Healthy Living: New Books to Promote Wellness

            Proactive advice to maintaining your health is available at the library. Here are some new books that can help.

George Demirakos is the author of Fix My Knee: A Guide to Preventing and Healing from Injury and Strain. He is a licensed physical therapist who has worked with Canadian professional hockey, tennis, and Olympic teams. Demirakos explains how the knee works, why your knee is at risk for injury, and the different types of knee injuries. Then he discusses different techniques that help such as acupuncture, yoga, Pilates, cortisone injections, and more. Strengthening exercises, accompanied by photographs, are included.

You Are Getting Sleepy: Lifestyle-Based Solutions for Insomnia provides techniques based on research to induce sleepiness. To aid with this, authors Paul Glovinsky and Arthur Spielman discuss changes to make to your daily routines and show you how to use cognitive behavioral treatments. They also instruct on managing anxiety, depression, an out-of-sync biological clock, and dependence on sleep aids in order to lessen insomnia.

The Diabetes Carbohydrate & Fat Gram Guide, 5^th edition, is a concise guide to preventing or delaying the complications of diabetes. The reader learns how to plan meals using carbohydrate counting, calorie counting, and food lists as published by the American Diabetes Association. The main part of the book consists of nutrient tables that include the amount of carbohydrates, sodium, sugar, fiber, protein, and fats from a wide variety of foods, along with calorie counts and serving sizes. 

Take Charge of Your Diabetes: November is American Diabetes Month

            29.1 million Americans have diabetes, but 8.1 million more may be undiagnosed. Learn all you can about this disease by reading these books.

            Reverse Your Diabetes in 12 Weeks: The Scientifically Proven Program to Avoid, Control, and Turn around Your Diabetes is written by George L. King, M.D, the chief science officer at Harvard’s Joslin Diabetes Center. He presents the eight proven strategies, which include a modified rural Asian diet deriving seventy percent of its calories from carbohydrates, a five to seven percent reduction in body weight, exercise, reducing stress, using your body’s brown fat, getting at least seven hours of sleep per night, and more.  

            Your Type 2 Diabetes Action Plan: Tips, Techniques, and Practical Advice for Living Well with Diabetes, is a publication of the American Diabetes Association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to simplifying diabetes management, since 1940. The book includes information on improving glucose management, optimizing medication, designing an exercise program, creating a nutritious meal plan, coping with complications, and other beneficial material.

            Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy, 5^th Edition, provides the diabetic reader with updated information on revised food groups and updated food lists. The author is Hope S. Warshaw, who is an expert on health and meal planning with diabetes who has written many other books on this topic.

            The Perfect Diabetes Comfort Food Collection: 9 Essential Recipes You Need to Create 90 Amazing Complete Meals, is written by Robyn Webb, the food editor of Diabetes Forecast and the author of 14 cookbooks. This book contains more than ninety recipes based on variations of nine cooking techniques, along with one hundred classic side dish recipes to accompany them.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

             Mammography and Early Breast Cancer Detection: How Screening Saves Lives, is written by Alan B. Hollingsworth, M.D. He is the director of the Mercy Breast Center, a screening and diagnostic facility at Mercy Hospital, Oklahoma City and his practice is limited to risk assessment, genetic testing, and multimodality screening for high-risk patients. In his book, Hollingsworth discusses the history of breast cancer screening, from its beginnings to today’s latest technology. He presents both sides of the mammography effectiveness controversy – he supports the use of mammography on an annual basis.

            Breast Cancer Clear & Simple: All Your Questions Answered is published by the American Cancer Society. This is a comprehensive guide to coping with breast cancer and includes information in a question and answer format, beginning with diagnostic tests and finding a doctor to treatment options -- radiation, chemotherapy, and more, and surgery options of lumpectomy and mastectomy. It continues with details on the side effects of treatments, clinical trials, cancer stages, and psychological aspects of the disease. References, a resource guide, and a glossary are included.   

            Breast Cancer Surgery and Reconstruction: What’s Right for You is a guide to the options available through breast reconstruction surgery after both single and double mastectomies. It is written by Patricia Anstett, a medical journalist, with photographs by Kathleen Galligan. Choices available include silicone or saline implants, liposuction and tissue reconstruction, delayed reconstruction, revisions and lifts, and more. There also is information on health insurance and doctor selection. A glossary, bibliography, and index are provided.  

May is Older Americans Month

            Here are some new non-fiction books to keep you current with the latest medical and financial advances for seniors.

            The Age Fix: a Leading Plastic Surgeon Reveals how to Really Look Ten Years Younger is written by Anthony Youn. This board-certified plastic surgeon outlines skin-care and dietary strategies for enabling youthful wrinkle-free skin without surgery or invasive treatments.

