Sari Harrar

Good Housekeeping Doctors' Secrets is a book that offers advice on diet, weight-loss, fitness, illness, supplements, and alternative medicine to name a few.

I enjoyed parts of the book including the short quizzes offered before specific chapters and the chapter on sleep and energy. I thought the best chapter was "Mental Help and Happiness" which advises on managing stress.

What I don't like is that the book offers barely any information on alternative medicine and contains plenty of controversial advice. Also, it doesn't get in depth on treatments, but mainly discusses prevention. For example, on Lyme Disease, it states basic information on how to prevent getting bit by a tick and if you do, how to remove it. When discussing migraine treatments, we're told not to overdo it when it comes to taking migraine meds, and to get more sleep. So, while it does offer some helpful information, it isn't offering much on actual treatment of disease or illness.

There were other parts of the book that I found myself disagreeing with. On foods and cleansing, the author states that juice cleanses are not healthy, yet many people have been able to reverse disease by drinking fresh juices for a period of time. Also, the author mentions colonics being unhealthy for the colon, yet many swear by it and have repaired gut issues by using these methods. The way it's worded, I can see people being scared away from using alternative methods to health and that's something I don't agree with. What's good for one person, may not be good for another and vice versa.

So this is a book that mainly focuses on prevention and contains so much information you either take notes, or buy a copy for future reference. It definitely has a magazine feel to it.

I liked some of it and think it's worth reading, but probably won't use it in the future...

3***… (altro)

This book is well written, but...

It assumes that those who will use the diet and exercise offered within have no severe food allergies, that they can walk and stand, and are able to eat most foods.

I cannot. I have numerous food allergies, and easily 1/2 of the food items I cannot eat. Of the foods left, many I cannot stomach the taste of...literally. Things like sweet potatoes and yogurt make me projectile vomit. The spices suggested, such as curry, red pepper spices, ginger; I am allergic to.

I am in a wheelchair and unable to walk or stand, so most of the exercises will not work for me.

So, with all that, why did I give this book 4*'s? Because, I am aware that my circumstances are atypical of most readers of this book and should not be the main influence of my review. However, it is the very fact that the author does not address situations where a reader may be unable to do the large number of exercises available, or eat many of the foods listed which keeps it from receiving a 5* review.

What is available I can see would be beneficial to the majority of this authors book. I felt he did a good job of stressing you need to stay in contact with your Dr. Regarding your meds. Many of the books I have read on lowering your blood pressure, some written by supposed health care providers did not do this, and some suggested actually stopping meds!

If you can stand and walk, and are able to eat a variety of foods, this book could prove very helpful to you. Even with my problems, I found nuggets of information that will be very helpful in the future, as I continue to try to bring my BP down and lose weight.

I received an ARC from Net Galley to review in exchange for an honest review.… (altro)