Digestive-Diseases Books

In 1991, at age 33, I was diagnosed by a Board-Certified Gastroenterologist as having severe Crohns/Colitis, which affected my entire large intestine and the beginning of my small intestine. At 5'9" I weighed 103 lbs. Without going into great detail, upon colonoscopy, this same Board-Certified Gastroenterologist said that mine was one of the worst cases he had seen. My diet, which had been extensive throughout my entire lifetime, was now reduced to four foods. Not four food GROUPS, but four actual foods. Anything else that I ate made me hemorrhage. Unfortunately, I was put on a myriad of pharmaceuticals, including Prednisone, which I stayed on for 13 continual years. My disease was hardly managed in this way, but I still lived as best as I was allowed by my affliction. This "life" included absolute necessity of staying home because of my need for the continual use of a restroom. In that 13 year timeframe, I unsuccessfully consulted and visited with multiple MD's, and alternative care practitioners from several countries. I tried a multitude of ways to stop my illness, all to no avail, and some actually made me worse.

In 2004, I heard about Jordin Rubin, read his literature, and almost passed up on my opportunity to try his program because I was so discouraged that I thought that this, too, would not work for my situation, as nothing up until that time had. I read both _Patient Heal Thyself_ and then went on to read _Restoring Your Digestive Health_. I then made the decision to try his method of healing. As any critically ill patient would do, I followed his regimen to the utmost degree, taking pains to make absolutely certain that I followed absolutely every step he issued in the healing process.

Amazingly and miraculously, within three weeks time, my body started to heal. Only someone who has been through the devastation of this disease can even begin to understand what an epiphany transpired for me as I was now able to eat foods once again that I had not been able to eat in the previous 13 years. Also, the constant day-to-day pain and 30+ painful daily bowel movements I had suffered from for 13 consecutive years had now ceased. My body was healing and has continued to do so to the point where I now suffer absolutely NO symptoms of the severe Crohns/Colitis I was diagnosed as having for the 13 years I lost in my life.

I literally owe my life to Jordin Rubin. I heartfully encourage ANYONE who suffers from Crohns/Colitis or any of the lesser digestive ills to please, obtain a copy of this book because it will not only change your life and heal your body, but it will give you back your very existence.

Karen
Buffalo, NY

I originally read this book a few years ago and I felt it did a great job in educating the reader about appropriate ways to restore and maintain optimal digestive health. It is very easy to understand and provides the reader with empowering knowledge about probiotics and many other factors that promote gut health. If you follow the tenets outlined in Rubin's work, you'll never have another digestive disturbance again! This is very significant seeing as 80% of all Americans experience digestive trouble regularly.

Dr. Matthew J. Loop

- Author of "Cracking the Cancer Code"

I give it 4 stars. I bought it for my sister who has Crohn's Disease and Ulcerated Colitis. And while Jordan's story is an inspiration, a lot of the concepts & ideas are great and it is easy to read the recipes are not quite realistic. There are people with the disease like my sister who has a hard time keeping a job due to illness who can't afford to go find chicken feet and other things found at natural food stores. My sister has taken the basic concepts of this book and applied it to her life. She has been able to decrease a lot of her medicines. She is now due to have a baby girl, due 9/4/06, and is in remission from the Crohn's! Buy this book but realize that a lot of it is not very realistic.

I have noted that several reviewers had issues with the author but didn't actually review the book. My wife has IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and other gastrointestinal problems. She developed the problems after going through gastric bypass surgery several years ago. She has seen several doctors, but it wasn't until my daughter (who works at a health food store - The Vitamin Shoppe) suggested that we read this book and follow the guidelines set in it, that is when things changed.

The book outlines quite well how the digestive system works and sets out to give you a really good example of someone with serious intestinal problems (the author) went about dealing with them.

