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Food Is Your Best Medicine: The Pioneering Nutrition Classic
Drugs may not be the only cure for disease . . .
What do Gloria Swanson and Greta Garbo have in common?
They owe their good health to Dr. Henry Bieler's sane, simple, and utterly profound philosophy that food is your best medicine!
You are what you eat, and Dr. Bieler contends, based on over fifty years of practice, that proper diet plays a key role in warding off and curing disease.
Food Is Your Best Medicine features a fascinating interpretation of how the body functions to maintain good health and addresses all kinds of ailments with specific nutritional approaches.
Zucchini and other vegetables, simple broths, nourishing whole grains—all so much better for you than drugs, and they really work!
What do Gloria Swanson and Greta Garbo have in common?
They owe their good health to Dr. Henry Bieler's sane, simple, and utterly profound philosophy that food is your best medicine!
You are what you eat, and Dr. Bieler contends, based on over fifty years of practice, that proper diet plays a key role in warding off and curing disease.
Food Is Your Best Medicine features a fascinating interpretation of how the body functions to maintain good health and addresses all kinds of ailments with specific nutritional approaches.
Zucchini and other vegetables, simple broths, nourishing whole grains—all so much better for you than drugs, and they really work!
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1966
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473 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 14, 2014
Way ahead of his time, Dr Bieler treated my mom for hypertension after she lost a baby in the 8th month of pregnancy. His treatment? CHANGE YOUR DIET. And she did... And she and my parents have lived on these principles for more than 40 years. Fantastic book.
October 20, 2017
I read this years ago, but heard it mentioned on a forum and decided it might be worth rereading. It was written in 1965, but the content still has merit today. Bieler realized that although food is medicine, when people end up in a diseased state, they might need different whole foods to get them well. Sometimes they need just plants, and those need to be alkaline plants such as green beans, zucchini, celery. This would be true especially for the person whose condition is caused by heavy meat eating. Others, in his opinion, need to have raw milk, or next to raw meat. Both of those options are somewhat questionable today. He also believed that for some conditions, you just needed fruits and vegetables and meat, eliminating all grains. This is of course, the basis of fundamental medicine today. Categorizing people according to types, he was able to base some of his recommendations on the needs of that particular type. Very interesting reread.
August 9, 2007
Pharmaceuticals step out-a-here! You want optimun health, food is a big part of it for you! You will be amazed at what this man does for the people under his care.
January 14, 2013
The author is a famous physician of the past, well known for having helped many Holliwod stars of his time. He was a doctor completely dedicated to his patients and working 7 days a week even after having retired. He accpeted all the patients that had the will to change their bad habits independently from their social status.
The book is divided into 3 parts. The first one explain in simple words how the human body works as a whole. This is something that most of the over-specialized doctors unfortunately don't know themselves. The second part shows why and how the body breaks down. The third part explain the role of some foods and nutrients in health and disease. In particual proteins as body builder and body killers, vegetables, milk and yeasts and stimulants, such as salt and coffee. Some of the most common ailments are explained as well.
Bieler was much ahead of his time. He deeply studied the history of medicine and the history of man both in USA and Europe. He was one of the few of his time to underline how the fast changes of the last centuries could not keep the pace of evolution times and consequently how civilization has marked the beginning of acute diseases (infectious diseases) and of cronic diseases (spread of cancer, diabetes, heart diseases,...). As Bieler says, it is undeniable that our germ theory has made us winners against the infectious diseases, but it has as well failed over the cronic diseases. Bieler helped many his patient to heal from the cronic diseases. Whenever the body of his patient was too compromised to grant a complete healing, he granted anyway his patients to acheived a good stantard of living.
I suggest to read the book over and over. Each time you find out something new.
The book is divided into 3 parts. The first one explain in simple words how the human body works as a whole. This is something that most of the over-specialized doctors unfortunately don't know themselves. The second part shows why and how the body breaks down. The third part explain the role of some foods and nutrients in health and disease. In particual proteins as body builder and body killers, vegetables, milk and yeasts and stimulants, such as salt and coffee. Some of the most common ailments are explained as well.
Bieler was much ahead of his time. He deeply studied the history of medicine and the history of man both in USA and Europe. He was one of the few of his time to underline how the fast changes of the last centuries could not keep the pace of evolution times and consequently how civilization has marked the beginning of acute diseases (infectious diseases) and of cronic diseases (spread of cancer, diabetes, heart diseases,...). As Bieler says, it is undeniable that our germ theory has made us winners against the infectious diseases, but it has as well failed over the cronic diseases. Bieler helped many his patient to heal from the cronic diseases. Whenever the body of his patient was too compromised to grant a complete healing, he granted anyway his patients to acheived a good stantard of living.
I suggest to read the book over and over. Each time you find out something new.
December 19, 2017
Dr. Bierler was once an overweight, pill-pusher who sought not to fix the source of disease but to cover the symptoms. Many of his contemporaries (and probably many of today’s doctors) thought he was nuts. “Malnutrition from synthesized, heavy foods causes disease; nonsense!” They cried, but Bieler proved again and again that diese could be curbed with a proper, nutrient-dense diet.
This book is not intented to give recipes and the reader an easy way out (something he states from the beginning, though he does give you some ideas of how a healthy person eats). But he does give you deep insight into how the body works, and how it is affected by the food, and for a lot of people, garbage that we put in it.
