lazygal's review
2.0
I've been having a few health issues and thought that this might help with some of them... while the idea of the cleanse is a good one, and the shopping list and recipes come in handy, the daily discussions detracted from that. As the cleanse goes on the tone becomes more shrill and less helpful; it also concerned me that she relied on doctors studies from Famous Name Doctor with Agenda/Business to Push (like Andrew Weil). Call me cynical, but that bothers me - where are other studies, from those not looking to make big bucks off their research?
xterminal's review
Kathy Freston, The Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21-Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Body, Mind, and Spirit (Weinstein Books, 2009)
You've heard all this before, though not necessarily in the same place. Go vegan. Give up alcohol. Give up caffeine. Etc. And you will be a better person. All well and good, and Freston tries to market this as being as spiritually approachable as possible. And if you're just thinking from a religion standpoint, I guess it is, though I know a few orthodox religious folks that consider any sort of meditation a gateway into the world of the Satanic. (Ah, if only that were true!) But look deeper and Freston's oh-so-open spirituality has a core of unwavering beliefs; if you don't agree with them, you're going to sour on this book pretty fast, and that's exactly what happened with me. From the idea that using any animal product, whether the animal is harmed in its harvesting or not, is cruel to her crass dismissal of a mountain of scientific evidence that moderate alcohol use is good for the heart, I found myself disagreeing with pretty much every philosophical underpinning found in this book. Thus, I ditched it after fifty (actually, fifty-one; I finished the chapter) pages. When your dislike of something is for a reason that fundamental, there's no chance of it getting any better, is there?
There are those who will find this book incredibly helpful, and more power to them. I'm not one. (zero)
You've heard all this before, though not necessarily in the same place. Go vegan. Give up alcohol. Give up caffeine. Etc. And you will be a better person. All well and good, and Freston tries to market this as being as spiritually approachable as possible. And if you're just thinking from a religion standpoint, I guess it is, though I know a few orthodox religious folks that consider any sort of meditation a gateway into the world of the Satanic. (Ah, if only that were true!) But look deeper and Freston's oh-so-open spirituality has a core of unwavering beliefs; if you don't agree with them, you're going to sour on this book pretty fast, and that's exactly what happened with me. From the idea that using any animal product, whether the animal is harmed in its harvesting or not, is cruel to her crass dismissal of a mountain of scientific evidence that moderate alcohol use is good for the heart, I found myself disagreeing with pretty much every philosophical underpinning found in this book. Thus, I ditched it after fifty (actually, fifty-one; I finished the chapter) pages. When your dislike of something is for a reason that fundamental, there's no chance of it getting any better, is there?
There are those who will find this book incredibly helpful, and more power to them. I'm not one. (zero)
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