation or chemical influences. I was surprised at how specific the different types of hallucinations are. For example, before the onset of a migrane many people smell certain things very distinctly. Other people see geometric patterns behind their eyes or superimposed on everything they look at. Still others see flashes of light. I can’t remember the cause of these (the book was so long and detailed) but some hallucinations make people see objects or figures either huge in size, or diminutive – little people marching around or going up and down stairs. This sounded so curious, I’d never heard of it. Sacks relates how the brain often imagines things just on the verge of sleep- and for some people this is heightened, so they are convinced they see figures standing in the room, or have strange sensations of shrinking or expansion (it’s very common but most people don’t remember it). Odd distortions of perception are also explored in the chapter about phantom limbs, and another about out-of-body experiences- both of which have biological explanations, what is going on in the brain that cases these perceptions. Including explanations of hallucinations of figures coinciding with an overwhelming sense of benevolence or euphoria, that many could interpret as a religious experience. I think what fascinates me most, is how hard the brain works to make sense out of things when there is no sensory input for it to use- so that people in solitary confinement for example, or deprived of their sight, will start seeing faces or brilliant colors. There’s also details in here that make me marvel, at how complex the mechanism of vision is, and how delicately the brain interprets it for us- and so easily it can go awry, making us see things that aren’t there (likewise smell or hear, he deals briefly with olfactory and auditory hallucinations too).

So much in this book I can’t even touch on or explain, as admittedly I struggled to understand some of it myself. Not that the author makes it hard to comprehend, but sometimes it goes so quickly through the material that I feel I missed some parts and had to backtrack. I listened to this one as an audiobook (read aloud by Dan Woren, ten hours) and certainly want to have it in hand someday on paper, to experience more thoroughly.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 4/5

Adventures on the Alimentary Canal

by Mary Roach

I finally made it through a Mary Roach book! Yes, it was easier read on pages, than listened to via audiobook. For some reason this way my brain was able to skip over all the tedious humor. It did get a bit tiresome still, whether from the gross factor or the writing style I’m not sure- but I took breaks and read three other books in the middle of this one. This author has an odd slant on things. Definitely seems to just be satisfying her curiosity, and thus by extension the readers’, though I’m sure most others, like me, never realized they had any interest in the things Mary Roach delves into. She’ll be talking along almost normally about the pressure of your jaws in chewing and how delicate and instantaneous the subconscious control of that is- and then suddenly dive into another subject entirely, on a weird tangent, it’s like constantly tripping out of the converstion and falling down a series of rabbit holes you never knew existed. With plenty of strange and obscure details.

The focus here is on how we eat- what attracts us to food, cultural norms and taboos, how the senses dictate what we like, why crunchy foods are satisfying, how food scientists decide what pet food will taste like, how strong are the stomach’s digestive juices, can parasites chew their way out of a stomach, people who put objects up their nether regions (for smuggling or pleasure), reasons people were given nutrients that way, an absurd amount of text spent on flatulence, why many animals digest things twice (especially rodents who eat their own droppings) and SO MUCH MORE. More than you ever wanted to know. Not sure what was more stomach-turning, reading about awful experiments done on animals and patients alike in times not-so-distant past, or reading about some unpleasant ailments of the digestive system. I was a bit miffed at how flippantly dismissive the author was about gluten intolerance, and I suspect people who suffer from other maladies will feel the same about her attitude towards other things in this book that are too close to home for them. It’s all very flippant, snarky, gleeful in the details (often when you didn’t want that) and yes, very satisfying if you were dying of curiosity to know some things.

Honestly I think the best part of the book is two pages where she discusses the apparent source for myths about fire-breathing dragons. That was fantastic. But I need a good long break before I read another book by this author, ha.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
348 pages, 2013

More opinions:
Ardent Reader
Dear Author
anyone else?

by Raina Telgemeier

By the same author as Sisters. Graphic novel memoir about the author’s fifth grade year, when she suffered from stomach troubles. First they just thought it was a virus, but then she started having panic attacks about possibly vomiting, worry over food choices, stomach upset and IBS symptoms when upsetting things happened- either at home or at school. There’s friend troubles, school stress, someone who might be bullying her, and the headaches of living in a very small cramped apartment. The story doesn’t go much beyond that- it’s kind of a slice-of-life look at how she deals with everyday issues, has some testing done (which frustratingly doesn’t show any reason for her stomach problems) and finally goes to therapy- addressing the anxiety, fears, stress etc. Very clear in addressing how emotional issues can make the body feel physically unwell, how all kinds of people have their problems (turns out the bully had a different kind of digestive issue, so at the end the main character could finally relate to her antagonist), and how helpful therapy can be- assauging the social stigma on that, too. I read this in one sitting. Another book my eleven-year-old really liked, she was very surprised I hadn’t read it yet!

