The Swiss Secret to Optimal Health: Dr. Rau's Diet for Whole Body Healing

I learned a great deal

Dr. Rau has written an excellent, easily understandable book on how to create health and/or recover from illness. His common sense approach, with simply stated yet complete explanations, made it so much easier to follow his program than others I've tried. For instance, I never knew that eating onions has the effect of making the lymphatic system sluggish! I have found it easier to adjust my dietary habits because I have information about how the foods I used to eat were affecting my health. I've been ill with Lyme disease for a couple of years and felt horrid--extreme fatigue, pain, neurological symptoms, aphasia, etc; following Dr. Rau's program for just a few weeks has made an enormous difference in how I feel. I have energy, something I haven't been able to claim for a very long time, and I just feel BETTER. Knowing now that a high percentage of the immune system is in the gut, eating to heal it makes total sense. What a difference! I never thought I'd be eating oatmeal with raw apples and a tablespoon of flax seed oil and enjoy it, but it's very tasty and gives a wonderful, sustained energy throughout the morning. Recipes I've tried have been very, very good. But the best part is the result---feeling great after years of illness. This book should be a bestseller. Buy it!

I love to eat and love to cook, enjoying a meal is important at least three times every day. At almost 70 health is a concern, even though I'm in excellent condition and able to maintain my weight and frequent exercise.Dr. Rau is focused on good food and nutrition. His recipes are easy to follow, inventive, and very appetizing. Some are old favorites and others are new combinations of textures and flavors. A lot of what he says has to do with the quality of life, eating organic fresh vegetables and fruits is a no-brainer. Perhaps we need to be reminded about the many toxic ingredients we regularly put into our bodies and see the many alternatives available to us.His Swiss Detox diet appears to be a way to establish a personal and individual basis related to one's own body. He addresses allergies, our immune systems, how different foods affect our body and how we can recognize their effects. The factual basis of his work is both scientific and intriguing.What interests me most are the food choices in his diets, tremendous variety and a rich palette, an opportunity to both eat well and enjoy new recipes. He also recognizes we have a sweet tooth and delicious deserts are included.

I found this book disappointing except for the cookbook section that was the best part of the book. Otherwise, the book has contradictions and old information. I found very little that was new.The author says "nutrition is the vital key that determines the condition of the body's internal environment." Later he says the body is so complex it cannot be measured with one variable. This is one of the statements that seem contradictory.In his theory he says traditional medicine sees "health as a war that pits your body against outsider invaders (eg:, germs, viruses, and other pathogens." ." This is similar to the germ theory or single cause theory that has long been out of vogue in health and medicine. He then says "we believe the body is in balance with itself and with the physical world in which it exists. Illness arises when the equilibrium is breached." This is similar to the Multicausation theory that conceptualizes health and illness as processes in which factors in man, the agent, and environment interact to cause health or illness and in which interventions can take place at various points in the process to strengthen man, reduce the strength of the agent of disease or disability, and to make the environment less favorable for a forceful impact between the host and agent. Man is healthy when these are in balance. This theory is not new but has been around during most of my 55 years of practice. .In addition, his application of the theory has a narrower focus in that it ignores the influence of the mental and spiritual aspects of health, of relationships, and of politics. These have all be shown to have an affect on health and illness in current research and are identified and well documented in Healthy Holistic Aging: A Blueprint for Success.The diet discussed in the book is also not new and is, in fact, very similar to the diet prescribed for me 31 years ago when I was diagnosed with lung cancer. It is also similar to diets currently advocated by other authors such as in the cardiovascular diet that is also used for weight loss called the South Beach Diet that maintains and improves health. and the diets advocated by Edgar Cayce back in the 1930's for keeping the body alkaline to maintain health. In addition, the liver cleanser described has been around for many years and can be found in books on alternative health.Carl O. Helvie, R.N., Dr.P.H.. Author of Healthy Holistic Aging: A Blueprint for Success

I am into my third week of Dr Rau's amazing cleansing diet and I may never return to my old ways.It was hard for me to give up coffee and I was hungry occasionally during the first week. But it seems like a small price to pay for the energy and vitality that have come back into my body. I am sleeping thru the night for the first time in years, the pains and gas in my gut are gone, my mood is consistently positive and stable, the inflammation in my knees and other hot spots have gone down and I just feel great!I appreciate his clear explanations of the logic of the diet, the easy to follow meal plans and the delicious and varied recipes. Perhaps the best aspect of this diet is that it requires you to prepare and eat three healthy organic meals a day which I realize I have not been in the habit of doing. I think it makes a huge difference in maintaining a steady blood sugar level. And he even helps you to transition to a maintenance diet that allows for slips and indulgences. As I said, I may never go back to the dark side.