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Let's Get Well: A Practical Guide to Renewed Health Through Nutrition
A nutritionist discusses the values of certain food and vitamins in curing disease and maintaining good health
580 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1965
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 7, 2012
I'm astounded by the fact that Adelle Davis knew so much about health and nutrition way back in 1965. If only most of today's doctors knew half as much NOW as she did then!
This book illustrates how far ahead of her time the author was. This book is really interesting reading for anyone very into the topic of diet, nutrition, health, healing and disease prevention.
It is true that if Adelle were to somehow be able to rewrite her book today that some of the advice given would be different, but the fundamentals of her approach still hold true today.
Vitamin A is still vital for skin conditions; salt, protein and the B vitamins (especially B5) help stressed adrenals; fish oils still aid cardiovascular disease; the B vitamins are essential for all CNS diseases; every drug we take or toxic substance we are exposed to still uses up nutrients; vitamin E still prevents scars; hydrogenated fat still needs to be strictly avoided along with processed foods and especially refined sugars and grains; HCl is vital to good digestion; low calorie and high carb diets still don't work to keep us healthy or to let us lose weight long-term; liver is still a wonderfully beneficial superfood for anyone battling illness and vitamin C is still the most important supplement for us all and must be taken at the right dose.
People in poor health are still poor surgical risks; extra nutrition and supplementation is still needed before and after surgery; huge amounts of vitamin C are still needed by those with serious or infectious diseases; it is better to take slightly too much of a nutrient than not enough; diseases can still be treated if the causes are unknown by following a high-nutrient diet plan and also following the advice given for similar diseases and people with gut diseases still need hyper-nutrition, and so on.
I am pretty sure she would advocate higher doses of the B vitamins than the very low ones available back in the '60s, and also higher doses of vitamin C considering that you need more C depending on how many toxic chemicals and drugs your body has to detoxify. Her recommendation for ill people of a whole foods diet and around 5 grams of vitamin C (or 500 mg six or seven times a day) and 100mg B5 six or seven times a day, along with some B complex six or seven times a day is still better than many advise today, however.
We also know more now about causes of arthritis, that cholesterol and saturated fat are not things we need to avoid, that many of us need to avoid dairy, gluten and soy and that one needs to take all 8 types of vitamin E when taking vitamin E as a supplement.
This book was an interesting read but it was also a bit depressing to read about how early on all of this good information was known and that many of us are still yet to act on it or even to know about it. The media still treats many of these basic ideas with scorn or just ignores them completely, despite the mountains of evidence. I wish so much I had known all this information earlier into my own illness.
Because this book is so old and there are so many wonderful newer books out there which are written with a very similar spirit to this book, I would recommend reading this book along with at least one of these newer books and not using it as a sole source of health information. For all its wonderful points, some of the information IS now known to be incorrect and the unwary reader could be missing out on some great newer information by relying solely on this book. One of the best is Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life, but there are also several others that are similar that would do a good job as a companion to this book.
Overall you can't help but be very impressed by Adelle Davis and wish we had more doctors like her today!
Jodi Bassett, The Hummngbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
This book illustrates how far ahead of her time the author was. This book is really interesting reading for anyone very into the topic of diet, nutrition, health, healing and disease prevention.
It is true that if Adelle were to somehow be able to rewrite her book today that some of the advice given would be different, but the fundamentals of her approach still hold true today.
Vitamin A is still vital for skin conditions; salt, protein and the B vitamins (especially B5) help stressed adrenals; fish oils still aid cardiovascular disease; the B vitamins are essential for all CNS diseases; every drug we take or toxic substance we are exposed to still uses up nutrients; vitamin E still prevents scars; hydrogenated fat still needs to be strictly avoided along with processed foods and especially refined sugars and grains; HCl is vital to good digestion; low calorie and high carb diets still don't work to keep us healthy or to let us lose weight long-term; liver is still a wonderfully beneficial superfood for anyone battling illness and vitamin C is still the most important supplement for us all and must be taken at the right dose.
