Customer Reviews

The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding Your Immunity

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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

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.

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.

This book needs a good editor.

For example, there is no clearly defined section on getting started with the diet. Instead, the authors force you to read the whole book and extract a sentence here and a paragraph to assemble your own list of "dos and don'ts" when first starting on the diet. If you are suffering symptoms, this "forced" research project can be torture, and cause you to make painful mistakes early on if you haven't read the entire book cover to cover, AND highlighted and underlined relevant passages, AND compiled those marked passages into an action plan for yourself first.

There is a lot of great information in the book, but it is organized so badly that it forces the reader to finish the editor's job and make their own outline for getting started. I'd pay [again] for this book if they would do that for me.

This book is typical of its type. It's written and produced by a well-meaning individual (who, by the way, also has a slew of products to sell) who has good information not available in the mainstream, has no formal scientific or medical background and is not a professional writer.

While the basic premise is sound (I was introduced to a version of this diet 15 years ago), the book falls short in many areas. For the price, there are too many loose ends, too many instances when a sufficient explanation for an assertion or diet recommendation is lacking.

For example, I can't find recipes for some dishes (Baked Eggs, for instance) mentioned in the text and also the menu. The recipe section appears haphazard.

Also, the author says she's against sesame seeds, but offers no explanation for avoiding them. There's a warning against eating nightshade vegetables (peppers and tomatoes are mentioned) but the author promotes eating "new potatoes" (another nightshade vegetable) which I take to mean red potatoes, but I'm not sure. She also extoles the virtues of kefir and claims it's superior to yogurt for people with candidias but doesn't really tell us why. Both contain beneficial bacteria. Kefir, she says, also features yeast but there's no information on why kefir works better or if this yeast is safe to eat. All she says provides is that kefir "more nutritive value" than yogurt.

Another suggestion I take exception to is the recommendation to eat califlower 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 here.

There are too many instances where crucial information is placed further in the section or chapter when it needs to be stated right up front. For seven pages we hear how wonderful kefir is, but don't find instructions on when to introduce the stuff until the eighth page. Her attitude on juicing also follows a similar and confusing path.

Because there is so much information flowing through nearly 300 pages, uou have to be really dedicated to slog through this book and extract a workable program for yourself.

This method of healing has real merit, but the authors would do themselves and their readers a real service if they took the manuscript to a professional book consultant and went through the book page-by-page, edited, rewrote and clarified much of the text and beefed up the index.

I know from personal experience how difficult it can be to produce a book like this, but when a book -- no matter how many editions or revisions it's gone -- needs more work, it's time to put the ego aside, roll up the sleeves and get to the business of making it as good as it can be.

Fun to read, easy to understand, very helpful. I've been working on diets for candidiasis for many years, and this bring all the best of it together, plus does not advocate for any drug. Highly recommend.

My youngest has battled digestive issues since she started solids. This book gave me wonderful guidance on how to clear up those problems and help her body/gut heal. It has made a tremendous difference in her overall health. While I think her "diet" is good for everyone, it's a little too restrictive for most. I know I could never stick to a diet this rigid, but I have made a lot of dietary changes myself because of this book. Love it! Love it! Love it! Highly recommend reading this book.

The Body Ecology Diet is not really a diet but a way of living. Some other popular theories--eating for your bloodtype and food combining are part of this plan, but there is a much needed emphasis on the digestive process. The book is technical, at times, but the information is very useful.

I found a few good recipes in this book that supported a "low acidic" type of nutrition plan. There are some good ideas about lowering your acid levels in order to make your body a more harmonic type of system. Good info if you're into the cleansing scene, but it's definitely not a "spot" diet type of program. You really need to change your whole lifestyle for the long term, stick with it, and you'll reap the rewards.

Donna Gates has created an outstanding diet (Or as I call it nutritional plan) for those people that want to focus on building their inner ecology; and then creating a healthy external body from this.
This nutritional plan is not another quick fix, but it is a way of making you look at what you put in your mouth, while educating you for making better alternatives.

There is one flaw I found with this book - Not with the diet.
I found that the lay out and information was not in sequences. This made it harder to read, than if Donna had have put the information in a sequenced order.

The results of balancing your inner ecology can help with
- Headaches - Low sex drive
- Depression - Food allergies
- Cancer - Joint & muscle pain
- Aids - Digestive problems
- Skin Rashes - Menstual irregularities

Donna teaches you begginning with the foundation of good health and the priciples of the body ecology diet. She educates you on how to rebuild your immune system and create a bright, healthy future.
It has several pages at the end of the book with recipes and menu suggestions.

I would say that this is not for people wanting a quick fix, or the easy way out. This is a way of life, and a life long way of eating. I know once I read this book I realised I wouldnt ever want to eat differently.

Blessings to you and your health!