Reviews
Among the numerous reviews received, the
following were selected as being the most accurate and representative of each book.
Food and Our Bones
by Annemarie Colbin,
Ph.D.
NewLife
Magazine Review
January/February 1999
Annemarie Colbin’s
name should be familiar to any New Yorker involved in natural food
preparation. The founder of The Natural Gourmet Cookery School and Institute
for Food and Health in New York,
Ms. Colbin is
a well-known and much trusted food therapist and expert on the healing qualities of food.
Her book Food and Healing is considered a classic in the field.
Now
Ms. Colbin
addresses the issue of aging and the effects of osteoporosis. Again, she
tries to counter disease -- in this case the loss of bone density and
other ill effects of osteoporosis -- through a knowledgeable diet.
Ms. Colbin sets out to show the reader how to improve the health of your bones through proper
food selection and how to rebuild bone mass, again through food. She also offers guidance
on which foods to avoid -- some can actually weaken the bones; cautions against weight
loss diets; describes how too much calcium can increase the risk of bone fractures; and
examines why some conventional treatments -- estrogen therapy, calcium supplements; and
various prescription drugs -- are not the remedy for osteoporosis.
This reviewer often comments on the preponderance of
health books hitting the market. Alternative health is considered the fastest growing
field in the health industry, and a reviewer’s challenge is to differentiate the
fluff from the "meat," the wannabe experts from the pros. Food and Our Bones
is a well-thought out volume written by an esteemed and reliable source.
After providing us with solid information and an understanding of the
relationship between food and our bones,
Ms.
Colbin digs into her recipe bag and dishes up over 60 mineral-rich soups,
salads, entrees, and desserts that may help fortify the reader against the disease. This
is a book that should be added to your natural healing/cooking library.
Reviewed by Thomas Cole
THE BOOK OF WHOLE MEALS
by Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D.
Organica Review
March-April 1985
DIET AS TAO: A ROAD OUT OF AMERICAN ILLNESS THROUGH
IMBALANCE
What distinguishes Annemarie's book from other vegetarian books is that it is a
holistic cookbook, both in philosophy and method. From the philosophical standpoint, she
considers food in its effects on the body. Eating a balanced diet means eating foods that
keep the body centered, a diet that is neither too acid nor alkaline, neither too
expansive nor contractive. The extreme acidity and contractiveness of meat, for example,
requires the extreme alkalinity and expansiveness of coffee. Basing your diet, however, on
foods that are themselves not extreme -- whole grains and beans -- will keep the body
centered and strong. Most traditional diets, Annemarie points out, are based on grains and
beans. There are many combinations already familiar to us: Mexican tortillas and refried
beans, Mid-Eastern falafel and hummus, Eastern rice with soy sauce.
The holistic and practical method of this cookbook is, however, its most unique and
welcome aspect because Annemarie takes us through each step of every meal. The menus are
listed according to the seasons: six full-day menus per season. The dinner meal is
described first; breakfast follows, which is either brand-new or a creative combination of
leftovers; last comes the lunch menu, which uses the already-prepared dinner ingredients.
Within the description of each meal, she arranges the recipes in the order in which they
are to be prepared so that all the dishes will be ready at the same time. If you use a
pressure cooker and certain small pre-cooking chores are performed (such as soaking
beans), most meals do not take over one hour to prepare. The meals, which are HUGE and
delicious, use whole grains, beans, pasta, vegetables, and fruit. Desserts -- usually
sweetened only with fruit-- are part of every dinner menu.
Annemarie's menus may not help you get over the flu (as one did for me), but they will
lead you into a simpler yet more integrated way of looking at food.
Reviewed By:
Susan Hussey
 THE NATURAL GOURMET
by Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D.
Restaurant News Review
April 24, 1989
Ms. Colbin is a recognized leader in the field of natural cooking and the founder of the
Natural Gourmet Cookery School and Institute for Food and Health in Manhattan.