People in poor health are still poor surgical risks; extra nutrition and supplementation is still needed before and after surgery; huge amounts of vitamin C are still needed by those with serious or infectious diseases; it is better to take slightly too much of a nutrient than not enough; diseases can still be treated if the causes are unknown by following a high-nutrient diet plan and also following the advice given for similar diseases and people with gut diseases still need hyper-nutrition, and so on.
I am pretty sure she would advocate higher doses of the B vitamins than the very low ones available back in the '60s, and also higher doses of vitamin C considering that you need more C depending on how many toxic chemicals and drugs your body has to detoxify. Her recommendation for ill people of a whole foods diet and around 5 grams of vitamin C (or 500 mg six or seven times a day) and 100mg B5 six or seven times a day, along with some B complex six or seven times a day is still better than many advise today, however.
We also know more now about causes of arthritis, that cholesterol and saturated fat are not things we need to avoid, that many of us need to avoid dairy, gluten and soy and that one needs to take all 8 types of vitamin E when taking vitamin E as a supplement.
This book was an interesting read but it was also a bit depressing to read about how early on all of this good information was known and that many of us are still yet to act on it or even to know about it. The media still treats many of these basic ideas with scorn or just ignores them completely, despite the mountains of evidence. I wish so much I had known all this information earlier into my own illness.
Because this book is so old and there are so many wonderful newer books out there which are written with a very similar spirit to this book, I would recommend reading this book along with at least one of these newer books and not using it as a sole source of health information. For all its wonderful points, some of the information IS now known to be incorrect and the unwary reader could be missing out on some great newer information by relying solely on this book. One of the best is Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life, but there are also several others that are similar that would do a good job as a companion to this book.
Overall you can't help but be very impressed by Adelle Davis and wish we had more doctors like her today!
Jodi Bassett, The Hummngbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
May 3, 2019
The amazing thing is how much of this old book is not out of date. What Davis knew about disease conditions seems quaintly incomplete, after fifty years, but accurate so far as it goes.
If anything, the part for which my parents originally kept this book, and I bought a copy of my own after theirs fell apart, is the part that's outdated. That's the charts showing how much of each nutrient, not as a percentage but as an actual measurement, is typically present in each of several foods. We now know that growing conditions produce wide variations in the nutrient contents of natural foods, and manufacturers have changed their recipes for popular processed foods. So these charts can be useful but they can also be wrong.
Davis describes curing all kinds of disease conditions as they appeared in malnourished people in the mid-twentieth century. I don't doubt that she and her colleagues performed these cures as she described them, or that they might still work for some people today. I do feel a need to mention, though, that it's possible for diseases to appear in people with adequate supplies of vitamins--the body's ability to use nutrients can vary--and unlikely for vitamin supplements to cure the diseases when that happens. Davis lived to a respectable age, but then succumbed to such a disease, herself.
If anything, the part for which my parents originally kept this book, and I bought a copy of my own after theirs fell apart, is the part that's outdated. That's the charts showing how much of each nutrient, not as a percentage but as an actual measurement, is typically present in each of several foods. We now know that growing conditions produce wide variations in the nutrient contents of natural foods, and manufacturers have changed their recipes for popular processed foods. So these charts can be useful but they can also be wrong.
Davis describes curing all kinds of disease conditions as they appeared in malnourished people in the mid-twentieth century. I don't doubt that she and her colleagues performed these cures as she described them, or that they might still work for some people today. I do feel a need to mention, though, that it's possible for diseases to appear in people with adequate supplies of vitamins--the body's ability to use nutrients can vary--and unlikely for vitamin supplements to cure the diseases when that happens. Davis lived to a respectable age, but then succumbed to such a disease, herself.
February 3, 2015
I'm astounded by the fact that Adelle Davis knew so much about health and nutrition way back in 1965. If only most of today's doctors knew half as much NOW as she did then!
This book illustrates how far ahead of her time the author was. This book is really interesting reading for anyone very into the topic of diet, nutrition, health, healing and disease prevention.
