Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet

This book is a must for healthy eating, my son was very ill, if I hadn't come across this book I don't know where he would have ended up. He had diarrahoea, infact it was like water, he lost over a stone in weight in the space of a few weeks, and nearly made me ill with the worry of it all. Until I read this book, and I should point out I go back to it for reference over and over again, that I've had to order another copy as the pages are now coming loose.I couldn't believe the advice was quite simple and yet very effective, and Elaine Gottschall the biochemist whos advice was to say, was a life saver. In my sons case I cut out mostly refined sugar, and fed my son mainly meat, fish, eggs, and home made yoghurt (24 hour yoghurt to get rid of the sugar) and bananas which I found out by the book are really digestable when they go spotty, Simple things like this helped out. I didn't realise eating sugar and the foods which this book tells you about could be so bad for you. It shows you how to feed the good bacteria, and lessen the bad bacteria. The book is an eye opener to say the least.I recommed this book, it's really worth reading and maybe make some notes as you go through it, or pencil in or dog ear the pages, so you can refer back to them without spending too much time looking for the advice again that you require.If you've got celiac, colitis, IBS, Autism, these sort of illnesses then this book is for you.

I have been ill with stomach problems for a good few years now and as anyone who experiences similar things will know, this really gets you down when there doesn't seem to be a solution. The diet contained in this book worked wonders for me after my body had got over the inital adjustment period of about 5 days. I felt like I had much more energy, the stomach pains had gone, my whole digestive system worked better and I generally felt a lot less sluggish aith fewer headaches. I would recommend it to anyone who is as sick of struggling on trying to sort out their health problems as I was. It does take a bit of adjustment - appetite, food preparation and purchasing, etc., but it's worth it. I started to notice a marked difference after a month, and stayed on it for 3 months. I repeated it after returning to normal foods for about 18 months and it has worked again. A nice side-effect is weight loss, although that is not my motivation.

I bought this book after experiencing my first flare up of ulcertative colitis (in my 30s). The doctors told me that diet didn't matter, but I'd noticed when I cut out bread, my symptoms improved, and suspected they might be wrong. This book helped me to understand why, and has been a great guide for what I should and should not be eating to heal my colitis. I found it very readable - things are explained clearly and logically without unnecessary medical jargon. I've used a couple of the recipes as well.That being said, the diet the author proposes is extremely restrictive, and in order to follow it 100% you'd need to be a housewife (or have a housewife) to have time to prepare everything. Want to eat yoghurt? Allowed, but it must be home-made. Chicken soup? Allowed, but make your own stock. Bread? You can make it with almond flour, but don't buy the flour in the supermarket, no, you must grind your own almonds. And no nuts for the first 3 months, except for peanut butter, but did I mention you can't buy the one from the store because it contains corn syrup which is illegal, so you better grind your own peanuts. Sorry but I have a full time job and other commitments, I live in a small apartment without an oven, and this type of fuss is really not possible for me. Also, as pointed out by some of the other reviewers, a lot of the recipe ingredients are very specific to north america and difficult to get hold of in europe. Try buying spaghetti squash in the netherlands, for example... (and if you know where to buy it, please let me know).The author's main hypothesis is that all inflammatory disorders of the intestines - be it colitis, crohns, ibs, caeliacs - are caused by an inability of the body to break down complex carbohydrates, with the undigested materials feeding the "bad" microbes in the gut, which then produce toxins and symptoms of the disease. I am sure that there is something in this hypothesis, but it's not the full story. For example, it doesn't explain exactly what happens with colitis (inflammation of the large intestine) because she focuses on the small intestine (and I know from colonoscopy that my small intestine is healthy). Further, the diet is based on what worked for her 7 year old daughter, and I suspect that everyone's body is a bit different with what foods they can and can't absorb, and a child's body is not the same as an adult's. Her diet probably won't work if you are lactose intolerant (because it includes yoghurt and cheese) or fructose intolerant (it's full of fruit). There's no details of how to modify the diet if there are components that you don't like or can't eat (e.g. if you're vegetarian/vegan). At the same time, it always errs on the side of caution with regard to what carbohydrates are allowed/banned. When you remove an entire food group from your diet you're at risk of acquiring nutritional deficiency, and in that respect this diet could be unnecessarily restrictive. So although I used the food list as a guide, I have also tried to listen to my own body for what it does and does not like. I removed all grains from my diet - except for soft white rice, because in my gut feeling, this food was soothing for my digestive system. Also, there's a lower incidence of colitis in asia - and they are eating a ton of white rice. The diet is very very similar to the paleo diet, so if something is "allowed" on one system but banned on the other I always assume it's safe to eat it (e.g. sweet potatoes - highly nutritious and my body seems to like them, but banned in this book, allowed on paleo).Overall I'm really happy that I read this book, and I'm sure the authors work has changed thousands of people's lives for the better. 83 5* reviews speak for themselves. however I think the point is not that you have to follow *this* very specific, fussy, north american regime, but to find the diet that works for your body and stick to it religiously, taking into account that grains and refined sugars tend to be inflammatory or hard to digest. I cannot comment yet how much my dietary restrictions have helped my colitis in the long term because i only got diagnosed 2 months ago, and I'm still taking medication. That being said, I am following a strict dietary regime and my symptoms have been heading towards remission, relatively fast, and I hope that I am safeguarding my gut for the future.