While he does not shun medicine, he rather asserts it should only used when diet change alone cannot fix our bodies. Much like the chemicals we cannot process from junk food, the effects of medicines on the body can sometimes outweigh the benefits.
This books is for those of us who are serious about health, who realize that food is not all about sensory pleasure, rather the feeling of good health over a long life. Instant gratitude is not in Bieler’s vocabulary; you must fix the problem you’ve compounded over time. He time and time again compares the body to a machine that we must put proper oil in, such as fasting on nutritious vegetable broth during illness to let our bodies recover.
Bieler is one of the people I think about when judging my own health. “What would he say about this issue?” I ponder. I know that he would advise me to eat a proper amount of nutritious food and I will feel well at the end of the day. And I do.
This book is not intented to give recipes and the reader an easy way out (something he states from the beginning, though he does give you some ideas of how a healthy person eats). But he does give you deep insight into how the body works, and how it is affected by the food, and for a lot of people, garbage that we put in it.
While he does not shun medicine, he rather asserts it should only used when diet change alone cannot fix our bodies. Much like the chemicals we cannot process from junk food, the effects of medicines on the body can sometimes outweigh the benefits.
This books is for those of us who are serious about health, who realize that food is not all about sensory pleasure, rather the feeling of good health over a long life. Instant gratitude is not in Bieler’s vocabulary; you must fix the problem you’ve compounded over time. He time and time again compares the body to a machine that we must put proper oil in, such as fasting on nutritious vegetable broth during illness to let our bodies recover.
Bieler is one of the people I think about when judging my own health. “What would he say about this issue?” I ponder. I know that he would advise me to eat a proper amount of nutritious food and I will feel well at the end of the day. And I do.
June 17, 2017
This book is going into my shelves and I will be grabbing another copy. Dr. Henry Bieler gives a digested version of complex nutritional and chemistry education. There aren't any special recipes in this book but there is a ton a valuable ideas and research that remain relevant to this day and possibly the future. Health has always been our responsibility, and peer/societal pressure knocks a lot of folks to the conformist train in eating whatever that "tastes good" or is "healthy". We have to do our own research and ask, find out WHY we do a thing or eat a thing. None the less, I believe you'll enjoy this book as much as I did (if you're into dietetics/health studies).
March 19, 2018
Food IS Your Best Medicine...
...The Pioneering Nutrition Classic was required reading in class I’m taking. Clear, concise, and eye-opening. Keeping in my library to share with others.
...The Pioneering Nutrition Classic was required reading in class I’m taking. Clear, concise, and eye-opening. Keeping in my library to share with others.
August 8, 2009
I learned a great deal from this book, even though the material is a little dated, I have found that I am more aware of what I consume.
August 22, 2011
Prava knjiga ob pravem času.
Človek je največja mojstrovina narave.
Priporočam.
Človek je največja mojstrovina narave.
Priporočam.
January 18, 2019
A fascinating read
It’s hard to believe this book was written when I was a child. Dr. Beiler was a pioneer in using food to heal people. Much of what he says is still relevant today. I learned a great deal and do enjoy his famed ‘Beiler Broth’ often.
It’s hard to believe this book was written when I was a child. Dr. Beiler was a pioneer in using food to heal people. Much of what he says is still relevant today. I learned a great deal and do enjoy his famed ‘Beiler Broth’ often.
July 25, 2018
Would not recommend to anyone looking to get healthy. Bad science!
August 7, 2020
I wish there were more than 5 stars, I can't emphasize enough how important this book this. Such an eyeopener!
January 14, 2022
Informative
It was very informative, I was expecting more detailed diet suggestions but after reading the end I realize why they were not included.
It was very informative, I was expecting more detailed diet suggestions but after reading the end I realize why they were not included.
October 30, 2009
If you are plagued with migraines you might find something interesting in this book. Mr Bieler is an MD who talks about the knowledge he has gained over the course of his career of treating patients. Many diseases are related to poor nutrition and can be remedied with better nutrition. This book is very readable. It is not hard to understand and has some surprising conclusions. Highly recommend it. Worth owning!
Read
July 1, 2012Another book that has completely ruined my life. If I believe this doctor, and of course I do (ahhhhhh! why do I always believe everything I read!) I'll only be eating rare beef, fresh raw unpasteurized milk and string bean and zucchini soup. And I don't even want to tell you all the scary stuff he said about ice cream...
July 28, 2014
Brilliant book about using food to heal your body and maintain energy and vitality. Bieler delineates the defense mechanisms of the body, how your body talks to you before the crisis of "dis-ease" takes hold and how to re-establish and maintain health through clean eating. He cites brilliant research going back to ancient times and how much knowledge has been hiding in plain sight.
November 16, 2014
Although this is a very informative book, I was hoping to learn more about particular foods and not that I should just "eat healthier" ... He mentioned boiling green beans and zucchini a lot, for example, and how you don't want to over cook them, but offers nothing in the proper way of preparing them.
September 7, 2016
Although I don't agree with all the content, there are some healthful points made.
September 23, 2015
One of those foundation reads for insight to better health.
November 12, 2012
Interesting book. Easy read. Lots of good advice about food. He's a little eccentric and some of his philosophies are a little dated. But overall good advice that worth the time.
October 13, 2012
I was hoping for a lot. It failed to deliver.
April 14, 2015
I want to read
Read
June 6, 2016One of the best when it comes to understanding the energetics of food. Unlike most of the books on food these days which are merely marketing tools.
December 26, 2012
Classic. Still relevant so many years later.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews