The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding Your Immunity [Paperback]

Donna Gates (Author), Linda Schatz (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Body Ecology (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963845829
• ISBN-13: 978-0963845825
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

131 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally - A Book/Diet that Covers it ALL, September 11, 2003

By 

Wendy J. Mcphail "wendyjm1" (CA.) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding Your Immunity (Paperback)

For those of us who have suffered autoimmune disorders along with the accompanying chronic candida/parasites that go along with it - this book is a treasure.

After my own personal journey of 10+ years with CFS/FM, Lupus and MPS I can say that for me, this book was the final 'piece' to my health puzzle. I had been dealing with Chronic Candida problems for years - I had colon cleansed, liver cleansed, gotten off all prescription drugs but still "hit a wall" in my health, and was not able to completely get well.

In working with many people on candida support groups over the years, and in my own health I have discovered that most grains are detrimental to digestive problems and indeed can stop complete recovery. Most people suffering from auto-immune and Chronic Candida disorders are suffering from malabsorption - and have Leaky Gut syndrome. Eating Grains, dairy and most fruits - which are recommended by many book authors can make one sicker, and go into deeper distress. Donna is *right on the money here*, she knows and understands these complications and tells the reader "straight" - right from the beginning.

I have *never* found the Anti-Candida Diet popular amongst those seeking to reclaim their health. This book is no different - and the negative reviews are possibly because people are looking for a 'quick fix', or a magic pill to get well. Chronic health problems do not happen overnight - and one will not get better overnight either.

Donna covers some of the most important aspects to complete health recovery - an example is "Food Combining" rules. This is vitally important to recovery and as she says: "eating foods that are not compatible in the stomach causes fermentation. This fermentation produces alcohol and sugars and yeast feed off these sugars and multiply rapidly, creating more toxins in the body." and also - "People with candidiasis have weak digestive tracts. Improper food-combining further weakens the digestive tract by causing it to work inefficiently until it slowly breaks down."

Colon cleansing and liver cleansing are also important aspects of this book and this is also sound truth for recovery.

Though Donna does promote her own supplements/products - if one is truly interested in living the lifestyle recommended in the book - kefir, cultured vegetables, coconut(s) (their oil and meat) can ALL be found elsewhere - very inexpensively. We make our own cultured vegies, kefir and kombucha for pennies a day, without the promoted 'starters' in the book.

Too many people are sick because they don't want to get down to business and take responsibility for their own health - this book challenges the politically correct health folks out there and really gives answers for those who are SERIOUS about getting well - for good.

This book has helped change my life and I highly recommend it.

WendyJM1

316 of 334 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good idea but could be better executed, January 21, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding Your Immunity (Paperback)

This book is typical of its type. It's written and produced by a well-meaning individual who has good information not available from mainstream health professionals, but has no formal scientific or medical background to lend credibility to the effort.

This would not matter as much if the book were written or edited by a professional. There's also the matter of the related products the author promotes liberally throughout the book and the high cover price. For me, these factors along with poor organization throughout hurts the book's potential and author credibility.

Fifteen years ago, I was introduced to another version of this diet. Having fallen off the wagon and experiencing the same debilitating symptoms, I initially was very glad to have stumbled across the book. Unfortunately, I find this book well intentioned but complicates instead of streamlining the process of getting well.

For instance, there's a warning against eating nightshade vegetables (peppers and tomatoes are mentioned) but there are recipes for "new potatoes" (another nightshade vegetable), which I take to mean red potatoes, but I'm not sure because there is no distinction made as to exactly what kind of potato you can eat. Also, the author says she's against sesame seeds, but offers no explanation as to why they should be avoided.

She also extols the virtues of kefir and claims it's superior to yogurt but doesn't offer a full explanation as to why she believes it. Yogurt has been a first-line defense against yeast infections for years. True, both yogurt and kefir contain beneficial bacteria. But kefir, she says, also features yeast but there's no information on why kefir works better than yogurt or even why this yeast is safe to consume. This is important because the people who need this diet have digestive tracts overrun with yeast. Her explanation is simple yet incomplete: kefir offers "more nutritive value" than yogurt. There's more information about kefir on her website, but it's pretty skimpy, too.

I also take exception to the recipes that call for cauliflower and cabbage. These vegetables are known gas producers (whether raw or cooked) and for people with sensitive digestive tracts, I can't help but wonder at the logic at work here. Ditto for carrots. Most diets to combat yeast steer away from them.

I'd love to make "Baked Eggs" but can't find the recipe. Overall, the recipe section could be better organized and include more recipes.

As a reader looking to implement the diet correctly, there are too many instances where crucial information is placed too far out in the section or chapter. This is particularly true when it comes to caveats or usage instructions. This information needs to be mentioned up front or in a sidebar at or near the beginning of the topic. For example: For seven pages we hear how wonderful kefir is, but author's first mention on when to introduce the stuff doesn't show up until the eighth page. If you get too caught up in the enthusiasm of kefir's healing benefits and rush off to make some, you'll miss the warning to not start it until 2 to 3 months into the diet. Advice about juicing follows a similar and confusing path. It was frustrating to find additional information about certain principles mentioned later, far from the their original introductions.

The Shopping List in the appendix is a good idea and nicely done. It's condensed and easy to follow. The index, however, doesn't fare as well. It needs to be more complete and in some versions, according to the author's website, the index has been left out entirely! There are also too many typos for a seventh edition [at this price].

Because so much information flows through the book's nearly 300 pages, you have to be really dedicated to slog through it and extract a workable program for yourself. In addition, the author's own experiences intermingled throughout get in the way because aren't especially meaningful to the reader or go on too long.

It's too bad because the diet offers hope and real potential to people with chronic immune and/or digestive problems. I know from personal experience how difficult it can be to produce a book on a difficult subject and I hope the author will take my gripes in the spirit they are meant: to take a fundamentally good thing and make it better.

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It worked for me!!, December 19, 2005

By 

Kristine M. Mestaz "yogagirl96" (Milpitas, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding Your Immunity (Paperback)

Gosh you guys, if she laid out all the scientific proof the book would be thousands of pages. I don't give a darn what proof, rhyme or reason she has for her information. As long as it works! And it does! My yeast problem is GONE GONE GONE!! My scientific Medical Doctors certainly could never cure it! Who cares why kefir is better than yogurt? She says many times in the book not to do all of this overnight AND even if you only do a small portion of the diet, you will still see a difference. I have a degree in Nutrition and ALL of the diet made perfect sense to me. I wish I had written it. It brought together many soures into one, very informative, very effective book. There's nothing harmful about what she suggests. If it's science you want, go to your MD and take ineffective drugs. If you want true health with less yeast, get on the body ecology diet. You won't be sorry.