A Path to Healing

Sullivan is a naturopathic physician who uses a combination of nutrition, herbs, homeopathy, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, exercise and massage to ""heal people, not diseases."" She supplies detailed nutritional advice here, including her ""ten-day detoxification diet"" for beginning a healthier lifestyle, and blood-type diets for maintenance (for example, type As, she explains, tend to be analytical and anxious, and should be vegetarian). Through many specific case studies, Sullivan reveals that another large part of her practice is listening to her patients talk about themselves. Feelings of low self-worth, she contends, are at the root of many physical ailments, and learning of her patients' abusive relationships, bad childhoods or everyday stresses help her design an appropriate treatment for each individual. Sullivan, who is African American, claims that naturopathy works for everyone ""regardless of color,"" but she focuses on ""the most common and most damaging ailments that plague black America,"" including hypertension, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, addictions, HIV/AIDS and cancer. She also delivers a long diatribe on racism in ""white America"" and charges the CIA with developing and distributing HIV ""for the purpose of reducing the world population, especially people of color."" These ill-advised comments seem to contradict her ""we are all children of God... one people"" references, and may turn off readers to what is otherwise an unusual and provocative addition to the crowded shelf of wellness guides. (May)