The Vitamin D Revolution: How the Power of This Amazing Vitamin Can Change Your Life [Large Print] [Paperback]

This book has helped to revolutionise my health. I highly recommend it to anyone living in Britian (where you live can be medically significant), who is less than well - particularly if you are suffering from a 'winter' condition like S.A.D. or any chronic or inflammatory condition.

[2012 WARNING: None of the books on the benefits of Vitamin D3 warned about the need to also take vitamin K2! I have to wonder how all these self-claimed vitamin D3 experts, who also claimed so many successes, were ignorant that vitamin A (it seems most of us are deficient in this vitamin too), vitamin D3 and vitamin K (in the form of K2) must come together in balanced proportions. If you take calcium and vitamin D but are deficient in vitamin K, you may be increasing the risk of a heart attack.

Vitamin K is essential not only for preventing potentially deadly blood clots but also for bone building (including delaying tooth decay) and maintenance. Perhaps most important - K has powerful anti-cancer effects. It is known to be helpful for cardiovascular disease, varicose veins, brain health problems, including dementia and even prevents infectious diseases such as pneumonia. Some claim that most people need daily vitamin D3 of at least 2000 IU with 3000 IU of vitamin A and 100mcg of vitamin K2. The synergy between them is vital as there is evidence that the safety of high dose vitamin D is dependent on vitamin K, and that vitamin D toxicity (although very rare with the D3 form) is actually caused by vitamin K2 deficiency.]

Of the books on vitamin D I've now read, this is a good one.

Of the other books, "Vitamin D Prescription" by Eric Madrid is also good but harder to find and more expensive. "The Vitamin D Cure" by James Dowd is not basic, comprehensive or practical. Then there is "Vitamin D" by Michael Merrill which was too brief and simply inadequate. At the other extreme is the comprehensive but somewhat technical "Sunshine and Vitamin D" by Frank Murray - mainly brief compilations of hundreds of studies but no practical guidelines, so not really suitable for the layman who wants to experiment with high-dose vitamin D.

[P.S. Of the books out in the first half of 2010, "Vitamin D" by Rona and "Power of Vitamin D" by Zaidi are both brief but quite good and the one that is now my favourite pick is "The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problem" by Holick. It is a practical and easy read. At 300 pages I also found it thorough. I liked that it straightforwardly explained that sunshine, when it shines strongly enough, is always better than supplementing with Vitamin D.]

Khalsa is both a clinical professor of medicine and a naturopathic doctor. His sincerity and genuine desire to help you shine out. This book is much more simply and clearly set out than most of the others mentioned, and includes the differences between the three forms of vitamin D (D3 is the important one), the pros and cons of getting vitamin D from sunshine or tanning beds, which vitamin D test you/your doctor should use (and why), and several careful pages on dosage. The aim was to help you to help yourself, whereas other books are keen for you to consult a doctor. I felt immediately able to apply the information from this book.

It's also worth noting that over a decade ago several books were already lauding the much-overlooked benefits of sunshine, the best way to get vitamin D, although the further away from the equator, the less effective. Anyone living above the 35th parallel (England runs from the 50th upwards) is highly likely to have a sunshine/vit D deficiency that can also lead to many common symptoms. (Those who react badly to Vitamin D and/or sunshine may have a rare disease called sarcoidosis.)

According to this book, vitamin D can cure 17 types of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, bone density issues, arthritis, flu, muscle pain, fatigue, chronic pain, seasonal (and other) depression and various autoimmune disorders. Perhaps it's just my cynicism from decades of reading endless books singing the praises of so-called miracles such as DMSO, MMS, DHEA, vitamin C, magnesium, iodine, omega 3 EFAs, breathwork, oxygen therapy, hydrogen peroxide, water, thyroid hormone, adrenal hormone, liver cleanses, detoxes, fasts, exercise, neutralising electromagnetic stress, juicing, mangosteen, noni juice, superfoods, organic foods, wholefoods, celiac diets, dairy-free diets, veggie diets, protein diets, carb diets, food combining, acid-alkaline balancing diets, Glycaemic Index diets, high fibre diets, raw food diets, candida/fungus elimination, parasite cleansing - oh dear, the list of my gullibility seems endless.

Yes, I've tried all of these; yes, thoroughly and sometimes repeating them in various combinations and on each occasion with enthusiasm and bright-eyed hope but I saw no measurable benefits. "Trick and Treat" by Groves explains in detail just why my efforts were doomed. Nowadays, when I read about health wonders, I wonder how many claims of success are made up or at least tweaked - and I wonder what proportion of actual patients were successful in any way, much less miraculously so, as is always claimed by books touting miraculous benefits.

