Customer Reviews

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

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Although I believe Dr. Rau's philosophy about the direct connection between nutrition and health, I find this diet to be very difficult to stick with and very extreme for an average, healthy person.

It is similar in philosophy to a Macrobiotic diet but the influence is European cuisine as opposed to Asian cuisine. It prohibits the intake of sugar, caffeine, processed foods, alcohol and animal protien, while greatly increasing your vegetable and grain intake. I've done the Macrobiotic diet and I experienced increased energy, vitality, better sleep, better mood, etc. Dr. Rau claims that this is what you'll experience with his diet . However, when I did the detox, I experienced headaches, nausea, and a general feeling of illness the duration of the diet and I feel it was due to the total lack of caloric intake. I do think cleansing the body is a good thing and fasting for one or two days can be beneficial. However, I do not feel his detox diet is a healthy approach for healthy people. His claims are that you will feel better and better as the days go on but that was not my experience. In my opinion, no diet that limits your caloric intake to a few hundred calories a day is good for the body. Nothing extreme is good for the body and his detox is way too extreme.

If you do decide to get this book, some things you should know:

The recipes for the three week plan and the one week intensive detox require a lot of cooking and preparation. Because it is based on the regimen done at his clinic/spa in Switzerland where meals are prepared for you, it's difficult for a regular person's lifestyle and schedule. You would basically have to take a week off from work to start the diet and that is unrealistic for most people. I also found more than a few inconsistensies: Dr. Rau opposes any dairy from cows, but some recipes call for cream and butter! Some of the ingredients are very difficult to come by. One day's meal required chestnuts and since I started the diet in Spring, they weren't available and he offers no substitution. Dr. Rau isn't thorough in his explanation of preparing some of the recipes because one recipe on the restrictive detox, he requires you to prepare a corn chowder, but doesn't explain how you are supposed to prepare the leeks in the recipe since you aren't supposed to saute anything. Dr. Rau suggests that hunger would not be a problem because of the food intake. Well that isn't true. I was very hungry all the time because of the limited caloric intake. Dr. Rau is adamant about following the diet to a tee so these inconsistensies were frustrating and it left me pretty doubtful about his claims and philosophies. I felt like he and his publisher were in a rush to publish the book and get it out and I also got the impression that it was more to promote his clinic/spa in Switzerland.

Would I suggest this book? Unfortunately, no.

Want to buy my copy?

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 am a practicing neurosurgeon in the USA, trained as a traditional allopathic doctor at an Ivy League school with the addition of a PhD to my MD degree, yet I didn't understand the true origin of our ill or aging body and it's 'diseased states', nor did I learn the answer as to finally preventing these states, until I studied with Dr. Rau. You won't need pills to treat illness or fatigue once you've learned how to cleanse your body of it's toxins and rebuild it the natural and healthy way. I urge you to read this user friendly version of Dr. Rau's God given insight and hard learned approach to becoming healthy (via true healing) and ultimately preventing illness.

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 have a friend who has been to Dr. Rau's clinic, so I was familiar with his work and its results. Now with this book I have a clear idea of why his diet works so well and also a set of recipes that will allow me to prepare the same tasty food I have been served at my friend's house. There are a lot of diet and health books out there, but this is the first one I've read that makes sense medically. It is a plan for getting well and staying there.

One of the best programs for people that are already motivated to do something about their body. Might be a little too radical for some people that are just starting on this road, but the diet is really very well designed.

By "changing the inner milieu," as Dr, Rau explains, we can return to optimal health. This book clearly tells the reader why and how that happens...and gives delicious recipes for using the right food to detoxify,rebalance,and strengthen the natural forces within us, thereby not allowing disease to take hold.I recommend this book highly!

I thought my friend had only months to live. On Dr. Rau's program she's recovered and is more energetic than ever before. This book digs into the complex issues of diet and health with clarity and ease, and the recipes make following the diet a treat!

Hello- I just spend 5 weeks at Dr. Rau's clinic in Switzerland and my health has improved DRASTICALLY. I have been sick for 11 years and I am finally feeling better (every hospital and conventional medicine place in the US, nutritionists i saw, drugs i was given all made me worse). Anyways, during my time at Paracelsus I did the liver detox week and I did feel weak and tired during it and this is very normal because your body is detoxing and the toxins float around your body before they exit your body and your liver and other organs are working extra hard during this week. I passed over 200 stones throughout the week and after the first few days during the liver detox week my energy came up and many of my symptoms were reduced.
I used to eat a very high protein diet along with many other foods Dr. Rau does not approve of. Now I am following Dr. Rau's diet and I feel great and I have lost 30 lbs!!! I am satisfied much faster during my meals and my intestinal system is functioning much better. Honestly its hard at first eating so many veggies and no meat but after a few weeks its easy and you can get creative with the recipies. The alkalinity of the food makes me feel GREAT. I definitely recommend this book and the Paracelsus Clinic saved my life!

This book is just what I have been looking for. It is very informative and easy to read and understand. It is a very good book for people who would like to detoxify the body and eliminate bad food habits that are at the source of many diseases. The book gives example weekly menus and also provides many recipes.