A Book Review

Such compelling words! I certainly don't want to be killed by the ignorance of my doctor, and more than that I don't want to be the doctor whose ignorance may kill others. The title kinda piqued my curiosity, but I should've known better- that such compelling words is part of the marketing strategy. And yet, I read on, because I was too curious to know what he had to offer. Why, indeed, are we taught in medical school that as long as we eat a balanced diet, we don't need nutritional supplements? Why is it generally frowned upon in the medical community?!

The book talked about how our body has its own natural healing power, and that the common threat of all diseases is the excessive oxidative stress that our body just can't handle anymore. It then went on to give anecdotes about how taking nutritional supplements helped the patients come around- some were healed by it, some saw dramatic improvements. The book gave a pretty detailed description of the various disease processes, in the simplest way that anyone can understand without needing a lot of medical knowledge. The author also stressed that nutritional supplements is only complementary to whatever treatment that the patients were receiving, and it is by no means the only thing that the patient should take in order to be well again - a very important point because some people might have misunderstood the author thinking that just taking multi-vitamins is enough and will heal them completely.

I can see how non-medical people can learn a great deal from this book. It was probably more than an eye-opener to them- it would've totally convinced them that nutritional supplements is the way to go. For medical students or medical professionals, it offered a perspective other than what we were taught or what we were accustomed to. I can't say I was enlightened by the book, but I give the author credit where credit is due. This book is primarily for general public to know their body a little better and to understand the disease processes that plague many of them, and ultimately it is a book written to encourage people to start taking care of their health- by taking nutritional supplements. For that, I think it's done a tremendous job convincing people.

So. Just for fun, I'd rate the book a 3 out of 5. The title of the book, in my opinion, is exaggerated. But it did its job- it made you read what he has to say! It also did its job convincing you to start searching for the most trustworthy nutritional supplements the market has to offer, at which point you'll come to realize that he was on the medical review board of the nutritional company called USANA (he's moved on to ARIIX last year). The fact that the entire book sounded like a marketing tool also irritated me a little. (OK fine, it is a marketing tool.) It got a 3 out of 5 from me only because my personal view isn't too far off from the author's, in that I do believe nutritional supplements is beneficial to a person's health, although there are many other factors at play too. In conclusion, unless you believe otherwise, I'd suggest reading something else that tells you things that you don't already know! Go read something more fun, like the discovery of insulin. or 1Q84. :)