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Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor
Conventional health care is no longer working in your favor—but thankfully, Dr. Davis is.In his New York Times bestseller Wheat Belly, Dr. William Davis changed the lives of millions of people by teaching them to remove grains from their diets to reverse years of chronic health damage. In Undoctored, he goes beyond cutting grains to help you take charge of your own health. This groundbreaking exposé reveals how millions of people are given dietary recommendations crafted by big business, are prescribed unnecessary medications, and undergo unwarranted procedures to feed revenue-hungry healthcare systems.With Undoctored, the code to health care has been cracked—Dr. Davis will help you create a comprehensive program to reduce, reverse, and cure hundreds of common health conditions and break your dependence on prescription drugs. By applying simple strategies while harnessing the collective wisdom of new online technologies, you can break free of a healthcare industry that puts profits over health.Undoctored is the spark of a new movement in health that places the individual, not the doctor, at the center. His plan contains features • A step-by-step guide to eliminating prescription medications• Tips on how to distinguish good medical advice from bad• 42 recipes to guide you through the revolutionary 6-week program Undoctored gives you all the tools you need to manage your own health and sidestep the misguided motives of a profit-driven medical system.
586 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 9, 2017
634 people are currently reading
2058 people want to read
About the author
William Davis
78 books175 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
William Davis, MD, is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Wheat Belly series of books exposing the changes that agribusiness has inflicted on this plant and the effects on people who consume it. He is also author of Undoctored that shows people how to take back individual control over health with superior results.
His most recent book is Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight that shows how to restore microbes lost by modern people and enjoy results including deeper sleep, reduced appetite, increased empathy, restoration of youthful muscle and strength, and smoother skin with reduced wrinkles.
Dr. Davis has appeared on national television shows including Live! With Kelly and CBS This Morning. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
William Davis, MD, is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Wheat Belly series of books exposing the changes that agribusiness has inflicted on this plant and the effects on people who consume it. He is also author of Undoctored that shows people how to take back individual control over health with superior results.
His most recent book is Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight that shows how to restore microbes lost by modern people and enjoy results including deeper sleep, reduced appetite, increased empathy, restoration of youthful muscle and strength, and smoother skin with reduced wrinkles.
Dr. Davis has appeared on national television shows including Live! With Kelly and CBS This Morning. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 127 reviews
September 21, 2017
I enjoyed reading this book although at times I found it to be repetitive. Most of the facts within the book I already knew but there were a few gems hidden inside. I think it could have been a much shorter book had he not repeats info so many times. Going grain free has changed my life and health, I found the info about that to be the most interesting.
October 28, 2018
Interesting. I'd already read Wheat Belly by the same guy, so I was familiar with many of his arguments. Basically he's saying that
a) because wheat and many grains have been modified by all kinds of methods for mostly good reasons, our guts don't digest them like we can the grains of 100 years ago. Proteins have been altered and the result is indigestion and problems that block nutrients, resulting in all kinds of disease.
b) doctors aren't trained in this kind of health information. They are trained to treat symptoms, but not causes. He argues that the health system is an economic one, not nearly as altruistic as it claims. Though practitioners may be in it for the right reasons, their training doesn't allow them to think in terms of eliminating the cause of illness; they are all about managing symptoms.
c) we live in an age where information is easy to come by, and many organizations are rising up to equip the average person to manage their own health. Tests can be purchased online or through private companies. Data is everywhere. Sift through it intelligently and all you need your doctor for will be for treating nondietary related health issues. He argues these are very few.
He points out multiple times that the value of his advice comes from taking all of it at once, and not in some hodgepodge fashion. All or nothing, he says, because the positive outcomes are a result of the synergy of all the suggestions taken together, not in any one or two singly applied.
Therefore, get smart; drop grains; supplement intelligently; live with wellness in mind; and carry on.
a) because wheat and many grains have been modified by all kinds of methods for mostly good reasons, our guts don't digest them like we can the grains of 100 years ago. Proteins have been altered and the result is indigestion and problems that block nutrients, resulting in all kinds of disease.
b) doctors aren't trained in this kind of health information. They are trained to treat symptoms, but not causes. He argues that the health system is an economic one, not nearly as altruistic as it claims. Though practitioners may be in it for the right reasons, their training doesn't allow them to think in terms of eliminating the cause of illness; they are all about managing symptoms.
c) we live in an age where information is easy to come by, and many organizations are rising up to equip the average person to manage their own health. Tests can be purchased online or through private companies. Data is everywhere. Sift through it intelligently and all you need your doctor for will be for treating nondietary related health issues. He argues these are very few.
He points out multiple times that the value of his advice comes from taking all of it at once, and not in some hodgepodge fashion. All or nothing, he says, because the positive outcomes are a result of the synergy of all the suggestions taken together, not in any one or two singly applied.
Therefore, get smart; drop grains; supplement intelligently; live with wellness in mind; and carry on.
June 1, 2018
I did learn a few things and had a few suspicions confirmed but I am even more at a loss now about what to do for my own health. I am just not certain that I can see carbs (all grains) in such a negative light. I just keep reading and getting so much conflicting information and so many are willing to blame every other eating plan for all of our problems and their plan is the total miracle that will solve everything that I just get bogged down. Sigh.
August 28, 2017
Some of the information contained in the book is good, though it's been provided by dozens of other sources before. There are no new insights here.
The author has a penchant for hyperbole. The book reads more as propaganda against the modern medical infrastructure (which definitely has it's issues) and casts the entire medical industry as the devil. This does not read as a genuine scientific endeavor.
While the subject matter was good, the tone made the book feel like nothing but a litany of complaints by the author. A definite drudge to read through, particularly when walking away with zero new insights for the effort.
The author has a penchant for hyperbole. The book reads more as propaganda against the modern medical infrastructure (which definitely has it's issues) and casts the entire medical industry as the devil. This does not read as a genuine scientific endeavor.
While the subject matter was good, the tone made the book feel like nothing but a litany of complaints by the author. A definite drudge to read through, particularly when walking away with zero new insights for the effort.
June 28, 2017
I already knew about the corruption with AHA and ADA thanks to Gary Taubes and Nina Tiecholtz. However, Dr. Davis's account of the failure of the health care system is so convincing and angering that my opinion on the American Health Care Act has flipped. I am okay if the system collapses and Doctors get on board with the truth about nutrition: sugars and grains are not natural to human nutrition and will kill you.
November 26, 2020
This book struck a cord with me. I watched my dad suffer with one symptom after another. He was given a pill for that and a pill for this. No one ever gave him anything that would derail him off of his current path which eventually lead him to an early and sad death.
Now, I'm seeing the same health issues knocking at my door. I tell my doctor I don't want a pill. She just laughs at me. By eating better, things have improved. But after reading this, I still see room for improvement. So I may have to read this book again soon.
Some of this felt repetitive. But when I reached chapter 9 that is when it became the most interesting. So 4 stars.
Now, I'm seeing the same health issues knocking at my door. I tell my doctor I don't want a pill. She just laughs at me. By eating better, things have improved. But after reading this, I still see room for improvement. So I may have to read this book again soon.
Some of this felt repetitive. But when I reached chapter 9 that is when it became the most interesting. So 4 stars.
July 13, 2017
While doctors could have easily advised patients to supplement over-the-counter fish oil before the “drug” form came on the market, they instead opted to prescribe Lovaza, reflecting the effectiveness of marketing hocus-pocus and adding several thousand dollars of cost per person under the guise of FDA approval. Of course, the $1 billion in Lovaza sales ends up in the pockets of the drug company, while we all bear the burden of increased costs whether or not the drug was prescribed to us. And all of this from something that you could have taken on your own, easily and inexpensively.
One example: An analysis of 111,000 people who received implantable cardioverter defibrillators, or ICDs, in 1,200 hospitals across the United States revealed that an astounding 22.5 percent of patients receiving them did not have a legitimate indication of need. 10 In some hospitals, as many as 40 percent of implanted ICDs were put in without need. Receiving an ICD is no small matter, as they are large devices implanted under the skin of the chest: bulky, disfiguring, requiring monthly checks and surgical replacement of the battery every few years - yet we have nearly one in four people receiving them without reason.
During my former life as an interventional cardiologist performing coronary balloon angioplasty and inserting stents, each metal stent implanted cost between $500 and $3,000 from the manufacturers. Implanting two, three, or five in a single patient was not uncommon. The average stent weighs 0.2 gram and is made of stainless steel; the pricing for stents means that you are paying $2,270,000 per pound of steel—hundreds of times more than a pound of gold, but for common steel not that different from the spring in your ballpoint pen. Sure, there are research and development costs to recover, but nothing to justify such wildly exorbitant prices.
Arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis—in which a surgeon passes a narrow scope and various tools to scrape away rough edges and loose debris and shaves down knee cartilage in the hope of providing pain relief—has been shown to have no benefit beyond placebo. 17 (This is not to be confused with arthroscopic procedures to repair torn ligaments or meniscus tears, which have been shown to be effective.) There can be early pain relief after arthroscopic knee surgery for arthritis, but it is short-lived, yielding no long-term benefit over exercise and physical therapy, no better than a sham operation. Yet this procedure has been performed on millions of people over 20 years, with several hundred thousand still performed in the United tates every year.
The Health Care Cost Institute launched guroo.com , which lists prices charged by hospitals, allowing people to shop for better prices. The Healthcare Bluebook ( healthcarebluebook.com ) has launched a similar effort. Emboldened by findings such as those from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, policy efforts to control healthcare expenditures while improving outcomes are likely to emerge.
Here’s a basic fact: Eat carbohydrates and blood sugar rises. Every first-year medical student knows this, every nurse or diabetes educator knows this, every person with diabetes who performs finger-stick blood sugars before and after meals knows this. Eat any food with more than just a few grams of carbohydrates and blood sugar will rise; the more carbohydrates you eat, the higher blood sugar will rise. Everyone also knows that foods like butter do not raise blood sugar, nor will a fatty cut of meat, olives, green bell peppers, broccoli, or chicken liver. And since the 1980s, when the sharp upward climb in type 2 diabetes (and obesity) began, the only component of diet that has increased is carbohydrates, not fat or proteins. 4
Whether intentional or inadvertent, misinterpretation or blundering, advice to engage in a diet low in fat and rich in grains with a free pass for sugar was a major contributor to the epidemic of type 2 diabetes and weight gain/obesity. Purported efforts to subdue a disease made the disease worse, and not just by a little, by a lot: We now have the worst epidemic of type 2 diabetes and obesity in human history. Even in the face of science telling us that the ADA dietary approach is wrong, the organization stubbornly stands by old advice. Meanwhile, the healthcare system profits enormously, and the pharmaceutical industry celebrates double-digit annual rates of growth and record revenues due to the man-made financial bonanza of diabetes and associated conditions.
It also means that the nice dietitian you’ve been told to see by your doctor has, in effect, had an education bought and paid for by the food industry. You can no more expect to obtain unbiased, unscientific advice from a conventionally trained dietitian than you can from a salesperson from a soda company—because, in many ways, they are essentially one and the same.
Heart disease, more than any other health condition, is dominated by money and business. Even over the course of my career, I watched heart disease evolve from a low-tech world with few effective tools to a high-tech flurry of new technology—which is great. But it also “monetized” heart disease, making it exceptionally lucrative. More than most other areas of health, heart health is therefore dominated by money. And organizations built around heart disease, such as the AHA, are no different, now a half-billion dollar per year behemoth.
The AHA got into the business of certifying food in 1988, a program that became the Heart-Check program in 1995. Some of the products certified over the years include Berry Berry Kix, Count Chocula, Cocoa Frosted Flakes, Fruity Marshmallow Krispies, Honey Nut Cheerios, and low-fat Pop-Tarts, all declared “heart healthy” with tens of millions of dollars in certification fees paid for by companies including Cargill, Post, Kellogg’s, and Coca-Cola. They won’t certify onions, green bell peppers, or organic kale, of course, since that’s not where the money is. So go for the money rather than health, and what you get for heart-healthy food is low-fat Pop-Tarts.
A recent survey found that two-thirds of academic medical centers own equity interest in companies that sponsor research within the same institution.
(Unlike most other statin drug trials, this one was not supported by the manufacturer. It was funded by nonindustry grants, removing at least one potential source of bias.) There were 10,000 participants enrolled in the study. Half were given atorvastatin, the other half a placebo, and then they were observed for 3 years. Of the people taking the placebo, 3 percent experienced a heart attack over 3 years, while 1.9 percent of those on atorvastatin had a heart attack, a reduction of 1.1 percent. Alternatively, 97 percent on the placebo survived, while 98.9 percent survived on the drug—different, but not very impressive.
By law, the lab results are your property and the doctor and staff are operating out of ignorance. You should apprise them of this fact. If you still encounter resistance, a call to the state medical board can turn the tides, as the board can provide a brief statement that you can present to the doctor and the staff. Recent changes in regulations also allow you to obtain lab results directly from the laboratory facility itself, whether or not your doctor approves. Thanks to regulations finalized in February 2014 by the US Department of Health and Human Services that replaced a hodgepodge of uneven state-by-state rules, laboratories in all 50 states are now required to comply with your request to provide results to you without your doctor’s permission or knowledge.
The Undoctored approach flips the way we think about disease and health on its head. Rather than starting with a health condition such as endometriosis or acid reflux, and then trying to explore treatments via discussion forums or crowdsourced wisdom, we flip-flop the process by restoring overall health first. Because virtually everyone’s health has been disrupted by factors such as diet, weight gain, industrial chemicals, nutritional deficiencies, and inflammation, we all follow the same starting program to reverse these effects.
So-called diseases of civilization—diabetes, overweight and obesity, much psychiatric illness, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, colon cancer, constipation, even common skin conditions like acne and skin rashes—are virtually unknown in primitive societies following traditional diets.
In other words, wheat—along with rye and barley, which share the same gliadin protein structure—are potent appetite stimulants with other mind-altering effects.
Wheat and its two most closely related grains, rye and barley, are therefore not just a vehicle for gluten but are packed with dozens of compounds toxic to humans, with adverse effects inadvertently amplified by agribusiness through efforts that have everything to do with agricultural goals and nothing to do with your health.
Cornstarch is among the most popular ingredients in gluten-free foods, also explaining why gluten-free breads, muffins, and other products are associated with extravagant weight gain and high blood sugars.
The amylopectin content of grains explains why corn, wheat, and sorghum are fed to livestock to fatten them up prior to slaughter, yielding “grain-finished” cuts of meat. Ducks are fattened with corn and wheat, often force-fed through a tube passed into their stomachs, to cause the fatty livers for the much-prized foie gras.
Corn is also a prominent trigger for allergies. As many as 90 percent of people who deal with cornstarch in the pharmaceutical industry (as filler in pills and capsules), food production, or agriculture develop allergic responses to corn over time. 43
Fats, unlike carbohydrates, are essential, as necessary as water or oxygen.
Glycation of skin proteins gives you brown-colored “age spots” and wrinkles. Glycation of cartilage proteins makes cartilage brittle, eroding and leading to inflammation and the pain of arthritis. Glycation of kidney tissue leads to declining kidney function. Glycation of LDL particles in the bloodstream makes them more likely to contribute to atherosclerosis (heart disease). Glycation of brain proteins contributes to dementia. Those with diabetes experience high blood sugars throughout most of the day, in life than those without diabetes.
Fructose follows a different set of rules. Ingested as, say, the high-fructose corn syrup in a soft drink or ketchup, it provokes the glycation reaction even without raising blood sugar, a stealth reaction that is difficult to detect. Even without the immediate rise in blood sugar, fructation—glycation by fructose—is eight- to tenfold worse than glycation by glucose. 32 And as with glucose-induced glycation, it is also irreversible.
By an odd metabolic twist, liver processing of fructose causes an increase of triglycerides, which, in turn, trigger distortions in all other lipoproteins (fat-carrying proteins) in the bloodstream converting, for instance, large and benign LDL particles into small and heart disease–causing LDL particles. This means that fructose increases the particles in the bloodstream that lead to heart disease (despite fructose being a major ingredient in many “heart healthy” products, such as low-fat yogurt). Fructose also increases visceral fat, blood pressure, levels of uric acid (that lead to gout and heart disease), and inflammation, and it contributes to fatty liver. 35 , 36 In short, fructose is a lot worse than it initially appeared.
In one British study, even when calories were limited to a near-starvation level of 1,000 calories per day, if those calories were 90 percent carbohydrate, weight would increase , while 1,000 calories as 90 percent fat or 90 percent protein would result in substantial weight loss . (A diet of pure carbohydrates, by the way, is also associated with extreme hunger, while a diet of nearly all fat is not.)
Foods that trigger insulin the most are therefore the most potent for weight gain, while their absence allows weight loss; the equation is quite simple.
