WEB RESOURCES

Women's Health Interactive - A new multidisciplinary women's healthcare forum.

Cybertown Campus - A very nifty collection of health sources, regular news and more.

Powersurge - Need information about menopause? Check out Powersurge, an empowering exchange between women.

BOOKS

• The Women's Heart Book was recently released in paperback for $14.95. Co-authored by Fredric J. Pashkow, M.D. and Charlotte Libov, "The Women's Heart Book" is subtitled, "The Complete Guide To Keeping Your Heart Healthy." Packed with information on all types of heart problems afflicting women of all ages, the book is available in most bookstores or ordered right from the Internet at 20% off list price!. You can also email Charlotte directly and request a copy.
  
  
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Medical Resources, by Joan Price. Part of the fun of the Internet is wandering around. But if you’re faced with a life-threatening illness, there’s no time to wander; you need information fast. The book is also an excellent "how-to" guide if you're just learning how to navigate around cyberspace.
  
  
• The Women's Health Products Handbook. Smart Buys for Healthy Bodies - New in November, this is a combination consumer buying guide and women’s health book. Written by well-known health author Carol Ann Rinzler, it discusses everything from feminine hygiene products to nutritional supplements. There are also sections on birth control methods, diet and weight control products and home health kits, including those that test for pregnancy and cholesterol levels. Packed with useful charts, this handy resource is published by Hunter House.
  
  
• If you need statistics on women's activities for grant writing, program planning, writing about women, or just winning a bet, the Statistical Handbook On Women in America, 2nd Edition (Oryx), belongs on your bookshelf. This hefty volume reveals everything statistically available about the American woman, including birth trends, occupations, income, poverty, health status, marriage and divorce figures. If you can name it, it's probably in there. Cost is $54.50; call 800-279-6799.

• The American Dietetic Association Guide to Women's Nutrition for Healthy Living, by Susan Calvert Finn, PhD, RD, FADA, Perigree Books. A registered dietitian and chief architect of the American Dietetic Association's Nutrition and Health Campaign for Women, Dr. Finn has both knowledge and wisdom when it comes to knowing what to eat. Her book includes a primer on how nutrition may play a role in the most deadly diseases of women, how to change your eating patterns over your lifespan, important nutritional basics, and how the foods you eat can buffer the adverse effects of stress. In all, her book is an abundant source of valuable advice.
  
  
• The Columbia Presbyterian Osteoarthritis Handbook, edited by Ronald P. Grelsamer, M.D. and Suzanne Loebl. MacMillan, USA. Osteoarthritis, known also as "wear and tear" arthritis, is the most common form, afflicting an estimated 16 million people. Most of them are women. If you have this chronic, progressive disease, this book provides the comprehensive strategy you need to fight back.
  
  
• Women's Health Research: A Medical And Policy Primer, Florence P. Haseltine, PhD, MD, Editor, et al. Health Press International. Although women live longer than men, we are more likely to live out our last years crippled by chronic disease. This book discusses the pivotal role that medical research can play in changing that dismal future. Impeccably researched, this book belongs in the library of every professional working in women's health.
  
  
• The Readers Companion to U.S. Women's History (Houghton Mifflin) is a fascinating collection of articles and essays telling the story of women in the United States, from pre-Colonial days to the present. The book's view of women's health is broad, with sections on a number of health problems, their affect on women and the strides female leaders have taken to address them. Here are a few examples from the 400 articles that cover the full spectrum of women's issues:

1. The important issue of heart disease in women is reported by Charlotte Libov, editor of Women's Health Hot Line. Although the greatest cause of female death, heart disease in women was ignored by the medical profession for most of this century.
   
   
2. In her revealing account of the birth of the breast cancer movement, Barbara Seaman discusses how Dr. M. Vera Peters challenged the routine procedure of having all breast cancer patients undergo radical mastectomies, a disfiguring procedure. Introduced in the 1880s, this technique continued for a century until Dr. Peters published research in 1967 proving that many women did just as well undergoing only a lumpectomy instead.
   
   
3. Although AIDS has been characterized most often as a disease of homosexual men, it's impact on women has been overlooked. In her essay, Nan Boyd recounts how women remain peripheral to AIDS research and education. She notes that because many clinical trials exclude women from their research samples, HIV-positive women have less access to experimental or innovative drug treatments.
   
   These entries are just a few of the 400 articles, contributed by 300 noted women writers, that discuss women's roles in from the abolitionist movement to World War II and every topic in-between. The book, retail priced at $45, can be ordered at a discount price of $27 from amazon.com.

Anti-dieting is becoming trendy, which is good news. But there’s a catch. There are lots of diet books cloaked in non-diet rhetoric. If a book cautions you against dieting but offers a plan involving restrictions and limits, well, that’s a diet book, no matter what it’s called. Here, though, are some true anti-diet books recommended by the Council on Size & Weight Discrimination.

• Worth Your Weight: What You Can Do About A Weight Problem by Barbara Altman Bruno, Ph.D., Rutledge http://www.rutledgebooks.com.
  
  
• Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your Health by Glenn Gaesser, Fawcett-Columbine. Gaesser, an exercise physiologist at the University of Virginia, believes that poor diet and exercise are health culprits no matter what your weight.
  
  
• When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies: Freeing Yourself from Food and Weight Obsession, by Jane R. Hirschmann and Carol M. Munter, Fawcett-Columbine. This well-known book preaches self-acceptance, no matter what you weigh.

VIDEOS

• A ground-breaking one-hour PBS documentary, "Women's Hearts at Risk", is now available on video. The program focuses on the dramatic stories of women of all ages and races who tell their personal stories of heart disease. Supporting their narrative are interviews with cardiac experts, information on cardiac research and issues facing women, and footage of actual cardiac procedures. The informative program also includes a question and answer session with a panel of experts. To order "Women's Hearts at Risk" call 1-800-443-2156. Price is $24.95 plus $3.95 shipping.

OTHER MATERIALS

• Women's Health America Infolog: The Complete Women's Health Resource Directory, is a 32-page catalog filled with 300 of the best women's health books, videos, vitamins and other products. Available from Women's Health America, the booklet also includes health tips and a list of resources with toll-free numbers. For a free copy, call 1-800-858-3980 or fax your request to 1-608-833-7412. A shipping fee is charged if you order 25 copies or more.
  
  
• The Older Women's League, a Washington-D.C. based organization which promotes older women's issues, offers free information about osteoporosis. To receive it, send a stamped, self-addressed, business-size envelope to: Osteoporosis Materials, Older Women's League, 666 Eleventh St., NW, Suite #700, Washington, D.C. 20001.