Trick & Treat [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Having read and greatly enjoyed "Natural Health and Weight Loss" in May 2007, I had to buy this book. Mr Groves has a very entertaining and readable writing style and, whether you agree with everything he says or not, he says it so well that his books are always a pleasure to read. (Which is certainly not true of all books on health and nutrition...).
As I can personally testify that the Barry Groves' weight-loss plan works, having successfully lost 5 kilos (twice!!!) using his tips, and can personally testify that eating this way has given me more energy and has enabled me (with a couple of blips at Christmas - I blame German "Stollen" and German beer!!!) to either lose weight, or maintain my weight, for the past two-and-a-half years, I was curious to read what he had to say about health care in general.
What he tells his readers is pretty scary: how cancer screening is generally a waste of time; how various procedures to detect cancer probably cause more cancer than they prevent; how doctors in the UK are paid bonuses to bring down cholesterol levels amongst their patients. I could go on, but the best thing would be for you to read the book for yourself.
I personally found the book enlightening, although some passages are also more or less identical to some in "Natural Health and Weight Loss", which I found a little annoying, feeling that I was being "diddled", because I had already paid good money to read this stuff before.
Towards the end of the book, however, I found his theories less and less plausible, as he really starts to get into the area of conspiracy theories: "Big Pharma are out to deliberately ruin our health for the sake of profit". Now, while I believe that the dynamics of capitalism and the profit motive are such that Big Pharma has no option but to relentlessly seek ever bigger profits, I do not believe that all the people who work in these companies are driven by the motive to destroy the health of the people for whom they create their drugs. Those working for Big Pharma are seriously misguided and have been doubtlessly also been duped by the low-fat mantra that has been repeated ad nauseam since the 1970s, but I do not believe that these companies are populated by evil demons, whose sole aim is to kill people. This is what comes across towards the end of the book and this went a bit far for my taste.
However, his overall aim is to convince his readers to take their own health into their own hands: this is to be applauded. By reading a little, whether in books or on the internet, using internet forums to consult with like-minded and knowledgeable people, you can do a lot to empower yourself when faced with a doctor, or other medical professional, who wants you to follow a course of action or drugs that you feel uncomfortable about. If you have armed yourself with knowledge in advance, using today's modern technologies, you will be far better placed not only to understand what the doctor wants you to do, but also in a far better position to refuse to do what he or she recommends. You will feel empowered instead of helpless. This is what Barry Groves hopes his readers will achieve for themselves.
All in all, I can recommend this book.

Having read a few health books I have to say that this one brought everything together! For the people who get confused as to what is the best diet after all I would suggest: read enough and little by little you will start to understand where the truth lies! After having eaten what I thought was healthy for the most part of 53 years (I never drink sugary drinks, full of chemicals from a bottle, never ate much fat, cook everything from scratch, eat enough fruit and vegetables, regularly eat fish) and although I don't really have life threatening illnesses I was never really healthy: I suffer from allergies, am myopic, my retina is detaching, have a bad digestion, skin problems, thin hair, used to suffer from bad migraines..... I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Barry Groves has a very agreeable writing style which is neither boring nor overly technical but he still manages to give you a lot of information. And I didn't find any mention of conspiracy, on the contrary, I think that the author only tells things as they are. Ok, some facts are not pretty but life is not pretty on the planet we live in! I have a few questions though and one is why, if his wife Monica has lived in a low carb, high fat diet for most of her life, was she overweight many years ago? He says that butter doesn't need to be refrigerated but I don't agree with that, if you don't refrigerate it in the summer (at least the butter I buy and they say it is real butter) it goes rancid and gets too soft. The relation between fat intake and breast cancer I must say I didn't understand (read it a few times...). The research team seemed to say that they found no evidence of a positive association between fats and breast cancer but the author then says that if you take the good fats you have less chance of breast cancer. The author advises full fat dairy products while a lot of experts nowadays say that it is better to stay away from dairy products... difficult to know what to do and although I don't drink milk I do eat cheese and cream so I will go on doing that. My husband eats cereal with skimmed milk every day so he is reading the book now. As far as our requirement of vitamin C being very low I don't know, I haven't read Linus Pauling books yet but I intend to because he seems to advise a lot of vitamin C. As far as fluoridated tap water goes I don't know whether he is talking in general terms because I believe that in the European Union that hasn't been the case for many years, in any country. Still, although Barry Groves in British, this book can very well be read by people from all over the world. Much of the information applies to all countries. As far as the ApoE4 Allele, the gene of Alzheimer's I didn't understand a thing but I think that it comes because I had never heard about this gene. Cooked cheese, no idea what that is.... As far as a free market always striving to give us the best quality at the lowest price I don't agree, at least not the free market examples I know, it is mostly the lowest quality at the lowest price at best or even low quality at a high price. Questions aside (which maybe come from the fact that I am not at all an expert but someone who tries to understand what is the best way to keep healthy...), I learnt a lot by reading this book. His description of many illnesses and the way to treat them can save your life or at least, hopefully, help you live a healthier, more enjoyable life! Next I think that I am going to read his other book: Natural Health and Weight Loss as it seems to give all the details you need to start the diet!