Throw into the mix the exceptional capacity for grain amylopectin A to send blood sugar higher, ounce for ounce, than table sugar, with blood sugar highs inevitably followed by blood sugar lows with shakiness, mental cloudiness, and hunger, a 2-hour cycle that sets the poor grain-consumer in an endless 2-hour hunt for food. The combination provides a perfect formula for weight gain , effects that have caused me to accuse wheat and grains of being “perfect obesogens”—foods that are perfect for causing weight gain and obesity.
Part of the Undoctored way of thinking is to never accept “health” advice on blind faith. This is especially true of nutritional advice.
Tap into the online conversations at Quantified Self ( quantifiedself.com ) to get an idea of some of the new and extraordinary observations emerging. Individuals from varied backgrounds—engineers, teachers, biochemists, college students, and the curious—apply self-observation and quantification to solve health problems in unexpected ways.
Curious thing: If you go to a lab and ask for the direct-to-consumer price, not the price charged to health insurance, it is typically much lower, often 70 to 80 percent less, since direct-to-consumer lab testing lacks the added layer of costs introduced by health insurance.
You will find that by eliminating wheat and grains, by not limiting fat or calories, by avoiding processed foods, and by gravitating to real, whole foods, many of the elaborate rules advocated in dozens of diets become unnecessary. We will not get bogged down with elaborate swaps, point systems, or dietary phases or other complicated rules.
Stop eating wheat and grains and what happens? All hell breaks loose for about a week—an opiate withdrawal syndrome causing 5 to 7 days of misery, an issue we shall discuss in detail later. But like a drug addict who will do almost anything for another “hit,” having a secret stash of cheesy crackers hidden in the hall closet can, as sure as real cheese does not come whizzing from a can, booby-trap any effort to purge grains from your life.
There will be no mad scrambles for food due to overwhelming hunger, no sneaking ice cream in the middle of the night, no hidden snacks around the house. No one will be anxiously counting minutes until lunch or dinner.
Likewise, the Sausage “Rice” Skillet recipe illustrates how we use riced cauliflower as a substitute for all forms of rice without sacrificing taste or texture.
If probiotics and fermented foods are the seeds for bowel flora, what are the “water” and “fertilizer” that nourish them? These are called prebiotic fibers , fibers that you ingest but cannot digest, leaving them for microorganisms in the intestines to consume. Some call prebiotic fibers resistant starch since they are impervious to human digestion and digested by microorganisms. Getting prebiotic fibers is crucial to your health and the success of your diet.
By removing wheat, grains, and processed junk foods, as well as Bt toxin and glyphosate residues that come via genetically modified corn and soy, you have eliminated factors that are known to disrupt bowel flora.
If you use tap water to ferment vegetables, the chlorine and fluoride will block fermentation. Likewise, watering houseplants with tap water can make them wither.
Avoid unnecessary antibiotics. There will be times when antibiotics are unavoidable. But steer clear of them for questionable indications, such as for a viral illness “just in case” it converts to a bacterial infection.
Avoid aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose. These artificial sweeteners have been shown to modify bowel flora and increase potential for prediabetes, helping explain why sugar-free soda drinkers are no more slender, even heavier, than sugared soda drinkers. 23 Choose natural and benign sweeteners instead, such as monk fruit, erythritol, and stevia.
You can assess vitamin D status by measuring the blood level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, a simple and inexpensive test that you can even do on your own with a finger-stick.
Only choose oil-based gelcaps or liquid drops of vitamin D 3 , never tablets . Most tablets are erratically absorbed or not absorbed at all, while gelcaps and drops are reliably absorbed.
But a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level is the one truly essential measure to obtain beyond routine values like blood glucose.
But clinical trials have repeatedly demonstrated virtually no benefit with calcium supplementation—no slowing of bone thinning, no reduction of osteoporotic fractures. Likewise, people who consume plentiful dairy products containing calcium do not have better bone health. One thing that people who supplement calcium do have is more death from heart disease.
Iodine protects against or can reverse fibrocystic breast disease. Fibrocystic breast disease, believed to be a precursor to some forms of breast cancer, occurs to greater degrees in women with iodine deficiency and can be reversed in many women with iodine restoration.
There are plenty of good reasons to supplement omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are essential, not optional, fatty acids, with a very clear performance, depression, impaired childhood development, dry skin, dermatitis, and neuropathies). Many clinical studies demonstrate that higher intakes and blood levels of EPA and DHA yield reductions in sudden cardiac death, heart attack, heart rhythm disorders, autoimmune inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and a variety of cancers, as well as improved brain development in children.
It means that for years minerals were prevented from being absorbed whenever any phytate-consuming grain was in the vicinity, blocking the absorption of even mineral supplements. Advice to include grains in every meal and snack predictably caused deficiencies of positively charged minerals, especially magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc.
In these cases, zinc supplements—such as zinc gluconate, zinc sulfate, and zinc acetate—can enhance dietary intake. As with magnesium and iron, look for the quantity of elemental zinc in the preparation, not total weight. Because zinc supplements are indeed meant to supplement dietary intake, a modest additional intake of 10 to 15 milligrams per day is reasonable.
The Undoctored nutritional supplement program restores nutrients that address intrinsic human needs. Here are the most important ones.
• Vitamin D provides far-reaching and magnificent benefits when restored. We aim for a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level of 60 to 70 ng/mL, typically achieved with 4,000 to 8,000 units per day of vitamin D 3 in gelcap form. Delay measuring blood levels for at least 2 to 3 months after initiating or changing dosage to allow the full effect to develop.
• Calcium is not part of the Undoctored process as it does not yield bone health and poses increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
• Iodine is an essential trace mineral that is increasingly deficient in modern populations. We aim to obtain 500 to 1,000 micrograms of iodine per day from kelp tablets or iodine drops.
• Fish oil and seafood are the only reliable sources for the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, as the ideal daily intake of 3,000 to 3,600 milligrams EPA and DHA is only achievable by this route (and not with linolenic acid–containing foods, such as chia or flax, or krill oil).
• Magnesium is the most commonly depleted mineral from prior grain consumption—with restoration yielding substantial benefits. We aim for a daily magnesium intake of 400 to 500 milligrams of elemental magnesium.
• Zinc, iron, vitamin B 12 , and folate can be deficient in some people, so awareness of how to identify and correct these deficiencies can be situations.
One example: An analysis of 111,000 people who received implantable cardioverter defibrillators, or ICDs, in 1,200 hospitals across the United States revealed that an astounding 22.5 percent of patients receiving them did not have a legitimate indication of need. 10 In some hospitals, as many as 40 percent of implanted ICDs were put in without need. Receiving an ICD is no small matter, as they are large devices implanted under the skin of the chest: bulky, disfiguring, requiring monthly checks and surgical replacement of the battery every few years - yet we have nearly one in four people receiving them without reason.
During my former life as an interventional cardiologist performing coronary balloon angioplasty and inserting stents, each metal stent implanted cost between $500 and $3,000 from the manufacturers. Implanting two, three, or five in a single patient was not uncommon. The average stent weighs 0.2 gram and is made of stainless steel; the pricing for stents means that you are paying $2,270,000 per pound of steel—hundreds of times more than a pound of gold, but for common steel not that different from the spring in your ballpoint pen. Sure, there are research and development costs to recover, but nothing to justify such wildly exorbitant prices.
Arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis—in which a surgeon passes a narrow scope and various tools to scrape away rough edges and loose debris and shaves down knee cartilage in the hope of providing pain relief—has been shown to have no benefit beyond placebo. 17 (This is not to be confused with arthroscopic procedures to repair torn ligaments or meniscus tears, which have been shown to be effective.) There can be early pain relief after arthroscopic knee surgery for arthritis, but it is short-lived, yielding no long-term benefit over exercise and physical therapy, no better than a sham operation. Yet this procedure has been performed on millions of people over 20 years, with several hundred thousand still performed in the United tates every year.
The Health Care Cost Institute launched guroo.com , which lists prices charged by hospitals, allowing people to shop for better prices. The Healthcare Bluebook ( healthcarebluebook.com ) has launched a similar effort. Emboldened by findings such as those from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, policy efforts to control healthcare expenditures while improving outcomes are likely to emerge.
