May 12, 2010
- The first vegan guide geared to African American women
- More than forty delicious and nutritious recipes highlighted with color photographs
- Menus and advice on transitioning from omnivore to vegan
- Resource information and a comprehensive shopping list for restocking the fridge and pantry
African American women are facing a health crisis: Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes occur more frequently among them than among women of other races. Black women comprise the heftiest group in the nation — 80 percent are overweight, and 50 percent obese. Decades of studies show that these chronic diseases can be prevented and even reversed with a plant-based diet. But how can you control your weight and health without sacrificing great food and gorgeous curves?
Just ask Tracye Lynn McQuirter. With attitude, inspiration, and expertise, in By Any Greens Necessary, McQuirter shows women how to stay healthy, hippy, and happy by eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes as part of an active lifestyle. The book is a call to action that all women should heed.
By Any Greens Necessary:
A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat
by Tracye Lynn McQuirter MPH
Lawrence Hill Books, May 1, 2010
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January 31, 2010
Crown
Available 02/02/10 in Hardcover
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells — taken without her knowledge — became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons — as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo — to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits.
As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family — past and present — is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family — especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?
Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.
March 19, 2009
By LEE LOGAN, Associated Press Writer Lee Logan, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 17, 10:32 pm ET
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Could a vintage, dog-eared copy of “The Cat in the Hat” or “Where the Wild Things Are” be hazardous to your children?
Probably not, according to the nation’s premier medical sleuths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But a new federal law banning more than minute levels of lead in most products intended for children 12 or younger — and a federal agency’s interpretation of the law — prompted at least two libraries last month to pull children’s books printed before 1986 from their shelves.
Lead poisoning has been linked to irreversible learning disabilities and behavioral problems, and lead was present in printer’s ink until a growing body of regulations banned it in 1986. The federal law, which took effect Feb. 10, was passed last summer after a string of recalls of toys.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has interpreted the law to include books but has neither concluded that older books could be hazardous to children nor made any recommendations to libraries about quarantining such tomes, agency chief of staff Joe Martyak said Tuesday.
Still, the agency’s interpretation itself has been labeled alarmist by some librarians.
“We’re talking about tens of millions of copies of children’s books that are perfectly safe. I wish a reasonable, rational person would just say, `This is stupid. What are we doing?’” said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s Washington office.\
Yahoo News
February 19, 2009

Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine
by Bryant Terry
Available 03/02/09
The mere mention of soul food brings thoughts of greasy fare and clogged arteries. Bryant Terry offers recipes that leave out heavy salt and refined sugar, “bad” fats, and unhealthy cooking techniques, and leave in the down-home flavor. Vegan Soul Kitchen recipes use fresh, whole, high-quality, healthy ingredients and cooking methods with a focus on local, seasonal, sustainably raised food.Terry’s new recipes have been conceived through the prism of the African Diaspora – cutting, pasting, reworking, and remixing African, Caribbean, African-American, Native American, and European staples, cooking techniques, and distinctive dishes to create something familiar, comforting, and deliciously unique. Reinterpreting popular dishes from African and Caribbean countries as well as his favorite childhood dishes, Terry reinvents African-American and Southern cuisine – capitalizing on the complex flavors of the tradition, without the animal products.Includes recipes for: Double Mustard Greens & Roasted Yam Soup; Cajun-Creole-Spiced Tempeh Pieces with Creamy Grits; Caramelized Grapefruit, Avocado, and Watercress Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette; and Sweet Cornmeal-Coconut Butter Drop Biscuits.
February 6, 2009

Living Well Emotionally: Break Through to a Life of Happiness
by Montel Williams, William Doyle
Available 01/06/09
New York Times bestselling author Montel Williams offers a pathway to emotional wellness. In his inspiring New York Times bestseller Living Well, renowned talk show host Montel Williams chronicled his personal battle against a life threatening disease, the foods and regimen that countered his illness, and revealed how everyone could benefit from his dynamic plan for better health. Now, just as he shared the story of his physical triumph, Montel now shares inspiration, advice, and a practical program so that readers can overcome personal obstacles to find the peace and love that everyone deserves.