            The Age of Longevity: Reimagining Tomorrow for Our New Long Lives is written by Rosalind C. Barnett, a senior scientist at the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. She conjectures that since life spans are lengthening, adult vigor can be extended well into the nineties. How will this affect us as individuals and as a society? She offers recommendations on changing our institutions and attitudes for our longer life spans.

            Ageproof: Living Longer without Running out of Money or Breaking a Hip is written by Jean Chatzky, a financial expert and Michael F. Roizen, MD, an anesthesiologist and internist at the Cleveland Clinic. They explain the vital link between health and wealth, outlining science-driven ways for maximizing life quality, longevity, and retirement savings.

            Bio-Young: Get Younger at a Cellular and Hormonal Level is written by Roxy Dillon, a nutritionist and scientist. Here she offers a practical, natural approach to fighting the effects of aging by using exercise, skin care and nutrition to get cellular and hormonal functions back under control, resulting in both looking and feeling years younger.

            Disrupt Aging: a Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age is written by Jo Ann Jenkins, the CEO of AARP. She explains how people over fifty can all be active, financially unburdened, and happy as they get older, in a book that covers everything from caregiving and mindful living to building age-friendly communities and attaining financial freedom.

            Relax into Yoga for Seniors: a Six-Week Program for Strength, Balance, Flexibility, and Pain Relief is written by Kimberly Carson and is based on the Yoga for Seniors program at the Duke Integrative Medicine and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. This book teaches seniors the twelve principles of practice, step by step, in a six-week program.

            Younger: a Breakthrough Program to Reset Your Genes, Reverse Aging, and Turn Back the Clock 10 Years is written by Sara Gottfried, MD. She presents this seven-week program that aims to slow down and reverse the aging process through lifestyle changes, including environmental modifications, improved diet, and enhanced exercise.

 

September is Healthy Aging Month

Let these books help you as you work towards healthy aging.

            The Age Fix: a Leading Plastic Surgeon Reveals How to Really Look 10 Years Younger is written by Anthony Youn, MD. For sixteen years he has researched how to maintain youthful skin using diet and skin care techniques, not invasive plastic surgery, using information from other plastic surgeons, dermatologists, dietitians, and makeup artists. Dr. Youn has been featured on several TV shows and in magazine and newspaper articles.

            Bio-Young: Get Younger at a Cellular and Hormonal Level is written by Roxy Dillon, a certified nutritionist who has developed a program using vitamins, natural oils, and healthy foods to rejuvenate cellular and hormonal functions. The reader gets step-by-step instructions on health repair using exercise, skin care, and nutrition.

            Disrupt Aging: a Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age is written by Jo Ann Jenkins, the chief executive of AARP and the former CEO of the Library of Congress. The book focuses on the social issues of aging – where to live, whether to work and/or volunteer, and finance – and the health issues. The stories of many seniors who are aging successfully are given. A resistance against ageism is encouraged.

            The Longevity Book: the Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time is written by Cameron Diaz. In this book, the actress and author of The Body Book, shares information on how the female body ages from her interviews with physicians, scientists, and nutritionists. Information is given on optimizing health through strengthening the body with food, exercise and rest, managing stress, and building a stronger brain.

             

 

The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time

           The author, Arianna Huffington, is the editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post and author of several other books. Her inspiration for this book came when suffering an injury caused by lack of sleep, resulting in a remaking of her sleep habits and in-depth research of the science of sleep.

            Huffington identifies sleep deficiency as a worldwide problem, causing traffic accidents, susceptibility to illness, poor work performance and more. People often tout how little sleep they can get along on and still function well. But scientific studies reveal that adults must sleep between seven and nine hours in order to be at their best.

            Also included are appendices: a sleep-quality questionnaire, guided meditations to help in falling asleep, a list of hotels that focus on the sleep experience, and a review of mattresses for consumers. In-depth bibliographic information is given also.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

                Share some of the stories presented by these authors; they or their loved ones were diagnosed with breast cancer.

            Promise Me: how a Sister’s Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer, is written by Nancy Brinker, the founder and CEO of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, one of the most powerful health charities in the world. Susan is Nancy’s sister and a casualty of breast cancer. Before her death, she made Nancy promise to bring the disease out into the open and help fund a cure. This is the story of how Nancy does this and more. Also featured are the stories of other sufferers, those famous as well as those ordinary.  

            Eating Pomegranates: a Memoir of Mothers, Daughters, and the BRCA Gene, is written by Sarah Gabriel. A journalist by trade, Gabriel’s focus is on her genetic legacy – a mutation on the BRCA1 gene that caused the death of her mother from breast cancer when Sarah was still a teen – and later strikes her with the same disease. She bravely showcases the physical and emotional toll taken by the disease on her and on her family. 

