An Important Book About Food As Medicine
Posted by Hazel Roberts in Eating Right, Living Well, Natural Health
Today I dug out a book I’ve had forever it seems. It was certainly most interesting the first time I read it several decades ago. It was then, and still is I believe, one of the most important books ever written about the food-health connection. It is titled “Food is Your Best Medicine” by Henry G. Bieler, M.D. The publisher is Ballantine Books. It’s still available in paperback for less than $10 from Amazon.com and also from the Price-Pottenger Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to natural health and healing. They can be reached at www.ppnf.org.
I say it’s still available because it was originally published in 1966, and interestingly the message Dr. Bieler put forth so many years ago has not changed. It is that the human body must have whole, nourishing food to live. As I’ve said before, there is so much information out there now, and not all of it is correct or true. So it’s a good thing to find correct information from a qualified person. Although he died in l975, Dr. Bieler’s message is even more important today than ever before.
Dr. Bieler believed that the cause of disease was not germs, but toxemia, resulting in the breakdown of health on the cellular level. That, my friend, would be the immune system that I’m always talking about. Where healthy immune system cells would normally offer protection, weak cells allow toxemia to open the door to germs and disease. He taught that the nourishment from whole food prevented and healed toxemia and disease.
He also cautioned that although there is a place for medicinal drugs, drugs themselves can cause serious side effects and even create new diseases. Just watch the drug commercials on television. They are downright scary! As a student of endocrine chemistry, Dr. Bieler concluded that discease could be cured (his words) through the proper use of correct foods.
His book is divided into three parts. The first deals with the body systems, referring to the body as a “Do it Yourself Repair Shop”. The second part expands on the nature and causes of disease. And finally, in the third part he discusses food and nutrition. He believed a wholesome diet must be rich in protein, and his book tells us why. He also believed in the healing power of vegetables and whole grains.
Dr. Bieler was an interesing guy. Early in the last century he studied medicine at the University of Cincinnati, and practiced medicine for more than fifty years. He delivered literally thousands of babies including his own children and grandchildren. It seems that although he treated great movie stars of the time, his patient list included all classes of people in the Pasadena, California area. He truly was a pioneer ahead of his time.
If ever there was a book that put forth the important facts so I don’t have to have a medical degree to figure it out, this is it. It’s so great for anyone who wants to eat healthier for lots of different reasons, but just doesn’t know where to begin. “Food Is Your Best Medicine” is definitely the right place to begin.
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