Eating Well for Optimum Health by Andrew Weil M.D

Author:Andrew Weil, M.D.
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780375412684
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2001-02-05T21:00:00+00:00

A HEALING STORY:

A SUCCESSFUL ENCOUNTER WITH INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE

WHEN SHE was forty-nine and working as a coordinator in the College of Architecture at the University of Arizona, Karen Young was treated at the Integrative Medicine Clinic at the University Medical Center. For many years she had suffered from irritable bowel syndrome, for which she had found no relief despite numerous visits to internists and gastroenterologists. She recalls:

I developed some sort of fatigue syndrome. If I stayed up late, my hands and limbs would swell, and I got very tired. It was a mystery disease. One rheumatologist told me it could be scleroderma or lupus. I’d always thought of myself as a high-energy kind of person, so this was a real problem.

From the beginning, my experience in the clinic was wonderful. Dr. Victoria Maizes spent an hour and a half with me on the first visit, taking my history more thoroughly than anyone ever had: my lifestyle, including my diet, my attitude toward work, and so forth. I had been a vegetarian for a long time, then had started to eat meat. I was always thin, so I could eat whatever I wanted, which probably didn’t serve me well as I got older. I was in the habit of drinking a lot of Coca-Cola, though I never thought of myself as a user of caffeine.

Dr. Maizes noticed my habit of chewing on the inside of my mouth. I do this a lot when I’m at work. It’s a stupid habit that makes my mouth sore. I tried to deal with it by chewing sugarless gum instead, which I did very often. Dr. Maizes told me that sugarless gum is not good for irritable bowel syndrome. [The nonabsorbable sugars xylitol and sorbitol in the gum draw water into the gut, increasing its activity.] I quit it, as she had recommended, and it made an enormous difference for the better. No doctor I had seen ever told me this or even asked about whether I used sugarless products.

Dr. Maizes also suggested that I drink green tea. I had never tried it. I now drink two cups of green tea a day, and that has also made a big difference. It gives me energy but calms me at the same time. I always carry a bag of it with me and take a supply when I travel. I now drink hot tea instead of a Coke. In fact I’m not drinking any carbonated soft drinks. I think stopping all that sugar intake was significant.

My husband and I recently remodeled our kitchen and took the opportunity to put in a water purification system. And I’ve improved my diet steadily. I now eat little red meat. I eat salmon twice a week. I’ve always loved vegetables more than anything.

I hardly have irritable bowel symptoms any more—a remarkable difference. My energy is great. I don’t know if it’s just the diet or the whole feeling I got in the clinic. It’s wonderful to feel I have control over my own well-being.

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