Further part of the P.S.: Few of the authors, including this one, seem to be aware that many with chronic health problems may need to take the activated form of vitamin D called calcitriol. I was startled to learn - from the Holick book which I read months later - that about a third of the population has kidney disease (which never gets diagnosed until too late), about the same number who are obese (hello... anyone making a connection here?) and that their bodies may not be able to produce enough activated vitamin D.

Based on my personal experience of taking 10,000iu daily of vitamin D3 for 6 months (but Rona's book mentions Norm Shealy, a physician who has taken 50,000iu per day for 18 months), I'm not convinced that vitamin D supplementation is a panacea, as so many of the books are claiming - and I am not convinced that all these authors got the unanimously fantastic results they allege. I believe that vitamin D supplementation at 5,000ius daily is beneficial but too many such books have a way of sounding a little overzealous, attributing every malady to whatever deficiency they're tackling and proposing it as the magic solution across the board.

[Later notes: I feel it's important to mention the new mental/emotional healing process explained in "The Healing Code" by Loyd/Johnson/Eble - an amazing process of emotional clearing. There are hundreds of personal successes listed in the reviews on Amazon.com.

For those looking for general health improvements, I also suggest:
- "Outsmart Your Cancer" by Tanya Harter Pierce is a considered and thoughtful review of successful alternative remedies - and, anything that can HEAL cancer is also a general healer and should be able to help much else in the body;
- "Never Fear Cancer Again" by Raymond Francis a superb distillation of what is truly needed for health
- "Trick and Treat" by Barry Groves or and "The Diet Delusion" by Gary Taubes or "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living" by Phinney and Volek , all of which turn upside down everything governments have told us to eat for health;
- "Vitamin C: The Real Story" by Hickey & Saul - proof that mega-dose vitamin C as ascorbic acid (like Vitamin D3, a super-nutrient) is an effective antibiotic, antifungal, nontoxic anti-cancer agent, and also a treatment for heart disease as well as strokes, arthritis, peptic ulcers and cataracts - has NO negative side effects, almost impossible to over-dose and less toxic than water;
- "Transdermal Magnesium Therapy" by Sircus on the amazing benefits of magnesium - a fundamental supplement for a healthy body;
- "The XXL Syndrome", basically a booklet, about the essential part potassium plays in health (especially potassium bicarbonate);
- "Sodium Bicarbonate - Full Medical Review" also by Sircus;
"Iodine: Why you need it, Why you can't live without it" by David Brownstein and " The Iodine Crisis: What You Don't Know About Iodine Can Wreck Your Life" by Lynne Farrow.

A number of leading edge doctors (those who truly practice under their oath "First Do No Harm") are stating that sodium bicarbonate, magnesium chloride and lugol's iodine form the triumvirate of health recovery - and all are cheap to buy.

The new generation of colloidal silver, especially Sovereign Silver, is said to be almost a panacea. The modern colloidal silvers are different from and safer than the old colloidal silvers and do not have the side effects. Most people need only 1 teaspoon a day. 2 teaspoons twice daily will cure almost anything - safely. ]

LATEST NOTES: I turned out to have serious adrenal fatigue and serious low thyroid issues. The thyroid issue had been getting worse for 2 decades, whilst "standard" medicine denied I had either, repeatedly assuring me all their tests "proved" this. `Hypothyroidism Type 2' by Mark Starr explains how all chronic pain is linked to low thyroid, including those involved with diabetes, heart problems, both bleeding & blood clots (including strokes) and some cancers. If you have any kind of chronic pain, you need to know 1. some are calling low thyroid the silent epidemic (silent because officially denied) and 2. that ALL the standard lab tests are WRONG, even though low thyroid and/or low adrenals are the most common health problem...

The FREE basal (at rest) temperature self-test is THE gold standard for low thyroid problems and - with your symptoms - means more than any lab test (although most conventional doctors won't agree). It will pick up conditions that current lab tests don't, such as thyroid resistance. The stopthethyroidmadness website has excellent instructions for this self-test, as well as several for adrenal fatigue, which often goes hand-in-hand with low thyroid.

Very informative book and being a qualified Doctor I trust that what he says he genuiely believes. Also he is always crystal clear about what is sceintifically proven, as opposed to scientificaly possible or at this stage purely anecdotal.