Thank you Nourish and Netgalley for this ARC.
This was a great little book full of hints, ideas and recipes for using baking soda. I learned lots of new ways to use this great product around the home.

Baking soda is so versatile. I've been using it for many years. I use baking soda for my teeth and my mouth feels much more refreshed using it than toothpaste.
I love using natural products for my body and cleaning.
Nice thing about baking soda is it has so many uses and it's reasonably priced.
The pages are broken down into sections on home, health and beauty.
There are recipes to make your own natural cleaners for your home. These recipes are natural and non harmful to your pets and children.
Find soothing a soothing recipe to ease your digestion,make a refreshing exfoliating facial scrub and easily make a stain lifter for your clothing.
Well worth the read for all the information jam packed in here.

Published March 19th 2019 by Nourish.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

This book starts by explaining the benefits of Baking soda and what it does to help your body and health. Very informative with great tips and recipes.

I received this ebook copy from the publisher and NetGalley for an honest review.

This book gave some good ideas for various ways to use baking soda other than bread or odor reducer. I was very interested in the recipes for cleaning purposes. I am always trying to find less chemical based options for cleaning the bathroom and this might be a great option. I also have two cats that love to play in the shower so a more cat friendly option is great. If you are looking for safer cleaning products or skin care items this book probably has an option for you.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Natural Apothecary: Baking Soda is a how-to guide for using baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) as an ingredient in household recipes and for dietary benefits. Released 19th March 2019 by Nourish, it's 144 pages and available in paperback format. The author is a physician and nutrition educator.

I am a biomedical engineer with a background in biochemistry. This book is written with the layperson in mind and apart from some technical chemistry based jargon (which to me seems added to provide verisimilitude, that the author is a 'real' scientist), this book should be accessible to most laypeople. There are some incorrect statements in the book, here's one:

An acidic food is not the same as an acid-producing food. Acidic foods taste acidic because they contain organic food acids (such as citric, acetic, oxalic, malic, pyruvic and acetylsalicylic acids), ‘organic’ here meaning that they contain only carbon, oxygen and hydrogen.



Organic molecules are, very roughly speaking, ones which contain carbon. Carbohydrates (yes, like sugars and starches) are molecules which contain carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. For what it's worth, acetylsalicylic acid is better known as aspirin.

Another place the author misses the mark in my opinion is proposing baking soda as a potential treatment for gout. When uric acid can't be excreted from the body quickly enough, it can precipitate as crystalline needles which can cause very painful inflammation in the joints especially. The problem with baking soda as a cure is that when we ingest it, it just becomes water and carbon dioxide gas. Our blood is very very very well buffered and elegantly resists changes in pH from the things we eat and drink. It actually turns out that increasing water intake regularly can prevent gout and help with flare-ups. Flushing our systems regularly, exercising sensibly, and getting enough sleep are the biggest health habits we can give ourselves.

I am deeply distrustful of miraculous claims, especially when talking about nutrition. Unfiltered apple cider vinegar won't make you live to be 100, green coffee extract won't make you skinny, and essiac tea will absolutely not cure cancer or aids.

A perusal of the author's other books include the miracle series: The Miracle of Tea, Spices, Honey, Lemons, etc. As a scientist, I admit I am not enthusiastic about bandying around words like miracle, life-saving, life-changing, etc.

The book does not include any sources for the claims postulated, and there's not any included bibliography or peer-review sources. The lack of any sort of source criticism or background makes it difficult to evaluate the veracity of any claims in the book.

All that being said, however, this is not a book which claims to cure cancer, or make you skinny overnight, or cure autism, or any other exploitative treatment. The author clearly has the reader's best interests in mind and the recipes she includes aren't likely to have any sort of deleterious effects. The uses included for baking soda in the book cover a lot of reasonable and useful applications and society and the planet we all live on would be well served by people choosing more safe and earth-friendly cleaning and beauty products. There are some fun and appealing recipes included such as one for easy homemade bath bombs from easily sourced, safe materials.

Two stars.

Easy to read, practical guide in using and incorporating Baking Sosa into my life. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review.