Here’s a basic fact: Eat carbohydrates and blood sugar rises. Every first-year medical student knows this, every nurse or diabetes educator knows this, every person with diabetes who performs finger-stick blood sugars before and after meals knows this. Eat any food with more than just a few grams of carbohydrates and blood sugar will rise; the more carbohydrates you eat, the higher blood sugar will rise. Everyone also knows that foods like butter do not raise blood sugar, nor will a fatty cut of meat, olives, green bell peppers, broccoli, or chicken liver. And since the 1980s, when the sharp upward climb in type 2 diabetes (and obesity) began, the only component of diet that has increased is carbohydrates, not fat or proteins. 4
Whether intentional or inadvertent, misinterpretation or blundering, advice to engage in a diet low in fat and rich in grains with a free pass for sugar was a major contributor to the epidemic of type 2 diabetes and weight gain/obesity. Purported efforts to subdue a disease made the disease worse, and not just by a little, by a lot: We now have the worst epidemic of type 2 diabetes and obesity in human history. Even in the face of science telling us that the ADA dietary approach is wrong, the organization stubbornly stands by old advice. Meanwhile, the healthcare system profits enormously, and the pharmaceutical industry celebrates double-digit annual rates of growth and record revenues due to the man-made financial bonanza of diabetes and associated conditions.
It also means that the nice dietitian you’ve been told to see by your doctor has, in effect, had an education bought and paid for by the food industry. You can no more expect to obtain unbiased, unscientific advice from a conventionally trained dietitian than you can from a salesperson from a soda company—because, in many ways, they are essentially one and the same.
Heart disease, more than any other health condition, is dominated by money and business. Even over the course of my career, I watched heart disease evolve from a low-tech world with few effective tools to a high-tech flurry of new technology—which is great. But it also “monetized” heart disease, making it exceptionally lucrative. More than most other areas of health, heart health is therefore dominated by money. And organizations built around heart disease, such as the AHA, are no different, now a half-billion dollar per year behemoth.
The AHA got into the business of certifying food in 1988, a program that became the Heart-Check program in 1995. Some of the products certified over the years include Berry Berry Kix, Count Chocula, Cocoa Frosted Flakes, Fruity Marshmallow Krispies, Honey Nut Cheerios, and low-fat Pop-Tarts, all declared “heart healthy” with tens of millions of dollars in certification fees paid for by companies including Cargill, Post, Kellogg’s, and Coca-Cola. They won’t certify onions, green bell peppers, or organic kale, of course, since that’s not where the money is. So go for the money rather than health, and what you get for heart-healthy food is low-fat Pop-Tarts.
A recent survey found that two-thirds of academic medical centers own equity interest in companies that sponsor research within the same institution.
(Unlike most other statin drug trials, this one was not supported by the manufacturer. It was funded by nonindustry grants, removing at least one potential source of bias.) There were 10,000 participants enrolled in the study. Half were given atorvastatin, the other half a placebo, and then they were observed for 3 years. Of the people taking the placebo, 3 percent experienced a heart attack over 3 years, while 1.9 percent of those on atorvastatin had a heart attack, a reduction of 1.1 percent. Alternatively, 97 percent on the placebo survived, while 98.9 percent survived on the drug—different, but not very impressive.
By law, the lab results are your property and the doctor and staff are operating out of ignorance. You should apprise them of this fact. If you still encounter resistance, a call to the state medical board can turn the tides, as the board can provide a brief statement that you can present to the doctor and the staff. Recent changes in regulations also allow you to obtain lab results directly from the laboratory facility itself, whether or not your doctor approves. Thanks to regulations finalized in February 2014 by the US Department of Health and Human Services that replaced a hodgepodge of uneven state-by-state rules, laboratories in all 50 states are now required to comply with your request to provide results to you without your doctor’s permission or knowledge.
The Undoctored approach flips the way we think about disease and health on its head. Rather than starting with a health condition such as endometriosis or acid reflux, and then trying to explore treatments via discussion forums or crowdsourced wisdom, we flip-flop the process by restoring overall health first. Because virtually everyone’s health has been disrupted by factors such as diet, weight gain, industrial chemicals, nutritional deficiencies, and inflammation, we all follow the same starting program to reverse these effects.
So-called diseases of civilization—diabetes, overweight and obesity, much psychiatric illness, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, colon cancer, constipation, even common skin conditions like acne and skin rashes—are virtually unknown in primitive societies following traditional diets.
In other words, wheat—along with rye and barley, which share the same gliadin protein structure—are potent appetite stimulants with other mind-altering effects.
Wheat and its two most closely related grains, rye and barley, are therefore not just a vehicle for gluten but are packed with dozens of compounds toxic to humans, with adverse effects inadvertently amplified by agribusiness through efforts that have everything to do with agricultural goals and nothing to do with your health.
Cornstarch is among the most popular ingredients in gluten-free foods, also explaining why gluten-free breads, muffins, and other products are associated with extravagant weight gain and high blood sugars.
The amylopectin content of grains explains why corn, wheat, and sorghum are fed to livestock to fatten them up prior to slaughter, yielding “grain-finished” cuts of meat. Ducks are fattened with corn and wheat, often force-fed through a tube passed into their stomachs, to cause the fatty livers for the much-prized foie gras.
Corn is also a prominent trigger for allergies. As many as 90 percent of people who deal with cornstarch in the pharmaceutical industry (as filler in pills and capsules), food production, or agriculture develop allergic responses to corn over time. 43
Fats, unlike carbohydrates, are essential, as necessary as water or oxygen.
Glycation of skin proteins gives you brown-colored “age spots” and wrinkles. Glycation of cartilage proteins makes cartilage brittle, eroding and leading to inflammation and the pain of arthritis. Glycation of kidney tissue leads to declining kidney function. Glycation of LDL particles in the bloodstream makes them more likely to contribute to atherosclerosis (heart disease). Glycation of brain proteins contributes to dementia. Those with diabetes experience high blood sugars throughout most of the day, in life than those without diabetes.
Fructose follows a different set of rules. Ingested as, say, the high-fructose corn syrup in a soft drink or ketchup, it provokes the glycation reaction even without raising blood sugar, a stealth reaction that is difficult to detect. Even without the immediate rise in blood sugar, fructation—glycation by fructose—is eight- to tenfold worse than glycation by glucose. 32 And as with glucose-induced glycation, it is also irreversible.
By an odd metabolic twist, liver processing of fructose causes an increase of triglycerides, which, in turn, trigger distortions in all other lipoproteins (fat-carrying proteins) in the bloodstream converting, for instance, large and benign LDL particles into small and heart disease–causing LDL particles. This means that fructose increases the particles in the bloodstream that lead to heart disease (despite fructose being a major ingredient in many “heart healthy” products, such as low-fat yogurt). Fructose also increases visceral fat, blood pressure, levels of uric acid (that lead to gout and heart disease), and inflammation, and it contributes to fatty liver. 35 , 36 In short, fructose is a lot worse than it initially appeared.
In one British study, even when calories were limited to a near-starvation level of 1,000 calories per day, if those calories were 90 percent carbohydrate, weight would increase , while 1,000 calories as 90 percent fat or 90 percent protein would result in substantial weight loss . (A diet of pure carbohydrates, by the way, is also associated with extreme hunger, while a diet of nearly all fat is not.)
Foods that trigger insulin the most are therefore the most potent for weight gain, while their absence allows weight loss; the equation is quite simple.
Throw into the mix the exceptional capacity for grain amylopectin A to send blood sugar higher, ounce for ounce, than table sugar, with blood sugar highs inevitably followed by blood sugar lows with shakiness, mental cloudiness, and hunger, a 2-hour cycle that sets the poor grain-consumer in an endless 2-hour hunt for food. The combination provides a perfect formula for weight gain , effects that have caused me to accuse wheat and grains of being “perfect obesogens”—foods that are perfect for causing weight gain and obesity.
Part of the Undoctored way of thinking is to never accept “health” advice on blind faith. This is especially true of nutritional advice.
Tap into the online conversations at Quantified Self ( quantifiedself.com ) to get an idea of some of the new and extraordinary observations emerging. Individuals from varied backgrounds—engineers, teachers, biochemists, college students, and the curious—apply self-observation and quantification to solve health problems in unexpected ways.
Curious thing: If you go to a lab and ask for the direct-to-consumer price, not the price charged to health insurance, it is typically much lower, often 70 to 80 percent less, since direct-to-consumer lab testing lacks the added layer of costs introduced by health insurance.
You will find that by eliminating wheat and grains, by not limiting fat or calories, by avoiding processed foods, and by gravitating to real, whole foods, many of the elaborate rules advocated in dozens of diets become unnecessary. We will not get bogged down with elaborate swaps, point systems, or dietary phases or other complicated rules.
Stop eating wheat and grains and what happens? All hell breaks loose for about a week—an opiate withdrawal syndrome causing 5 to 7 days of misery, an issue we shall discuss in detail later. But like a drug addict who will do almost anything for another “hit,” having a secret stash of cheesy crackers hidden in the hall closet can, as sure as real cheese does not come whizzing from a can, booby-trap any effort to purge grains from your life.
