Nutrition Almanac, Fifth Edition

If you eat it, you'll find information on it here. This 2001 fifth edition of the popular Nutrition Almanac includes updated nutritional composition of close to 1,000 foods, including 35 different cheeses, 25 legumes, 71 fruits and fruit juices, and 17 cuts of chicken. (Prepared foods are not included.) The tables are in bigger, bolder print than the fourth edition, a great improvement for those of us with aging eyes.

Despite the title, this is not strictly a nutrition resource. Author Lavon Dunne also includes brief overviews of 15 alternative therapies, whether or not they're related to nutrition, with resources for more information. However, Dunne does not list the Web sites for any of the resources--a defect surprising in a 2001 edition. When Nutrition Almanac's first edition appeared in 1973, little was known about the connection between nutrition and disease. In this edition, Dunne lists 68 health conditions, from abscess to vaginitis, and explains how you can prevent or treat the condition through food choices and alternative therapies such as herbs, homeopathy, aromatherapy, Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese medicine, bodywork, and mind-body therapy. --Joan Price