Nutrition for Dummies ( For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback) ) (5TH ed.)

by Ann Carol Rinzler    (Find this book)

Get the facts on good nutrition, slim down, and feel great

You've been hearing it since you were a little kid: "You are what you eat." But unlike most adages you've long since debunked, this wise saying is true! Good nutrition is the key to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight and lifelong good health?no matter how you slice it.

"Nutrition For Dummies" is a one-size-fits-all guide to nutrition for anyone who may have fallen asleep in health class, wants to brush up on what they already know, or is looking to keep up-to-speed on the latest guidelines and research. It shows you how to manage your diet so you get the most bang (nutrients) for your buck (calories) and gives you the skinny on how to put together a healthy shopping list, how to prepare foods that are good for the body and soul, and ten easy ways to cut calories.More than 20% new and updated information for this edition, including the truth about feeding your brain, vitamin D supplements, and energy drinks.Coverage of the new 2010 Dietary Guidelines For Americans report. Other titles by Rinzler: "Controlling Cholesterol For Dummies"

An apple a day may not necessarily keep the doctor away, but with the simple guidance of "Nutrition For Dummies," you can be on your way to living a happier, healthier ever after. -- Publisher Marketing

   

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain

by David M Eagleman    (Find this book)

An up-to-date examination of what used to be called the mind-body problem.

Eagleman (Neuroscience/Baylor Coll. of Medicine; Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, 2009) makes the point that our sense of ourselves as coherent, free-standing personalities is at odds with the most basic findings about the workings of the human brain, an organ so complex that an objective description of it sounds hyperbolic. Instinct, unconscious impulses, automatic systems, emotion and a dozen other forces, most of which we aren't even aware of, affect every thought and action. The book is full of startling examples; split-brain research, for example, shows how the two halves of a mind can be completely at odds, with neither being aware of what the other experiences. Nor are those of us with "whole" brains and a complete set of senses necessarily experiencing the world "as it really is." For example, other animals experience a different part of the visual spectrum, or can detect sounds and odors we have no awareness of. A significant segment of the population—about 15 percent of women—sees colors the rest of us can't. Our brains work differently when learning a skill and after it's become second nature – it's one thing to drive to a new place, another to drive a familiar route, and our brains work much harder doing the former than the latter, when we can go on "automatic pilot." There are lessons to be learned from various mental disorders, as well. Victims of strokes affecting certain parts of the brain may claim that they are operating at full capacity when they are clearly not; one former Supreme Court justice was forced to retire after displaying these symptoms. Eagleman has a wealth of such observations, backed up with case studies, bits of pop culture, literary references and historic examples.

A book that will leave you looking at yourself—and the world—differently. -- Kirkus Reviews

Brain Bugs: How the Brain's Flaws Shape Our Lives

by Dean Buonomano    (Find this book)

With its trillions of connections, the human brain is more beautiful and complex than anything we could ever build, but it's far from perfect. Our memory is unreliable; we can't multiply large sums in our heads; advertising manipulates our judgment; we tend to distrust people who are different from us; supernatural beliefs and superstitions are hard to shake; we prefer instant gratification to long-term gain; and what we presume to be rational decisions are often anything but. Drawing on striking examples and fascinating studies, neuroscientist Dean Buonomano illuminates the causes and consequences of these "bugs" in terms of the brain's innermost workings and their evolutionary purposes. He then goes one step further, examining how our brains function-and malfunction-in the digital, predator-free, information-saturated, special effects-addled world that we have built for ourselves. Along the way, Brain Bugs gives us the tools to hone our cognitive strengths while recognizing our inherent weaknesses. -- Publisher Marketing  

The Inside Tract: Your Good Gut Guide to Great Digestive Health

by Kathie Madonna Swift    (Find this book)

More than 60 million Americans suffer from digestive disorders such as gastroesophageal reflux disease and irritable bowel syndrome. In "The""Inside Tract," a comprehensive plan for overcoming these common digestive ailments, you'll learn how a simple regimen of dietary changes, supplements, and a 7-step lifestyle modification program can help heal intestinal problems and get you on track to vibrant health! --Publisher Marketing