Customer Reviews

Restoring Your Digestive Health: How the Guts and Glory Program Can Transfom Your Life

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've had wonderful success by just eating or avoiding the foods Drs. Brasco and Rubin recommend. I take only one supplement now (after learning about it in this book), and it's not a brand they listed. They offer alternatives for people who have difficulty finding things and for the "Budgetarily Challenged". Their suggestions helped me tailor a plan that works for me.

Their explanations of diseases, and conventional and alternative treatments enabled me to make better choices, ask my doctors for the right tests, and be an active partner in my treatment. I had followed the advice of some other authors-and I got worse. In this book Dr. Rubin shares how he triumphed over his own digestive disease, and Dr. Brasco shares his clinical successes with his patients. They know what they're talking about.

There's a wealth of valuable information in the resources and books they recommend. This book is helping me regain my health and I feel very fortunate to have found it.

A little background first

I have Post Infectious IBS for 2 years now. It started after taking large amounts of antibiotics to heal from pneumonia.
Feeling very bad as most IBS sufferers, I tried several diets, went to a lot of GI doctors and even tried acupuncture, reflexology, ... you name it.
I took antidepressants for a while to help me with my mood since I felt so bad in times that I didn't even want to work or even get out of home. I lost 40 pounds so far.

Since January 2005, I read these books (I put a personal rating to each one, related to how much it helped me with my IBS, in parenthesis from 1 to 5, being 5 the best score):

Breaking the Vicious Cycle - Elaine Gotschall (3)
Eating Right for a bad Gut - James Scala (2)
Total health Program - Joseph Mercola (3)
Metabolic Type Dieting - William Linz Wolcott, Trish Fahey (1)

I recently read "Restoring Your Digestive Health" (5)


To the point:

Besides the fact that many, if not everyone, of the people who write this kind of books look for some sort of monetary earnings (and many do that just for the money), there always stays the fact about whether the material presented has a real value or not. In other words, do the programs and recommendations in this book really work?

For me they did. In fact it is my personal opinion that this book encloses many of the concepts that I've been studying for the past year. It gives you a brief explanation about many of them. In that respect at least, I wished I had bought this book before the other ones, since in the end it is like a little reference of them. Bad luck.

Of course I don't agree with many things, for instance the "structured water" suplement, since based on other sources I read, it is very controversial an in many aspects without scientific background, although the authors may recommend it based on their clinical experience rather than anything else. More probably I think, they are trying to encourage people to buy their supplements (who can blame them).

So back to the main point here, maybe the authors are willing that the readers go out and buy some of their supplements, but the issue here is whether the Guts and Glory program works. It will be fair to mention that the authors never tell you not to have any conventional drugs nor they force you to have any supplements. They even give you a "Low Budget" alternative where you'll never even buy a supplement, although they argue it will take you longer to heal. I think the authors are more objective than the more radical approaches of the other books I read.

And of course, MOST importantly, I've been in the Guts and Glory program for 4 weeks and I feel BETTER than years!!!!. I know it's only my word, but I'm being honest here. I'm talking the Brasco Broth everyday, and I'm not even talking any extra supplement beside Chlorella, which I've been taking for 5 months now.

If it's worth something, this is the only review I've written so far about any book that I read. This is because I'm encouraging you to at least give it a try. If you are an IBS slave like I've been the last years, it could help you a lot.

So I don't care if the idea was to make me buy more supplements, in the end I'm not buying them anyway, but I DO feel better. I make my own goat yogurt (very cheap) and my own Sauerkraut (even cheaper). Maybe the only supplements I take, besides Chlorella, are the digestive enzymes, but I've been taking them for over a year now.

Conclusion: Even if a partial intention of the book is to make you buy more supplements (which I think it is so) in the end I think that the program works simply because it is the only thing in years which has made me feel better.

If anyone wishes to contact me (for legitimate reasons) you can freely do it at gaspar2428@yahoo.es

I had visited my parents during a snow storm and had to eat what they ate, so it was a much simpler diet than the usual coca cola and garbage I usually ate. Immediately my irritable bowel syndrome (I think thats what I had) seemed to get better. Later I got this book, and I changed my diet more, eating the catagories of food recommended in the book. He doesn't say you absolutely need organic food. I took the digestive enzymes recommended, and I still do. A fine book.

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

Key Words: Health, Digestion, GI, HSO, Food, Nutrition, Digestive Disorders

"Restoring Your Digestive Health - How the Guts and Glory Program Can Transform Your Life" by Jordan S.Rubin and Joseph Brasco is a good resource book for all sufferers of digestive disorders. In a very detailed and fairly simple, easy-to-understand style, the authors, a naturopathic doctor who was an ex-patient and a Board-Certified Gastroenterologist, explain the reasons for poor digestion and the resultant problems.

The book deals with a variety of GI problems such as IBS, Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Dyspepsia, Candidiasis etc., and the role of intestinal flora in optimal maintenance of health. The authors offer a number of useful suggestions and very specific dietary protocols for each problem.

The experience of Jordan S. Rubin who was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease - a very serious 'incurable' disease and who tried a number of doctors and treatments adds credibility to the book. The critical role played by various foods in maintenace of intestinal flora, i.e. the various bacteria which help in optimal food digestion and absorption is brought out well. The authors explain how HSOs (Homeostatic Soil Organsims) play a major role in improving and nurturing the intestinal environment. The treatment regimen given in the book is based mostly on what worked for Rubin, modified over years by the combined wisdom of Rubin and Brasco who claim to have helped thousands of sufferers over the past few years.