Living Well: 21 Days to Transform Your Life, Supercharge Your Health, and Feel Spectacular
by Montel Williams, William Doyle
Available 12/30/08
NAL Trade Paperback
Montel Williams‘ New York Times bestselling battle plan for better living. Now in paperback! In Living Well, Montel explains the science behind his successful battle against multiple sclerosis, interviewing a global “SWAT Team” of doctors, scientists, and researchers, and reveals the amazing effects of healthy eating and regular exercise. Most importantly, Montel shares his groundbreaking 21-Day Living Well Food and Workout Program — a hard-hitting health plan of diet changes, a step-by-step exercise plan, and the gradual addition of raw and whole foods to daily menu plans. This three-week regimen forms the cornerstone of Montel’s successful dietary health plan. Also included are simple, wholesome recipes that are as healthful as they are delicious. For anyone who wants to fight obesity, cancer, heart disease, and neurological diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, or multiple sclerosis — or if they just want to feel spectacular every day — it’s time to push life to the next level, by Living Well with Montel!
January 16, 2009

The 4 Day Diet
by Ian K. Smith
Available 12/30/08
Dr. Ian Smith’s diets really work. America has lost millions of pounds following his Fat Smash and Extreme Fat Smash diets. Now, in The 4 Day Diet, Smith has developed a program that allows readers to avoid the normal (and fatal) pitfalls of dieting: boredom, no treats allowed, too much repetition, plateauing. The 4 Day Diet is an ingenious program of dieting modules lasting only four days each:
Induction (detox/cleansing)
Transition (to reintroduce all food groups)
Protein Stretch (to avoid plateaus)
Smooth (when you can have some formerly forbidden foods like pizza and French fries)
Push (the sprint just before the final stretch, back to a stricter eating plan)
Pace (a comfortable module for you to catch your breath)
Vigorous (the final module to lose those last few pounds)
You can follow The 4 Day Diet straight through for a month for stunning results. But Smith also designed The 4 Day Diet so you can customize your own program. After the first two modules, you can do the remaining 5 in whichever order suits your schedule or preferences or you can repeat the modules you like best. It also features over sixty delicious recipes for breakfasts, lunches and dinners and a complete snack list—food that will make you forget you’re on a diet.
Full of Ian Smith’s motivating tips and tricks and his smart, sensible eating advice that really works to take weight off fast, The 4 Day Diet is a diet you’ll be able to stick to, have success on, and even enjoy!
January 10, 2009

Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat: A Story of Bulimia
by Stephanie Covington Armstrong
Available 08/01/09
Describing her struggle as a black woman with an eating disorder that is consistently portrayed as a white woman’s problem, this insightful and moving narrative traces the background and factors that caused her bulimia. Moving coast to coast, she tries to escape her self-hatred and obsession by never slowing down, unaware that she is caught in downward spiral emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Finally she can no longer deny that she will die if she doesn’t get help, overcome her shame, and conquer her addiction. But seeking help only reinforces her negative self-image, and she discovers her race makes her an oddity in the all-white programs for eating disorders. This memoir of her experiences answers many questions about why black women often do not seek traditional therapy for emotional problems.
January 8, 2009

Body with Soul
Slash Sugar, Cut Cholesterol, and Get a Jump on Your Best Health Ever
by Randy Jackson
Available December 2008
From beloved American Idol judge Randy Jackson, a complete, inspiring wellness plan for taking control of your health.
Mixing memoir, a wellness program, and inspirational advice, Randy Jackson’s book is a work of personal passion. The American Idol judge’s struggles with his health and weight have been well- documented; he’s tried every diet, spent countless hours in gyms, and even had gastric bypass surgery in 2003. Now, he’s taken all that he’s learned throughout these trials and codified their strengths into an easy-to-follow, super-useful maintenance regimen, filled with meal plans (drawn from the accompanying recipes for healthy versions of down-home Southern favorites), exercise routines, and inspiring stories from his unique life as one of the music business greats.
With his New You Plan, Randy Jackson aims to focus on the epidemic of obesity-related disorders like hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes—as a Type II diabetic himself, he knows that this effort is now more crucial than ever. Straight from the “dawg pound” this is Randy at his most passionate and at his most persuasive, all in the effort to make America “a’ight” once again.
October 10, 2008

The Naked Truth
Young, Beautiful, and (HIV) Positive
by Marvelyn Brown, Courtney Martin
On Sale: 8/19/2008
The surprisingly hopeful story of how a straight, nonpromiscuous, everyday girl contracted HIV and how she manages to stay upbeat, inspired, and more positive about life than ever before
At nineteen years of age, Marvelyn Brown was lying in a stark white hospital bed at Tennessee Christian Medical Center, feeling hopeless. A former top track and basketball athlete, she was in the best shape of her life, but she was battling a sudden illness in the intensive care unit. Doctors had no idea what was going on. It never occurred to Brown that she might be HIV positive.
Having unprotected sex with her Prince Charming had set into swift motion a set of circumstances that not only landed her in the fight of her life, but also alienated her from her community. Rather than give up, however, Brown found a reason to fight and a reason to live.
The Naked Truth is an inspirational memoir that shares how an everyday teen refused to give up on herself, even as others would forsake her. More, it’s a cautionary tale that every parent, guidance counselor, and young adult should read.