Jordan Rubin - Great Physicians Rx for Childrens Health

THE GREAT
PHYSICIANS
Rx
for
CHILDRENS HEALTH

JORDAN RUBIN
with Fiona Blair, M.D.

Every effort has been made to make this book as accurate as possible. The purpose of this book is to educate. It is a review of scientific evidence that is presented for information purposes. No individual should use the information in this book for self-diagnosis, treatment, or justification in accepting or declining any medical therapy for any health problems or diseases. No individual is discouraged from seeking professional medical advice and treatment, and this book is not supplying medical advice. Any application of the information herein is at the readers own discretion and risk. Therefore, any individual with a specific health problem or who is taking medications must first seek advice from his personal physician or health-care provider before starting a nutrition program. The author and Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc., shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to loss, damage, or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. We assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein.

In view of the complex, individual nature of health and fitness problems, this book and the ideas, programs, procedures, and suggestions herein are not intended to replace the advice of trained medical professionals. All matters regarding ones health require medical supervision. A physician should be consulted prior to adopting any program or programs described in this book. The author and publisher disclaim any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of this book.

Copyright 2008 by Jordan S. Rubin

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted KJV are from the Holy Bible, KING JAMES VERSION.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rubin, Jordan.
The Great Physicians Rx for Childrens Health / Jordan Rubin with Fiona Blair.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7852-1902-6
1. Self-care, Health. 2. Health. I. Remedios, David. II. Title.
RA776.95.R828 2005
613.2dc22

2005024890

Printed in the United States of America
08 09 10 11 12 QW 5 4 3 2 1

T o my beautiful son, Joshua Michael. May you grow up healthy and strong physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I love you more than youll ever know.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Offer Your Body as a Living Sacrifice

T his was uncharted territory for us.

I had agreed to speak at a fund-raising event a couple of months earlier, figuring that since my expectant wife, Nicki, wasnt due to deliver our first child until June 5, 2004, it would be no problem for me to say a few words at this Friday evening event on Memorial Day Weekend.

The cause was a good one: Places of Hope International, a Christian humanitarian organization founded by Christ Fellowship in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (where my family attends), was partnering with Biblical Health Institute, an organization I started in 2005, to put on a fund-raiser for its work in placing orphaned children with host families in nearby West Palm Beach.

After accepting the microphone that evening, I began by introducing my wife, whose bulging abdomen stuck out as only a pregnant womans can in her ninth month of gestation. If Nicki gets up and runs out of here, and you see me following her, youll know why, I joked.

Then she felt a contractionwhile I was speaking at the dedication dinner! Five or ten minutes later, another. At first she didnt say anything to her parents, who were seated with her, but by the time I had finished addressing the audience, we all realized that labor had officially begun.

How far apart are your contractions? asked her mom, a mother of three.

I dont know, Nicki replied. Theyre not real close together. So we didnt rush out of the auditorium. We got home at 10 p.m.

We tried to get some rest, but Nickis contractions were becoming more frequent and were increasing in intensity. Finally, exhausted from a lack of sleep, I called our midwife, Ally, at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m. (We had chosen to use a nurse/midwife who delivered babies in hospitals. That way, if there were complications, trained medical staff were just steps away.)

After listening to my breathless, before-dawn report, Ally said, It sounds like we have some time. Ill meet you at the Jupiter Medical Center in an hour. This was our local hospital, whose slogan was, Men are from Mars, but babies are from Jupiter.

We checked into Birthing Room #1 shortly after 5 a.m. Next door, in Room #2, was our close friend Denise Duke, who had given birth to a baby girl, Aubrey, on Friday morning. Talk about a coincidence only the Lord could have orchestrated: Denise had suffered three miscarriages before becoming pregnant with Aubrey. Not twenty-four hours earlier, I had visited Denise and her husband, Kenny (a childhood friend), and played cootchie-coo with baby Aubrey, so I had a strong sense of dj vu.

Another coincidence was the fact that, like Denise, Nickis road to childbirth was also difficult: She had been trying to conceive for two and a half years. We were nearly resigned to being an infertile couple when my wife miraculously became pregnant. In fact, Nicki and Denise had both become pregnant after following a forty-day diet and lifestyle plan that I created for my book The Makers Diet.

The fact that the Lord would put our two families next door to each other was beyond coincidence to me. Still, I knew better than to knock on Denises door at 5:30 a.m. the day after she delivered a baby. Besides, the more pressing concern was determining how far along Nicki was. Ally measured her at seven centimeters dilated. When Nickis water broke minutes later, we thought things would soon sail along as nature intended.

Not much happened, though. I couldnt kill time fast enough to share the exciting developments with Denise. I waited all the way until 7 a.m. before dropping by to see if mother and child were doing well in Room #2. Denise was awake and was just as surprised to see me as I was overjoyed to visit her.

But when I returned to Nicki, our midwife told us that her labor was not progressing the way it should. At that point, the doula that we had also hired began massaging Nickis legs and arms as I encouraged and prayed for her. Because she wanted to go as far as possible without medication, Nicki didnt opt for an epidural or an infusion of Pitocin to move labor along. But as the contractions lumbered into the early afternoon hours without any significant progress, we decided that enough was enough.

Poor Nicki. Even with Pitocin circulating in her bloodstream, nothing happened. As she pushed and pushed, her face swelled, and her eyes got puffy from the heroic exertions. I stroked her matted hair while the doula worked her magic fingers, but it was distressing to see my wife suffering such intense pain hour after hour. In fact, her screams could be heard in the hallway by our worried parents.