The book is specifically aimed at the US and Canadian readers, but the general principles are applicable to all. Thus for understanding the types and causes of various stomach ailments, this book will be found useful for all English speaking readers. I found it very interesting and useful to understand the general principles of good GI health.

The book would have better value if suitable illustrations accompanied the detailed explanations about the role of various organs in Alimentary Canal or GI tract as it is called. The dietary program given will not be appropriate to people with different religious beliefs. Thus all non-vegetarians will not be able to accept pork or beef etc. And the program is certainly not suitable for vegetarians, though some of the insights will help lacto-vegetarians too.

The opinions expressed by the authors about the other testing and treatment options may not be acceptable to all readers, esp. those who benefited from them in earlier instances. The opinions do come across as rather subjective and self-serving at places. In my opinion, that chapter could have been written better by the authors.

The book would also have benefited from better editing and proof-reading. Chapter 10, 'Protocols' could have been shorter since mostly same matter is repeated under each condition. Alternatively, that chapter could have been bound in tear-off sheet style, so that sufferers can tear out specific sections for day-to-day reference or may be paste to their refrigerator / kitchen cabinet. Typographic errors and style errors are present, which however, do not prevent our understanding and appreciation of the subject.

These minor shortcomings not withstanding, I strongly recommend this book to those who need to better understand the Digestive Disorders in themselves or their relatives and friends etc. A good buy.

Great book on digestiv health. The book does an excellent job of explainng "what to do" to improve your digestive health, and even explains "why". The book claims that this alone will "transform you life". The best that can be hoped for here is short-lived temporary change. What's required to really make the excellent information contained in this book work for you is to make the changes that are required for real life change, permanent, automatic habits. Changing habits is the key to changing your lifestyle. Otherwis, the knowledge gained in this book is short-lived and will not cause "life change" as the books claims. A clinical dietitian friend of mine gave me an amazing book called The Power of Habit by Jack D. Hodge which explains why so called life changes are short lived unless habits are changed. Utilizing the power of habit can help make healthy eating, permanent and automatic habits. With this "guts and glory program" and the book The Power of Habit, you will have the "What to do" along with "How to consistently do it" - All the tools needed to create real life change. I recommend both books.

I suffered with Crohns disease for several years and went from weighing 130lbs down to 97lbs and looking like a concentration camp survivor. Then I had surgery (1/3 of my intestines removed) and got better for about a year and then it came back. So I suffered for another few years.

Eventually, I discovered just about the same thing Jordan Rubin did and I have been almost perfect for the last 15 years with only an occasional twinge. If I wrote a book on Crohnes it would sound almost exactly like this one. The only difference would be that I took Flagyl to kill off the bad bacteria living in my gut before taking the probiotics. Once I reestablished the healthy flora things were 1000% better. So I highly recommend the book.

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.

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"

After many tests, my husband and I were both diagnosed with IBS. We tried many treatments, both traditional and holistic, and several diets. For over 2 years we barely "managed" our symptoms with IBS-friendly cookbooks. I didn't want to manage IBS--I wanted to be free from it. Then, I read this book by Rubin and Brasco and also Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet, by Elaine Gottschall. Some reviewers have mentioned the quack reports on the web about Rubin. I read them also, but only after I had picked up this book at the local health food store. I don't really care about where Rubin got his degree if his plan works. I can tell you this: the doctor who co-authored the book with him helped us more than all of the many other internists, gastroenterologists, and infectious disease doctors we saw over the months and years of our illness.

One of the criticisms on Amazon reviews is that the book pushes Garden of Life products. The products are indeed listed in the book, but the authors give many alternatives from other companies and even say that you don't have to necessarily use supplements. I had already used Garden of Life products in the past and liked them very much, so this wasn't an issue for me. We did not use all of the recommended supplements as it can get really expensive. We took the enzymes and the probiotics and found them very helpful. We followed the diet portion of the plan faithfully for 4-6 months. It was not easy, and you can't cheat. We got so tired of eating the same thing for days. But, we were very ill and could not even go to work some days. We could not eat out in restaurants and travel was difficult. For us, it was worth the effort. Now we can eat what we want. My "wants" have changed as a result of this illness, though. I am more aware of the effects of food on the body and happily maintain a very healthy diet with occasional splurges.

I recommend Healing Foods: Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn's and IBS and Prasad's Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet: The Grain-Free, Lactose-Free, Sugar-Free Solution to IBD, Celiac Disease, Autism, Cystic Fibrosis, and Other Health Conditions (Healthy Living Cookbooks) for supporting recipes which follow the plan. I made the 30 hour yogurt from raw milk purchased at a local goat farm with this yogurt maker: Tribest Yolife Yogurt Maker - YL-210 The diet calls for a lot of this yogurt with extra fermentation to help restore the proper balance in your gut. (Grocery store yogurt is only fermented a few hours.) With this product, you can make yogurt in quart jars rather than tiny cups.

I highly recommend this book to people who are willing to do whatever it takes to get well. If you are the type of person looking for a pill or a shot to make it all go away, this might not work for you. But if you have willpower and believe that diet really can make a big difference in healing your digestive system, give this a try for at least 4 months. I'm glad we did!