There will be no mad scrambles for food due to overwhelming hunger, no sneaking ice cream in the middle of the night, no hidden snacks around the house. No one will be anxiously counting minutes until lunch or dinner.
Likewise, the Sausage “Rice” Skillet recipe illustrates how we use riced cauliflower as a substitute for all forms of rice without sacrificing taste or texture.
If probiotics and fermented foods are the seeds for bowel flora, what are the “water” and “fertilizer” that nourish them? These are called prebiotic fibers , fibers that you ingest but cannot digest, leaving them for microorganisms in the intestines to consume. Some call prebiotic fibers resistant starch since they are impervious to human digestion and digested by microorganisms. Getting prebiotic fibers is crucial to your health and the success of your diet.
By removing wheat, grains, and processed junk foods, as well as Bt toxin and glyphosate residues that come via genetically modified corn and soy, you have eliminated factors that are known to disrupt bowel flora.
If you use tap water to ferment vegetables, the chlorine and fluoride will block fermentation. Likewise, watering houseplants with tap water can make them wither.
Avoid unnecessary antibiotics. There will be times when antibiotics are unavoidable. But steer clear of them for questionable indications, such as for a viral illness “just in case” it converts to a bacterial infection.
Avoid aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose. These artificial sweeteners have been shown to modify bowel flora and increase potential for prediabetes, helping explain why sugar-free soda drinkers are no more slender, even heavier, than sugared soda drinkers. 23 Choose natural and benign sweeteners instead, such as monk fruit, erythritol, and stevia.
You can assess vitamin D status by measuring the blood level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, a simple and inexpensive test that you can even do on your own with a finger-stick.
Only choose oil-based gelcaps or liquid drops of vitamin D 3 , never tablets . Most tablets are erratically absorbed or not absorbed at all, while gelcaps and drops are reliably absorbed.
But a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level is the one truly essential measure to obtain beyond routine values like blood glucose.
But clinical trials have repeatedly demonstrated virtually no benefit with calcium supplementation—no slowing of bone thinning, no reduction of osteoporotic fractures. Likewise, people who consume plentiful dairy products containing calcium do not have better bone health. One thing that people who supplement calcium do have is more death from heart disease.
Iodine protects against or can reverse fibrocystic breast disease. Fibrocystic breast disease, believed to be a precursor to some forms of breast cancer, occurs to greater degrees in women with iodine deficiency and can be reversed in many women with iodine restoration.
There are plenty of good reasons to supplement omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are essential, not optional, fatty acids, with a very clear performance, depression, impaired childhood development, dry skin, dermatitis, and neuropathies). Many clinical studies demonstrate that higher intakes and blood levels of EPA and DHA yield reductions in sudden cardiac death, heart attack, heart rhythm disorders, autoimmune inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and a variety of cancers, as well as improved brain development in children.
It means that for years minerals were prevented from being absorbed whenever any phytate-consuming grain was in the vicinity, blocking the absorption of even mineral supplements. Advice to include grains in every meal and snack predictably caused deficiencies of positively charged minerals, especially magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc.
In these cases, zinc supplements—such as zinc gluconate, zinc sulfate, and zinc acetate—can enhance dietary intake. As with magnesium and iron, look for the quantity of elemental zinc in the preparation, not total weight. Because zinc supplements are indeed meant to supplement dietary intake, a modest additional intake of 10 to 15 milligrams per day is reasonable.
The Undoctored nutritional supplement program restores nutrients that address intrinsic human needs. Here are the most important ones.
• Vitamin D provides far-reaching and magnificent benefits when restored. We aim for a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level of 60 to 70 ng/mL, typically achieved with 4,000 to 8,000 units per day of vitamin D 3 in gelcap form. Delay measuring blood levels for at least 2 to 3 months after initiating or changing dosage to allow the full effect to develop.
• Calcium is not part of the Undoctored process as it does not yield bone health and poses increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
• Iodine is an essential trace mineral that is increasingly deficient in modern populations. We aim to obtain 500 to 1,000 micrograms of iodine per day from kelp tablets or iodine drops.
• Fish oil and seafood are the only reliable sources for the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, as the ideal daily intake of 3,000 to 3,600 milligrams EPA and DHA is only achievable by this route (and not with linolenic acid–containing foods, such as chia or flax, or krill oil).
• Magnesium is the most commonly depleted mineral from prior grain consumption—with restoration yielding substantial benefits. We aim for a daily magnesium intake of 400 to 500 milligrams of elemental magnesium.
• Zinc, iron, vitamin B 12 , and folate can be deficient in some people, so awareness of how to identify and correct these deficiencies can be situations.
August 13, 2017
Lots of interesting facts and stats, but not as interesting as I thought it would be. I did a lot of skimming on this one and probably read 50 pages in all.
April 2, 2019
I have never written a review but I was pretty annoyed with this book. Although many of his ideas about taking control of your own healthcare are spot on, his assertions that by reading his book you will know more about healthcare than your doctor are downright dangerous. Also, is he really serious about how "easy" his program is? It requires a COMPLETE overhaul of 95% of everything in my pantry and also includes buying oodles of supplements from various websites that I have never heard of before. My favorite part of his "easy" program is doing a math equation before eating anything to determine the net carbs of each food. (Spoiler alert...an apple has too many carbs...don't eat it...give me a break!)
June 28, 2018
I love the idea that we can make informed, healthy choices that help restore our bodies to a state of health and protect against lifestyle-related disease. I love the extensive footnotes supporting Dr. Davis’ claims. I plan to try the six-week plan in the coming weeks to see how helpful it is. (I do tend to be a sucker for all the dietary fads that come along.) Much of what he says here supports what I’ve read elsewhere as I’ve done other research, and I would love to see these ideas catch on. Anyone who struggles with type 2 diabetes, thyroid disease, PCOS, or many other conditions can find some good information here. Also: everyone needs to be taking Vitamin D. Period.
That said, the book was repetitive. Some of the bashing of the current healthcare system seemed fair (👎 corrupt pharmaceutical companies!), and some seemed unfair. I personally know many doctors, PAs, and nurses who genuinely care for their patients and long to help them and not exploit them. The book would have been more helpful if it had talked more about life beyond the six week Undoctored protocol and how to implement the lifestyle in a family with children. Basing our diets on evolutionary claims of what our forebears supposedly ate really isn’t something I find convincing, but it’s the thing in these paleo sort of circles.
However, I do recommend the book, and it’s worth owning, marking up, and using as a reference. We’d all be better served if we lived as he teaches.
That said, the book was repetitive. Some of the bashing of the current healthcare system seemed fair (👎 corrupt pharmaceutical companies!), and some seemed unfair. I personally know many doctors, PAs, and nurses who genuinely care for their patients and long to help them and not exploit them. The book would have been more helpful if it had talked more about life beyond the six week Undoctored protocol and how to implement the lifestyle in a family with children. Basing our diets on evolutionary claims of what our forebears supposedly ate really isn’t something I find convincing, but it’s the thing in these paleo sort of circles.
However, I do recommend the book, and it’s worth owning, marking up, and using as a reference. We’d all be better served if we lived as he teaches.
February 12, 2025
Having worked in the medical industry, Davis is spot on about all that's gone wrong with it. How a cardiologist with no training or schooling or education in the nutritional sciences whatsoever other than a couple of internet searches decided to write a book about nutrition baffles me. I've been studying nutrition for 10 years, and though he did get a couple of things right, the majority of the advice & information was flat-out misinformation
July 9, 2018
I listened to about 75% of the audiobook version. Dr. Davis generalized in his writing. Often he claimed things that he had not yet discussed or proven in the book. From some of these unsubstantiated claims he would build entire arguments. The idea of being un-doctored really appeals to me. I want to see changes such as people taking an active role in their health through diet and exercise, better distribution of useful health related knowledge, and the eradication of profit driven health care. It seemed like this book was going to touch on these topics and provide an insider's perspective, so I stuck with it. The book gets into these ideas (and others such as diet modification). However, it is done in such broad strokes that I was left unsatisfied. From my glimpses at the book version, there are no footnotes or references to what he is claiming. This book is meant for the general public so, though this makes sense, it felt like there was no way of crosschecking anything he said.
