Basing Your Meals on Blood Type

This takes the stance that we can prevent many problems by eating foods compatible with our blood types. The idea is that we all evolved from different parts of the globe in which our ancestors were either hunter-gatherers or farmers. So, we ate different things. Now that we have all intermingled, and the world marketplace is so small, we eat outside our original food zone. The authors back up their statements by citing the effects of specific foods on the four blood types. Lab tests are used as part of their evidence. Not only are we told what we should eat to stay healthy, but also how their method can aid in the cure of certain diseases, such as cancer. Inconvenience is a problem with following this plan, as many of us do not know our blood types. The test to determine type is not covered by most insurance providers unless the patient is ill. The narrator’s delivery is a plus to this production. Polly Adams has a clear, professional voice and a concise manner. While she is appropriately reserved as the reader of a medical, self-help audio, she is not as dull as many in this field.

SUGAR BUSTERS! Cut Sugar to Trim Fat

by Drs. H. Leighton Steward, Morrison C. Bethea, Sam S. Andrews and Luis A. Balart

Harper Audio

Abridged nonfiction; two cassettes. Length: two hours and 15 minutes; $18; read by Steward; available in bookstores or by calling (800) 331-3761.

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This is so painfully dull it will almost surely put you in a coma. Though well-intentioned, the writing and execution are so dry and dusty you may not glean much from it, as it will no doubt put you to sleep. The idea is that we can cut out a number of diseases and health problems, not the least of which is diabetes, if we eliminate our use of processed sugar. Higher protein and lower carbohydrates are the key to this plan. Much academic research is used to back up the author’s theories. The printed material includes a 14-day meal plan and numerous recipes that did not make it into the audio version. Very little else was expurgated for the abridgment. A dozen sugar-free recipes from New Orleans restaurants are included on index-size cards. The reader, Steward, has a kindly manner and a slight Southern accent. He is remarkably smooth for someone not trained as a professional narrator. He clearly believes in what he is reading, though even his vitality cannot overcome the tedium of his words.