Dietary-Supplements Books

The Peak Performance Bible is an excellent guide to improving your quality of life through nutritional supplmentation. Whether you are interested in improving athletic performance or slowing the decline of aging, this book offers concrete advice on which supplements can be helpful, which can harm you and what dosages to take. Following the ideas in this book has reduced my chronic pain, given me more energy and improved aspects of my mental outlook over the course of just a few weeks. I will say that it was hard to narrow down the supplement choices to a manageable level. Also, I should note that this book doesn't necessarily cover basic information on vitamins and minerals that you would generally get in a multivitamin supplement.

This is more than an Encyclopedia: is a real Bible of all natural things we can find into what we eat, we use to heal, we use to make up.
You will find precise, accurate, up to date informations about each plant, herb and so on.
If you're serious into Phytotherapy, well, this book is the real must have !!

This is a really good book because it's packed with information that is scientifically documented, and at the same time it is written in simple words. It presents charts and many resources, for example places where you can find supplements, etc. All we have to do is really follow his suggestions!

The 8 chapters of "Food as a Drug" - chock full of research summaries - work in powerful unisson to mount a formidable argument against the Addiction Model of Obesity (that serves as the foundation for Overeaters' Anonymous).

In addition to reviewing the conceptual and empirical evidence against the Addiction Model of Obesity/Overeating, the book does a methodical analysis of various public-domain "myts" about the interplay of food and mood. As such, the book presents an authoritative analysis of the range of psychoactive properties of food that have been presumed to underlie the food-specific cravings and food-specific dependence/withdrawal models.

The book offers a wealth of clinical facts that are likely to be of interest to an eating disorder specialist. Here are just a few lines that jump out as you browse the book:

"There is no evidence that bulimia nervosa patients preferentially consume sugar and other carbohydrates druing binge eating" (p. 89).

"A particularly damaging problem with the carbohydrate craving model comes from studies that fail to demonstrate that carbohydrate craving participants actually improve their mood following a carbohydrate-rich meal" (p. 41).

"As an amino acid, the body's entire supply of tryptophan is dependent on dietary protein. One might reasonably conclude, therefore, that increases in protein consumption would also increase 5-HT production <...> In reality, studies have demonstrated that brain tryptophan and 5-HT actually decrease following a protein rich meal." (P. 37).

"Food cravings are experienced by approximately 68% of men and 97% of women. The most frequently reported food craving among college aged women is for chocolate. <...> Chocolate does contain a number of bioactive substances...<...> However, when subjects were fed substances which contained components of chocolate without its flavor, sweetness, or recognizable form, the craving for chocolate remained unsatisfied. These findings would seem to suggest that the craving for chocolate is due to its sensory or psychologic attributes rather than to its pharmacologic effects" (p. 11).

If the reviewer of this review happens to be a non-academician or a non-clinician, you might have found these few lines of interest - and they certainly are of interest. But be warned: the book - as accessible as it is for a clinician or a researcher - is likely to parch your mind with its academic dryness. If, however, you are willing to brave your way through it, you, the general reader, are likely to be usefully informed.

On a closing note, an observation: the book's title "Food as a Drug" reminded of Weil's and Rosen's "Chocolate to Morphine" book. Having read both, I found the current volume to be a useful hard-fact reference companion for the Weil/Rosen project.


Pavel Somov, Ph.D.
Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, 2008)

Knowledgeably written by an sports nutrition and performance expert Shawn M. Talbott, A Guide To Understanding Dietary Supplements is an efficiently organized, clearly written, 713-page survey of more than 140 dietary supplements, critically evaluating which ones work and which ones don't. Summarizing the claims, theory, scientific report, safety, value, and dosage of each common supplement, A Guide To Understanding Dietary Supplements is an excellent consulting resource for physicians, pharmacists, and for interested non-specialist general readers with an interest in dietary supplements for health and fitness.

Mr. Gormley has yet again delivered an excellent, very concise and readable yet also impeccably researched book on the brain-boosting benefits of a good fat, phosphatidylserine, or PS. This is one "PS" though that should be at the TOP of your list and not at the bottom! Thank you.

My attention to this book is from the author who also wrote"Grow Young With HGH", another goood book.

Infection Protection gives you inside things that you couldnot see easily.
This book should be in any one's library , generation by generation., sort of family medicine self-help.

Once get contacted with those melicious germs, you somehow
get prescriped by M.D., which ends up with many side-effects.

Preventive medicine is the best bet.
People donot give attention much about this, until it's too LATE.

These following books are also great.
"What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine MAY BE KILLING YOU" by Ray M.D.

"omega3 connection" by Andrew Stoll, M.D. and "the super Anti-Oxidants by James F. Balch, M.D.

There are few mistakes in "Infection Protection" such as,
on page 118 Omega 3 should be in flaxseed, and omega 6 should be in evening primrose.
Hoping that new edition will correct this.

Finally, nice to see a great Pharmacist writing about these claims! Al-Achi is a fantastic author - I couldn't put it down. My wife and I attended a seminar over the summer at the Atheneum in Salem, MA about herbal Medicine and its history - the man who gave the presentation was a physician and he was really into it. Al-Achi's book confirms many of the things this physician mentions and adds plenty of little known facts about plants and their medicinal and toxic effect. A truly great book! Peter

If you're tired of thousand-page health books and just want the basics, this book will serve the function. In very few pages, the author breaks down and explains the nutrients necessary for proper (and enhanced) brain function, and suggests appropriate foods and supplements.

Short, simple, and sane.

Incredible, is all I can say. This book laid out everything... diet plans, workout calendar, progress charts, strength tests, sets, reps, exercises. This plan made it so easy to follow. And the results, well, let's just say I'm over the moon happy. I wish I could upload a picture of my "before" and "after" so you could see me now! I really look night and day compared to before. Guys at the gym are asking me questions about lifting weights and packing on muscle. Me! Man, I love what Maximum Growth did for me and I'm certain it can do the same for you.