Product Description

A guide to alternative therapies journeys beyond traditional medicine to offer advice on everything from acupuncture to yoga and also includes the top ten healing herbs for women and the eight most effective diets to promote healing. 30,000 first printing."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20450 in Books
• Published on: 1997-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 704 pages

Amazon.com Review
Acupressure, aromatherapy, Ayurveda, flower therapy, nutrition, herbalism, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, imagery, juice therapy, massage, reflexology, relaxation and meditation, sound therapy, and yoga oh my! Specific health problems are discussed from each of these perspectives; home remedies are presented and suggestions for when to seek professional help are highlighted.

From Publishers Weekly
Despite the hokey headings ("Juice Therapy: Putting the Squeeze on Good Health"; "Reflexology: You Can't Beat the Feet"), this volume offers a clear, concise introduction to a wide range of complementary healing practices from around the world. Part I explains 16 modalities? from acupressure to yoga?in simple terms that make accessible even such esoteric concepts as the relationship between quantum physics and Ayurveda. Sidebars offer additional pointers, from instructions on making ghee to a list of questions to ask a homeopath. Part II presents an impressive array of do-it-yourself natural remedies for 163 common health problems?as well as caveats on when to seek professional advice. Under "Burns," for example, after a subheading entitled "See Your Medical Doctor When..." are suggestions for treatments by practitioners of seven modalities, including aromatherapy, Ayurveda and vitamin and mineral therapy. An "Illustrations" section depicts acupressure and reflexology points, massage strokes and exercises. Part III, not seen by PW, includes resources and index. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Alternative self-help treatments for 150 health problems and 16 natural remedies are covered in this publication, which is organized in three sections. Part 1 covers the healing methods, their principles and origins. Such natural remedies such as acupressure, massage, juicing, and aromatherapy are among those described in four-to eight-page entries. Part 2 is an alphabetical listing of 160 mostly non-life-threatening health problems (e.g., acne, infertility, grief, ingrown toenails) and brief descriptions of the appropriate natural remedies that can be applied to the conditions. Descriptions of methods such as reflexology, acupressure, and yoga refer the user to an appendix for details of the technique. For example, there are front, back, and side views illustrating acupressure points on the body. Each entry also advises to "see your medical doctor when . . ." The resources section includes organizations, books, and mail-order sources.

According to a recent New York Times article, Americans spend millions of dollars a year on alternative treatment so there is an audience for this type of material, but for reference purposes a more comprehensive (and more expensive) title is Alternative Medicine [RBB Ap 15 94]. That title covers 43 alternative therapies and more than 200 disorders. The entry for each type of therapy includes a description of the treatment, a list of organizations and mail-order sources, and a recommended reading list. It is broader in scope, covering not only self-help treatments but alternative therapies that require the intervention of a professional, such as oxygen therapy, kinesiology, and colon therapy. A glossary, index, list of contributors, and bibliography make Alternative Medicine the better choice as a reference source. Public libraries will want to consider adding New Choices to their circulating collections.

Customer Reviews

From the World of ALTERNATIVE medicene
This book is used to discuss the alternative ways for healing, for people looking for other methods of healing rather than expensive medications from the hospital. This book covers traditional and eastern ways of healing, as well as nutritional healing, such as food therapy, juice therapy, vitamin and mineral therapy. The book is organized by health problems, and has an introduction for each method of healing. It also contains a resource page where you can find information on each method.

If you are wanting to understand more about natural healing, this book is definantly for you!

Heal the natural way...
This book has natural remedies for minor ailments (it specifically mentions that if symptoms are severe or persist over an extended period of time you should see a doctor). I have found it very helpful (I figured in the least it can't hurt me). This book is split into 3 parts.

Part I: This part contains an overview of what natural healing is and then gives descriptions of various methods used in natural healing (ex. acupressure, aromatherapy, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, yoga).

Part II: This book lists many ailments in alphabetical order. It is easy to look them up because they are written as an encyclopedia style reference. Some problems included are: acre, bad breath, colds, heartburn, jet lag, rashes, and warts. This part also includes illustrations of things such as massage and acupressure so that it is easy to lacate the areas yourself.

Part III: This part lists various resources in case the reader is interested in looking up more information or some organizations that deal with natural healing.

I would recomend this book for anyone who doesn't know much about natural healing but likes to try and heal themselves before seeing a medical doctor.

Good because of the wide assortment of material it includes
New Choices in Natural Healing takes several areas of natural health care and incorporates it by condition. As an example, if you were to turn - alphabetically, of course - to Arthritis, you'd read a short paragraph describing the ailemtn, then a paragraph or two under Acupressure, Aromatherapy, Ayurveda, Flower Remedy, Food Therapy, Homeopathy, Hydrotherapy, Imagery, Juice Therapy, Massage, Reflexology, Relaxation and Meditation, Vitamin and Mineral Therapy, and -finally- yoga.

If you know much on herbs, you'd get frustrated seeing the cautious and very generic recommendations, and the same goes for some other areas. However, to have this much information on such a wide variety in one book is invaluable, an excellent idea and, even if not done completely up to par, worth owning. The authors act more as journalists in a way, objectively describing what the experts in each field would recommend for each condition, not taking an active stance much. The objective authors of course follow it up with ask your doctor and generic advice, but the book they've put together has served its use well enough.

The end section is great, as it's filled with illustrations on acupressure points, massages, reflexology jargon and charts, a few relaxation stretches, yoga illustrations (good amount of these). This section alone brought the book up another star - I'm a visual learner, and the diagrams can assist many people. Great segment!

The beginning is well-done, also, telling about each area of natural healing with background details and such. Having a book at your fingertips that will point you in the right direction for a variety of natural techniques is priceless. In order to learn this much about each would involve buying multiple books about seperate healing techniques - a book such as this saves mucho on the wallet, makes general browsing a breeze, and cuts your time in half. Not perfect in some areas, but certainly worth picking up!