Vitamin E still prevents scars. It is true that if Adelle were to somehow be able to rewrite her book today that some of the advice given would be different, but the fundamentals of her approach still hold true today.
We also know more now about causes of arthritis, that cholesterol and saturated fat are not things we need to avoid, that many of us need to avoid dairy, gluten and soy and that one needs to take all 8 types of vitamin E when taking vitamin E as a supplement.
This book was an interesting read but it was also a bit depressing to read about how early on all of this good information was known and that many of us are still yet to act on it or even to know about it. The media still treats many of these basic ideas with scorn or just ignores them completely, despite the mountains of evidence. I wish so much I had known all this information somewhat earlier . ... .
This book illustrates how far ahead of her time the author was. This book is really interesting reading for anyone very into the topic of diet, nutrition, health, healing and disease prevention.
Vitamin E still prevents scars. It is true that if Adelle were to somehow be able to rewrite her book today that some of the advice given would be different, but the fundamentals of her approach still hold true today.
We also know more now about causes of arthritis, that cholesterol and saturated fat are not things we need to avoid, that many of us need to avoid dairy, gluten and soy and that one needs to take all 8 types of vitamin E when taking vitamin E as a supplement.
This book was an interesting read but it was also a bit depressing to read about how early on all of this good information was known and that many of us are still yet to act on it or even to know about it. The media still treats many of these basic ideas with scorn or just ignores them completely, despite the mountains of evidence. I wish so much I had known all this information somewhat earlier . ... .
September 29, 2019
Excellent. While some of her recommendations are opposed by today's nutritionists, like eating meat, her remedies work for me. I once had hives all over my upper body. Doctors could not remedy it but gave me a name for it: Rosacea something or other. Was told it would go away by itself in a month or so. Adelle Davis had the remedy in her book. It was caused by a lack of B vitamins and other deficiencies. The hives cleared up in about 4 days.
Today I am on a plant-based diet. However, every now and then I get a bit dizzy and a good quality steak fixes me up. Adelle recommends liver as well.
Because today's meat, seafood, fruits and vegetables are compromised with chemicals, toxins, pesticides, antibiotics and so forth, we have to be careful what we buy and eat. Adelle Davis would be appalled at this.
Today I am on a plant-based diet. However, every now and then I get a bit dizzy and a good quality steak fixes me up. Adelle recommends liver as well.
Because today's meat, seafood, fruits and vegetables are compromised with chemicals, toxins, pesticides, antibiotics and so forth, we have to be careful what we buy and eat. Adelle Davis would be appalled at this.
February 13, 2021
For the age and outdatedness of this publication, it sure is a much better nutrition book than the other three nutrition books I have just read. In Chapter 31 on nutrition and cancer, the first sentence reads, "Only a pittance of the millions spent on cancer research has been used for nutritional investigation. This was my grandmother's other Bible. I started reading this to understand why she fed us the way she did. Now I know why we were given orange juice and yeast shots, liver, salmon, milk and whole wheat bread.This was a good insight into my grandmother.
January 9, 2023
Excellent tool to provide you with a reminder of the importance of proper nutrition. I especially enjoyed the dialog to keep it from being so scientific. I will refer back to the charts in this book frequently.
March 31, 2019
My mom used her advice back in the day and I have used a lot of her advice. She was so ahead of her time for the information they had available to people on health.
April 1, 2009
The most amazing book I ever read on nutrition. Adelle Davis was a marvel. I've used her advice for 33 years and will continue. (adapting, to the times of course)
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May 4, 2011Good descriptions of all the major supplements and food additives. A handy guide peppered with advice.
June 9, 2012
My edition is different but this is the only edition with a cover shot. Just browsing this to get ideas for a better diet. Probably doesn't include massive chocolate chip/M&M cookies!
January 1, 2015
This is still a great reference book. I have had this book for ages and it is still sound advice.
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January 27, 2008My fist health book on eating right. "You are what you eat."
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews