Breakthrough: Eight Steps to Wellness (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Life-Altering Secrets from Today’s Cutting-Edge Doctors and the #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Ageless

Today’s most trusted advocate of anti­aging medicine, Suzanne Somers, deepens her commitment to helping people lead healthier, happier lives by opening their eyes to cutting-edge, proven remedies and preventative care that most doctors just aren’t talking about with patients: longevity medicine and the more progressive study of bioidentical hormones.

As we age, certain hormones diminish, creating an imbalance that can set off everything from perimenopause to cancer, beginning as early as our thirties. This hormonal imbalance is causing many to feel depressed, anxious, fatigued, sexless, sleepless, and ultimately ill, sometimes even terminally. What’s more, Somers and twenty doctors in the field of antiaging medicine argue that the processed chemicals in foods and pharmaceuticals we ply ourselves with are actually slowly eroding our bodies and minds. So we’re getting slammed twice. From estrogen dominance to deceptive thyroid problems, people are suffering, and most don’t have access to the treatment they truly need to get better and thrive . . . until now.

Breakthrough explores cutting-edge science and delivers smart, proactive advice on the newest treatments for breakthrough health and longevity.

In addition to being a pioneer in a rapidly growing health field, Somers is a passionate, caring individual whose own life was derailed by disease and brought back to unimaginable, feel good heights that she wants you, too, to experience.

About the Author

SUZANNE SOMERS is the author of seventeen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Ageless; Keeping Secrets; Eat Great, Lose Weight; Get Skinny on Fabulous Food; Eat, Cheat, and Melt the Fat Away; Fast and Easy; and The Sexy Years.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 1 edition (September 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400053277
• ISBN-13: 978-1400053278
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,548 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #2 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Authors, A-Z > Somers, Suzanne
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  #45 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Personal Health > Healthy Living

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It helps to be rich!, September 14, 2008

By	juliejules (southwest) - See all my reviews

Suzanne walks the walk for sure. The only complaint I have is that her suggestions involve thousands of dollars and really are only for the rich. IV Chelation costs thousands and is not covered by insurance. Stem cell preservation ($7500) and human growth hormone ($$ monthly). Also, you can't just take on her suggestions without the knowledge of a functional medicine type doctor. As a mom of 3 girls, I do and will continute to use BHRT with help from my functional medicine doctor but I even if I had the money couldn't bring myself to inject HGH. Her nutrition suggestions are spot on. If we only would all practice them consistently, we may have alot less disease.

229 of 262 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This "breakthrough" needs fixing, November 8, 2008

By	Michael E. Platt MD (Rancho Mirage, Ca) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ms. Somers has taken an important subject and made it unnecessarily complicated and perhaps inappropriate/impossible for the average reader. If one were to follow her "breakthrough" recommendations, they would be spending much of their life detoxing, eating organic fruits and vegetables(and little else), exercising, getting lymphatic massages, having their root canals and fillings extracted, getting their electrical currents measured, setting aside blood for future stem cell needs(at $7500 a pop), having chelation therapy, taking HGH shots, and eliminating all foods that provide a modicum of pleasure in todays world.

Much of what is stated is important and helpful, but a true wellness book should have been more definitive about people getting off medications, not just statin drugs. A true wellness physician should be able to eliminate all medications that his/her patients are on. This is achieved by eliminating the causation of illness, a subject that is not covered in this book. There are many people who have difficulty sleeping, have restless leg syndrome, anger issues, road rage, fibromyalgia( which is not an auto-immune disorder or an inflammatory condition as stated in the book ), depression or IBS from internalization of anger, hypertension, a problem with excessive drinking,or smoking, or drugs in order to "chill out", anxiousness-type feelings, bipolar disorders, excess cortisol production leading to weight gain, chronic interstitial cystitis, etc. Every one of these conditions are caused by an over-production of a hormone that is scarcely mentioned in the book - adrenaline, the fight-or-flight hormone. The control of this hormone is imperative to achieving wellness; ironically, it is easy to do. Every one of the conditions mentioned can often be eliminated by lowering the levels of this hormone.

I am a wellness physician and very much supportive of what Ms. Somers is trying to accomplish. It does not have to be complicated, it involves sitting down and talking to the patient, getting hormones in balance appropriately without unnessarily high doses of estrogen(or any at all since most women never stop making it),removing medications, an education in nutrition, and the correct use of supplements.

For the record I would like to clarify some statements in the book: Estrogen lowers IGF-1 levels. It is dangerous to use these levels as a guide to HGH dosage when taking estrogen(as does Ms. Somers).
Progesterone lowers insulin levels, it does not raise them.
HGH is not an anti-aging hormone; it increases IGF-1 which speeds up aging.
Testosterone does not lower cholesterol levels, but is certainly cardio-protective for both men and women.
In men,testosterone can easily convert into estradiol, the cause of prostate cancer. Perhaps some mention should have been made about how to prevent this conversion.
Migraine headaches are not "a classic response to low estrogen". They are caused by estrogen and are eliminated by progesterone cream.
"A backed-up gall bladder" is not the most common cause of headaches.

Suzanne Somers began her book with the same quotation that I ended mine with. My book begins with a quotation from Voltaire who stated that, "Doctors give drugs of which they know little/Into bodies of which they know less/For diseases of which they know nothing at all".

Michael E. Platt,md The author of The Miracle of Bio-identical Hormones,2nd edition.

45 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WAKE UP TIME !!!, September 16, 2008

By	lotstolearn (carolina) - See all my reviews

Eveyone should read this book!!!! It is a wake up call to all people to see what medicine in our country has morphed into. We have lost all insight into the way our bodies work and respond to the food we put in our mouths, the toxins we eat, drink and are exposed to. Our bodies were not made to ingest the chemicals and nasty oils. Read this book then start reading labels!!! And for the love of Pete, get your hormones checked if you are over 35!!! Why in the world would you not want to use natural bio identical hormone therapy to feel better and fight disease??? Some of the things that are cutting edge mentioned in the book are expensive. However, bio identicals, supplements and eating healthy is NOT! Find a good bio identical/alternative doc to handle your hormone replacement and help yourself. Don't let your standard medical doc talk you out of it because they don't know about it like mine did. The real wake up call from this book that everyone should take away is to be your own advocate. Don't just take what a doc tells you and believe everything they say. Check it out for yourself. Get off the pills and get your body right. YOU have to be the person in charge of your health. I have been through years of thyroid disorders due to the fact that the docs were using outdated info, failed to test thoroughly, and use common sense methods. Now I am scrambling to get it all back in order with great alternative doc. Lesson here, take this stuff to heart, do what you can to be healthy, spend the money on health rather than junk.
Suzanne has lots of info on cancer and treatments. We need to note how our medical society treats cancer and how they should be dealing with it. It is a very sad reality. This book has a lot to think about and a lot to act on. I highly recommend it to all my friends and family. Thank you Suzanne for putting yourself out there for our education.