I think that the author goes a bit overboard with a lot of his claims. Let me try to explain it this way. You have a headache and you decide to take an aspirin with a glass of water. The headache goes away, so you assume that the aspirin made the headache go away. But did it? A lot of headaches are caused by dehydration, so maybe the glass of water is what made it go away. A lot of other headaches are caused by stress. So maybe the THOUGHT that you did something about it and that the drug would help you is what made you relax and that cured your headache.

This book points out what any common sense book on health would tell you. Stay away from sugar like the plague, exercise, etc. He makes other suggestions that in our experience we simply have not needed. My wife has not had to resort to the broth or soil probiotics mentioned in the book. She stays away from ALL bread (even the sourdough) suggested in the book. We no longer eat pasta and/or refined sugar. We still eat rice (just long grain or wild rice). These changes (and the inclusion of lots of yogurt) have "cured" my wife. Almost all of her symptoms are gone and she feels better than she has in years.

I mentioned some of the things he states as outlandish. For instance, I am an engineer by trade and I know how microwaves work. Microwaves DO NOT break down water as he claims. He might know quite a bit about food, but he knows little about microwaves. The same goes with the electromagnetic stuff he is talking about. I think that is a bunch of nonsense.

However, what I cannot deny is that after reading this book and changing our diets; my wife, son, and I feel so much better. That accounts for something. Is it the water, the aspirin, or the idea that it works the underlying factor? Frankly I don't care - the fact that it works is good enough for me. We use common sense. As I mentioned my wife still cannot eat bread or any milk (even goat's milk). So we don't keep trying, we just learn to keep that stuff away from her and make sure she gets her vitamins and other nutrients from other foods.

To make things easier on all of us I bought a large white board that you can mark up with markers. We put on there the foods that were good to eat, those to completely stay away from, and those that we could have in a limited way. It is displayed in the dining room and THAT has helped tremendously with keeping focused on what we eat.

I do recommend the book and hope it helps you like it has helped us.

As i've done more due diligence I've found that Rubin is a marketer who has been far from above board in shamelessly promoting products with dubious health benefits. Whether he actually recovered from his terrible illness eating soil only he can say for sure. What is certain is that the 'studies' he references are paid for by Garden of Life and are not peer reviewed. It also seems he paid for his PhD from some sort of a degree mill.

I have ordered this book 3 times - for myself, for my MIL, and for a friend. We all agree it's easy to read; has good, practical information; offers flexibility to try some food you love in small amounts or rarely instead of a rigid NEVER again! We find this book easy to use for quick reference, too. The information in the book has made all of our lives better as we've taken many of the suggestions to modify our diets or the way we cook some foods.

If you have Crohn's, IBS, or other bothersome gut problems, I think this is the most useful book to have on your bookshelf. This is the book I return to repeatedly.

Dr. Scala is well known as an arthritis expert and in my opinion, he should have stayed in that arena. I have never read a book referring to Inflammatory Bowel Disease in its title that said less about the disease! This is basically a nutrition book, which is fine, but why market it as something specific about colitis and Crohn's? This seems purposely misleading to me and the blasé attitude toward sufferers of these diseases does not induce a close read of the material. Not necessary to purchase.

Although this book does not focus on Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) exclusively, this is an excellent book for IBS sufferers to start with when trying to ease their symptoms through dietary restrictions. Not only does "Eating Right" give a fairly thorough list of possible "trigger" foods, but it also includes an important chapter on how to supplement a restricted diet with vitamins. Whenever I have a question on what I should or possibly should not eat, I take a look at "Eating Right" to create a baseline. It's a book that can be used over and over again as a reference. It's definitely worth it.

In this book, Dr. Scala, a leading nutiritionist, provides diet and nutrition information so that people with IBD can help themselves find relief and achieve better health. The author has designed a drug free food and lifestyle program which includes: developing a personal testing program to identify foods that aggravate, cause or relieve flare-ups; "safe foods" and tips on reading labels; total fitness and stress reduction techniques; food allergies (including lactose, alcohol, and sugar intolerance); IBD and children; and recommended vitamin supplements. Recommended for folks who need clear instructions to develop their own dietary program. A useful book!