If you read this book looking for a serious look at the science behind some very real issues around healthcare, be prepared for flimsy writing. In discussing the importance of meat in the diet, he examines India's malnutrition and attributes it to their vegetarianism. He fails to mention poverty in this discussion and continues writing about how a carnivorous diet could solve India's malnutrition. Sure, a steady source of meat would probably help this issue but the full exclusion of important factors such as poverty when talking about malnutrition ruins this evidence for his argument. This brings me back to the first issue I mentioned about references, one of the underlying issues I had with this chapter particularly. I have read and been taught that red meat is not a healthful food and the author directly rebukes this. Fine with me. But why? and where did you get this explanation? I need to be convinced of the foundational point, that meat is good for humans, before he can convince me that I should be including it in my diet. Genuinely, I was looking for a scientifically sound discussion on this. The explanations he provided did not fulfill this and I almost constantly found myself in this limbo of trying to follow his logic but finding myself unconvinced of his reasoning.
The anecdotes shared in the book are moving. I support the idea behind Dr. Davis' programs, books, and actions. I commend him for his radical ideas that question and attack our current healthcare system. It seems that people's lives are being changed and it's possible his other resources are better. I could not handle the manner in which this book was written though and I would not recommend it to any of my friends.
If you read this book looking for a serious look at the science behind some very real issues around healthcare, be prepared for flimsy writing. In discussing the importance of meat in the diet, he examines India's malnutrition and attributes it to their vegetarianism. He fails to mention poverty in this discussion and continues writing about how a carnivorous diet could solve India's malnutrition. Sure, a steady source of meat would probably help this issue but the full exclusion of important factors such as poverty when talking about malnutrition ruins this evidence for his argument. This brings me back to the first issue I mentioned about references, one of the underlying issues I had with this chapter particularly. I have read and been taught that red meat is not a healthful food and the author directly rebukes this. Fine with me. But why? and where did you get this explanation? I need to be convinced of the foundational point, that meat is good for humans, before he can convince me that I should be including it in my diet. Genuinely, I was looking for a scientifically sound discussion on this. The explanations he provided did not fulfill this and I almost constantly found myself in this limbo of trying to follow his logic but finding myself unconvinced of his reasoning.
The anecdotes shared in the book are moving. I support the idea behind Dr. Davis' programs, books, and actions. I commend him for his radical ideas that question and attack our current healthcare system. It seems that people's lives are being changed and it's possible his other resources are better. I could not handle the manner in which this book was written though and I would not recommend it to any of my friends.
February 16, 2021
I really liked the concept of this book and do accept some of what Dr. Davis is suggesting. Think for yourself and ask deeper questions. Take responsibility for your own health. These things make sense to me.
Unfortunately, I started to get bogged down in the details the further I got into the book and I found myself questioning some of what I was hearing. I also think maybe this lifestyle would not be for me, given that the author seems to be pushing an "all or nothing" approach stating that you can't get the benefit if you only do some of the things he's suggesting. That disheartened and overwhelmed me.
Perhaps I should have read this book the old fashioned way instead of listening, because then I could have read and re-read some of the pages. I'm not sure that would have helped, though.
I found myself at times hopeful and at other times feeling disappointed with what really might be just slightly more helpful than an infomercial. :/
Unfortunately, I started to get bogged down in the details the further I got into the book and I found myself questioning some of what I was hearing. I also think maybe this lifestyle would not be for me, given that the author seems to be pushing an "all or nothing" approach stating that you can't get the benefit if you only do some of the things he's suggesting. That disheartened and overwhelmed me.
Perhaps I should have read this book the old fashioned way instead of listening, because then I could have read and re-read some of the pages. I'm not sure that would have helped, though.
I found myself at times hopeful and at other times feeling disappointed with what really might be just slightly more helpful than an infomercial. :/
June 17, 2018
I enjoyed the facts and content, but it was a bit over kill and repetitive at times. I stopped reading it because my husband is a physician and while I am frustrated with the system, I believe doctors themselves are truly trying to help and save lives.
June 16, 2017
Good information about taking care of your own health and not relying on doctors.
October 29, 2017
Enjoyed this book. Lots of practical, easily applicable information about how to stay healthy, monitor your own health, and assert your control as a health care consumer.
August 5, 2017
I already knew a lot of this but it was a good read.
August 26, 2017
Who would ever have thought that you could find a doctor who feels about the FDA, big Pharma, big Food, and the entire health care system in the USA as the average American does? Well, Dr. William Davis is the man!
He refers to health care in the USA as an organization motivated only by profit. Of course, many people within the health care system are caring, loving professionals who honestly do want to help their fellow man. However, the system they're in bondage to is the same system we are in bondage to. Health care? Nay. Profiteering from our illnesses is more like it. Greed seems to run rampant throughout our healthcare system. As a matter of fact, the term "healthcare" seems to be a misnomer, for in reality it should be renamed "symptom care."
Big Pharma really doesn't want us cured - after all, they wouldn't make any more money off us. No, they treat only the symptoms. As one of my co-workers put it, if we step on a tack and the tack is stuck in our foot, the doctor is likely to prescribe a pain-killer rather than remove the tack. The same is true for many of our illnesses - symptoms are treated, the cause is left untreated, as it brings in additional money.
In "Undoctored," we learn just how bad modern, prepared food is for us, as well as grains (wheat, oat, rye, barley, etc.), nitrates, high-fructose corn syrup, and a host of many other modern-day ingredients. We also learn how important it is to take the appropriate supplements, i.e. iodine, magnesium, and many others. Surprisingly, we learn how unnecessary, even dangerous, supplemental calcium is. I found that incredible! Even the all-hailed vitamin C! Not nearly as effective against the common cold as we're led to believe.
There are myriads of tips and suggestions on maintaining control of our health in 'Undoctored."
If/when we need a doctor, then by all means we should go see one. However, if we follow the advice found in this book, we are likely not to need a doctor nearly as often as we think we do. After all, doctors actually spend about 10 minutes or less with us when we do go to see one. (Not referring to surgeons, who may spend hours with us performing life-sustaining surgery.)
He refers to health care in the USA as an organization motivated only by profit. Of course, many people within the health care system are caring, loving professionals who honestly do want to help their fellow man. However, the system they're in bondage to is the same system we are in bondage to. Health care? Nay. Profiteering from our illnesses is more like it. Greed seems to run rampant throughout our healthcare system. As a matter of fact, the term "healthcare" seems to be a misnomer, for in reality it should be renamed "symptom care."
Big Pharma really doesn't want us cured - after all, they wouldn't make any more money off us. No, they treat only the symptoms. As one of my co-workers put it, if we step on a tack and the tack is stuck in our foot, the doctor is likely to prescribe a pain-killer rather than remove the tack. The same is true for many of our illnesses - symptoms are treated, the cause is left untreated, as it brings in additional money.
In "Undoctored," we learn just how bad modern, prepared food is for us, as well as grains (wheat, oat, rye, barley, etc.), nitrates, high-fructose corn syrup, and a host of many other modern-day ingredients. We also learn how important it is to take the appropriate supplements, i.e. iodine, magnesium, and many others. Surprisingly, we learn how unnecessary, even dangerous, supplemental calcium is. I found that incredible! Even the all-hailed vitamin C! Not nearly as effective against the common cold as we're led to believe.
There are myriads of tips and suggestions on maintaining control of our health in 'Undoctored."
If/when we need a doctor, then by all means we should go see one. However, if we follow the advice found in this book, we are likely not to need a doctor nearly as often as we think we do. After all, doctors actually spend about 10 minutes or less with us when we do go to see one. (Not referring to surgeons, who may spend hours with us performing life-sustaining surgery.)
August 31, 2017
Eğer daha onceden "Buğday Göbeği" kitabini okuduysanız yazarin bu kitapta bahsettiği pek cok bolume onceden aşinasınız demektir. Dr. Davis bu kitapta da tahillarin zararlarini ve tamamen kesmenin faydalarina genişçe deginiyor. Onceki kitaptan farkli olarak değindiği konuların basinda "saglik alanindaki kolektif zeka" konusu geliyor. Kolektif Zeka; topluluklardaki bireylerin birbirlerinden bağımsız olarak, başkalarından etkilenmeksizin aldıkları kararların ortalaması, en iyi karardır önermesi ile var olduğu düşünülen bir mekanizmadır. Bu bir kisinin herhangi bir rahatsızlığı oldugunda Google'a semptomlari yazip "kesin oleceksin" tarzi bir sonuc almasindan ziyade, benzer rahatsizliklara sahip insanlarin kontrollu ve denetlenen platformlarda/forumlarda bilgi alışverişi yaparak yuksek oranlarda tek bir doktorun gorusunden daha dogru sonuclar aldiginin ispatlanmasi seklinde acikliyor. (Kronik hastaliklar, kiriklar, bazi kanser vakalari vb durumlari bunun disinda tutuyor) Gunumuz tip/ilac camiası bunu kabul etsin ya da etmesin bunun cok yuksek hizda ilerleyen bir konu oldugu ve onumuzdeki yillarda cok daha yayginlasacagini belirtiyor Dr Davis. Bilginin neredeyse her birkac ayda guncellendigi bir yuzyilda artik bireylerin de yapilan son arastirmalara rahatlikla ulasabildiginin bu yuzden mevcut sartlarda kisilerin mevcut rahatsizliklari konusunda doktorlarindan daha bilincli olabileceklerini, yine bu tarz kendilerini surekli gelistiren, ilac firmalarinin agina dusmemis, "omur boyu bu ilaci kullanacaksin, baska yolu yok" demeyen harika doktorlarin sayisinin da artmaya basladigini anlatiyor. İkinci bolumde de en basindan doktora gitmenizi gerektirmeyecek saglikli bir omur surmeniz icin gereken adimlari siraliyor. Son bolumde saglikli beslenmeyi binlerce liralik ilaclardansa modern yasamda her insanin vucudunda eksik olan bazi vitaminler ile nasil destekleyebileceginizi gosteriyor.
