Author: Carrie Carter, M.D.
Books that deal with women’s health usually concentrate on weight, which can be a major component in a woman’s health. The author of this book goes way beyond that point. She understands that there are many more factors that effect a woman’s health and she deals with all of them. This book is small so it’s amazing just how much information she packed into it.
The first topic she covers is stress. She goes into the effects to show just how hard it is on a woman’s body. She discusses that there are four basic personality types. She describes each one in detail. The reason she does this is that each personality type responds to stress in a different way and each type needs to deal with stress in a particular way. She outlines a three step plan which is able to be modified to each type. She then goes in nutrition, explaining in detail what your body really needs to function well. This chapter contains a twelve step plan to good nutrition.
I found the next chapter especially interesting. She discusses “controversial foods we love.” Although this chapter is really short, the author gives very detailed information about each food she discusses, giving the pros and cons of each one. It isn’t until chapter 4 that she finally discusses weight. I’m assuming as she wrote this chapter she was thinking “know your enemy.” She first discusses the different reasons why women gain weight. She then helps the reader figure out the best weight for them. And only then does she go into what she calls “The Ten Commandments of Healthy Weight.”
After all this information, the reader is now ready to choose a diet plan. She gives the reader a lot of information about all the major diet plans out there. Exercise is necessary for more than just losing weight. The author once again goes into more than just what exercise you might want to do. She helps the reader understand why exercising can be so hard to do regularly, etc. A lot of health books contain most of what has been talked about to this point. But the author goes farther and explains what tests the reader should have to catch diseases before they can get out of hand, when they’re easier to cure or at least control.
The next chapter goes into the woman’s body on the cellular level. There are things in the body that can do great damage. She discusses “The War Between Free Radicals, Antioxidants, and Everyday Toxins.” I’d never read a book that discussed this in such detail. It really makes you think about what you have in your house that is hurting your whole family.
The next chapter discusses the pros and cons of supplements. There are many out there that are good, but there are some that make great claims but don’t live up to them. She goes into great detail about all of the main ones. One of the last major hurdles women face is menopause.
The final chapter is devoted to discussing that as well as heart disease, which effects women in a way that’s much different than men. Because of this many women don’t realize they’re even having problems until they have a fatal heart attack.
I would highly recommend this book to all women, young and old! There is so much information it would be good to read it several times.
Reviewed by Lynn Worley
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