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Healing with Whole Foods, Third Edition

Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition

Author Paul Pitchford

Paperback

$35.00 US

North Atlantic Books

7.8"W x 10"H x 1.6"D | 61 oz | 8 per carton

On sale Nov 05, 2002 | 784 Pages | 9781556434303

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Whether you're skeptical of mainstream nutrition advice, tired of fad diets that don't last, or simply want to understand how food affects YOUR unique body, this trusted guide provides time-tested knowledge for lasting health.

With over half a million copies sold, readers report life-changing results: "I immediately felt the effects. The exhaustion, the mood swings, went away."

For over 20 years, Paul Pitchford's Healing with Whole Foods has been the go-to resource for people seeking real answers about nutrition, health, and longevity. This remarkable book bridges ancient food wisdom with modern nutritional science—including Traditional Chinese Medicine concepts—and presents them in a way that's practical and accessible for everyday use.

Why Healing with Whole Foods has helped over 600,000 readers:

Real Results Without the Fads: Think grains make you gain weight? One reader lost 25 pounds eating them daily (her mother dropped 30). Another reversed iron deficiency that supplements couldn't fix. This book proves why traditional diets worked—and fad diets don't.
Your Body Is Unique: Forget cookie-cutter diets. This book teaches you to identify your individual constitution and eat accordingly. Drawing on Eastern and Western traditions without the dogma—just practical guidance based on how YOU actually feel.
700+ Pages, But Not Overwhelming: Sure, it's comprehensive. But you don't need to read it cover to cover. Jump straight to what matters—understanding oils, treating digestive issues, finding healing recipes. Use it like a reference guide, not a textbook.
Beyond Western Nutrition: Yes, it includes concepts like energetic properties of foods that might be new to you. But readers consistently say these ideas finally explain why they feel the way they do—and what to do about it.
Addresses Real Health Issues: Blood sugar problems? Chronic fatigue? Digestive issues? This book offers practical approaches using foods from your local market. Works alongside your current care, not against it.
For Professionals AND Regular People: Whether you're a wellness practitioner or just trying to feed your family better, this book delivers. One reader's been using it for 15 years and keeps buying copies for friends.
A Book You'll Actually Keep: This isn't something you read once and donate. It becomes your go-to reference for decades. As one reviewer said, the book “doesn't ask you to believe, just to experiment and use your intelligence."

Healing with Whole Foods empowers you to take charge of your health through informed food choices—no extreme measures required, just proven wisdom applied to modern life.

"Healing with Whole Foods contains a wealth of information on health, diet, alternative medicine, natural food presentation, and recipes, researched by an expert in the field. Readers will learn how to apply Chinese medicine and the five-element theory to a contemporary diet; treat illness and nervous disorders through diet; and make the transition to whole vegetable foods. The most detailed source book yet published on preparing food and eating consciously, Healing with Whole Foods includes complete sections on Ayurvedic principles of food-combining; the treatment of disease conditions through meals; transition from animal products to whole vegetable foods; micro-algae; selection of waters and salts; the extremely complex varieties of oils, sugars, and condiments; vitamins and minerals; fasting and purification; food for children, food presentation and proportions; vibrational cooking; the physiology of nourishment; color diagnosis and therapy; consciousness in diet changes; plus descriptions of the nature and uses of various grains, legumes, miso, tempeh, tofu, seaweeds, nuts and seeds, sprouts, and fruits. Also featured are sections on chutneys, relishes, pickles, different milks, rejuvelac, yogurt, salads, and desserts."—Midwest Book Review

Paul Pitchford is a teacher and nutrition researcher. In his healing work with individuals, he develops rejuvenative plans based on awareness and dietary practices. His early training, following ancient traditional practice, was primarily through apprenticeships and private instructions with masters of meditation and East Asian medicine. For more than three decades, he has applied the unifying wisdom of Far Eastern thought to the major dietary therapies available in the West to create a new vision of health and nutrition.

Paul Pitchford View titles by Paul Pitchford

From Part I, Chapter 2: The Principle of ExtremesWhen the excessive principle reaches its limit, the extreme yin or yang transforms into its opposite. This is known as the “Principle of Extremes.” This principle is readily observed in warm-blooded animals, when a fever is produced in response to an exposure to cold, or when chills result from an excess of summer heat.Other examples: 1. Extreme activity, such as hard physical work, necessitates rest. 2. If activity is very fierce and yang (such as in war), death (which is very yin) can be the result. 3. People frequently become more child-like with extreme age. Also, with advancing years, a person gradually exhibits less physical strength but, if healthy, greater wisdom. This represents the loss of bodily attachment to earth and the shifting of focus toward heaven, an example of extreme yin changing to extreme yang. 4. As internal heat and blood pressure become higher (yang), a stroke resulting in paralysis (yin) becomes more likely. 5. Extremely energizing substances such as cocaine cause utter debility later. One also is eventually weakened by stimulants such as caffeine and refined sugar.6. In meditation, proper concentration on a single object ultimately results in universal awareness.The process by which phenomena change into their opposites may be described graphically with spirals, a very common pattern in the universe. These cycles of change are progressively quicker while contracting, slower while expanding. Such cycles are balanced by opposing cycles. For instance, when the national economy slows toward stagnation, cycles of emotional anxiety become ever more intense. Another pair of spirals illustrates the way in which metabolic cycles in the body take longer to fully repeat with age, with a simultaneously greater need for nutrients. For this reason, we need less quantity but more nutritionally concentrated food as we grow older.

About

Real Results Without the Fads: Think grains make you gain weight? One reader lost 25 pounds eating them daily (her mother dropped 30). Another reversed iron deficiency that supplements couldn't fix. This book proves why traditional diets worked—and fad diets don't.
Your Body Is Unique: Forget cookie-cutter diets. This book teaches you to identify your individual constitution and eat accordingly. Drawing on Eastern and Western traditions without the dogma—just practical guidance based on how YOU actually feel.
700+ Pages, But Not Overwhelming: Sure, it's comprehensive. But you don't need to read it cover to cover. Jump straight to what matters—understanding oils, treating digestive issues, finding healing recipes. Use it like a reference guide, not a textbook.
Beyond Western Nutrition: Yes, it includes concepts like energetic properties of foods that might be new to you. But readers consistently say these ideas finally explain why they feel the way they do—and what to do about it.
Addresses Real Health Issues: Blood sugar problems? Chronic fatigue? Digestive issues? This book offers practical approaches using foods from your local market. Works alongside your current care, not against it.
For Professionals AND Regular People: Whether you're a wellness practitioner or just trying to feed your family better, this book delivers. One reader's been using it for 15 years and keeps buying copies for friends.
A Book You'll Actually Keep: This isn't something you read once and donate. It becomes your go-to reference for decades. As one reviewer said, the book “doesn't ask you to believe, just to experiment and use your intelligence."

Healing with Whole Foods empowers you to take charge of your health through informed food choices—no extreme measures required, just proven wisdom applied to modern life.