The Wonderful World Within You: Your Inner Nutritional Environment

by Roger J. Williams

Sometimes it is said that "you are what you eat." It is literally true that there is nothing in our bodies that is not built from what we eat. All the details of our bodies even their microscopic and submicroscopic structures, have to be built using materials we put into our mouths as food. Bodies can be well or poorly built simply because of the quality of food that is eaten. This book helps the reader to understand vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids at the cellular level. Nutrition is key to our well being. The Wonderful World Within You also introduces the concept of nutricircles, easy to understand, graphical representation an analysis of 42 nutrients and the degree to which they are present in a food.

Genres: Health

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Jodi]

The author of this book says it's part of the movement to abolish nutritional illiteracy and a layman's guide to biochemical individuality.

The author of this book is Dr Roger J. Williams, author of the highly regarded 'Biochemical Individuality' book - a real health book classic. He is also the person who discovered pantothenic acid (vitamin B5). As well as being a very intelligent and compassionate writer, Dr Williams was also a good writer and this book was very easy to read and understand as well as friendly and engaging.

The book starts with some photographs which show very clearly what difference diet and nutrition can make to health and growth and development, using rats as an example.

There is a lot of information here about biochemical individuality. It's an important concept to understand in terms of maintaining and improving health but it's also just interesting. The author talks about how our differences affect our aptitude and liking for different activities, for example.

For growth and maintenance we need over 40 different nutrients and these can be grouped into vitamins, major minerals, trace minerals, amino acids and others. How much we need of each varies considerably due to biochemcial individuality. We also need higher levels of nutrients for reproduction. lack of certain nutrients in utero are why certain organs become the target organ when the body is stressed by a nutrient deficiency etc.

This book is an oldie but a goodie, absolutely. Some of the information is outdated and of course the dosages listed for many nutrients are far lower than you'd see in similar books today, and so other books should be used to determine exact dosages that are customary and recognised as safe, but this book still has value. The main message of this book is just as relevant today as it was when this book was first published in 1977.

Many illnesses are caused by nutrients deficiencies and so there is real hope for treatment because nutrient deficiencies can be treated. Prevention of disease is even better and easier. A junk-free diet and intelligent supplementation have enormous potential to keep us well and to improve or cure disease. Given the right materials the body is a wonderful and remarkably self-healing machine. Orthomolecular medicine works.

As well as cheapie used printed versions a free digital edition is also available. Either way this book is worth a read. The main theories in this book are timeless and so important for more of us to understand.

Some quotes by Dr Williams:

'Normal individuals are highly distinctive with respect to their stomachs, esophagi, hearts, blood vessels, bloods, thoracic ducts, livers, pelvic colons, sinuses, breathing patterns, muscles and their system of endocrine glands. In all of these cases inborn differences are observed which are often far beyond what we see externally.'

"The basic answer to the question "Why are you an individual?" is that your body in every detail, including your entire nervous system and your brain (thinking apparatus) is highly distinctive. You are not built like anyone else. You owe some of your individuality to the fact that you have been influenced uniquely by your environment, which is not like anyone else's. But from all that may be known about basic inborn individuality … it seems clear that the amount of individuality we would possess if we were all born with exactly the same detailed equipment would be puny, indeed, compared with the individuality we actually possess."

'Every individual organism that has a distinctive genetic background has distinctive nutritional needs which must be met for optimal well-being.'

Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E. (HFME) and Health, Healing & Hummingbirds (HHH)

[Cws]

613.2 Wil