SuperFoods HealthStyle: Proven Strategies for Lifelong Health

by Steven G. Pratt, Kathy Matthews

HealthStyle is the twenty-first-century program for promoting vigor, preventing disease, and extending your life span If up until now you have relied on luck, genetics, and a few healthful practices to achieve this goal, SuperFoods HealthStyle will be your authoritative, engaging introduction to a new, better life. Like SuperFoods Rx , the authors’ bestselling book, HealthStyle takes the most recent, cutting-edge research on what lifestyle practices have actually been proven to achieve disease prevention and improve daily functioning -- both physically and mentally -- and translates this information into simple recommendations that you can use to improve your physical and mental health now and in the future. Evidence abounds that total health is achieved via a network of efforts. You might guess that diet and exercise are important. Did you know that other factors like sleep and stress management can have just as much impact on your daily health and functioning? In HealthStyle Dr. Steven Pratt, dubbed "the Food Dude" by Oprah Winfrey, has expanded on his original thirteen SuperFoods and broadened his focus to include all aspects of health promotion. He covers such topics HealthStyle is about extending the true quality of life. It’s about being as active at seventy as you are at thirty-five. It’s about helping to prevent osteoporosis, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s disease. It’s about ending the confusion about how people should exercise and how often. It is about making simple but significant changes to get the most out of life for the rest of your life.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Reference, Nutrition, Food, Cooking, Self Help

352 pages, Hardcover

First published December 27, 2005

Reviews

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great recipes and tips. I feel healthier just reading them. Now if I can find someone to cook them I’ll be set. 😁

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS

This has to be the third or fourth time I’ve read this book since I acquired it about ten years ago. Leveraging it as a reference and refresher tool, I often revisit and review the time proven strategies, recommendations and recipes to maintain good health and extend longevity without any crazy faddish diets or "As Seen On TV" infomercial exercise tools!

The old saying “you are what you eat” certainly rings true and SuperFoods Healthstyle explores the many dietary options readily available in most grocery stores and local farmer’s markets that will help maintain optimal body weight, maximize antioxidant opportunities and enhance a highly healthful life style while avoiding unsustainable, failure prone, denial dieting and the deleterious effects of highly processed, packaged foods that dominate most grocery store offerings.

Presented by season, the authors call out the abundance of healthful foods available during the winter, spring, summer and fall months, offer easily understandable explanations of the various attributes of their dietary recommendations, and provide multiple recipes to prepare their recommendations for main meals, light snacks or brown bag lunches.

My most favorite recipe that I follow weekly is roasting tomatoes. Tomatoes are one of the most super of the super foods, rich in lycopene which is powerful antioxidant and cancer fighter. Interestingly enough, processed tomatoes (think tomato sauces and pastes without lots of sugar or salts) can be more effective than fresh tomatoes although fresh or processed, they are all good.

I roast cherry and plum tomatoes every weekend and include them in the sandwiches I prepare each day for lunch. The roasting brings out the super sweet flavors of the tomatoes and allows me to store them far longer than ever possible if they remained uncooked. I LOVE THEM!

Given the book was published in 2006, some of the studies feel outdated but the core scientific principles remain the same although a newer edition was released in 2009. Regardless, I highly recommend this book as a lifelong learning tool.

To your health!

[Erin O'Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

you just can't get real whole grains from processed cereal like Cheerios...i'm sorry, but you can't!

[LINDA · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was still good, but it was not as good as Pratt's earlier Superfood Book. This book is organized through the seasons and provides recopies.

Below are some of my favorite tips from the book:

Illinois Buckwheat Honey is the darkest, which has the highest antioxidant value.

To bake with honey, reduce oven temp by about 25 degrees F. and use ¼ cup less liquid in your recipe. About ½ cup of honey = 1 cup of sugar.

For a sore throat elixir mix hot green tea with a spoonful of honey, and a dash of red cayenne pepper.

Figi Apples have the highest phenolic and total flavonoid content and Red Delicious are also quite high.

Rub the fuzz off of kiwi and you can eat the skin. Gold kiwis smooth bronze colored skin and are pointy at one end. Flesh is mustard colored. Higher in vitamin c and e and lutien/zaexanthin than the regular Hayward Kiwi.

Chocolate- Newman’s own Sweet Dark Chocolate has 955mg of polyphenol /40 grams.Dove Silky Dark Chocolate 811 mg/ of polyphenol 40 grams. Pratt recommends looking for at least 70% cocoa solids, and having 1-2 squares daily!

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that is good to read through but not a keeper--particularly if you've read and own the original book by Pratt on the subject, SuperfoodsRX. I thought that book better structured, with each of the 14 "superfoods" getting a chapter and a section following with Menus, Recipes and Shopping Lists. The "Healthstyle" book is structured by season, and I find that harder to pull information out of, despite the topic index. I do appreciate Pratt's approach to nutrition--it seems solid and mainstream and the opposite of extreme, faddish or puritanical. This book was worth a read through for the added foods spotlighted (among them apples, avocado, cinnamon, dark chocolate, honey) the tips on them and sleep and exercise--but I found little here that was new to me, particularly having read the other book--a favorite I frequently reference. That one is a keeper--this one more a book to borrow from the library and take a few notes from.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a follow up to Super Foods RX. Super Foods RX lists 14 foods the authors consider the best of the best nutirtional foods. SuperFood Health Style repeats the same 14 foods and adds 11 more. Reading about the 11 new superfoods was very good and worth the read. If you haven't read either book, just read this one.

However, the foods are divided up into the four seasons which didn't work for me, hence only four stars.

