Location: United States
Member Since: Sep. 24, 2010

spookie

Smashwords book reviews by spookie

  • Secrecy, Democracy, and Fascism: Lessons from History on Sep. 24, 2010
    (no rating)
    Cogent and succinct? I fail to see how sentences more than 100 words long can be described as "succinct." And "White House" is the proper name of the residence of the President of the United States of America, and should be capitalized.
  • My Low Carb Story, Diet Book, Cookbook, and Shopping List on Sep. 26, 2010
    (no rating)
    The author suggests that eating three eggs and bacon for breakfast is healthier than cereal and a banana. On page 2 he clarifies and states he was eating two cups of cereal with the banana, a gigantic amount of cereal! It is simply irresponsible to suggest that eating a half a chicken at a sitting is healthy. Large amounts of animal products simply are not healthy, and vegetables and fruits are. Those 100 year olds he refers to undoubtedly ate very little in the way of animal products and plenty of raw, unprocessed vegetables and a reasonable amount of fruit. Weight loss with high-protein/low carbohydrate diets is the result of an unnatural and unhealthy condition in which the body produces ketones resulting in ketosis. If you doubt this, strips which measure the amount of ketones the body is "spilling" into the urine are available at any drug store. After just a day or two the body will show marked ketosis. The best and safest way to lose weight is to start observing HOW MUCH FOOD one eats, and eating normal portions of food. When one eats without measuring, one often eats two or three times a normal portion. When portions are measured, enough food to stave off hunger are eaten but excess food is not. This approach is far healthier than one in which one food type is eaten to the exclusion of another. Simply eliminating soda is enough to explain the author's weight loss, as soda is packed with calories more densely than most natural foods. It is a great way to a healthier lifestyle to reduce soda consumption, but studies show that diet soda is just as unhealthy as sugar-sweetened soda. The healthiest drink is water, and, contrary to the author's assertion, it does not hinder digestion. In fact, the stomach's job in digestion is more to mechanically break up food than to chemically break up food. If you doubt this, ulcer patients on medication that block ALL production of stomach acids still absorb foods just fine. Water helps, not hinders the mechanical breakdown of food, and people are well-advised to drink plenty of water, both with meals and between meals. While it is possible to drink too much water, it is VERY difficult, and NO MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL recommends restricting water intake for normally healthy people. The author is not a medical professional, and this shows.