Effortless Healing

If you only buy one book on healthy living this year, this should be it. Dr Joseph Mercola created Mercola.com in 1997, and it is one of the leading sites on the natural medicine. Here he synthesises some of the key points to the found on his website in a highly readable and referenced form. He himself undertook the journey he describes, and was not always a healthy eater. At one point he was even a paid speaker for pharmaceutical companies. Over the last three decades, he has treated over 25,000 people using naturopathic principles. At first, he lost many of his patients as they were unwilling to embark on a challenging journey to address the fundamental causes of their illness. He gives some staggering figures about estate of American health. Nearly 70% are taking at least one prescription drug; the average 18-65 year old fills a dozen prescriptions a year, but the figure for over 65s is 30 and 25% of this age group takes 10 to 19 pills a day.

It is worth remembering the dictum of Hippocrates that food should be your medicine and medicine your food. The title comes from the self-healing capacity of the body if given half a chance and not assaulted with processed foods and fizzy drinks. Mercola sets out nine simple ways to help the body heal itself involving drinking pure water, juicing and fermenting vegetables, high-intensity exercise, exposure to the sun for vitamin D, looking after your gut bacteria, sleeping properly and barefoot exercise - then a warning to avoid certain popular health foods such as whole grains (gluten can be a real problem), natural sweeteners, unfermented soy, vegetable oil, farmed fish and conventional yoghurt (some of this is also advocated in the paleo approach). Readers will find themselves challenged as Mercola presents the latest research and debunks a number of popular nations on the way. However, the advice is well worth taking and is based on solid evidence. I myself will be making a number of modifications to my lifestyle as a result, and will be signing up for his newsletter. www.mercola.com