             Most of Me: Surviving my Medical Meltdown, is written by Robyn Michele Levy, who experienced a double whammy – diagnoses of Parkinson’s disease and breast cancer, for which she underwent a double mastectomy. She was able to cope with these two serious diseases through the support of her friends and family and by finding humor in her circumstances and joy in her life.

            Everybody’s Got Something is written by Robin Roberts, well-known newswoman and anchor of Good Morning, America. Five years after achieving remission from breast cancer, Roberts was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare condition that affects blood and bone marrow, and is potentially fatal. Fortunately, Roberts was able to accept a bone marrow transplant from her sister. Her survival also is sustained by the support of her family and friends and by her deep faith and inner strength.

            The Dog Lived (and so Will I): a Memoir, is written by Teresa J. Rhyne. She has a lot of new things in her life, a boyfriend, a beagle, house, and more. But then they discover a lump on her dog Seamus and he is diagnosed with an aggressive, one-year-to-live cancer. She fights his cancer through surgery and chemotherapy. Then Teresa herself is diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, and faces her own struggle. Humor and faith help win the battle for both.

 

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

    Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss presents this in-depth report on the growth of the American processed food industry in conjunction with the increase of obesity and chronic diseases in the American public. Because of the qualities of convenience and savings in time, our society has increased its reliance on processed and fast foods. And, in line with growing their industry, the conglomerate companies lure their customers by increasing the amounts of sugar, fat and salt that they add to their products. This causes the consumer to reach a “bliss point” and to crave an increased amount of the food or drink. Moss compares this to a virtual addiction.

    Basing his information on company documents and interviews with former executives, Moss shows us how the industry is between a rock and a hard place: decrease the amounts of sugar, fat and salt to benefit the American public’s health, while exposing processed food’s off-tastes that will reduce sales. And, this is the dilemma that our nation finds itself in: continue on the path to ill health or change. Some of the answers might be to increase government food regulations, become more educated consumers, and go back to the basics in food preparation, however inconvenient that might be.

August is National Immunization Awareness Month

Childhood immunization is a controversial topic; one camp insists that it is responsible for autism and other illnesses and disabilities in children; the other side maintains that vaccination is mandatory in order to prevent epidemics. Here are some recently published books on the topic.

Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten our Human Rights, our Health, and our Children, edited by Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland, presents a series of articles featuring instances of vaccinations causing illnesses to children, adolescents and adults. They contend that government mandates for vaccination violate individual rights and suggest ways to reform American health policy.

Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, written by Paul A. Offit, an infectious disease physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, maintains that the media’s presentation of anecdotal incidence of disease and disabilities caused by vaccinations is playing on parents’ fears. He asserts that epidemic, the end result of not being protected by vaccinations, is far worse, posing a threat to all of society.

The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear, written by Seth Mnookin, also contends that the media, in an effort to being fair to both sides of the argument, has encouraged certain groups to advance a health-scare hoax. He also points to various anti-vaccination outbursts over the years since the smallpox vaccine was developed as the continuation of an anti-scientific sentiment in society.

The Vaccine Answerbook: 200 Essential Answers to Help You Make the Right Decisions for your Child, written by physician Jamie Loehr, provides detailed information about specific vaccines, their side effects, when it is not recommended to administer them, and when to schedule them for your child. He also explores some of the controversies surrounding vaccines and their purported cause of disabilities.

October is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month

Jan’s Story: Love Lost to the Long Goodbye of Alzheimer’s, written by CBS News correspondent Barry R. Petersen, is the story of his wife Jan Petersen, their marriage, and what happened after they discovered Jan was suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s Disease at the age of 55.

Take Your Oxygen First: Protecting Your Health and Happiness While Caring for a Loved One with Memory Loss, written by television’s Leeza Gibbons and based on her experiences coping with her mother Jean’s illness. Progressing through more than ten years of decline first at home and then at a nursing home dementia unit, the reader learns both about diseases involving memory loss as well as how caregivers can care for themselves physically and emotionally.

The Thousand Mile Stare: One Family’s Journey through the Struggle and Science of Alzheimer’s, written by Gary Reiswig, chronicles a family’s slow realization that their family members carried the gene for early onset Alzheimer’s disease, and their participation in research studies.

Last of His Mind: a Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s, written by John Thorndike, is a memoir of the novelist John Thorndike and his father Joe, a former writer and editor. At the age of 92, Joe is sliding into the mental and physical problems of Alzheimer’s disease. He doesn’t want to move into a nursing home, so his son moves in with him. Over the following year, John experiences many insights and emotional highs and lows while caring for his father.

100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s and Age-Related Memory Loss is written by former CNN medical correspondent and syndicated “Eat Smart” columnist Jean Carper. She presents 100 medical, nutritional and lifestyle practices that could help prevent memory loss diseases.