Book Review: Ultra-Prevention

This is a book all doctors should read. As it is written by two medical doctors, who have gone against the modern western model of medicine to treat chronic illness and long time health issues. Now in the opening of this book both Dr. Hyman and Liponis do admit that western medicine is excellent in times of acute life or death situations, but as a model for long term health they feel that a lot of things are severely lacking.

The book in broken up into three sections

Part 1: Modern Myths of Medicine
Part 2: The five forces of illness
Part 3: The 6 week Ultra-Prevention Plan

Part 1 would make for some very interesting reading to most lay people. For me I just found myself nodding my head in agreement with what both doc's had to say.

The Myths they dispelled were as follows:

1. Your Doctors know best - The doc's say they dont, and that most are heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical industry.

2.If you have a diagnosis, you know what is wrong with you - They doc's say that this is bullshit! The doc's talk about a man who was diagnosized as having alzheimers disease, who really just had a case of lead and mercury poisoning. The doc's got this gentleman to stop drinking the tap water from his house (as it had a high lead content), and also told him not to eat fish that had been contaminated with mercury. This mans alzheimers disappeared. The man never had it to begin with. He just had the symptoms of alzheimers, but this was not his problem.

3. Drugs Cure disease - The doc's say bullshit yet again. They believe drugs only treat symptoms and not causes, and also believe that drugs designed to treat a certain illness can in fact make you even more ill due to the side effects that it may have. Like taking anti-inflammatory medication for back pain, but ending up with the development of stomach ulcers because of the side effects that this medicaton has on your G.I. track with excessive doses.

4.Your Genes determine your fate - The doc's say there is two types of genes. Genotype - your genetic blueprint. This cant be changed. But then there is a Phenotype. Phenotypes are the genes that are influenced by your diet, lifestyle, activity, enviroment, etc. These can most certainly be changed.

5.Getting old means aging - The doc's say with the proper nutrition plan, lifestyle habits, and mental clarity in place, getting old does not not mean aging. By this they mean just because you get older things like alzheimers, arthitis, and low sex drive do not and should not be accepted as just simply "getting old!"

6. Fat is a four letter word - The doc's dispell all the bullshit that most of us reading this already know about fat. Its not the fat people. Fat is good for you. The doc's are a bit cautious about fat from animal meat, but they dont specify their stance on organic grass fed/finished meet. Conventional meat I would be in full agreement with them. But again for the most part we would all agree with the doc's here.

7. You can get all the vitamins you need from your food - This chapter was the only one that suprised me. But the doc's did make a good arguement for the need and use of certain vitamins. They believe that with the enviroment we live in being so toxic that supplementing with some form of vitamins is probably needed in modern society.

In Part 2 the five forces of illness the doc's discussed were as follows:

1. Malnutrition (Sludge)
2. Impaired Metabolism (Burnout)
3. Inflammation (Heat)
4. Impaired detoxification (Waste)
5. Oxidative Stress (Rust)

Part 3 then discussed the doc's 6 week Ultra-Prevention plan.

Step 1: Remove

1. Clear the sludge
2. Elimanate Waste
3. Remove the rust
4. Cool the heat
5. End the burnout

Step 2: Repair:

1. Repair the digestive system and optimize nutrition
2. Repair and enhance detoxification
3. Repair the Rust: Oil the oxidative stress system
4. Repair immune function and reduce inflammation
5. Repair metabolism

Step 3: Recharge:

1. Restore normal sleep
2. Move your body
3. Stress management
4. Other Ultra-prevention techniques (keep a journal, etc)

Conclusion:

This is a book that I would highly recommend to anyone in the medical, health and fitness, nutrition, or psychology field. A very enjoyable and informative read.

Stay Strong,
RB