Reviewer: A. Minocha MD, author: Guide to Alternative Medicine and the Digestive System
The book is based on the principle. “You are What You Eat” and I certainly believe that our forefathers were right!
A note of caution: While physicians generally use the term IBD for chronic idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease that includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, the author uses it in much more expansive fashion to include any disorder with inflammation in the gut.
The book focusses its holistic therapeutic approach more so on ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease as well as celiac disease. While the patients get good advice from physicians regarding medications, this book serves as an easy non-pharmacologic treatment complement to medical advice.
The author Christie Korth, who herself suffers from Crohn’s disease stresses that a holistic healing approach is much better than a solely pharmacologic strategy. Among other things, such an approach seeks to counter our day after day consumption of over-processed, prepackaged and fast foods of modern fast paced life that may contribute to causation and relapses of the disease.
Best of all, patients don’t have to accept that. A well thought out dietary manipulation has potential to modulate the disease process. Patients can easily accomplish a healthy nutritious diet and lifestyle regimen without sacrificing taste and using too much time.
Chapter 1 of the book is titled “Inflammatory bowel disease 101”. Inflammatory bowel diseases are described as a family of chronic disorders. It provides a brief overview of IBD including colitis, Crohn’s disease and celiac disease in easy to understand terms. The author touches on the potential role of gastrointestinal bacteria and intestinal permeability or leaky gut in pathogenesis of IBD.
The book differentiates between each individual’s unique food allergies and food intolerances and highlights the importance of an individualized dietary plan for patients. One of the many helpful worksheets/quiz for readers includes Wheel of Digestive Health. This to help patient discern which areas of the life are “balanced” and which ones need a “tune-up’.
Ms Kork provides a variety of options of dietary manipulations to facilitate healing including consuming organic foods while describing tips to avoiding sugar that hurts. Gluten related issues are covered in different parts of book. Highlights of the book include an anti-inflammatory diet menu in chapter #4 titled “Soothing Foods for Intestines’. Healthy lunch ideas for those on the go are included as well.
Chapter #5 is solely devoted to establishing a supplement regime. I was delighted to see probiotics, a topic of my great interest to me covered well. She describes the potential benefits of probiotics, Why to try them, What to look for, and How to take them. My other favorite is turmeric and that is also discussed.
Another chapter (#6) is devoted to “Essential IBD Resources” and includes a menu planner, sample allergen-free menu, as well as listings of diagnostic laboratories and helpful health websites.
The author rounds out the book with a chapter titled, “Recipe Corner” covering over 100 pages of nutritious recipes that are sure to please any discriminating palate.
Finally, the author not only keeps the book interesting throughout in easy to understand language, she does not shy away from interspersing humor with the serious stuff as is indicated by a letter that a patient “Steven” wrote to a toilet paper manufacturer.
Read reviews of Dr. Minocha's book Guide to Alternative Medicine and the Digestive System
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