Category: Exercise & Fitness

Review: The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick by Gene Stone

Reviewed by Jessa Larsen

The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick is what I think of as a cross of common sense and self help. It’s aimed at people who would like to avoid modern medicine and believe that they can cure themselves using natural medicines. While some of the book is common sense, I did get some interesting historical backgrounds on why some natural medicine “secrets” supposedly work, how the “secrets” came about, and the well-known people that used these methods and got positive results.

I understand the reasoning behind using each method, but I feel like some readers may erroneously believe  that these methods are guarenteed to work. Moreover, following each and every method is nearly impossible for the majority of the population. Despite the lack of a guarantees, I did find some of the tips interesting and possibly good for one’s health. I hope that the readers will be motivated to try some of them out rather than jumping on the prescription medication bandwagon. In the next few paragraphs, I have listed some of my favorite points and/or methods listed in The Secrets.

Secret #3: Calorie Reduction: The idea (and truth) is that countries that don’t have a food scarcity problem also typically have an obese population. Calorie reduction experiments on rats showed that when the rodents’ diets were reduced by 30-60%, their maximum lifespan was increased by 30-60%. The Secrets encourages people to restrict calories yet stay on a three meal schedule. It is proven that eating several small healthy meals throughout the day is infinitely better than indulging in one or two larger meals.

Secret #14: Lifting Weights: In the past, many cultures incorporated strength training into their daily regimen. Chinese included weight lifting to test trainee soldiers and these soldiers were required to pass in order to join the Chinese army. The Egyptians obviously needed to be able to lift a large amount of weight whilst building the tombs (which were inside the pyramids). Competitive weightlifting was also a part of the early Olympic Games. Today, it is incorporated into the Olympics, Strong Man, Bodybuilding, and Fitness competitions. It is important to remember that when weight lifting, you must use a correct form/stance, select appropriate weights and efficient workouts.

Secret #23 & #25: Stretching & Yoga: I combined these two secrets because they incooperate similar routines. Stretching is a part of yoga but takes less getting used to and the poses are much easier. I would personally suggest starting a good stretching routine before jumping into yoga, and finding an instructor that truly knows what they are doing. Yoga is an excellent stress reliever, but practice at your pace and don’t worry about being able to do it perfectly straight away. Start slowly and strive for improvement.

Rating: 4/5

Jessa lives in Utah with her husband, 2 sons, 2 cats, and 2 dogs. She is a full time mom and likes to blog and write short stories and poems in her spare time. She also likes anime, reading books, and playing video games.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Workman Publishing. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.