Quien Dijo Que No Se Puede?
Author: Maria Antonieta Collins
Although her struggle and final victory over obesity along with the recipes that helped her conquer it dominated Dietas y Recetas de Maria Antonieta, this new blend of anecdotes, tips, and more recipes focuses on those who, inspired by Collins, are waging their own battle against obesity. As was her own daughter Adriana.
Patricia Arancibia, "Criticas" Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information. - Criticas
After the success of her first title, Dietas y recetas de Maria Antonieta (Maria Antonieta's Diets and Recipes, Criticas, Jan./Feb. 2002), Mexico's Univision anchor Collins has published a follow-up. Although her struggle and final victory over obesity along with the recipes that helped her conquer it dominated Dietas, this new blend of anecdotes, tips, and more recipes focuses on those who, inspired by Collins, are waging their own battle against obesity. A year after appearing on Cristina Salaregui's popular TV show where she vowed to overcome her weight problems, Collins's obese daughter, Adrianna, has become an even more striking success story than her mother. Adrianna accompanies Collins on tours to promote Dietas, and has written a couple of chapters for the new book. The testimonials, along with frank confessions of setbacks, are the book's greatest strengths. Encouraging as this is, though, the rest of the book repeats information from Dietas. Once again, such Univision stars as Saralegui, who wrote the prolog, Jorge Santos, and Lily Estefan reveal their dieting secrets, and Collins recycles Dietas's tips and advice. Moreover, the book seems to have been written and released too quickly, before it could be revised and reorganized. But despite these drawbacks, Collins's kindness, directness, and sympathy make this a worthwhile read. The new book, at least, gives measurement units in pounds and feet, with their metric equivalents in parentheses-a big improvement over Dietas. Bookstores and public libraries will find many of Collins's fans among their patrons.
Go to: Press On or System Analysis Design and Development
Environmental Illness: Myth and Reality
Author: Herman Staudenmayer
Environmental illness: certain health professionals and clinical ecologists claim it impacts and inhibits 15 percent of the population. Its afflicted are led to believe environmental illness (EI) originates with food, chemicals, and other stimuli in their surroundings -as advocates call for drastic measures to remedy the situation. What if relief proves elusive-and the patient is sent on a course of ongoing, costly and ineffective "treatment"? Several hundred individuals who believed they were suffering from EI have been evaluated or treated by Herman Staudenmayer since the 1970s. Staudenmayer believed the symptoms harming his patients actually had psychophysiological origins-based more in fear of a hostile world than any suspected toxins contained in the environment. Staudenmayer's years of research, clinical work-and successful care-are now summarized in Environmental Illness: Myth & Reality. Dismissing much of the information that has attempted to defend EI and its culture of victimization, Staudenmayer details the alternative diagnoses and treatments that have helped patients recognize their true conditions-and finally overcome them, often after years of prolonged suffering.
New England Journal of Medicine
When all is said and done, Staudenmayer concludes that environmental illness is iatrogenic, induced in vulnerable patients by unscrupulous physicians and advocates. For him, the phenomenon represents nothing short of medical cultism, with the expected moral superiority, rigidity of thought, and contempt for scientific laws, in which much time is spent on rituals, confessions, and group testimonials. His is a courageous hypothesis and one whose testing merits our support.