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
218 pages, 2019

by Julia Green

Sweet, gentle little book about a girl struggling with loneliness and anxiety. Her mother is having a difficult pregnancy and bedridden with illness, her father is always working in his study, and they’ve recently moved to a new house, with a new school where Tilly doesn’t have any friends. It’s a lot. She explores the old house a bit, but spends most of her time outside in the yard. Then Tilly sees a fox run through a gap in the fence, and follows it into an unkempt, overgrown garden behind their property. This becomes her secret place, where she builds a little hideout and often sits quietly hoping to see the fox. She sneaks out there at night. And meets a girl named Helen in the garden, who becomes her friend.

But- is Helen real? I started to suspect a few chapters in that there was something more to this story. First I thought Helen might be a ghost, then perhaps magical, a fairy? It turns out to be a bit more mundane- Tilly is sleepwalking, and Helen is imaginary. As the story progresses, things slowly change. Mother seems to take a turn for the worst, spending the end of her pregnancy in the hospital. Tilly’s anxiety is heightened, but her grandmother comes to stay, infusing the house with cheerful activity. She’s given an unoffical mental health break from school for a few days, and when she goes back there’s a new girl in class the teacher introduces her to. As Tilly finds relief from her fears (her mother returns home in good health, with the new baby) and makes a new friend at school, gaining some confidence by being asked to help someone else in need, her attachment to Helen in the garden starts to dissipate. She’s okay now.

I actually liked that this story took me by surprise, making me read between the lines. Some things are subtle enough in here that a younger reader might not pick up on it, and just enjoy the magical feeling of the story. I couldn’t help thinking of Tom’s Midnight Garden while reading this, of course- and also The Secret GardenThe Midnight Fox is also mentioned in this book, and there’s an unmistakable nod to Charlotte’s Web as well. Also, I found this second cover image online- apparently the book had a title change. I like the current title better, but the fox cover more closely matches the books’ interior illustrations by Paul Howard, which are gentle and lovely.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
199 pages, 2012

More opinions: Kid Lit Geek
anyone else?

How Our Best Friends Are Becoming Our Best Medicine

by Maria Goodavage

About how dogs help people with medical issues. Most of the dogs in this book are service dogs, though some are “just” beloved pets that learned intuitively how to help their owners, and others work purely in research. While a lot of these dogs can help people with physical tasks- opening the fridge, picking up dropped items, etc- they’re specifically trained in detecting issues before they become severe, preventing them from happening or helping the person recover, or giving emotional support to help people with mental health issues. Never again will I scoff internally at the idea of an “emotional support animal”- this book makes clear what a huge difference trained assistance dogs can make in people’s lives.

It starts on a different note, though- talking about cancer detection, with many anecdotal stories about dogs that kept poking a spot on a person’s body- later it was found they had cancer there. Now dogs are being trained to sniff samples and indicate the presence of cancer- while scientists are studying the molecular compounds of the positive samples to figure out exactly what the dogs are alerting to, so they can detect it earlier by other means. Then the book talks about dogs that alert to tell their owners an eplieptic seizure is imminent, or to alert diabetics to a dangerously high/low blood sugar level, or dogs that sense an oncoming panic attack and lead their human to a quieter, safer space. There’s even a dog in this book whose owner suffers from PTSD, who wakes him up if he’s having nightmares. Dogs that help children with autism stay calm. Dogs that help victims of catastrophe talk about what they experienced. Even dogs whose presence in a courtroom helps children feel brave enough to testify against those who harmed them. The book is just as much about how these dogs are trained (many were initially in programs to assist the blind but “failed” out of that and took a different career route) as it is about how much they’ve changed the lives of people they help. Also a lot about new studies and technology- pretty amazing to read about the FIDO vest prototype, which lets dogs trigger a computerized voice that can tell a stranger their owner needs help, or some other verbalized message. Also very interesting in here was to read of cases where dogs help people who have a very rare medical condition (most I’d never heard of), so service dogs aren’t regularly trained to assist with it, but trainers or family members found a way to let the dog know what to do. And the canines just seem to pick it up naturally- feeling anxious or unsettled when something goes wrong, and wanting to make things right again, seems to be the explanation.

As a side note, there was one part of this book that tidily dated it for me. In one chapter the author tells about dogs that sniff out dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals, to help staff keep the environment cleaner, and stop it from spreading. There was a sentence or two in there explaining what a PCR test is. I thought to myself: surely most people are aware of PCR testing? and then flipped to the copyright page, realized of course, this book was written pre-Covid.

