CREATING RADIANT HEALTH

Traub and Lucas’ guide offers a self-help program that focuses strongly on a healthy diet.

Throughout this book, the authors encourage readers to take personal responsibility and be proactive about their own health. Their core lesson is to consider the effects of each action on one’s body and realize that “it is easier to stay healthy than to become healthy.” Their program encourages a diet of unprocessed foods, including lots of raw fruit and vegetables, some whole grains, and occasional muscle meat, with the addition of natural supplements. Other key directives include to drink more water, eat more fiber, balance one’s pH levels, rid one’s body of parasites through detoxification, embrace antioxidants, get moderate exercise, and follow food-combining rules. Much of this information is repeated in multiple, short sections, which effectively reinforces the fundamentals of the program, and informative lists and tables further break up the text. There’s also a series of inspirational quizzes, which work as invitations to commit to the method. The conclusion presents a series of healthy meals, juices, and shake and smoothie recipes. A weight loss section is also included, positing reasons why people might be overweight and suggesting strategies and supplements to alter metabolism and control appetite. Some readers will find the book’s confident tone and practical, easy-to-follow advice to be persuasive and inspiring. Traub narrates her own health story, but Lucas’ first-person voice is absent; Traub’s theories are based on personal experience and research following the onset of serious health issues in her late 20s, including a cancer diagnosis. However, the book falters because the author don’t provide information about their academic credentials or training  as natural health consultants; they also mention studies but don’t include specific citations.

An easy-to-understand, if unevenly executed, book of health advice.