Customer Reviews

Self Help Way To Treat Colitis and Other IBS Conditions, Second Edition

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My son Tom, now aged sixteen, had suffered from ulcerative colitis for almost three years.
I often looked for advice and help on the internet, once it became apparent that the gastroenterologist's standard medicines, azothioprine and steroids, were not helping Tom.
We were actually told by the specialist that diet made no difference!!!
As I watched Tom grow taller and thinner by the month, we tried the specific carbohydrate diet. This did not help.
I next took him to a naturopath, who prescribed slippery elm, which worked well for three months, then back to square one he went.
Then I found the book, written by an American doctor, who himself had suffered from colitis, and had researched it, using all his scientific skills and understanding, until he found a solution.
It was simply to remove from the diet all sugar, fruit and milk.
This is an easy diet to shop and cook for. Basically, Tom can eat anything savoury. We never did buy junk food - he only eats freshly prepared meat, fish, chicken, vegetables, potatoes, rice, pasta, etc.
Within days, as it says in the book, Tom felt better. The damaged gut began to heal.
After three months, he was well enough to take some exams, and after spending three years in his room, misssing school and friends, he is now leading a normal life again!
It feels like a miracle, and it is now six months since he started the diet. We are all meticulous about Tom's food. My daughter and I no longer eat sweets, cake or biscuits - well a little chocolate maybe, to help and support Tom in his recovery.
Friends and family prayed for him, but it still feels like a wonderful miracle.
Tom himself confessed to me that he thought he would never recover.

This book really worked for me. It's small, and to the point, but as simple as it is, I couldn't find the same information anywhere else!

It's written by a doctor who had to deal with UC himself. The theory is still on the fringes, and you won't hear about sugar intollerances and sugar, fructose problems anywhere. However, they are a key factor in getting well in a number of illnesses.

I would definitely recommend this book for a read and to try out if you are dealing with chronic illnesses from unexplained origins.. such as UC, CD etc.

God bless the author.

PS- I've noted some further info, not included in the book. To properly avoid ALL fructose foods, also add to the list (besides those in the book and all fruits); corn, corn syrup, beets, carrots, tomato, peas, eggplant, and sweet potato. I've also noticed it is helpful to just avoid any form of "glucose syrup".

I was diagnosed 17 years ago with UC at the age of 21. I've read many books and tried every diet, not to mention been to most types of alternative practitioners, & a slew of western doctors in various states, with no positive results. I recently got this book and for the first time I saw immediate & positive change. This book tells you what to avoid, and WHY. After fighting this disease for many years, I have never felt better. And after reading this book never have I had such a clear understanding of how the body's digestion works, and I certainly have never felt this good in almost 2 decades.

This book has the answers you won't hear many other places! Its not stress! It's in the food you eat, it's called "Fructose Intolerance". Dr. Gibbons tells you what to do to regain a normal life. Along with the University of Iowa website support for DFI (dietary fructose intolerance), you will have the answers you need.

Dr. Gibbons is a genius. Nowhere else have I seen such concise information on Colitis. He has written everything you need to know about the condition and how various foods impact it. He tells which foods are the villians to avoid. He advises which foods are OK. My sister who is a dietitian thinks he's brillant. Dr. Gibbons also mentions the "Colitis Conspiracy" in his summary. The doctor suffered from the condition himself and this is the reason he wrote this excellent book. Buy this book and get your illness under control!

Dr. Gibbons is a genious. Gone are the days of pills and enemas. Change your diet and avoid the foods that cause problems. This book and the information are a godsend. If you suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, please buy this book. It is truly a miracle.