Having read many other nutrition books, the 25 foods chosen are the same ones listed by others, so they did a very good job with their selections.

I found it most helpful to make a chart of the superfoods and post it in my kitchen. Over the past year I have completely changed my diet to almost exclusively eat the super foods. I have lost weight and feel a lot better.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great book to read through once and then use as reference. The amount of information can be overwhelming and is presented in such a way that makes the reader think that there is no way to eat the amount of food suggested in one day. However, I made up a chart that breaks down what to eat daily, most days and 2-4 timers weekly. This helped to put the information in a more manageable, user-friendly format. The lack of user-friendliness is one of my two criticisms. The only other one is that I would have preferred the exercise section to have been its own separate section as opposed to being part of each "step." I am already an avid exerciser and found myself skipping the lengthy exercise recommendations in order to get the parts about superfoods. Overall a thorough book and a great reference for anyone who wants to incorporate more SF into his or her diet.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me even more encouragement and desire to continue my lifelong goal of living a healthy lifestyle. It was loaded with studies and data about the benefits of whole foods and exercise. It boggles the mind why so many people in this world ignore the role good nutrition and exercise can have in preventing disease. Toward the end, I got a little tired of all the cited studies, as I'm already sold on the concept of healthstyle, but I liked many of the new recipes and ways to incorporate these super foods into day-to-day life. I love the concept of whole foods as medicine. It just makes perfect sense to me that God would put what we humans need for a good life in blueberries, pumpkin and walnuts instead of Twinkies, Cheetos and Cheese Wiz.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 2006 follow up to the 2004 Superfoods Rx book- I skimmed it to see if it's worthwhile, but I'm moving on to read the most recent book by Pratt instead (2009).
This book is divided into the four seasons, so provides a year long approach to eating better and adding exercise to your life. It seems to have a lot of practical tips on health and recipes featuring the "super foods". I think the authors are very organized and their books are well researched and practical without being too preachy. If I saw this book for a low price, I would add it to my library, especially to have the recipes and recommendations.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

An okay follow-up to Superfoods RX, this tries to cover all health topics, like sleep and exercise, as well as add several more super foods into the mix. What I liked so much about the first book, though, was how uncomplicated it was, and this book tried to add too much to that and cover too much ground. It got complicated. Still, it had useful advice to live a healthier life, and I really like Pratt. So five stars it is.

[Andrew Gillette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is decent, though a dull read. I read it because I was seeking a healthier diet though I have a MS in biochem, I was still seeking comprehensive knowledge of nutrition.

The author does a good job explaining the enzymology of the foods that are good for you. This is a high level read written in a down to Earth kind of way. You'll walk away not with new nutritional philosophy, but rather with dry facts of what is good for you and why.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great addition to the Superfoods RX book that I read earlier by Dr. Stephen Pratt. What an abundance of information! Anyone could benefit from reading this book and incorporating the changes that Dr. Pratt suggests into their own lifestyle. I have been trying to do that myself and so far I feel a lot better physically and mentally.

[R.E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have no idea what foods are good for you and how to live healthily, this will tell you. This book is for health beginners, though. If you're already pretty healthy, a lot of this will be stuff you already know. There's also a lot of "this food is related to cancer prevention" that isn't sufficiently backed by research.

[Ivo · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a bit boring. Most of the book is just common sense like eat seasonal , exercise etc. And some of the super food suggestions are exaggerated like dark chocolate. It is still crap no matter how dark it is.On the other side whole cacao bean or nibs may be healthy but it is still debated in the healthy life style community.

[Carolyn Di Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this series of books. The only thing that could make them better is calorie counts for each recipe. I realize that many healthy foods are not low in calories, but I feel it is best to have such knowledge in order to better plan my meals.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Organized by seasons? really? I found that distracting. There was a lot of info and it was quite boring. The content was good, but the delivery failed. And no photos for any of the recipes. No thanks. Glad I could return it to the library and hadn't purchased it.

[Shannon Keeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned quite a bit from this book. It analyzed several different foods like Pumpkin, Walnuts, and many others and gives research backed data about how they benefit ut.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will change your life. Seriously. Too many secrets to tell! Bottom line is to eat blueberries, salmon, and spinach almost daily! Say goodbye to breakouts and bad skin!

[Jessica Keipper]

This book is great! It helps you learn about all the super foods that are great for you to consume on a daily basis to achieve optimum health. I highly recommend this book!

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains wonderful information about healthy choices and diet. Geared a bit more toward older adults but there are take-aways for every age.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great information for better eating

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the way the author wrote of which foods are the best for you, why you should be eating them, and how much you should be eating daily or weekly.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great rundown of the best, most nutritious foods to have in your diet, and information on why they qualify as superfoods. So interesting!

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fantastic! So doable, so smart, so empowering. I absolutely love all the research he cites to back up his claims. And I love that he squashed the anti-carb and Keto types of diets. Nothing weird or radical - just simple, real food and learning how those foods work to get me the type of wellness I want.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book out of the library before, and got it again because I remembered it having recommendations for how many servings of each of the superfoods we should try to consume each day or week. It provides good information about the foods and why they are good for you as well as recipes. It's one I will buy someday, if I can find a used copy for sale at a booksale.

[Molly Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Food is medicine is the overall gist but the book is very well written and easy to understand as well as interesting. It adds a dose of mind and soul heath as also essential to physical body health. Lots of easy recipes and ways to incorporate the super foods in your daily diet too.

[Tiexin Yang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could be a good reference

[Maggie Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great info & I constantly use as a reference & check back.

[Kristine]

A follow up to the original SuperFoods. A lot of additional tips.