Holistic medicine offers a paradigm of wellness that differs from the trauma and severe deficiencies of our current "sickness care" system.

One aspect of this system that demands attention is the issue of vaccination. In their first five years of life, children are expected to undergo an extraordinary thirty-seven doses of eleven different vaccines, yet relatively few parents are aware of the risks involved. As the writers in The Vaccination Dilemma indicate, a growing body of research has linked immunization with autism, seizures, asthma, arthritis, Crohn's disease, hyperactivity, and learning disabilities. Balanced and thoughtful, this book clearly describes the immune system, its workings (and what science does and does not know about them), and helps parents make educated decisions on behalf of their children.

In Iscador, Christine Murphy, formerly the editor of the magazine Lilipoh: Guide to Health, Nutrition and the Environment in the 21st Century, has gathered together essential information on a cancer medicine derived from the mistletoe plant that has been known for its therapeutic benefits for over eighty years. In the book, doctors and clinicians share their experiences working with conventional medicine, Iscador, and other alternative therapies, and provide holistic dietary guidelines to treat cancer patients. The book includes a full list of resources so that cancer patients can fully understand the options available to them.

Poet and therapist Ginny Jordan has undergone undergone surgeries and chemotherapy, experienced debilitating vertigo, and other conditions—at the same time as she has been a daughter, wife, mother of three, and member of a large, active family. Her beautifully written memoir of her life in her body, Clear Cut, illustrates how the body composes its own wisdom and teaches us compassion, tolerance, and the answer to the question: How much can we lose and remain whole?

After being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of forty-seven and not getting answers from her physicians, Ruth Heidrich began her journey. "[I learned]I was responsible for my own health care," she reports. Heidrich went on to receive her Ph.D. in Health Management. Heidrich shares what she has learned from first-person experience about preventive medicine and living a full and rich life in her two books, A Race for Life and Senior Fitness.

Read more on National Nurses Day and World Red Cross Day.