Vitamins & Minerals Handbook

This is a well presented, clearly written primer to each of the essential vitamins and minerals. Each nutrient is allocated two pages in which the author discusses; how it works, advice for supplementation and its therapeutic uses. As a bonus theres also an informative section on herbal supplements. The super high resolution photographs of the food are a pleasure to look at in themselves- so much so in fact that my three year old daughterattempted to take a biteful out of one of the pages! There do however appear to be awfully many pictures of raw meat here which as a vegetarian i found quite repulsive. Some American readers may find the chapter on Vitamin E a little confusing as the British author talks about it's supplementation in terms of milligrams (mg) and not our international units (IU). That said, overall this handy book will come a welcome addition to any health conscious persons bookshelf.

The best way to include supplements into your life is to find them naturally in foods you love. A healthy diet will help you to have a fuller life. As a second option, you can choose to take supplements in pill form. This book presents the source of the vitamin or mineral with the chemical name, preparations and RDA for adults. When you look up Vitamin B5 you will find a picture of dried apricots, you can also find this in peanuts, tahini paste, sesame seeds, pecans, walnuts, avocados, apples and dried figs. If you decide to go with the dried figs option, there is a delicious recipe in a book called Inter Courses that you will just love. I had never used dried figs in cooking before, but they are really good! What I really liked about this book is the detail for each mineral/vitamin. On the same two pages where I found the apricots and pictures of other delicious foods, I also found a list of symptoms for if you have a deficiency of pantothenic acid. Stress and alcohol and large quantities of tea and coffee can reduce the absorption of pantothenic acid. Taken with vitamin C, you can help to strengthen your skin and promote healing. This is essential, say after surgery. A wonderful and very helpful book you might want to keep someplace with your recipe books. That way you can try to include as many of these wonderful foods into your diet as you can. There is a great section on "other supplements" which explains Herbal Remedies. Please consult your physician before taking any herbal supplements as they can not be mixed with certain prescriptions. For such a situation I recommend: Natural Health Magazine Instant Guide to Drug-Herb Interactions. This is a really handy A-Z listing of 150 common drugs with essential information on how they interact with herbs. Other books you might enjoy: Natural Health Secrets of Bach Flower Remedies Natural Health Secrets of Aromatherapy ~The Rebecca Review