From Publishers Weekly
Psychologist and prevention consultant Kerrie K. Saunders posits that America is one of the sickest nations and that many of our diseases can be controlled or eliminated through diet. In The Vegan Diet as Chronic Disease Prevention: Evidence Supporting the New Four Food Groups, she begins with documentation from writings throughout history positing that meat and fat are dietary dangers. The diets of other cultures indicate that four food groups constitute a healthy diet: fruits, grains, vegetables and legumes alone and in combination will provide all the essentials for optimum nutrition. While foods are recommended to improve specific conditions, this is not a recipe or meal plan source but rather a series of essays arguing for the vegan lifestyle. Ample citations are provided to support the theories, and charts and boxes break out lists of foods and resources where applicable. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
The United States is one of the sickest nations on the planet. Despite our wealth, access to educational media, natural resources, and opportunity, most Americans accept atherosclerosis, cancer, hypertension, osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other degenerative chronic diseases as part of the normal aging process. Unfortunately, even our traditional "modern medicine" practitioners believe this misguided and bleak picture out of ignorance. This is because in a traditional curriculum, many physicians-in-training only receive one course in nutrition—the safest, most effective, and least expensive form of chronic disease prevention available. This one course is guided by the faulty 1992 "Food Pyramid" of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), which derived from the even more dangerous "Basic Four Food Groups" of 1956. In both cases, the approval of these dietary guidelines was a political rather than a medical decision, and recent scientific evidence has shown how these guidelines keep Americans sick rather than healthy. The Vegan Diet as Chronic Disease Prevention explores the mountain of evidence that suggests that a diet free of animal products can have radically beneficial effects on many conditions that affect vast numbers of Americans. Dr. Saunders provides an exhaustive list of references and sources in arguably the most comprehensive argument in print for the human health benefits of the vegan diet.

About the Author
Kerrie K. Saunders, Ph.D., M.S., L.L.P. received her Ph.D. from Clayton College in Birmingham, Alabama and her masters in psychology from Eastern Michigan University. She is a registered psychologist and lives in southeastern Michigan.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly