What makes this book particularly of interest is that the author is a conventional medicine provider, working in a large, comprehensive medical center, who has successfully integrated alternative modalities into his practice.
Douglas Hanes, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Research and Graduate Studies; Chair, Master of Science in Integrative Medicine Research, National University of Natural Medicine
Clinicians interested in the topic, or discouraged by vexing problems in clinical practice (as Drs Elder have been) would also like to have the material in this book as part of their tool kit, as would clinicians trying to come up with an appropriate and helpful way to assist their patients in navigating all the different care systems available. The most interested will be the consumer who wants to improve their health or self-management of chronic conditions and is open to an Ayurvedic approach. And there certainly is a need for clinician-focused books on this topic.
Keith H. Bachman, MD, Internal Medicine, Northwest Permanente; Medical Director for the Kaiser Permanente Northwest Severe Obesity/Bariatric Surgery program; Lead Physician for Weight Management for Kaiser Permanente’s Care Management Institute
The audience should be individuals and health care providers with interest in healthy life style and approaches to chronic pain, based on Ayurveda and other complementary and integrative medicine approaches. It is palpable that the authors have worked with these recommendations with many patients, and this makes the reader feel confident to try out the approaches.
Tido von Schoen-Angerer, MD, MPH, Research, Associate ARCIM Institute, Filderstadt, Germany, and an Attending Pediatrician, Fribourg Hospital, Switzerland
The techniques and approaches reviewed in this chapter are experiential. It is helpful to report more experiences with each treatment prescription, with case studies, to make those experiences more accessible, which the authors have done. With increased interest among my Kaiser Permanente colleagues in plant-based diets, I think there would also be an increased interest in Ayurveda, which I think is the main strength of this book.
Lonnie J. Lee, MD, L.Ac, Family Medicine, Integrative Medicine Specialist, Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group
Dr. Elder has a unique vantage point among medical doctors. He is ensconced in the values and practices of a medical delivery organization committed to examining what it does then seeking adjustments to get it right for patients. At the same time, he is an ayurvedic medicine practitioner imbued with decades-long commitment, with his physician spouse and co-author, to what may be called an ayurvedic lifestyle. I first came to know of Dr. Elder’s work when he published outcomes of an ayurvedic medicine intervention in the peer-reviewed literature. His whole-system research approach remains a beacon in the research community for those wishing to respect traditional medicine principles. In this book, one senses all of these rivers of interest at play. Gratefully, one mainly finds the presence of two physicians with good bedside manner-or, better said, “life-side manner”-guiding one to the potential for ayurvedic choices and tastes in one’s own health and healing. This book will be a life-enhancing resource for many.
John Weeks, The Integrator Blog News & Reports, Editor in Chief, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (Paradigm, Practice and Policy Advancing Integrative Health)