I volunteered to give an honest review in exchange for a pre-publication copy of the book. This book is an excellent guide for all things baking soda. It starts with explaining acidity and how it plays a role in the body. Baking soda can be applied on the skin for medicinal properties or ingested for health. It can also be useful for cleaning. The book explains everything so it's easy to understand, and contains the recipes to do it with. My favorites are deodorant which is very easy to make as.well as a fabric softener. I use it to clean my drains along with vinegar. I never thought of using it to clean my dishwasher! This is an excellent reference guide.

Another slim book in the Natural Apothecary series, it gives information about how to avoid acidosis using bicarbonated soda, using bicarb as an inexpensive cleaning product, as well as health issues like indigestion and skin conditions, but also easing a cold.

This is an encyclopedia of knowledge on BAKING SODA!
The book describes everything about the subject! It is well written. Very interesting facts that will shock you! It gives a lot of advice and good recipes. Uses and history. Recipes that are easy to prepare and tips you have never knew existed!...I read all that in about 4 hours and I will refer this book to a lot of my friend. Amazing read!! I loved it and I learn a lot from it!

Since I’ve cleaned with baking soda for decades, was curious to see what else this wonder product could help with.
Starting off with an explanation of the properties and balance baking soda could bring to our bodies, e.g. adding more fruits and vegetables to our diet or adding some to drinking water as well as making a paste for a facial. Even though this book has copious amounts of information, felt it really didn’t add anything new. Anyone looking to use baking soda more can easily find their answers in other places..

What a great handbook for natural remedies, cleaners, and beauty treatments. The first quarter of the book dealt with diet and was a little over my non-scientific head. With a little study it could really health those struggling with negative health effects from diet. Dr. Penny Stanway offers many remedies and potions for headaches to facial scrubs to kitchen cleaner.


I was given an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Such a versatile substance, from balancing acid/pH levels to making your own beauty or cleaning products. And, of course, for baking delicious breads, etc. Explore this book for so many uses of this humble powder.

I had no idea that baking soda had so much potential for health, healing of an abundance of maladie, cleaning, and beauty treatments! Everything you need to know is right here in this compact little book. Especially helpful is the information about the difference between an acidic and alkaline diet. I learned a lot reading this book!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Excellent! I knew of only a few of these and am excited to try the other suggestions, I also really like the version with lemons. thank you

I was really interested to read this book, which is part of a set of three. I have been hearing a lot about the many benefits of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) but really wanted to see all the benefits in one place. The book certainly delivers with loads of information about how baking soda can help with health, beauty and cleaning.

I love the fact that baking soda is natural and just by implementing a few of Dr Penny Stanway’s tips you are using less harmful chemicals around the house.
There is a recipe for a cleaning solution in the book which enables you to clean almost anything at very little cost.

I must say that the health section was a little too scientific for me but I was extremely impressed by quantity of information in a small book.

A really useful reference book.

This is one of the three books from The Natural Apothecary collection. This collection teach us how to produce natural products as cleaners, as beauty products and as others recipes. This is a 101 guide about bicarbonate of soda which includes how to make it from scratch bath bombs . Over 40 simple recipes for all-natural home-made products. The recipes are easy to reproduce and the results are amazing.

#TheNaturalApothecaryAppleCiderVinegar #TheNaturalApothecaryBakingSoda #TheNaturalApothecaryLemons #NetGalley

Gives some reader friendly health information. no real conclusion or cut off. If wanting a focus of things to do with baking soda, this can be one to have a look at for reference.

This book is a great resource if you are interested in natural remedies. There are tips and recipes and as well as information. The tips run from health and beauty and help to cleaning. The book is just straight forward information about banking soda and the different ways it can be used.

I voluntarily agreed to read a copy of this book supplied by NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way have been influenced.

This little book gives a good overview of the different uses of baking soda for health, cleaning, and beauty. It has some great tips that I will use, but I thought it could have been organized in a way that would be easier to consume for future reference. At times it seemed too much like an information list.

Finding little books like this one, that go so in-depth about a basic product are so important when it comes to trying to live a healthier lifestyle and incorporate more natural products into your life versus chemicals and artificial colorants that are dangerous. What I specifically loved about this book is that it showcases the magic and power of baking soda, something that we all have in our kitchens and probably never think about. I had no idea how important this little box of white powder could be for a home and for the body. After reading this book, I have incorporated so many new things into my life that I read about here.