This book is commonly recommended by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, but I didn't think it was very good. The observations were haphazard, and some sounded like the author was making them up as he went along. He has a kind of puppy-ish enthusiasm, but he goes off half-cocked a lot. It's also full of repetition. There are much better books out there, both on nutrition and on these illnesses.

This helped more learn more about Irritable Bowel which I have had for years. The book is easy to read and I thought good for all folks who have digestive problems and don't know what to do.

I am a retired nurse and I thought this book was very well written, covered many areas of digestive problems, was easy to understand at all levels, and gave very good solutions.The author had a good sense of humor while dealing with some delicate female subjects. I would recommend this to anyone that has digestive problems.

I purchased this book because it stated it was written by a leading GI Doctor especially for women. It promises to answer all questions and give real solutions to stop pain and achieve lasting digestive health. Well, I have read the entire book and found it to be mostly repetitive, somewhat condescending, lacks some current medical prescriptions, and does not include natural holistic medicines and techniques. Her solution to everything seems to be weight-loss. This book is okey. But, I had expected better. Instead of this book, I would recommend the following books: Balanced Healing By Dr Larry Altshuler, & The Chronic Pain Solution By Dr James Dillard. These two books are very informative and helpful.

Dr. Yoshida has taken a complicated subject, and rendered it into terms the average lay person can understand. Her no-nonsense solutions make sense and can be applied by everyone, male and female. The book is an outstanding contribution to the field of gastroenterology. I look forward to more books by this expert.

This book was very helpful, especially in matters of special diets in the sense of which foods to eat as well as which to avoid. My doctor was pretty good on which to avoid, but not so helpful when it came to an all around, everyday diet. The book was better. Secondly, the book helped me to better understand my problem...Boy, do I miss chocolate.

I could have found a lot of the information online, but this book presents the information better. A lot of the internet research I did had the same information repeated on every web site, a list of foods you shouldn't eat. Although this book has fairly basic information about nutrition, it tells you to eat right instead of just staying away from certain foods.

The recipes are good too. I've made three things from there and none of them give me problems. They are also all very good.

For more in-depth information on acid reflux, though, I would recommend 'heartburn and reflux for dummies'

I really like this book. Some things are a little contradictory to other web sites such as eggs should be eaten with caution and then they suggest it for one of your meals. However, there are alot of recipes that I have found to be very soothing for my stomach. Especially the beta power soup. I was to the point to where medicine wasn't even working for me very well and this book helped me to get on the right track. I do feel better since following the diet and would recommend this book.

This book gives a good overview of the problem, with a lot of basic information with a good level of detail, but in not too technical terms.
The diet recommendations are great, and helped me put together the best diet plan for me. I especially appreciated the explanations of why different foods are bad for you, because there are about 4 different ways foods can contribute to the GERD problem. One or two of the meal plan suggestions might be questionable, such as eating strawberries when you have severe pain, but otherwise, it does a great job. The recipes are helpful, too.

Good book with good information and menu ideas. Not too much that I didn't already know.
Recommended to GERD sufferers.

I had high hopes for this book but they were not fulfilled.The information section would only be helpful to people who are totally new to the wonderless world of acid reflux it is also somewhat depressing.
The recipes are ok but they aren't that wonderful
This book is definently not the place to start if you need help with this problem
Good Luck to us all

Very educational. We need to learn in the west about healthy eating habits, it's important not just what we it but how we eat and how our emotions affect our digestion. It teaches how the cells, organs and other systems in the body are affected by a healthy or a poor digestion system. I've changed some of my habits and already can see and feel the difference. It feels good!!

I always enjoy reading Chopra and this book is no exception - the fact my digestion is far from perfect contributed to a particular interest in this topic! In Ayurvedic medicine, most diseases originate as an imbalance in the digestive system based on the principle that the constant renewal of every part of the human physiology is dependent on proper digestive functioning. Ayurveda views digestion as the body's means of extracting intelligence from food and then processing it to support the intelligence inherent in the entire human physiology. Gives new meaning the words "junk food", doesn't it?

