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

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

Optimize Nutrients, Optimize Health

Good Night and Great Health

Tell Sickness to Take a Hike

Joy Is Your Birthright!

Dont Let Pills Make You Ill

Rev Up Your Glands

It Takes Guts to Feel Good

Stay Clean in a Dirty World

You Can Cool Down Disease

Customize Your Curative Cuisine

Easy Really Does It

AhhhDeep, Peaceful, Restorative

Love YourselfAnd Love Your Life

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.

Id 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.

Ive been practicing medicine for more than 30 years and have treated more than 15,000 patients. But Im not usually the first doctor my patients see.

Typically, theyve already been to doctor after doctor, seeking relief for their health problemwithout success.

Theyve undergone medical tests that didnt detect the problem. (In fact, many were told that the results of their tests proved they didnt 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. Thats why these patients ended up in my office, often flying in from all over the world. And thats probably why youre reading this book.

If youre like the typical American, you have one or more ongoing health problems that doctors havent been able to solve. Maybe its an everyday problem such as fatigue, headaches, or insomniaa problem so common and persistent that you figure you just have to learn to live with it. Maybe its a serious, chronic problem like diabetes, arthritis, or depression that is supposedly under control but never completely cured.

Well, if you have troubling health problemsyour troubles may be over!

Real Cause, Real Cure pinpoints and explains the underlying and often-overlooked real causes of diseaseand then offers dramatically effective natural treatments that will finally get to the root of not only your symptoms, but the condition itself.

Now, since Im a doctor, and Ive written this book about real causes and real cures, youre probably asking yourself, Why hasnt 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 its 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 surgeryoften ignoring the source of the problem. A real causea fundamental factor in the creation of diseaseisnt a concept that fits the paradigm of modern medicine.

And the real cures found in this bookwhich are mostly natural treatmentsarent patentable; no one can claim exclusive ownership of vitamin C or garlic, for example. Therefore, these treatments are low costand drug companies wont pay for your physician to hear about them.

Im not saying that drugs dont have a place in medicine; youll find many prudent recommendations for drugs in this book. But they shouldnt have first place.

Im a practitioner of what the late and wonderful Dr. Hugh Riordan liked to call comprehensive medicineusing 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 youll learn about in this book.