Optimal Wellness: Where Mainstream and Alternative Medicine Meet

After eight years of practicing conventional medicine, Ralph Golan, M.D., realized he would be happiest practicing "preventive and wellness medicine." Twelve years later this Seattle physician decided to share his approach - combining naturopathy and conventional medicine - in this convincing and inspirational health guide and reference work.The underpinnings of Golan's philosophy are nutritional, with an emphasis on natural foods, balance, and avoidance of sugar and processed foods. He has observed ten "common denominators" of chronic illness which undermine the immune system and exhibit a wide variety of symptoms which often cannot be diagnosed as specific illnesses.Golan begins his book with two case histories illustrating his approach. The second chapter is a master symptom survey for each of the ten common denominators, allowing the reader to rate his or her health in accordance with each. Golan then devotes three chapters to diet - presenting the most common American hazards, discussing the importance of dietary balance and the specific properties and energies of various foods and offering menus and recipes.And then, having given the reader an understanding of how food works chemically in the body, Golan devotes a chapter to each of the common denominators - nutritional deficiencies, poor digestion and assimilation, the toxic bowel, the sluggish liver, hypoglycemia, adrenal exhaustion, yeast overgrowth, food allergies, chemical hypersensitivity and environmental illness and finally psychoneuroimmunology or the body-mind connection. A last chapter in this section discusses the relationship of the immune system with these underlying conditions. Readers may want to use their symptom surveys to determine which chapters will be of primary interest - reading all of them at once can lead to information overload.The next hundred pages lists common ailments and natural remedies. Discussions of alternative medicine follow, including fasting and cleansing (which he embraces enthusiastically), herbs, massage, hydrotherapy, acupuncture, homeopathy and more. And Golan concludes with a chapter on choosing and relating to your doctor.While much of his advice is common sense, Golan gives lots of specifics. For instance, it's not enough to choose oils that are polyunsaturated. Heat triggers generation of tissue-damaging free radicals in many oils and almost all supermarket oils (except extra virgin olive) are processed with heat.Excess sugar is seen as an underlying factor in a dizzying number of health problems from depression to gallstones and Golan offers tables listing sugar amounts in popular cereals as well as other foods. There are also tables describing the purpose and consequences of numerous food additives, tables showing symptoms associated with excess consumption of popular foods from milk to peanut butter, tables illustrating symptoms of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, tables listing sources of heavy metals and their consequences. You get the

I really like this book. It sits on my bookshelf next to my two other favorite natural medicine books, the Balch & Balch "Prescription for Nutritional Healing" and the "Family Guide to Homeopathy" by Dr. Andrew Lockie. These three form the cornerstones by which I monitor, guide, and protect the health of myself and my family. Golan's book is less encyclopedic than the Balch & Balch, and focuses more on the roots of disease and disorders, both the physical roots as well as the mental and emotional ones. His book is truly "holistic", he sees the human entity as a whole, and understands that we are all like giant mobiles; if one aspect of our lives is out of balance, it throws the others off as well. The book is easy to read, thorough, and, for the most part, the suggestions of changes to make are practical and relatively easy to do (for most of us). It's an excellent resource for anyone who wishes to take control of their health and their life, and I recommend it highly.

The doctor can write! I finally understand the immune system, which vitamins to take and what's the big deal about free radicals and antioxidants. My friends constantly call me to look up what their doctors didn't explain clearly to them. The answers are always in Optimal Wellness. I tell them to buy the book. It's a real bargain.

If you've been sick for a long time, and doctors have been unable to help you, this book is a great resource. Dr. Golan provides a comprehensive look at 10 major underlying causes of chronic illness, and gives specific recommendations for laboratory tests, and for both conventional and alternative treatments. Whether your problem is depression, chronic sinusitis, irritable bowel syndrome, exhaustion, or anything in-between, this book has something to say to you. But don't get this book unless you're willing to make some lifestyle changes. Most of the recommendations involve diet and nutrition. Dr. Golan practices what he preaches--my visit to him resulted in tests and treatments that were right from his book. I've given or recommended this book to several friends and family members. Though the index is not as comprehensive as it could be, the book is well-organized and accessible to the lay reader.

I am a 24 year old student who does not have a whole lot of money to spend on buying books. I did not hesitate to buy Ralph Golan's Optimal Wellness book! It is probably worth at least twice the cover price. The thing I liked most was his condensing so much of the alternative health field into what he calls "The 10 Common Denominators of Illness" including hypoglycemia, yeast infection, adrenal exhaustion, malabsorption, sluggish liver, etc. Finally, someone who is giving us a good, detailed look at the roots of most of our symptoms. Yet it's not too textbookish. He also talks about the value of unheated sea salt (Celtic salt) while many other authors criticize salt flatly. He talks about how some individuals may actually need to incorporate some meat in their diet, unlike some stubborn authors who stick to their vegan or vegetarian guns. He goes into natural sunlight and full spectrum light and even suggests top of the line products to give us a headstart on our search! All interspersed with actual case histories, which are like enjoyable little stories that I could relate to. I feel that this book is indeed a diamond in the rough and that more people should consider having it in their library at home. I pick this book over Prescription for Nutritional Healing, or Gary Null's latest books or even Burton Goldberg's Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine. Ralph Golan's book is more like hands on learning than a bunch of mental-memorization-stuff. I've learned so much. Ralph Golan's book is a shining example of what all doctors should and can know (and practice). It's really a piece of art. I can't praise it enough. Check it out!