Hopefully, years from now, Eating Well for Optimum Health will be looked upon as the book that saved the health of millions of Americans and transformed the way we eat--not as the book we overlooked at our own peril. It clarifies the mishmash of conflicting news, research, hype, and hearsay regarding diet, nutrition, and supplementation, and further establishes the judicious Dr. Weil, the director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, as a savior of public well-being. If you've ever wondered what "partially hydrogenated soybean oil" really is, been perplexed by contrary news reports about recommended dosages for supplements, or questioned the safety of using aluminum pots for cooking, Dr. Weil will make it all clear.

Weil (pronounced "while") bravely criticizes many of the major diet books on the market, and backs up his admonitions with science. He warns readers to not fall under "the spell" of the anticarbohydrate Atkins Diet, but also criticizes the eating plan advocated by Dr. Dean Ornish--which has been granted Medicare coverage for cardiac patients--as being too low fat for the majority of people. (The omega-3 fatty acids missing from Ornish's diet are essential for hormone production and the control of inflammation, he says.) It's also fascinating to learn that autism, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease may be caused by omega-3 fatty acid deficiencies, while an excess of omega-6 fatty acids--very common in the typical American diet--can exacerbate arthritis symptoms. Weil's explanation of the chemistry of fats will prove difficult for most readers, but few will want to eat fast-food French fries ever again after reading his appalling reasons for avoiding them, which go way beyond their well-documented heart-clogging capabilities.

After a thorough rundown of nutritional basics and a primer of micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals, Weil unveils what he feels is "the best diet in the world," with 85 recipes, such as Salmon Cakes and Oven-Fried Potatoes, that are healthy, tasty, quick to prepare, and complete with nutritional breakdowns. He includes a stirring chapter on safe weight loss (he sympathizes with the overweight and comically recalls his one-week trial of a safflower oil-diet while an undergraduate). Other, equally enlightening sections include tips for eating out and shopping for food (with warnings on various additives and a guide to organics), and a wondrous appendix with dietary recommendations for dozens of health concerns, including allergies, asthma, cancer prevention, mood disorders, and pregnancy. Eating Well is an indispensable consumer reference and one not afraid to lambaste the diet industry and empower the public with information about which the majority of doctors--to the detriment of the public health--are ignorant. --Erica Jorgensen

From Publishers Weekly
Now considered one of holistic medicine's most authoritative voices, Weil (Spontaneous Healing; 8 Weeks to Optimum Health) provides a common-sense approach to healthy eating. While much of this information can be found in other volumes, Weil illuminates the often confusing and conflicting ideas circulating about good nutrition, addressing specific health issues and offering nutritional guidance to help heal and prevent major illnesses. Of particular value is his examination of recent fads, such as low-carbohydrate, vegan and "Asian" diets, with an eye toward debunking the myths about them while highlighting their valuable aspects. Readers will appreciate the brief stories of individuals who have made big changes in their eating habits and solved chronic health problems, as well as recipes for foods that Weil feels will satisfy nutritional needs and the taste buds. Although not the first to link the rise of cancer, heart disease and obesity with the now-prevalent consumption of fast food and processed foods that contain a lot of sugar and few, if any, micronutrients, Weil's articulate plea to reflect on the consequences is convincing. Despite Weil's emphasis on a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed foods and much less meat and dairy products than most Americans are used to, readers will notice a profoundly realistic observation of what changes they can readily incorporate into their busy lives. And they will be heartened to learn that they can eat nutritious foods and still get much pleasure from them. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The good doctor relies on the philosophy behind his hugely best-selling Spontaneous Healing to help readers make sensible choices about what to eat. The 750,000-copy first printing says it all. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Two of the four parts of the program Weil so persuasively presented in the mega-selling Eight Weeks to Optimum Health (1997) dealt with oral intake of food and dietary supplements, respectively. This book expands upon those two constituents, proposing how and explaining why one should follow Weil's dietary advice long beyond the eight weeks it takes to get healthy. That advice is based on seven propositions: we must eat to live, eating is pleasurable, food can be simultaneously healthy and pleasurable, eating is often an important social activity, diet reflects personal and cultural identity, how one eats affects health, and changing diet can help manage disease and restore health. One huge and five much shorter chapters follow, and as Weil did in previous books, he appends to each chapter one or two personal testimonials to the value of its counsel. The big chapter explains human nutrition by considering the macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins) and the micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytochemicals) separately, and the former at much greater length and depth; this chapter alone makes the book more solidly informational than Eight Weeks. The short chapters outline the "worst" and "best" diets "in the world," mull over weight-loss dieting, advise on grocery shopping and dining out, and encourage personal cooking. Clarity, pertinence, and reasonableness again characterize Weil's writing, and a hefty clutch of recipes concludes. Ray Olson