The author stresses a healthful, nutritionally balanced regimen. Central to her
principles of food selection is the five-phase theory of Chinese philosophy. It is
basically a system of relationships and correspondences, and it provides a means of
classifying food.
The essence of the theory is that balance is attained when energy flows smoothly from
one phase to the next. Whether or not one subscribes to this approach, Colbin's recipes
warrant attention because they are flavorful and healthful. They are the result of many
years of study, experimentation, and shared discoveries with her students.
A few examples will show the diversity of this culinary harvest: Broccoli Aspic with
Red Pepper; Hungarian Asparagus Soup; Bulgur Pilaf with Mushrooms; San Franciscan Pizza;
Argentine Vegetable Stew, and Black Bean Feijoada, and there is much more.
It is a wise restaurateur who will provide an option or two on his menu for
vegetarians. These dishes may prove to more than a few devotees of meat and fowl that
there are other possibilities.
Meridians Review
Autumn 1997 -- Vol. 5, Number 1
EATING THE FIVE-ELEMENT WAY:
THE NATURAL GOURMET
Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D.
The friend who recommended
Ms. Annemarie Colbin's
The
Natural Gourmet to me said she was delighted with the author's organization of meals
according to the Five Elements (or phases) of Chinese medicine.
Ms. Colbin promotes the ideal
of eating foods from all five phases every day, and in each of the book's more than 300
recipes she designates the Elements/phases represented in the food.
I found the chapter on five-phase theory especially useful. (Ms. Colbin cites Dianne
Connelly's Traditional Acupuncture: The Law of Five Elements as one of her sources.) Here
she includes guidelines for choosing the
healthiest foods, along with simple charts
showing the chief features of each Element/phase and the corresponding food lists. The
food lists alone are worth the price of the book.
The author herself says of The Natural Gourmet, "The recipes are not always
simple, for this is not a beginner's cookbook. . . ." As one not inclined to spend a
lot of time in the kitchen, I would agree. Yet thousands of cooks have found
Ms. Colbin's
special combination of philosophy and sophisticated recipes (many of them simple,
nevertheless) very much to their liking -- this popular book has remained in print since
1989.
Review by
Barbara Tansill
FOOD AND HEALING
by Annemarie Colbin,
Ph.D.
Santa Cruz Sentinel Review
Santa Cruz, CA
Nov. 5, 1986
..."Food and Healing is must reading."
(Ballantine, paper).
This is not a cookbook.
What Food and Healing is is a nice summation of a lot of current trends,
ancient philosophy and modern scientific breakthroughs on the health benefits of right
eating. If you're a woman suffering the throes of monthly mania, if you suffer from
undiagnosed allergies or would like to do what you can to get and stay healthy,
Food and Healing is must reading.
Discussions by the author run the gamut from profiling the pros and cons of famous
diets, the cumulative effects of food preservatives and additives, vitamin supplementation
and the resultant change in the body's nutritional alignment (e.g., "if you take a
vitamin A pill in the morning, you may be spending the afternoon looking for the rest of
the carrot") and more.
While Ms. Colbin posts nutritional warning signs throughout the book, she also readily
points out that diets should be tailored to individual circumstance.
Every chapter will appeal to every reader. Important information abounds, like why we
crave specific foods, why we binge, how to change one's diet, food as medicine, food's
effect on mood, on sex, when one needs contractive foods or expansive foods, foods for
headaches, colds, and on and on.
This is a holistic book and relies heavily on the idea that all of life is
interrelated. Author Colbin is as good at teaching nutrition as she is at teaching
philosophy. Quality is not all that counts. Context does too.
The quality of the paperback is, by the by, inadequate. Yet, one could balance that
criticism by saying that (the price) is not much for the abundance of information
contained in Food and Healing.
A nice adjunct cookbook is Ms. Colbin's The Book of Whole Meals.
Reviewed By:
Chris Watson
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