A little background first
I have Post Infectious IBS for 2 years now. It started after taking large amounts of antibiotics to heal from pneumonia.
Feeling very bad as most IBS sufferers, I tried several diets, went to a lot of GI doctors and even tried acupuncture, reflexology, ... you name it.
I took antidepressants for a while to help me with my mood since I felt so bad in times that I didn't even want to work or even get out of home. I lost 40 pounds so far.
Since January 2005, I read these books (I put a personal rating to each one, related to how much it helped me with my IBS, in parenthesis from 1 to 5, being 5 the best score):
Breaking the Vicious Cycle - Elaine Gotschall (3)
Eating Right for a bad Gut - James Scala (2)
Total health Program - Joseph Mercola (3)
Metabolic Type Dieting - William Linz Wolcott, Trish Fahey (1)
I recently read "Restoring Your Digestive Health" (5)
To the point:
Besides the fact that many, if not everyone, of the people who write this kind of books look for some sort of monetary earnings (and many do that just for the money), there always stays the fact about whether the material presented has a real value or not. In other words, do the programs and recommendations in this book really work?
For me they did. In fact it is my personal opinion that this book encloses many of the concepts that I've been studying for the past year. It gives you a brief explanation about many of them. In that respect at least, I wished I had bought this book before the other ones, since in the end it is like a little reference of them. Bad luck.
Of course I don't agree with many things, for instance the "structured water" suplement, since based on other sources I read, it is very controversial an in many aspects without scientific background, although the authors may recommend it based on their clinical experience rather than anything else. More probably I think, they are trying to encourage people to buy their supplements (who can blame them).
So back to the main point here, maybe the authors are willing that the readers go out and buy some of their supplements, but the issue here is whether the Guts and Glory program works. It will be fair to mention that the authors never tell you not to have any conventional drugs nor they force you to have any supplements. They even give you a "Low Budget" alternative where you'll never even buy a supplement, although they argue it will take you longer to heal. I think the authors are more objective than the more radical approaches of the other books I read.
And of course, MOST importantly, I've been in the Guts and Glory program for 4 weeks and I feel BETTER than years!!!!. I know it's only my word, but I'm being honest here. I'm talking the Brasco Broth everyday, and I'm not even talking any extra supplement beside Chlorella, which I've been taking for 5 months now.
If it's worth something, this is the only review I've written so far about any book that I read. This is because I'm encouraging you to at least give it a try. If you are an IBS slave like I've been the last years, it could help you a lot.
So I don't care if the idea was to make me buy more supplements, in the end I'm not buying them anyway, but I DO feel better. I make my own goat yogurt (very cheap) and my own Sauerkraut (even cheaper). Maybe the only supplements I take, besides Chlorella, are the digestive enzymes, but I've been taking them for over a year now.
Conclusion: Even if a partial intention of the book is to make you buy more supplements (which I think it is so) in the end I think that the program works simply because it is the only thing in years which has made me feel better.
If anyone wishes to contact me (for legitimate reasons) you can freely do it at gaspar2428@yahoo.es