Can We Live 150 Years?: Your Body Maintenance Handbook by Mikhail Tombak Ph.D. (2004, Paperback)

There are some books that sell themselves without any help from marketers. I think "Can We Live 150 Year?" is one of them. I learned about the book by the "word of mouth" - a friend of mine got it from her physiotherapist, and she suggested me to get one as well. I got one, and then I got a few more... "Can We Live 150" has become my favourite small gift to my friends. I am now ordering them directly from the publisher's website. Yesterday I received from the publisher two copies of the second edition of the book.

There author, former head of Center for Health Sciences in Moscow, shares his knowledge with the obvious intent to help others. Worth noticing is the fact that his remedies are either home-made or easily obtainable anywhere. From that point of view, the book is absolutely noncommercial.

The book is made up of seven parts. I found all the parts equally interesting and informative, apart form Part Five which is dealing with questions sent to the author by the readers of his other books. However, since this chapter deals with specific problems of the readers, some may find it more useful then all other chapters... You can use the Amazon "Search Inside" feature to see the book Contents and to read a few sample pages.

The book is as simple and down-to-earth as it can possibly be. You will not find here any exaggerated claims of the type "lose 30 pound is 30 days", but you will find a lot of honest advice on leading healthy life style. Some might find the title (living 150 years) rather "ridiculous". However, you will not find that the author tries to make you believe to live 150 years. What he is pointing out is the potential life span of a human being on the assumption of providing him with the ideal living conditions.

The author realizes that the contents of his book, concerning practically all aspects of human body, cannot be free of controversy. It is understandable that experts can point out flaws of arguments and insufficient accuracy of details. But he also says: "I wrote the book with the WIDE GENERAL PUBLIC IN MIND." He further says: "If, as a result of my advice, some people start feeling better, some get cured, and some realize the necessity of health maintenance, the objective of this book will be fulfilled."

It is a different kind of book. To make sure that you are getting what you really want, do your research. Apart from "Search Inside" at Amazon, you can read many excerpts from the book at Google Print (just type the book title in Google search window,) or at the publisher's website, which is also easy to find.

I have recently received the second book by Dr. Tombak. "Cure the Incurable" is a great continuation to this book. Among others, it discusses such "incurables" as diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, and even baldness (!). One Appendix is devoted to remedies against diseases from A to Z, another Appendix features Healthy Recipes. Getting these two books is a great idea, as both books are a MUST HAVE for anyone committed to healthy living, and getting them in one package saves on Amazon shipping cost.

I can honestly say Tombak changed the way my husband and I look at (and consume) food. Unlike the other authors who write about food combining, Tombak explains the science and biology that is going on with your body when you combine the right and wrong foods together in a meal (Tombak has a PhD in Biology and Chemistry and was the head of the Russain Health Organazition for years prior to writing these works).

After reading this and the companion book "Cure the Incurable" we have consciously changed our eating habits and BONUS - I lost 15 pounds in the first 3 weeks without even trying... I just quit combining the wrong foods and stopped drinking fluids with my meals (I just shifted my fluid consumption to either 30 min before or an hour after a meal).

The only down side is Tombak, a native Russian, is pretty scientific and I think the original books were written in Russian. I remember reading somewhere on the web that his books were translated by another non-native english speaker (Hungarian I think???) so some parts are hard to read... I had to read and reread in a few places to understand the concept he was trying to get across. IMHO the translation could be cleaned up quite a bit...
But it is definately worth working your way through - you WILL make more intelligent choices about your food after you read him.