December 19, 2017
I thought the introduction was entirely too long but I did read every word of it and I'm glad that I did. A sentence that grabbed my attention was, "You might just be on your way to wielding considerable authority over your own health." I knew I was about to read logical, researched information. In the introduction he also writes, "Unquestionably, there are situations in which doctoring and the healthcare system are needed. If you are bleeding, injured or struggling to breathe with pneumonia..." Pages 16 and 17 addresses what health conditions are addressed by the Undoctored approach. The list is long. It includes Acid reflux, Autoimmune Hemolytic anemia, Crohn's disease, Fibromyalgia, Prediabetes, Polymyalgia rheumatica, Rheumatoid arthritis and many other conditions. Undoctored is full of interesting facts about the foods the eat and the ones best avoided for optimal health. Chapter 10 is my favorite chapter. It's titled Wild, Naked and Unwashed 6 weeks of recipes. I found it wonderful. There is a recipe here for chocolate chip cookies using dark chocolate chips. I like this doctor. And I appreciate this book. It's excellent.
October 5, 2017
Lots of good health advice as I have come to expect from the author William Davis M.D. but the first half of the book was way too wordy on the reasons and background for his health seeking protocols.
It didn't take much to convince me that 'medical health' is not really health, and, I have been grain free and low carb since his first book 'Wheatbelly' and I know humans have survived thousands of years without all the processed junk that is called food today (although I believe we were created by an infinitely wise God), but please just get to the point! When he did get to that part of his book, Wow! So much helpful information! Some may like and need all the preliminary details but for others, don't lose hope, keep reading you'll be glad you did!
It didn't take much to convince me that 'medical health' is not really health, and, I have been grain free and low carb since his first book 'Wheatbelly' and I know humans have survived thousands of years without all the processed junk that is called food today (although I believe we were created by an infinitely wise God), but please just get to the point! When he did get to that part of his book, Wow! So much helpful information! Some may like and need all the preliminary details but for others, don't lose hope, keep reading you'll be glad you did!
June 28, 2017
3-1/2 stars.
I found the first third of the book, the assessment of the health industry, to be super interesting. And while I find the genetic modification of wheat to be both disturbing and problematic, I'm not ready to go grain free yet. The cost of non-GMO flour isn't so outrageous that one can't treat oneself to homemade bread or pasta occasionally. I do agree with his ideas of personal responsibility, research, and avoidance of processed foods.
I found the first third of the book, the assessment of the health industry, to be super interesting. And while I find the genetic modification of wheat to be both disturbing and problematic, I'm not ready to go grain free yet. The cost of non-GMO flour isn't so outrageous that one can't treat oneself to homemade bread or pasta occasionally. I do agree with his ideas of personal responsibility, research, and avoidance of processed foods.
January 4, 2023
Begins with a screed about the failures of modern medicine, touches briefly on information sourcing and the power of crowds (which was what I was here for but it was brief and barely scratched the surface) then proceeds to advocate for eliminating grains and offers a bunch of recipes. Deeply diappointing and not what was promised by the title.
January 11, 2024
I wanted to like this book because I do want to change the way I live and eat to achieve greater health and well-being, but I could not get over the smarmy tone of the book! I felt like I was being pandered to and being sold a specific product and way of life rather than finding wisdom and health.
August 2, 2017
I can't recommend this book highly enough. I was already familiar with Dr. Davis's dietary plan via his Wheat Belly and Wheat Belly Total Health books, but this book takes things one step further and explores the vagaries of the current "health care" system in America, and how it has evolved into nothing more than a profiteering scam. The health care system has no incentive to actually teach people how to be healthy...their business is treating the sick--that is how they make their money. Following the dietary and health advice of prestigious groups like the American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, Food and Drug Administration, etc. is no longer prudent. They may sound like benevolent groups, but in reality, they are supported in large part by donations from pharmaceutical companies, agriculture lobbyists and manufacturers of processed foods. Studies that your physician quotes to you as to why you should be taking a statin medication or why you should eat a low fat diet and more "healthy whole grain" were sponsored in large part by those same pharmaceutical and food lobbyist groups and have had the statistics twisted to profit those companies.
Dr. Davis is taking us into the future of healthcare...where YOU are responsible in large part for your health, not your doctor. Not your insurance company. And he tells you how to navigate all the new technology and information available now to anyone--not just to those with medical training. He's not a conspiracy theorist nutjob. He does NOT tell you to skip your yearly physical, your screening colonoscopy or mammogram, and is not an anti-vaxxer, or the snake oil salesman who tells you to take turmeric for your new cancer diagnosis or the root of some South American plant for your eczema! Not at all. Dr. Davis helps you to ask the right questions of your doctor. He helps you to lose the attitude that "doctor knows best" because in reality, many doctors don't know much at all about actual nutrition, about current studies that are NOT supported by drug companies, and for the most part, their goal is to see as many patients as possible and tick off your compliance that their employer and your insurance company requires of them.
Dr. Davis is a practicing cardiologist who has worked for decades within this American health system and, prior to his own enlightenment, preached the "follow a low fat diet and take this statin" form of cardiology and then was happy to perform a very lucrative angioplasty with a couple of stents when it didn't work. He has seen this system from the inside and knows how it works. He's also a Type 2 diabetic himself who has virtually 'cured' himself (and thousands of his patients and online community) by following his dietary and total health plan as outlined.
Mind you, I was not someone who needed a lot of convincing--in essence, as a nurse who has also seen the health care system from the inside and has grown increasingly troubled by what I'm seeing--really, Dr. Davis was preaching to the choir with me. I've been following a form of his eating plan for years, off and on--grain-free, sugar-free and mostly "Paleo" without a lot of processed foods, artificial sweeteners and such. But his plan takes it up a notch for me and I intend to adapt my current way of eating to his plan in the hopes of getting rid of more of my prescription medications and becoming as healthy as I can. Truly healthy, not just healthy on paper.
If you are someone struggling with chronic illness and take a handful (or two??) of meds for things like Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cholestrol, acid reflux, osteoporosis, various autoimmune diseases, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, IBS...I strongly encourage you to give this book a read. Dr. Davis also has a lot of very informative videos on YouTube and there are literally thousands of testimonials from people who have followed his plan and become mostly "Undoctored." Meaning...they need a doctor if they fall and break a leg, or to perform an appendectomy or to do their screening colonoscopy, but they don't need a doctor to write them prescriptions any more. I think that many people start this program not necessarily because they want more health, but because they want to lose weight. It is touted as a weight loss plan, because that DOES happen. Often people start it as a 'diet' and do lose weight...but when the other health benefits become evident within just a short time, people stick with it.
As Glinda, the good witch of the north says in The Wizard of Oz, "You had the power all along, my dear." Dr. Davis helps to show you how to use it.
Dr. Davis is taking us into the future of healthcare...where YOU are responsible in large part for your health, not your doctor. Not your insurance company. And he tells you how to navigate all the new technology and information available now to anyone--not just to those with medical training. He's not a conspiracy theorist nutjob. He does NOT tell you to skip your yearly physical, your screening colonoscopy or mammogram, and is not an anti-vaxxer, or the snake oil salesman who tells you to take turmeric for your new cancer diagnosis or the root of some South American plant for your eczema! Not at all. Dr. Davis helps you to ask the right questions of your doctor. He helps you to lose the attitude that "doctor knows best" because in reality, many doctors don't know much at all about actual nutrition, about current studies that are NOT supported by drug companies, and for the most part, their goal is to see as many patients as possible and tick off your compliance that their employer and your insurance company requires of them.
