Monday, December 8, 2008

Recommended Reading on the Topic of Nutrition

I have recently crossed paths with a book I feel is worth mentioning. The book is “Dr. Abravanel's Body Type Diet and Lifetime Nutrition Plan” by Elliot Abravanel. After reading and implementing Dr. Abravanel's ideas I was quite impressed with the effects of my dietary changes. Personally I was experimenting with the books suggestions in an effort to help control my depression. The book is primarily aimed at those interested in weight loss and after a week I noticed the last little bit of body fat that I usually have starting to disappear. This is the first book I would feel comfortable recommending as a realistic and effective means for someone interested in modifying their dietary habits in order to loose weight. The strength of Dr. Abravanel's dietary suggestions is that they are straight forward modifications to how most people already eat. The guidelines set down in the book are meant to work with the physiology of a particular body type so that the individual gains the benefits of that diet no matter what their goals. If weight loss is not the goal then the person can simply modify their caloric intake to meet their training needs. I also must admit that I am pleasantly surprised with how effective the dietary suggestions have been in helping to stabilize my moods.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not sure if i'm too late for this topic but check out the text Depression: Advancing the Treatment Paradigm by Hedaya and Quinn. It goes at things from what is called the "functional medicine concept" and also looks at research from the nutritional, endocrine, & immune standpoint. Also, have you looked into supplementating wwith gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)? It is well researched in it's role with depression.

Brent Apgar DC said...

J-
Obviously it's been awhile since I've checked this blog.
Thanks for the suggestion on the book, I'll have to check it out.
Yes, I've used GABA at different times and never found it to have that much of an effect on me personally.
So far one of the best, and least expensive, things I've found to be useful is 5-HTP.