By Laura Nawrot, Grand Rapids Public Library

Upon opening this book, I expected to find the typical chapters challenging the reader to identify personal shortcomings when it comes to diet, how to foster changes in behavior, and a slew of recipes containing specialty ingredients that are impossible to find in most grocery stores. There are a few recipes and the occasional multiple-choice test, but somehow it seemed to be less abrasive than other books I’ve read that promote this type of self-improvement.

What I actually found was a fairly practical approach to achieving balance in daily life. According to this book, like others of its kind, if you change your lifestyle good things will happen. While this is pretty much common sense, Dr. Cooper offers suggestions and explanations for changes that take the reader into consideration with his overall theme appearing to be based upon reaching a balanced state in daily life. He makes several recommendations in each chapter which are centered on research and practicality with an emphasis on improving the reader’s overall outlook and attitude toward life.

Instead of feeling like a failure before I began, High Energy Living offered me enough incentive to actually read beyond the first chapter and consider taking some of the recommendations to heart. I also had most of the ingredients for the recipes already in my cupboard… including those found in the recipe for Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Biscotti.