I found this book when feeling much despair in the treatment of my daughter who was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who has any IBD inflammatory bowel disease or IBS inflammatory bowel syndrome. We were offered surgery, (colon removal,) or heavy duty medications for our elementary age girl. She had been sick for several (7) months with bloody diarrhea. Some medications helped for a short period of time,(prednisone and mesalamine,) but it was only weeks before they didn't help. It finally occurred to me that we needed to look closer at fructose when she became quite ill after Halloween weekend. She had consumed soda pop, orange juice, and way too much candy. At first we stopped the fructose for about 5 days, we saw some improvement. But to fully implement this treatment we needed to stop milk as well, (she still got to eat cheeses and yogurts). We also reduced wheat products, only giving low fiber types like white bread in small doses and switching to gutten free whenever we could. Also we had already stopped the polyols, sugar alcohol artificial sweetners. Some artificial sweetners are okay and are quite helpful, such as aspartame. This was early in December 2009. I have since found out that this is called a FODMAP diet. Getting information on this diet appears somewhat limited, but it's out there and in this book. Nine days after full implementation of this method with our daughter and the blood in her stools stopped. Fifteen days after implementing this method and my daughter told me her bowel movements are back to the way they were 8 months ago prior to all of this starting, aka normal. She is not taking any medications. She is getting supplements of iron for her residual anemia and she takes a child size dose of basic, inexpensive probiotics. She also gets some vitamins. At first we weren't sure that this would be a lasting effect, maybe just a remission. But after looking long and hard for information on this I really truly believe that this is the answer I intended. We did not get information on this from our paid experts. We were told that diet has nothing to do with it. We were serving her medications with fruit juice several times a day!

Our daughter is well, eating well, playing well, and her energy is returning to previous levels. Nothing could make us happier. She's not suffering, just having to pay attention to what she eats along with help from her parents. We have made sure she has her special treats for her special occasions at school and with friends.

It is my understanding that fructose malabsorption is common and that is not abnormal for many to have sensitivities to consuming large loads or doses of sugar in whatever form it may come in. I will now always be a proponent of this concept. My grandmother died of ulcerative colitis in 1980. She was the best cook of all the chewy gooey sweets. I think of her often this time of year, the holidays...De Lamar Gibbons MD is my #1, all time hero. We owe him much graditute.

I have been taking medication for proctitis for some time now. My symptoms would not go away. I had asked my doctor which foods to avoid and basically he said to avoid anything that doesn't seem to work for me. I finally went on line for some reading material and found this book. After a week on this diet, I started seeing results. I am now symptom free and it has only been 3 weeks. The great thing about this diet is that I don't have to make special recipes. I just have to avoid specific things. It is very easy to follow. Thank you as this book has gave me my life back again.

This is the best, most complete overview of the mechanics of fructose intolerance and how it affects bowel health that I have found in years of reading, but there are disappointing gaps in the author's practical advice, and some downright bizarre statements about weight loss. If you have found that the conventional high-fiber diet for IBS is not helping (or even making your IBS worse), read this book. This may be the key to your problems. Unfortunately, after convincingly establishing that fructose intolerance is at the root of much bowel distress, the author gives only spotty practical advice about what to eat and what to avoid. For example, he repeatedly warns against eating "wheat fiber," but says nothing whatsoever about oat or rice fiber. Are they safer? Just as bad? He mentions "waffle syrup made of corn" several times as a source of fructose. Is he implying that pure maple syrup is safe? Maple syrup is very high in fructose I believe, but anyone reading this book might assume that as long as the syrup is not derived from corn it is harmless. And his weight loss advice is just strange. He rails against ketogenic diets as unhealthy and counterproductive to weight loss, then gives you his version to try! While the bulk of his argument is a revision of the unexamined conventional wisdom on "healthy" eating that he believes is all wrong for IBS sufferers, his weight loss advice is a hodge-podge of exactly the same kind of lazy conventional wisdom. I suspect this reflects the fact that serious bowel disorders (his area of expertise) are more likely to result in weight loss and emaciation than obesity, so his weight loss diet is kind of a careless afterthought.

In the end, I recommend this book for its detailed discussion of fructose intolerance and its role in bowel disease, but if you decide to take the low-fructose approach to healing, look for another list of "eat this, avoid that" foods. As for weight loss, any low carb approach will be low fructose. Find the one you can live with.
UPDATE: June 2010: Check out http://www.amazon.com/IBS-Free-Last-Revolutionary-Step-Step/dp/0982063504/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276731568&sr=1-1 for more practical information. It explains carbohydrate maldigestion and give a step-by-step action plan for finding out which foods are bothering you and why.

I had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis about a year before finding this wonderful book. At that point I was barely able to leave the house due to the awful symptoms of this disease. A week and a half after changing my diet as suggested I was able to go camping with no problems! The changes in diet outlined in this book are easy to try and don't cost extra. Just try it for two weeks, it could make a difference in your life, too.