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The Vitamin D Revolution: How the Power of This Amazing Vitamin Can Change Your Life by Soram Khalsa
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Soram Khalsa Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2009-03-01 ISBN: 1401924700 Number of pages: 160 Publisher: Hay House
Book Reviews of The Vitamin D Revolution: How the Power of This Amazing Vitamin Can Change Your LifeBook Review: a great little book Summary: 5 Stars
Of the 8 books on vitamin D I've now read, this was my favorite last year.
Of the other books, "Vitamin D Prescription" by Eric Madrid is also good. "The Vitamin D Cure" by James Dowd is not basic, comprehensive or practical. Then there is "Vitamin D" by Michael Merrill which was too brief and simply inadequate. At the other extreme is the comprehensive but somewhat technical "Sunshine and Vitamin D" by Frank Murray - mainly brief compilations of hundreds of studies but no practical guidelines, so not really suitable for the layman who wants to experiment with high-dose vitamin D.
Of this year's books so far: "Vitamin D" by Rona and "Power of Vitamin D" by Zaidi are both brief but quite good and the one that is now my favorite pick is "The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problem" by Holick. It is a practical and easy read. At 300 pages I also found it thorough. I liked that it straightforwardly explained that sunshine, when it shines strongly enough, is always better than supplementing with Vitamin D.
Going back to this book, Khalsa is both a clinical professor of medicine and a naturopathic doctor. His sincerity and genuine desire to help you shine out. This book is much more simply and clearly set out than most of the pre-2010 books, and includes the differences between the three forms of vitamin D (D3 is the important one), the pros and cons of getting vitamin D from sunshine or tanning beds, which vitamin D test you/your doctor should use (and why), and several careful pages on dosage. The aim was to help you to help yourself, whereas other books are keen for you to consult a doctor. I felt immediately able to apply the information from this book.
It's also worth noting that over a decade ago several books were already lauding the much-overlooked benefits of sunshine, the best way to get vitamin D, although the further away from the equator, the less effective. Anyone living above the 35th parallel is highly likely to have a sunshine/vit D deficiency that can also lead to many common symptoms. (Those who react badly to Vitamin D and/or sunshine may have a rare disease called sarcoidosis.)
According to this book, vitamin D can cure 17 types of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, bone density issues, arthritis, flu, muscle pain, fatigue, chronic pain, seasonal (and other) depression and various autoimmune disorders. Perhaps it's just my cynicism from decades of reading endless books singing the praises of so-called miracles such as DMSO, MMS, DHEA, vitamin C, magnesium, iodine, omega 3 EFAs, breathwork, oxygen therapy, hydrogen peroxide, water, thyroid hormone, adrenal hormone, liver cleanses, detoxes, fasts, exercise, neutralizing electromagnetic stress, juicing, mangosteen, noni juice, superfoods, organic foods, wholefoods, celiac diets, dairy-free diets, veggie diets, protein diets, carb diets, food combining, acid-alkaline balancing diets, Glycemic Index diets, high fiber diets, raw food diets, candida/fungus elimination, parasite cleansing - oh dear, the list of my gullibility seems endless.
Yes, I've tried all of these; yes, thoroughly and sometimes repeating them in various combinations and on each occasion with enthusiasm and bright-eyed hope but I saw no measurable benefits. "Trick and Treat" by Groves explains in detail just why my efforts were doomed. Nowadays, when I read about health wonders, I wonder how many claims of success are made up or at least tweaked - and I wonder what proportion of actual patients were successful in any way, much less miraculously so, as is always claimed by books touting single strategies.
I was startled to learn - from the Holick book - that about a third of the population has kidney disease (which never gets diagnosed until too late), about the same number who are obese (hello... anyone making a connection here?) and that their bodies may not be able to produce enough activated vitamin D. However, the books are not clear enough that the elderly and those with poor health simply cannot produce enough activated vitamin D in their bodies even when taking high-dose vitamin D2 or D3 - this was explained only in the Holick book.
Based on my personal experience of taking 10,000iu daily of vitamin D3 for 6 months (but Rona's book mentions Norm Shealy, a physician who has taken 50,000iu per day for 18 months), I'm not convinced that vitamin D supplementation of the non-prescription kind is a panacea, as so many of the books are claiming - and I am not convinced that all these authors got the unanimously fantastic results they allege. Too many single-strategy books have a way of sounding a little overzealous, attributing every malady to whatever deficiency they're tackling and proposing it as the magic solution across the board.
[Later note: D-Ribose and Xylitol are healthy sugars that I have recently been experimenting with, and am happy to report early signs of success. D-Ribose provides energy and Xylitol is anti-fungal and helps balance the pH of the body (both major factors in health). For D-Ribose, read "The Sinatra Solution" (although it is not an easy book: I read it twice and still did not feel I had understood it thoroughly) and for Xylitol try "The Sweet Miracle of Xylitol" and "Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye". I am also just starting to study about Creatine, the best book is probably the research-based but expensive and jargon-ridden "Essentials of Creatine in Sports and Health" by Stout, Antonio and Kalman.]
Summary of The Vitamin D Revolution: How the Power of This Amazing Vitamin Can Change Your LifeRecent, groundbreaking medical research has made a connection between Vitamin D deficiency and 17 types of cancers, including breast, colon, and prostate. Illnesses such as influenza, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and coronary heart disease have also been connected to a lack of this vitamin. Until not too long ago, not getting enough Vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin) was only associated with rickets, the childhood bone disease. Now, Soram Khalsa, M.D., sheds new light on the power of this long-forgotten vitamin. He reveals how to recognize signs of Vitamin D deficiency, which has reached epidemic proportions in North America, and then shares insights from his Beverly Hills medical practice, where he normalizes his own patients? Vitamin D levels for their optimal health.
Health, Mind & Body Books
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