Et dire que tout ce savoir a été perdu en qq dizaines d'années.... Quelle tristesse !Si les malades savaient qu'ils peuvent être soignés définitivement, je pense qu'une majorité feraient l'effort de suivre le régime. Avec à la clef, de bonnes baguettes bien croustillantes a manger le matin :-)Encore faudrait-il que la médecine moderne arrête de soigner le symptôme au lieu de soigner la cause.... ce que fait ce livre.Ce livre est génial, j'ai testé le régime avec mes deux enfants, comme elles étaient petites, 4 mois ont suffi.Aujourd'hui, 6 ans après, elles sont en pleine forme, mangent de tout et la plus grande a même vu ses symptômes allergiques et son asthme disparaître.

The best book and treatment I’ve ever bought.This has helped me immensely. In fact, it changed my life. I have UC, and UP, and this diet changed everything. About a year into it, and I am 99% better. You just have to follow it. I am at a point now where I can experiment, and can have some things that are not on the diet - now and then, I don’t do it daily, or even weekly. I also have combined the FODMAP diet with this to some extent. It is very limiting, but it works. And as you go you start to find you really don’t miss what is not on this diet. It may not be for everyone, and everyone is different. It takes time and experimentation. But if you suffer as I have with UC, it was a game changer.The first few months are tough. Unless you are so sick, it just matter anymore, that’s where I was. But, I followed it and continue to daily. For the first 6 months, I didn’t stray from it once. You can’t. You have to follow it to the letter, if you don’t, it won’t work. It’s sort of like being pregnant. You either are... or are not. You are either on this diet, or you are not. Cheat on it once, and go back to the beginning and start over. But I can say, it gets easier. Just remember to ease into new things, even ones that are on the diet, not anything else. It will take time to do that. Even if it is listed as legal on the diet, still doesn’t mean I could have it at first. I kept my diet very simple for months. It wasn’t until recently I’ve tried a few things off diet to see what would happen. And, I can have a few things, simple things. Lots of things I still can’t. And may never be able too. But that’s ok, everyone is different, and everyone’s healing rate is different. I am down to taking one medication twice a week now, and tapering off more as time goes.Be prepared though to do all of your own cooking. Everything. I trusted nothing. I ate out at a restaurant a couple of times near the beginning, and live to regret it, even though it was on the diet. 90% of the grocery store simply didn’t apply, and doesn’t apply to me anymore. And that’s ok. Trust me you get use to it. You actually start to not like the ‘stuff’ you used to eat. Processed food, junk food, sugars, etc etc, just wont be a part of your life anymore following this. But you have to be prepared to leave that all behind, and trust me it was worth it for me.The biggest problem I faced was changing my life style to accommodate. I was house stricken for a long time anyway, but still not used to cooking and preparing every single thing I ate. It took planning, and foresight. But after a few weeks, it became routine to me. Now, I can’t imagine it any other way. Even my wife who is quite healthy follows along with this. As I said, It has become a life style. A much healthier one, and much much better standard of living with this for me. I said earlier I have a few things that are not on here. I should mention, that I still do not have any refined sugars or spices, just salt and pepper. I do occasionally have bread now, but not often. I think I have had bread 6 times in the past year, it’s simply a treat. Junk food like potato chips I’ve had a couple of times, just a few, just to try as an experiment. Quite frankly, I didn't like them very much. Processed food, none.As I said, everyone is different, who knows if this will help you, but I’ve read so many success stories with this I had to try it for myself. And it is a huge help. Huge. I remember my first doctor telling me that diet wasn’t a part of it. “Doesn’t matter what you eat” he said. Well, personally I could not disagree more.If Elaine were alive, I’d send flowers weekly.

Estuve buscando este libro en mexico y por fin lo encontré aquí. Mi vida es un antes y después de esta forma de alimentarse. Lo recomiendo ampliamente

Great book to teach you about eating better

The book was good. I brought preused one. The pages were good and legible