Book Review - The Diet Myth : The real science behind what we eat By Tim Spector

Drawing on the latest science discoveries and his own research teams work, Professor Tim Spector explores the common misconceptions about, fat, calories, vitamins and nutrients. The Diet Myth focuses on gut microbes to create the correct balance to aid weight loss and management.

 From chapters on artificial sweeteners to best-before date and the glossary I found the book to be an informative and interesting read with plenty of references to the journal articles and studies which the information is based from. Anne

Book Review - Helping your anxious child-A Step-by-step guide for parents by Ronald M.Rapee, PH.D, Ann Wignall, D. PSYCH, Susan H. Spence, PH. D, Vanessa Cobham, PH.D and Heidi Lyneham, Ph. D

This second addition, Helping your anxious child-A step by step guide for parents has been updated to include the best techniques and latest research for managing childhood anxiety from separation anxiety, general anxiety, panic disorder and phobias.

Helping your child use detective thinking and stepladders to make progress. This book provides tools from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help your child overcome their fears with or without a therapist.

Written activities are included throughout the chapters for the child and parents to complete.

Being interested in child mental health I found it to be very directive and easy to follow. I recommend this book to anyone interested in child mental health and for parents/carers of children who suffer from some form of anxiety. Anne

Book Review—How to thrive in a busy world of too much busy by Tony Crabbe

This book explains to us that busyness isn’t always essential. Tony Crabbe relies on psychological research and examples to deal with busyness in today’s world. He debunks the myth that you need to get everything done to feel content.

In 'How to thrive in a world of too much busy', Tony Crabbe describes 4 key strategies of-

• Mastery
• Focus
• Engagement
• Momentum

To function better and to achieve more. Tony talks about the positive to negative ratios, the Losada ratio which is very interesting. It is the number of positive to negative comments ratio 5 : 1 to predict strong healthy marriages or exchanges. Also the concept of’ happy attacks’ is novel.

I enjoyed the book, it is quite thorough with summaries and experiments to work through. Anne