The Body Ecology Diet: Restore Health & Boost Immunity Naturally - Perfect for Gut Healing & Immune Support

For those of us who have suffered autoimmune disorders along with the accompanying chronic candida/parasites that go along with it - this book is a treasure.After my own personal journey of 10+ years with CFS/FM, Lupus and MPS I can say that for me, this book was the final 'piece' to my health puzzle. I had been dealing with Chronic Candida problems for years - I had colon cleansed, liver cleansed, gotten off all prescription drugs but still "hit a wall" in my health, and was not able to completely get well.In working with many people on candida support groups over the years, and in my own health I have discovered that most grains are detrimental to digestive problems and indeed can stop complete recovery. Most people suffering from auto-immune and Chronic Candida disorders are suffering from malabsorption - and have Leaky Gut syndrome. Eating Grains, dairy and most fruits - which are recommended by many book authors can make one sicker, and go into deeper distress. Donna is *right on the money here*, she knows and understands these complications and tells the reader "straight" - right from the beginning.I have *never* found the Anti-Candida Diet popular amongst those seeking to reclaim their health. This book is no different - and the negative reviews are possibly because people are looking for a 'quick fix', or a magic pill to get well. Chronic health problems do not happen overnight - and one will not get better overnight either.Donna covers some of the most important aspects to complete health recovery - an example is "Food Combining" rules. This is vitally important to recovery and as she says: "eating foods that are not compatible in the stomach causes fermentation. This fermentation produces alcohol and sugars and yeast feed off these sugars and multiply rapidly, creating more toxins in the body." and also - "People with candidiasis have weak digestive tracts. Improper food-combining further weakens the digestive tract by causing it to work inefficiently until it slowly breaks down."Colon cleansing and liver cleansing are also important aspects of this book and this is also sound truth for recovery.Though Donna does promote her own supplements/products - if one is truly interested in living the lifestyle recommended in the book - kefir, cultured vegetables, coconut(s) (their oil and meat) can ALL be found elsewhere - very inexpensively. We make our own cultured vegies, kefir and kombucha for pennies a day, without the promoted 'starters' in the book.Too many people are sick because they don't want to get down to business and take responsibility for their own health - this book challenges the politically correct health folks out there and really gives answers for those who are SERIOUS about getting well - for good.This book has helped change my life and I highly recommend it.WendyJM1Ahhh the comments from some of those California scientist/know-it-alls! What would we be without them? (re: earlier reviews).Although 'well-organized' is easier in any situation, I got plenty of positive, informative hints from this book, have (as I often do with books I like) bought multiple copies of it and passed them on to folks I thought would benefit as a result, and am about to do so again. Even as a lucky individual, who is rarely sick, has held his teen-age weight and waist right up to present (155/32), learning from the books content has added pleasantly to well-being and well-feeling. I believe Donna Gates has hit at least on some issues right on the head.A culture, with values like "All you can eat for $2.95 - Unlimited refills" is a sick culture and needs a lot help. And that help does not come in more medication or more handicap parking lots. It comes with a diet more in alignment with "An apple a day keeps the doctor away".More apples, veggies and other healthy items in our diets would certainly not result in bloated health care costs, overrated doctors and visits to them. The choice is your's alone.This is your basic book for starting the Body Ecology Diet. You may need other sources to make such a major change in your diet and life style. For other people with long standing weak immune systems, they may need more than 90 days. The diet is also meant to be a life time change. So, the idea of a "90 day" cure is a little misleading. Knowing this, you can read this book with the knowledge that, for you, you may need to stay on this regime longer. Whichever category you fall into this is a good beginning for following this diet. It is straight forward and laid out in a way you can look up information in.My wife started on this road a little bit ago and I started it just a little over 30 days ago. I was well over 300 lbs when I started. In just 30 days, I was able to loose 25lbs. But in this process, my alergies went away. I can think clearer. I just feel better. I now find my self eating to live instead of living to eat. I gave it a 4 star because even though it has a lot of information in it, it wasn't organized well. You jump around a lot to figure out how things are suppose to work. That would be my only gripe.I bought this book years ago. I've tried many of the fermented recipes within. Overall strong, well thought out, and well put together. Some overall commentary and advice is too stringent. Some of the fermented products are really great. I particularly loved the coconut water ferment and the coconut meat ferment. Donna has a good sense of things. But there is some fear-based mentality here (minus one star and). If you love to ferment or love to eat fermented foods, this is a good place to start.Lots of helpful content, without all the marketing fluff! Felt quite overwhelmed by all the pieces, but it is comprehensive and ties many different strategies together. Not for the faint hearted , you neeed to be serious about getting real help,looking for a quick fix, but cuts thru the smoke and mirrors typical of this field.I found a few good recipes in this book that supported a "low acidic" type of nutrition plan. There are some good ideas about lowering your acid levels in order to make your body a more harmonic type of system. Good info if you're into the cleansing scene, but it's definitely not a "spot" diet type of program. You really need to change your whole lifestyle for the long term, stick with it, and you'll reap the rewards.This book consolidates tons of research. That is what I was looking for. It is a hard diet to stick to, but if you at least do most of it, it is helpful to your health. If you can follow it completely, it will help even more although you will probably feel sick and tired at first. I hear that candida takes at least 6 months to kill off, otherwise it is just lying dormant and will come back again.Very educational book and quite practically written. However it does not seem to cater much for those on a meat-free diet.I just coudnt get into this at all.......very hard reading, gave up after two chaptersGreat insight - I have now started drinking-Kefir, and have experienced benefit.