Once again, advice is given according to dosha type (see above review for a more in depth discussion of doshas) and numerous suggestions are made for improving digestive health. It is important to note that this book is not written for someone suffering from a specific digestive illness - it is rather meant to improve overall digestion, and as a result health, for the average person who just needs a gastrointestinal tune-up. The holistic nature of the suggestions would have far-reaching mind/body impacts for anyone's well being so this small book belongs in everyone's personal library.

Contrary to the title, and what other reviewers have said, this book spends an inordinate amount of time talking about Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). There's also a discussion about healthy eating in general. However, it's unclear how many of the suggestions even derive from ayurvedic practice, as opposed to just being Chopra's opinions. In any case, there are plenty of Western books about general healthy eating.

The book spends very little time on any other digestive issues. If you have a serious problem such as Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis, you're not going to get much useful information here.

My biggest complaint is that a majority of the book is just a condensed version of Perfect Health. In order to crank out a lot of books quickly, Chopra just rehashes the same information in each book in the series. But since it's an abbreviated version of what's in Perfect Health, it doesn't even stand well on its own.

If you have IBS, then this might be worth reading. Otherwise, it's a waste of time.

I have gastroparesis (partial paralysis of the stomach) and this book had many lessons I have already learned from living with this condition and offerred many more insights into alternative ways of looking at digestive process and the way we should eat that will help us be healthier. I've already tried the "hot water" tip and found it to be helpful! Looking forward to working on the rest of what I learned in the book and hoping to see more improvements. Have hope now that I didn't have before reading this book.

A must read for anyone with any digestive complaint. It puts the responsibility of perfect digestion where it should be: on you. Not on pills or doctors. Easy to read and follow, I was very excited to find an easy way of eating and living that makes me healthy, starting at the gut level, something my doctor couldn't seem to help me with. It really is up to you.

Dr. Guillory offers a revised and newly updated edition of his definitive guide for the one in five people suffering from spastic colon, cramping pains or nausea after eating, constipation, gas, and diarrhea--the variety of uncomfortable digestive symptoms known as IBS--Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Revealing questionnaires and special temporary diets are featured, as well as detailed information about testing and medications. Included are special stress reduction techniques along with corrective exercises and advice on lifestyle changes that provide relief

Dr. Guillory offers a revised and newly updated edition of his definitive guide for the one in five people suffering from spastic colon, cramping pains or nausea after eating, constipation, gas, and diarrhea--the variety of uncomfortable digestive symptoms known as IBS--Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Revealing questionnaires and special temporary diets are featured, as well as detailed information about testing and medications. Included are special stress reduction techniques along with corrective exercises and advice on lifestyle changes that provide relief

I thougth the book was very interesting and helpful.

When a Dr. writes a book, we all assume that all the conculsion will be based in fact as opposed to annecdotal fiction. While Dr.Gerard provides a good explanation of what IBS is and a high level guide to reducing IBS symptoms through diet and lifestyle changes...he fails to provide enough details on the diet that is needed. Also, he does not do a very through job of analyzing and discussing dietary fiber supplements, such as metamucil which have proven useful for many IBS sufferers. For example, in his writing that experts are split on whether or not Metamucil can help IBS sufferers with Dir..h and that he doesn't feel it works is not very useful to a person who just bought this book looking for a "Guide to Prevention and Relief".He should state that for those other experts that think Metamucil is helpful, how they suggest taking the supplement and what are the common issues that surround such therapy.