From Kirkus Reviews
From a familiar, reputable--if sometimes offbeat--source, a worthwhile discussion of how to formulate a healthy approach to eating. Weil doesn't look for easy answers, or absolute rules for readers. Instead, he begins by explaining the seven basic propositions of his own nutritional philosophy, beginning with the fact that we have to eat to live (Or do we? Throughout history there have been unsubstantiated reports of persons who survive without eating). Second, eating is a major source of pleasure in life, and any nutritional recommendations that don't acknowledge that fact are doomed to fail. Weil's take on it is that many so-called healthy eating proponents--nutritionists, dieticians, and diet-book writers--themselves derive no particular pleasure from eating. Weil's third proposition is that foods which are healthy and those that are pleasurable are not mutually exclusive. His fourth and fifth points suggest that we recognize eating as a social interaction, and that what we eat reflects our personal and cultural identities. Finally, how we eat is also a determinant of health; and improving eating habits is one strategy for being healthy. Weil looks in depth at basic nutritional facts--again, happily, making clear that there is much we dont know. He examines the world's worst and best diets, offers help with buying food and eating out, and includes some of his own favorite recipes here. Entertaining, thoughtful, and educational. (First printing of 250,000; Book-of-the-Month Club main selection) -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


This book has everything you'll want or need in commendably accessible form. I can't recommend it too highly.


Clarity, pertinence, and reasonableness again characterize Weil's writing.

Book Description
At last, a book about eating (and eating well) or health -- from Andrew Weil, the brilliantly innovative and greatly respected doctor who has been instrumental in transforming the way Americans think about health. Now Dr. Weil -- whose nationwide bestsellers Spontaneous Healing and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health have made us aware of the body's capacitiy to heal itself -- provides us with a program for improving our well-being by making informed choices about how and what we eat.Dr. Weil makes clear how an optimal diet can both supply the basic needs of the body and fortify the body's defenses and mechanisms of healing. And he always stresses that good food -- and the good feeling it engenders at the table -- is not only a delight but also necessary to our well being so that eating for health means enjoyable eating.Eating Well for Optimum Health is a hugely practical and inspiring book about food, diet and nutrition that stands to change -- for the better and the healthier -- our most fundamental ideas about eating.

Download Description
At last, a book about eating (and eating well) for health -- from Dr. Andrew Weil, the brilliantly in-novative and greatly respected doctor who has been instrumental in transforming the way Americans think about health. Now Dr. Weil -- whose nationwide best-sellers Spontaneous Healing and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health have made us aware of the body's capacity to heal itself -- provides us with a program for improving our well-being by making informed choices about how and what we eat. He gives us all the basic facts about human nutrition. Here is everything we need to know about fats, protein, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins, and their effects on our health. He equips us to make decisions about the latest miracle diet or reducing aid. At the heart of his book, he presents in easy-to-follow detail his recommended OPTIMUM DIET, including complete weekly menus for use both at home and in restaurants. He provides eighty-five recipes accompanied by a rigorous and reliable nutritional breakdown -- delicious recipes reminding us that we can eat for health without giving up the essential pleasures of eating. Customized dietary advice is included for dozens of common ailments, among them asthma, allergies, heart disease, migraines, and thyroid problems. Dr. Weil helps us to read labels on all food products and thereby become much wiser consumers. Throughout he makes clear how an optimal diet can both supply the basic needs of the body and fortify the body's defenses and mechanisms of healing. And he always stresses that good food -- and the good feeling it engenders at the table -- is not only a delight but also necessary to our well-being, so that eating for health means enjoyable eating. In sum, a hugely practical and inspiring book about food, diet, and nutrition that stands to change -- for the better and the healthier -- our most fundamental ideas about eating.

Book Info
(Alfred A. Knopf) Consumer text includes complete weekly menus for use at home and in restaurants, 85 recipes accompanied by nutritional breakdown, and basic facts about human nutrition. Also includes dietary advice for common ailments, such as asthma, allergies, heart disease, migraines, and thyroid problems.

From the Publisher
"Now considered one of holistic medicine's most authoritative voices, Weil provides a common-sense approach to healthy eating... Of particular value is his examination of recent fads, such as low-carbohydrate, vegan and 'Asian' diets, with an eye toward debunking the myths about them while highlighting their valuable aspects... Readers will notice a profoundly realistic observation of what changes they can readily incorporate into their busy lives. And they will be heartened to learn that they can eat nutritious foods and still get much pleasure from them."-- Publishers Weekly

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Andrew Weil, M.D., is well known for his nationally bestselling books on the body's ability to heal itself, Spontaneous Healing and 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. Now Dr. Weil turns his attention toward improving health and well-being through diet. But Eating Well for Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Food, Diet, and Nutrition is more than just a diet book. In addition to containing enough information to be a fairly extensive primer on nutrition, Eating Well for Optimum Health also looks at and evaluates other diet plans, including those enjoying current popularity.

