Review of Gastrointestinal Health: The Proven Nutritional Program to Prevent, Cure, or Alleviate Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Ulcers, Gas, Constipation, Heartburn, and Many Other Digestive Disorders, Third Edition (Paperback)

I read the earlier edition of this book and have the new edition. I thought it was good enough to buy the second edition.

If you ever watch the commercials on TV during the evening news you would think pretty much everyone in the United States has something wrong with their stomach.That is not too far off.

I've seen tv commercials encouraging teenagers to start taking laxatives.

This book is good because it gives real life examples and doesn't try to tell anyone to always eat pefectly which is basically impossible and even if it is possible the person would die of monotony probably. For example I used to eat 3 or 4 pork chops at one meal but the book says meat should not be as significant a part of the diet. This causes you to lose weight also in a safe way.

The biggest thing I think is the part about exercise.The book says go for a long walk every night.

If you do this and also identify things you may not be able to digest such as milk you shouldn't have too many stomach problems.There's milk out now called 'Lactaid' which has the lactose enzyme added in.

Those who don't do these things will ultimately try to treat their problems with over the counter or prescription drugs rather than attack the problems at the source.

Updated 12/23/07
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Since I read this book and wrote the original review I have learned more about diet.The hell that I went through with my stomach was mainly caused by flooding my system with white sugar and other refined sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup.White sugar is basically a poison for the body.The soft drink and candy companies are poisoning America and the the entire world really with this crap.

White sugar attacks and weakens the immune system.When I removed it from my diet I lost my allergies for trees, grasses, molds, and ragweed.

But you have to beware of so called 'sugar free' candy and other things also.These contain the sugar alcohols which are even worse than white sugar.

What you should look for is raw (not necessarily organic) sugar.

An emerging discovery in the area of natural health is maintaing the proper Ph level in the body's chemistry.

Jeff Marzano

Sugar in the Raw Raw Sugar, 24-Ounce Bags (Pack of 12)

Alkalize or Die

The Acid-Alkaline Diet for Optimum Health: Restore Your Health by Creating Balance in Your Diet

McCann's Steel Cut Oatmeal, Traditional, 28-Ounce Tins (Pack of 4)




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Review of Fiber Menace: The Truth About the Leading Role of Fiber in Diet Failure, Constipation, Hemorrhoids, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease, and Colon Cancer (Paperback)

I had to order this book via Amazon USA because it is not available in Europe. His basic recommendations, not do eat too much fiber and not to overdose water intake, seem to make sense. His hints how to fight obstipation caused by low-carb/low-fiber-diets are also as reasonable as the recommendation to make the transition vom a high-fiber/carb-diet to a low-fiber/carb one slowly to prevent negative side effects of the carbohydrate withdrawal.

But there are also some serious flaws. First is his completely wrong reception of the cause of Atkins' death. As we know, Atkins died from an accident with severe damage of his skull and brain. At the time of this accident he was not obese at all and did not suffer from heart disease. But Monastyrsky states Atkins died from a cardiac arrest, "unquestionably from obesity-related complications [...] and he died morbidly obese".Monastyrsky also seems not to have really understood the principles behind ketosis. I certainly do NOT endorse the Atkins-Diet nor his very problemable "induction phase", but I really dislike lay-journalists/writers who investigate inaccurately or do not fully understand what they are writing about.

Secondly Mr. Monastyrskys calculations about the daily need of carbohydrates (200 g/day is way to high) and the maximum intake of carbohydrates, fats and proteins to allow fat loss are quite weird. He claims that only with NO carbohydrate and max. 1 gram of fats and proteins per kg bodyweight, weightloss would be possible. Following this idea, a person of 75 kg would be allowed to have NO carbohydrates, 75 g fats and 75 g protein per day. This sums up to 975 calories - a very very low energy diet that virtually forces the body to engage all its energy-saving capabilities and will be the best basis for rapid regain of weight after stopping this very questionable approach. "Hello jo-jo". Weight- and fat-loss occurs as a matter of course with every longer lasting reduction of energy-intake below the requirements of the body. There is no scientific proof for Mr. Monastyrskys ideas concerning the required mix of macronutrients at all.

Thirdly Mr. Monastyrksy misinterpretes the term of "waterintoxication" he cites from the Schmidt/Thews-Textbook of physiology. Schmidt/Thews say that taking LARGER AMOUNTS of hypotonic solutions WITHIN A SHORT TIME into the body may cause waterintoxication. This is a wellknown fact inside the medical world, but it is crucial to see the term WITHIN A SHORT TIME, Monastyrsky seems to peculate in his further interpretation. The official recommendation of "8 glasses of water a day" may be questionable, but does of course NOT lead to "water-intoxication" when taken - as supposed - throughout the day. Only taking big amounts of hypotonic fluid all of a sudden may cause problems in the stated way, but nobody recommends this.

Fourthly Mr. Monastyrsky is very eager to promote the selling of his quite expensive food-additives through his website he cites over and over again throughout his book. This is very annoying.

Summary: Mr. Monastyrskys ideas seem to make some sense specially for people who experience problems from consuming too much fiber. But there is no adequate scientific evidence for his allegations. Readers who want to follow his suggestions therefore should be careful not to be drawn into esoteric spheres where they might lose their sense for reality. Monastyrsky might also have considered to publish his thinkings in an article in a medical or journal of nutrition (but that would have arisen the 'danger' of an external quality-control). His basic ideas would fit comfortably in a relatively short article and it does not seem to be necessary to spread it redundantly over more than 280 pages.




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