To answer your main questions about Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Gerard Guillory's _IBS: A doctor's plan_ is an excellent place to start. It is filled with useful tips and has a reassuring tone. I highly recommend this book, along with Dawn Burstall et al.'s _IBS relief: A Doctor, a Dietitian and a Psychologist Provide a Team Approach to Managing IBS_. Both books complement each other well and provide useful information. (see my review of Burstall et al. at amazon.com)

First, let me say I went to medical school with "Mitch" Spirt at Mount Sinai. Mitch was a good man with good social skills--and, now, I see he's succeeded in the clinical teaching realm, too. I'm sad to see such a prominent surgeon as Dr. DeMeester rate this book so poorly without clarifying more. Having both attending the same medical school, we were often presented with a plethora of textbooks--none of which were EVER "recommended highly" by our professors.

A medical student will NOT--and should NOT read, in its entirety such books as Cecil's or Harrison's textbook of Medicine; nor, should they read Schwartz', Cameron's, or Sabiston's textbook of surgery because, simply, if you're on the wards, learning CLINICAL medicine, doing your H & P's, examining patients, and standing as the first-assistant in the operating room, THERE ISN'T TIME TO READ SUCH MASSIVE REFERENCE TEXTS.

If you HAVE time, you aren't seeing patients (Remember Osler's quote? "To study medicine without textbooks is to sail an uncharted sea; to study medicine without patients is to NOT go to sea at ALL!"
This is where Mitch's book comes in. This is a SOLID, quick reference material for any 3rd or 4th year medical student (it's small and you can fit it in your backpack), you can read it during your rotation, it has the PERTINENT clinical information, and even an intern or 2nd year medical or surgical resident would benefit.

It is written for Dr. DeMeester? Absolutely NOT. Is it written for attending surgeons with 15 years of experience? NO! But it wasn't written for that purpose.

I think this book should sit along side:

a. Wheater's Functional Histology (and Pathology)
b. Lang's Textbook of Medicine (formerly, "The John's Hopkins Textbook of Medicine")
c. Stein's Textbook of Medicine (for 3rd and 4th year medical students
d. "Baby" Sabiston's introduction to surgery.

If you're already in the field, this isn't your book. If your GOING into surgery or gastroenterology, this is a GREAT place to start.

An updated edition, written in conjunction with a general surgeon, would be most welcome in the field of medical student education.

It's a privilege to know Mitch, and, now, as an attending General Surgeon (for almost 13 years, and board-certified, and re-certified), this book is a strong 9.5/10.

Poorly written book obviously written by a non-surgeon. As a practicing general surgeon for the past 30 years this book has little to offer anyone interested in anything but the most rudimentary aspects of abdominal disorders. Don't waste your money!!

A must for all general surgeons in clinical practice.

This textbook focuses on GI disorders in critically ill patients. It is a superbly-written text, and is destined to become a standard reference in the field. A real gem.

I ou have a digestive problem or want to be healthy this book gives you usefull information

An awful lot of advice....but nothing exacting. Don't think you are going to read this and be able to cure yourself. A lot of medical info is wishy-washy and often contradicted from one chapter to the next. With the level of chinese medicine he is recommending...you still need a professional.

I wrote Healing Digestive Disorders to give hope to millions of digestive patients who are frustrated with their health.Healing Digestive Disorders has hundreds of effective treatments using Chinese and western herbs, supplements, diet and lifestyle tips, and an overview of western medicine. I suffered from both Crohn's disease and IBS. My search for therapies to help my own systoms have made it possible for me to help thousands of people.

In this helpful and lively cooking guide, Baird, a registered dietitian, nutrition consultant, and food writer, has created delicious, nutritious, and healthful recipes that enhance motility--the movement of food through the digestive system--and help to minimize digestive problems. Nutritional breakdown included with each recipe

This book does not give enough specifics or indepth information on any particular disease. It skims over the surface with just a general overview. Recipes look interesting though.

Pocket book is the companion book and follows the sequence in the main book.
Although it is a small book it covers sufficiently in detail for letters are very small.
Each section starts Etiology, Pathology, Pathophysiology, Clinical features, Diagnosis and Treatment.
When multiple illnesses are possible or common each illness is treated separately. Book is not bulky but very sufficient, information is not superficial.