Real Cause, Real Cure: The 9 Root Causes of the Most Common Health Problems and How to Solve Them

447 Pages·2011·2.65 MB·English

by  Jacob Teitelbaum

To Laurie, my beautiful lady, my wife, my best friend, and the love of my life;
My children, David, Amy, Shannon, Brittany, and Kelly, and my grandchildren,
Payton and Bryce;
My mother, Sabina, and father, David, whose unconditional love made this book
possible;
The memories of Drs. Janet Travell, Hugh Riordan, and Billie Crook, medical
heroes and pioneers;
And to my patients, who have taught me more than I can ever hope to teach
them.
Jacob
To Denise, for her real love
Bill
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: The Real Causes
Real Cause #1: NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES
Optimize Nutrients, Optimize Health
Real Cause #2: POOR SLEEP
Good Night and Great Health
Real Cause #3: INACTMTY
Tell Sickness to Take a Hike
Real Cause #4: HAPPINESS DEFICIENCY
Joy Is Your Birthright!
Real Cause #5: PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS
Don’t Let Pills Make You Ill
Real Cause #6: HORMONAL IMBALANCES
Rev Up Your Glands
Real Cause #7: DIGESTIVE DIFFICULTIES
It Takes Guts to Feel Good
Real Cause #8: CELLULAR TOXICITY
Stay Clean in a Dirty World
Real Cause #9: CHRONIC INFLAMMATION
You Can Cool Down Disease
Part II: The Real Cures
Acne, Eczema, Psoriasis, and Other Skin Problems
Adrenal Exhaustion
Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
Anxiety
Arthritis
Asthma
Back Pain
Cancer
Candida Overgrowth
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia
Colds and Flu
Depression
Diabetes
Erectile Dysfunction
Fatigue
Food Allergies
Glaucoma
Hay Fever and Other Airborne Allergies
Headaches
Heart Disease
Heartburn and Indigestion
Hypothyroidism
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Insomnia and Other Sleep Disorders
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (spastic Colon)
Kidney Stones
Macular Degeneration
Male Menopause (Testosterone Deficiency)
Menopausal Problems
Nerve Pain (Neuropathy)
Nighttime Leg Cramps
Osteoporosis
Premenstrual Syndrome
Prostate Problems
Shingles
Sinusitis
Urinary Incontinence
Vaginitis
Part III: The 28-Day Life-Change Cure
Don’t Follow My Advice!
Week 1: NUTRITION
Customize Your Curative Cuisine
Week 2: PHYSICAL ACTMTY
Easy Really Does It
Week 3: SLEEP
Ahhh—Deep, Peaceful, Restorative
Week 4: POSITIVE THINKING AND PURPOSE
Love Yourself—And Love Your Life
Resources
Index
Acknowledgments
From Jacob Teitelbaum:
I would like to thank Bill Gottlieb. It has been a joy writing this book with him!
So many have made this work possible that it is impossible to list them all. In
truth, I have created nothing new; I have simply synthesized the wonderful work
done by an army of hardworking and courageous physicians and healers. I would
like to extend my sincerest thanks to:
First and foremost, Cheryl Alberto and the rest of my staff. Their hard work,
compassion, and dedication (and, I must admit, patience with me) are what made
my work possible. The Anne Arundel Medical Center librarian, Joyce Miller.
My wonderful and dedicated publicists, Dean Draznin and Terri Slater, and my
Web master, Richard Crouse, who are my teammates in making effective
treatment and health available to everyone. Alan Weiss, MD, Bren Jacobson,
and Jain Vaughn, best friends who keep me intellectually and spiritually honest
while reminding me to keep my sense of humor. My many teachers, the real
heroes and heroines in their fields, whose names could fill this book. They
include William Crook, Max Boverman, Brugh Joy, Janet Travell, Hugh
Riordan, Joseph Pizzorno, Melvyn Werbach, Sheri Lieberman, Robert Ivker,
Tony Lebro, and Alan Gaby. Our editors at Rodale, including (but not limited to)
Andrea Au Levitt, who started the process; Bridget Doherty, who carried it much
of the way; and Marielle Messing, who took it over the finish line! And finally,
God and the universe, for the guidance and infinite blessings I have been given
and for using me as an instrument for healing.
From Bill Gottlieb:
I’d like to thank my coauthor, Jacob Teitelbaum, for his dedication to the health
and happiness of his patients and everyone who desires a fuller life; for his
creative and practical approach to comprehensive medicine; for his intelligence
and insight; and for his warm and embracing heart. He was and is a pleasure to
work with, and I feel grateful to know him as both a professional colleague and a
dear friend. Thanks to my literary agent of 13 years, Christine Tomasino, who
champions my work in every way and who has my abiding trust and affection.
Thanks to Andrea Au Levitt and Bridget Doherty, the two superb editors at