Dr. Davis is a practicing cardiologist who has worked for decades within this American health system and, prior to his own enlightenment, preached the "follow a low fat diet and take this statin" form of cardiology and then was happy to perform a very lucrative angioplasty with a couple of stents when it didn't work. He has seen this system from the inside and knows how it works. He's also a Type 2 diabetic himself who has virtually 'cured' himself (and thousands of his patients and online community) by following his dietary and total health plan as outlined.
Mind you, I was not someone who needed a lot of convincing--in essence, as a nurse who has also seen the health care system from the inside and has grown increasingly troubled by what I'm seeing--really, Dr. Davis was preaching to the choir with me. I've been following a form of his eating plan for years, off and on--grain-free, sugar-free and mostly "Paleo" without a lot of processed foods, artificial sweeteners and such. But his plan takes it up a notch for me and I intend to adapt my current way of eating to his plan in the hopes of getting rid of more of my prescription medications and becoming as healthy as I can. Truly healthy, not just healthy on paper.
If you are someone struggling with chronic illness and take a handful (or two??) of meds for things like Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cholestrol, acid reflux, osteoporosis, various autoimmune diseases, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, IBS...I strongly encourage you to give this book a read. Dr. Davis also has a lot of very informative videos on YouTube and there are literally thousands of testimonials from people who have followed his plan and become mostly "Undoctored." Meaning...they need a doctor if they fall and break a leg, or to perform an appendectomy or to do their screening colonoscopy, but they don't need a doctor to write them prescriptions any more. I think that many people start this program not necessarily because they want more health, but because they want to lose weight. It is touted as a weight loss plan, because that DOES happen. Often people start it as a 'diet' and do lose weight...but when the other health benefits become evident within just a short time, people stick with it.
As Glinda, the good witch of the north says in The Wizard of Oz, "You had the power all along, my dear." Dr. Davis helps to show you how to use it.
August 1, 2019
Four stars because the content was good, but the style was not as professional as I would like. I already believe in the power of grain-free living, ketogenic diets, zero sugar, etc. I want others to discover this material and try it for themselves, and I am always looking for great beginner-friendly books to share with others if they ask for recommendations. I want to recommend this book but I have reservations due to the hyperbole and over-the-top convictions Dr. Davis shares. Too much conviction comes across as biased, and this book loses credibility in my eyes by being so focused on grains being the cause of every problem every known.
It's normal for an expert to have an area of expertise, of course! But when that expert thinks everything hinges on their area of expertise, it makes them seem a bit less credible.
That being said, I really did like this book a lot and think the future of health-care has got to move us away from traditional care by doctors and hospitals. I am convinced that the best way to stay in optimal health is to avoid doctors as much as possible. Every time you see a doctor, you risk an intervention that was not needed that will probably cause more trouble than it fixes. Doctors (and patients) have trouble doing nothing, but time fixes many medical problems.
I think about this issue a lot, which is why I was drawn to this book. I think it's a good start and I hope to see more books about leaving traditional health-care behind and forging a new path.
It's normal for an expert to have an area of expertise, of course! But when that expert thinks everything hinges on their area of expertise, it makes them seem a bit less credible.
That being said, I really did like this book a lot and think the future of health-care has got to move us away from traditional care by doctors and hospitals. I am convinced that the best way to stay in optimal health is to avoid doctors as much as possible. Every time you see a doctor, you risk an intervention that was not needed that will probably cause more trouble than it fixes. Doctors (and patients) have trouble doing nothing, but time fixes many medical problems.
I think about this issue a lot, which is why I was drawn to this book. I think it's a good start and I hope to see more books about leaving traditional health-care behind and forging a new path.
January 13, 2018
Having read his previous book Wheat Belly and decided that route wasn't for me, it was surprising to read Undoctored. Unfortunately, if you are reading the book you are going to get the same pitch which is carbs are the devil. But that wasn't the reason I read the book.
This isn't the first book that discusses the unholy alliance between many in the medical community and the pharmaceutical industry. While I don't agree that no carbs are the way to go I do believe that the standard Western diet is responsible for the abominable state oh health in this country.
The author mentions that only about 20% of medical schools put their students through nutritional studies. The idea of "Undoctored" is that you will need to take your health into your own hands. Although he admits there are times that you will be most thankful for medical care for broken bones etc.
If you think about your own medical history, how many visits do you walk out of the office, after a 10-minute visit, with a scrip in your hands? And even sadder is the fact that we feel neglected if we don't have one. When we know that a cold is a virus and we know that an antibiotic won't work do we still get one?
Diabetes and much of heart disease are caused by a poor diet, yet we spend the rest of our lives on an expensive medication.
While I don't buy into Dr. Davis and his views of "killer carbs" I do agree that we need to take back control of our health.
This isn't the first book that discusses the unholy alliance between many in the medical community and the pharmaceutical industry. While I don't agree that no carbs are the way to go I do believe that the standard Western diet is responsible for the abominable state oh health in this country.
The author mentions that only about 20% of medical schools put their students through nutritional studies. The idea of "Undoctored" is that you will need to take your health into your own hands. Although he admits there are times that you will be most thankful for medical care for broken bones etc.
If you think about your own medical history, how many visits do you walk out of the office, after a 10-minute visit, with a scrip in your hands? And even sadder is the fact that we feel neglected if we don't have one. When we know that a cold is a virus and we know that an antibiotic won't work do we still get one?
Diabetes and much of heart disease are caused by a poor diet, yet we spend the rest of our lives on an expensive medication.
While I don't buy into Dr. Davis and his views of "killer carbs" I do agree that we need to take back control of our health.
December 16, 2017
As someone who has suffered more from modern medicine than the illnesses it was used to treat, this is a must-read for everyone in the USA.
Our medical system is a bloated monster designed to generate profit and patients and our society pay the price.
Dr. Davis covers the latest areas of research on diet, sodium intake, the importance of dietary fat, blood sugar management and so much more.
He also provides actual strategies people can use to take control of their health.
Unfortunately for me, it took half my life to reach many of the conclusions he outlines in this book.
I wish it had been around before I got sucked in and spit out by the #wealthcare system. That said it gives me hope to see all this info so accessible and the rise of a new patient self-advocacy movement. I can't tell you how hard it is trying to explain to people that their doctor has limited knowledge and doesn't always know whats best. With knowledge so accessible its, a matter of time before this understanding becomes the norm and I don't have to helplessly watch people go through the same medical hell I went through.
My only wish for this book is a to have abbreviated instructions-- I originally bought it for audible but ended up purchasing the Kindle version as well so I can highlight, bookmark and set up my own plan.
Our medical system is a bloated monster designed to generate profit and patients and our society pay the price.
Dr. Davis covers the latest areas of research on diet, sodium intake, the importance of dietary fat, blood sugar management and so much more.
He also provides actual strategies people can use to take control of their health.
Unfortunately for me, it took half my life to reach many of the conclusions he outlines in this book.
I wish it had been around before I got sucked in and spit out by the #wealthcare system. That said it gives me hope to see all this info so accessible and the rise of a new patient self-advocacy movement. I can't tell you how hard it is trying to explain to people that their doctor has limited knowledge and doesn't always know whats best. With knowledge so accessible its, a matter of time before this understanding becomes the norm and I don't have to helplessly watch people go through the same medical hell I went through.
My only wish for this book is a to have abbreviated instructions-- I originally bought it for audible but ended up purchasing the Kindle version as well so I can highlight, bookmark and set up my own plan.
November 14, 2021
This book had some good ideas, but I had a few issues with it. First, it's very all or nothing. I don't know many people, myself included, who want to follow a program that requires you to give up sugar and grains for the rest of your life and follow every step of his program to see ample benefit. For me, that is just too overwhelming. I honestly believe that if I did a few of the steps or ate well most of the time, I would still feel better and gain increased health. He (the author) writes too about how empowered people will be in the future when they take his advice and rid themselves of health issues. I don't see this happening though. Most people in the world who drink, smoke, don't exercise, eat poorly, etc already know this is bad for them, and many aren't doing anything about it. I know people personally who would rather be on medication and eat badly than change their lifestyles and go off the medicine. They know how to better their health (or at least believe they do) and still aren't doing anything to make it happen. I was a bit disappointed that there are so many supplements included since I hate remembering to take pills of any sort. I'm going to give up grains though and perhaps add a supplement or two. I'm hoping to see benefit from this alone that I can be satisfied with. Maybe one day I'll have enough energy to do the whole program.
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