Dr. Berger's Immune Cookbook

This cookbook restates the principles of Dr. Berger's Immune Power Diet and provides more than 200 recipes for two 21-day menus. The menus are part of a three-phase, lifelong diet designed to boost the immune system by eliminating food toxins from the body, identifying individual food allergies and promoting sound nutritional practices. The well-documented recommendations that Berger presentsfor a diet high in fiber, complex carbohydrates and vitamins A and C, and low in fat, salt, refined sugar, caffeine and alcohol, with moderate amounts of animal protein that will reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, some forms of cancer, etc.obscure the less authoritative evidence for the particulars of his diet. He reasons somewhat speciously, for example, that since the immune system, like the entire body, is built of cells, a diet like his, which promotes healthy cell growth and function, will benefit the immune system. Case studies of Berger's patients (including actress and diet-book author Renee Taylor's wheat allergy) illustrate the diet's effectiveness in boosting the immune system. McCoy, president of a home-economics consulting firm, serves up recipes that are good for anyone interested in healthful eating, and the book contains a number of tables on the nutritional values of specific foods. Much current research focuses on the self-healing properties of the immune system, making Berger's contributions of particular interest. (January 21)