Somewhat similar reads: Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson, Navy Seal Dogs by Mike Ritland, The New Work of Dogs by Jon Katz

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
353 pages, 2019

DISCLAIMER:

All books reviewed on this site are owned by me, or borrowed from the public library. Exceptions are a very occasional review copy sent to me by a publisher or author, as noted. Receiving a book does not influence my opinion or evaluation of it

SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL:

Subscribe to my blog:

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

VIEW MY PERSONAL COLLECTION:

TRADE BOOKS WITH ME ON:

ARCHIVES: 

2024
January 2024 (21)February 2024 (22)March 2024 (39)
2023
January 2023 (27)February 2023 (23)March 2023 (25)April 2023 (11)May 2023 (17)June 2023 (11)July 2023 (23)August 2023 (23)September 2023 (14)October 2023 (14)November 2023 (26)December 2023 (14)
2022
January 2022 (12)February 2022 (7)March 2022 (13)April 2022 (16)May 2022 (13)June 2022 (21)July 2022 (15)August 2022 (27)September 2022 (10)October 2022 (17)November 2022 (16)December 2022 (23)
2021
January 2021 (14)February 2021 (13)March 2021 (14)April 2021 (7)May 2021 (10)June 2021 (5)July 2021 (10)August 2021 (27)September 2021 (16)October 2021 (11)November 2021 (14)December 2021 (12)
2020
January 2020 (14)February 2020 (6)March 2020 (10)April 2020 (1)May 2020 (10)June 2020 (15)July 2020 (13)August 2020 (26)September 2020 (10)October 2020 (9)November 2020 (16)December 2020 (22)
2019
January 2019 (12)February 2019 (9)March 2019 (5)April 2019 (10)May 2019 (9)June 2019 (6)July 2019 (18)August 2019 (13)September 2019 (13)October 2019 (7)November 2019 (5)December 2019 (18)
2018
January 2018 (17)February 2018 (18)March 2018 (9)April 2018 (9)May 2018 (6)June 2018 (21)July 2018 (12)August 2018 (7)September 2018 (13)October 2018 (15)November 2018 (10)December 2018 (13)
2017
January 2017 (19)February 2017 (12)March 2017 (7)April 2017 (4)May 2017 (5)June 2017 (8)July 2017 (13)August 2017 (17)September 2017 (12)October 2017 (15)November 2017 (14)December 2017 (11)
2016
January 2016 (5)February 2016 (14)March 2016 (5)April 2016 (6)May 2016 (14)June 2016 (12)July 2016 (11)August 2016 (11)September 2016 (11)October 2016 (9)November 2016 (1)December 2016 (3)
2015
January 2015 (9)February 2015 (9)March 2015 (11)April 2015 (10)May 2015 (10)June 2015 (2)July 2015 (12)August 2015 (13)September 2015 (16)October 2015 (13)November 2015 (10)December 2015 (14)
2014
January 2014 (14)February 2014 (11)March 2014 (5)April 2014 (15)May 2014 (12)June 2014 (17)July 2014 (22)August 2014 (19)September 2014 (10)October 2014 (19)November 2014 (14)December 2014 (14)
2013
January 2013 (25)February 2013 (28)March 2013 (18)April 2013 (21)May 2013 (12)June 2013 (7)July 2013 (13)August 2013 (25)September 2013 (24)October 2013 (17)November 2013 (18)December 2013 (20)
2012
January 2012 (21)February 2012 (19)March 2012 (9)April 2012 (23)May 2012 (31)June 2012 (21)July 2012 (19)August 2012 (16)September 2012 (4)October 2012 (2)November 2012 (7)December 2012 (19)
2011
January 2011 (26)February 2011 (22)March 2011 (18)April 2011 (11)May 2011 (6)June 2011 (7)July 2011 (10)August 2011 (9)September 2011 (14)October 2011 (13)November 2011 (15)December 2011 (22)
2010
January 2010 (27)February 2010 (19)March 2010 (20)April 2010 (24)May 2010 (22)June 2010 (24)July 2010 (31)August 2010 (17)September 2010 (18)October 2010 (11)November 2010 (13)December 2010 (19)
2009
January 2009 (23)February 2009 (26)March 2009 (32)April 2009 (22)May 2009 (18)June 2009 (26)July 2009 (34)August 2009 (31)September 2009 (30)October 2009 (23)November 2009 (26)December 2009 (18)
2008
January 2008 (35)February 2008 (26)March 2008 (33)April 2008 (15)May 2008 (29)June 2008 (29)July 2008 (29)August 2008 (34)September 2008 (29)October 2008 (27)November 2008 (27)December 2008 (24)
2007
August 2007 (12)September 2007 (28)October 2007 (27)November 2007 (28)December 2007 (14)
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1987
1986
1985
1984
1983
1982
1981
1980
1979
1978
1977
1976
1975
1974
1973
1972
1971
1970
1969
1968
1967
1966
1965
1964
1963
1962
1961
1960
1959
1958
1957
1956
1955
1954
1953
1952
1951
1950