The results are not what you might expect. Rather than dismissing these diets out of hand, Weil highlights the advantages as well as the shortcomings. He clearly and concisely discusses the principles of nutrition at work with each diet, then sifts out the positive attributes they all share, using them as the basis for making his own dietary recommendations. This logical and methodical process makes Weil a diet guru in the strictest sense of the word, providing enlightenment and guidance to help readers negotiate their way through the confusing maze of diets currently on the market.

Weil doesn't focus only on making eating a healthy habit; he also addresses making it a pleasurable one. He stresses and addresses the importance of satisfying hunger pangs, of course, but he also pays attention to the importance of satisfying the other pleasures often derived from eating, such as tactile sensations and emotional connections. The bulk of the book, however, is dedicated to the study of nutrition, providing a detailed discussion of fats, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, and minerals.

Weil points out that a large part of the confusion created by the wide array of dietary advice available today is that each camp can spout medical and scientific studies that support their particular plan. Weil shows us why -- it's because each of these diets has attributes grounded in science. He shows how a low-fat diet offers certain distinct advantages but can also create problems because it may not fulfill the body's need for all nutrients. With regard to carbohydrates, Weil examines the evidence that suggests a high carbohydrate intake may contribute to obesity and heart disease and agrees there is a connection. But Weil theorizes that the problem is not so much that we are consuming larger quantities of carbohydrates as such -- rather, the trouble is that we now tend to consume poorer-quality carbohydrates. He examines the glycemic index value of carbohydrates in great detail, explaining how these values affect nutrition and metabolism and why foods with a low glycemic index are preferable to those with a high one -- and he provides a table that lists the glycemic index value of many popular foods. The results are a little surprising when you realize that rice cakes, which are traditionally considered a "diet" food, have a high glycemic index that can actually interfere with dieting.

After a thorough examination of the various nutritional components and the soundness of other diets, Weil spends a few pages composing what he calls "the worst diet in the world." He then invites readers to visit three different fast food restaurants and observe the people eating there, with this worst diet in mind. Considering Weil's claim that fast food is the "most unhealthy dietary development in human history," it's clear what he expects readers to find. He then provides his "best diet in the world," incorporating basic nutritional guidelines and the advantages offered by several other diets. His "best diet" is presented in weekly menu plans that are backed up by a collection of 85 recipes that include everything from soups and salads to desserts. The recipes vary with regard to time and complexity, and at the end of each one, there is a complete nutritional analysis.

Weil also devotes a chapter to the dissection and evaluation of consumer labeling, using several ordinary items off the grocery store shelves to demonstrate how such labeling can be both beneficial and misleading. For those who eat out often, there is a discussion on how to make sensible choices in a restaurant. At the back of the book are appendixes chock-full of helpful information, like a breakdown of daily nutritional needs in an optimal diet, a list of other helpful resources, and a Q&A section that addresses a number of common dietary problems. But probably the most helpful of the appendixes is the one that provides dietary recommendations for a number of common health concerns, everything from allergies and arthritis to body odor and prostate problems.

Weil's stated goal for this book is to turn readers into savvy consumers who can make wise and informed dietary choices that will promote good health. He has achieved that goal in spades, developing a sensible plan that can be customized to meet the needs of just about any dietary situation.

Beth Amos, RN, spent 20 years working as a nurse in various medical settings before becoming a novelist and medical freelance writer. She has authored more than 100 articles in medical and lay journals around the country.

ANNOTATION

Eating Well for Optimum Health is a hugely practical and inspiring book about food, diet and nutrition that stands to change ￯﾿ﾽ for the better and the healthier ￯﾿ﾽ our most fundamental ideas about eating.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

At last, a book about eating (and eating well) for health—from Dr. Andrew Weil, the brilliantly innovative and greatly respected doctor who has been instrumental in transforming the way Americans think about health.

Now Dr. Weil—whose nationwide best-sellers Spontaneous Healing and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health have made us aware of the body's capacity to heal itself—provides us with a program for improving our well-being by making informed choices about how and what we eat.

He gives us all the basic facts about human nutrition. Here is everything we need to know about fats, protein, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins, and their effects on our health.

He equips us to make decisions about the latest miracle diet or reducing aid.

At the heart of his book, he presents in easy-to-follow detail his recommended OPTIMUM DIET, including complete weekly menus for use both at home and in restaurants.

He provides eighty-five recipes accompanied by a rigorous and reliable nutritional breakdown—delicious recipes reminding us that we can eat for health without giving up the essential pleasures of eating.

Customized dietary advice is included for dozens of common ailments, among them asthma, allergies, heart disease, migraines, and thyroid problems. Dr. Weil helps us to read labels on all food products and thereby become much wiser consumers. Throughout he makes clear how an optimal diet can both supply the basic needs of the body and fortify the body's defenses and mechanisms of healing. And he always stresses that good food—and the good feeling it engenders at the table—is not only a delight but also necessary to our well-being, so that eating for health means enjoyable eating.

In sum, a hugely practical and inspiring book about food, diet, and nutrition that stands to change—for the better and the healthier—our most fundamental ideas about eating.