4 out of 4 stars
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Are you overwhelmed with the constant badgering of TV infomercials for dietary supplements, weight loss ads or newest health fad that’s sweeping the televised medical talk shows? Not sure where to begin in the massive maze of consumer pharmaceutical drugs, which promises outstanding miraculous results to your body? Or would it surprise you to learn that the long time traditional family curative remedies that you’ve known from childhood could possibly be more myth than fact?
In Health Tips, Myths and Tricks: A Physicians Advice by Morton E. Tavel M.D. these issues and much more are certainly discussed. The Author’s motivation for writing this book was from his previous book entitled: Snake Oil is Alive and Well. The Clash between Myths and Reality. Reflections of a Physician. Which is also fueled by his apparent genuine concern for the health care and safety for the innocent and often victimized masses in general, who are easily lured towards the miraculous “snake oils”, which sucker thousands into loss of good money and shattered hopes.
The contents of the book are divided under three main headings which deal with a number of relatable sub-topics. Tips being the first, is all about the clinically investigated and proven measures one can take to improve overall physical well-being. For instance, there are examples of the best weight loss strategies that can be employed to help reduce body mass, whether it is through programs like Jenny Craig, or more seriously, inclusions of surgery for weight loss. Considerable time is spent on diet and the different foods one can inculcate into a daily diet verses the usage of dietary supplements.
The Myths segment entails many common misconceptions upheld by the general public that is contrary to benefits being sought. The great concern the Author has about the danger of these myths are plainly evident when one reads through the chapters. It is also stated that because of these growing myths, the rise in “tricks” has thus been feeding off of people’s growing paranoia.
The final section of the book is the Tricks; out of the previous two this one gets hit the hardest. It largely covers many popular alternative style medicines, if you are a believer or fervent participant in “energy healing”, “employing herbal remedies” or “any form of traditional Chinese or Indian style medicine”. Then be warned, you will be harshly offended! As plainly put, all these measures preached against; are considered to be pseudo-science and Neanderthal at best and even fatally dangerous, at worst.
Pros: The best thing about this book for me was the simplicity in the way the information was presented. I appreciate the good doctor for going easy on the scientific jargon and presenting the information in a format that anyone can pick up and read, without needing a science background. There was also a lot of reference material throughout the book, where if one wanted to, they could easily do further research pertaining to the specific chapter. With the flow of information one can easily start anywhere within the book according to what they would like to get into first. Thus they won’t be compromised in losing any vital information from skipped chapters as the good doctor thoughtfully placed references and notes of which chapter is linked with which. The tone and humorous witty remarks from the good doctor was a nice change of pace, as I was expecting a serious and monotonous tone throughout.
Cons: The cons I’ve identified aren’t anything too devastating. Two in particular that stuck out to me whilst reading this book - the first was the few and far between grammatical errors I found. For example, when describing the nutritional value of vegetables like spinach and celery; for some strange reason the word “nitrate” was crossed and replaced with nitrate, which ended up looking like this: “nitratenitrate-rich”. I thought it would look much neater if the extra “nitrate” that had the crossed line over it was deleted entirely, instead of being kept in the book. Though keeping in mind that I read the PDF format of the book on my kindle and I’m unsure if this is present in the other formats.
There were two more grammatical errors I picked up but nothing so major that it distracted from the reading. The second minor con for me was that I wished the Author would have spent a bit more time discussing certain information in the book. For the chapters that are as short as two pages I would have preferred a little more detail; however it was compensated with the links to do the additional research on my own time. I reiterate again that these are slight and in no way devastates the positive impact in this book.
Thus for this reason I have chosen to rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. This is a great starter book for anyone who has recently began a new physical health journey. This book is also an opportunity for all individuals to genuinely question and understand the reasoning behind what they do, practice, and believe in health wise.
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Tips, Myths and Rips: A Physician's Advice
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