Rodale who worked with Jacob and me in shaping this book. A warm thanks,
too, to Maria Rodale, whom I have known for more than 30 years (since I was an
intern at Rodale as a high school senior, in the summer of 1970!) and who is
now the guiding light of this remarkable, family-owned company that has been
so central to my professional life and has done so much to serve the health and
well-being of Americans.
Introduction
I’ve been practicing medicine for more than 30 years and have treated more than
15,000 patients. But I’m not usually the first doctor my patients see.
Typically, they’ve already been to doctor after doctor, seeking relief for their
health problem—without success.
They’ve undergone medical tests that didn’t detect the problem. (In fact,
many were told that the results of their tests “proved” they didn’t have a
diagnosable disease, and that their very real pain and suffering was “all in your
head.” Sound familiar?)
They were prescribed drugs that may have reduced symptoms to some extent
(often creating a distressing new set of side effects).
But whatever the testing and treatment, the doctors they saw failed to detect
the real cause of the health problem, or implement the real cure. That’s why
these patients ended up in my office, often flying in from all over the world. And
that’s probably why you’re reading this book.
If you’re like the typical American, you have one or more ongoing health
problems that doctors haven’t been able to solve. Maybe it’s an everyday
problem such as fatigue, headaches, or insomnia—a problem so common and
persistent that you figure you just have to “learn to live with it.” Maybe it’s a
serious, chronic problem like diabetes, arthritis, or depression that is supposedly
“under control” but never completely cured.
Well, if you have troubling health problems—your troubles may be over!
Real Cause, Real Cure pinpoints and explains the underlying and often-
overlooked real causes of disease—and then offers dramatically effective natural
treatments that will finally get to the root of not only your symptoms, but the
condition itself.
WHY DOESN’T MY DOCTOR KNOW ABOUT THESE
CAUSES AND CURES?
Now, since I’m a doctor, and I’ve written this book about real causes and real
cures, you’re probably asking yourself, “Why hasn’t my doctor heard about
them?”
The answer is relatively simple.
The real causes are based on a paradigm of holistic medicine, which sees the
body and mind as a self-healing system that stays healthy when it’s provided
with the simple, natural factors of wellness, such as a wholesome, nutrient-
packed diet and 8 hours of nightly sleep. From the holistic perspective, the
causes of disease are mostly the absence of these natural factors-absences
common in modern life. On the other hand, the paradigm of conventional
medicine treats the body and mind as a random collection of parts, and then
zeroes in on the symptom with drugs or surgery—often ignoring the source of
the problem. A real cause—a fundamental factor in the creation of disease—isn’t
a concept that fits the paradigm of modern medicine.
And the real cures found in this book—which are mostly natural treatments
—aren’t patentable; no one can claim exclusive ownership of vitamin C or
garlic, for example. Therefore, these treatments are low cost—and drug
companies won’t pay for your physician to hear about them.
I’m not saying that drugs don’t have a place in medicine; you’ll find many
prudent recommendations for drugs in this book. But they shouldn’t have first
place.
I’m a practitioner of what the late and wonderful Dr. Hugh Riordan liked to
call “comprehensive medicine”—using the best of all natural and prescription
therapies, based on what is safest and most effective rather than on what is most
expensive and therefore most profitable. Comprehensive medicine is the type of
medicine that you’ll learn about in this book.
And that’s great news—because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of
highly effective natural treatments that most doctors don’t know about. In fact,
in my 33 years as a physician I have come to find that there are very few
problems that cannot be effectively treated by discovering their real cause and
then applying a real cure. To achieve a real cure, you simply need to have real
information. And I am happy to act as your advocate, sorting through the science
to separate the real from the false.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
There are many different ways to approach the wealth of information in this
book.
You can start by reading about and understanding the real causes, as
explained in Part I.
Or you can dive right into Part II—reading about the health conditions that