Copyright © Raquel Martin.

“As an educator in the holistic health field who teaches 200-300 new students each year, I try to keep abreast of the vast number of new books that are constantly barraging the health arena. Every year my students ask me to recommend titles in various areas of holistic health and I need to know which select few in each field are the good ones. As both a Naturopath and Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist in private practice, I like to suggest books to my patients which are both informative, accurate, easy to read, and comprehensively cover their topic. Ever since I first discovered Raquel's book The Estrogen Alternative , it has been my first choice for books to educate both students and patients on the topic of alternatives to prescription hormone replacement therapy. Well she's done it again. Her new book on natural therapies for arthritis is fantastic. Somehow, Raquel and her co-author, Dr. Karen Romano, have managed to supply the reader with a very useable amount of information in just about every single subject area related to arthritis. This book is an astounding encyclopedia of useable information and it succeeds in making every other book I have read on arthritis unnecessary. This one book has it all.”

-David Getoff

 Preventing & Reversing Arthritis Naturally: The Untold Story contains some practical information that can bring dramatic improvement to those suffering from arthritis. It is a "user friendly" book that encourages and empowers the reader to find the cause of their joint disorders. The authors emphasize that in some cases there may be a need for a multi-disciplinary approach using natural therapies and not masking symptoms with pain killers and tranquilizers.

-John Hart, MD

 Raquel Martin and Dr. Karen Romano explain for us the basic ingredients necessary not only for good health in general, but specifically, for achieving freedom from arthritis. In the fast-paced, and frequently artificial, lifestyles we live these days, most of us have lost or forgotten the peace, stamina and exuberance of truly healthy bodies and minds. Those "vehicles of the spirit" have become congested, sluggish, and often painful. Her fascinating descriptions of nutrients, herbs (phytonutrients), exercise, body therapies, stress management and sunlight are thorough and well documented and referenced.

But perhaps her most valuable contribution is the call for courage, personal responsibility and discipline; qualities innate in all of us, that must be nurtured and developed. Her personal experience and example attests to that, and these qualities combined with knowledge can lead any of us back naturally to our birthright of vibrant health.

The concept of natural hormone replacement explained in this book is an idea whose time has come. It is a vital path to improving health and well-being. Mrs. Martin and Dr. Romano also outlines strategies for making the most of our present medical-pharmaceutical-insurance-system and suggests ideas for compassionately making it better. I enthusiastically recommend this book, not only for people with arthritis, but for anyone who wishes to explore new ways to achieve optimum health. I also recommend it to my colleagues who would like to learn more about nutrition, phytonutrients and alternative/complementary medicine.

-Ralph C. Lee, M.D.

Our bodies are remarkable creations. Treat them right, and they treat us right. Mistreat them, and disease is the consequence. The problem is that most are ignorant of how to properly treat the body allowing it to operate in health as it was designed. And worse, we have come to accept that the aging and falling apart process is normal, when in fact it is common. Common because most mistreat their body in a similar manner, so most fall apart in a similar manner. But, it is not normal.

Further, traditional medicine is not helping, in that they are only diagnosing problems, explaining the cellular mechanism of the disease process, applying a treatment that only covers the problem, but ignoring the cause. Diseases and illnesses are not the result of drug deficiencies. I am all for medications in life-threatening situations, but to put a patient on medication and think that all that can be done has been done is a crime.

The worst thing about drug therapy is that the patient gets relief. Why is this the worst? Because the patient is sent home to continue engaging in the same lifestyle that caused the problem for which the drug was prescribed, only to develop another health problem down the road, for which another medication is prescribed. We missed the big picture of how the body was designed to operate. Diseases and symptoms are the body effort to cope with our mistreatment of the body. Literally, the disease process is the body survival mechanism in the face of our wrongdoing....

I tell my patients, "We are sick for two reasons: ignorance and indifference. I can help you with the 'ignorant' part, but you have to tackle the indifference part by undertaking the lifestyle changes that are needed to quit mistreating your body, and give it what is needed for healing." If we are to get healthy and stay that way, we must take on the initiative to educate ourselves. This is done through the tutelage of health care practitioners, attending seminars, lectures, and studying informative books on health, such as the one you are now holding in your hands.

It is with great pleasure that I introduce this work on arthritis to you for it truly accomplishes the essence of the road to health: it educates. Raquel Martin has done a masterful job of giving the reader all the facts, from a wide variety of sources, synthesizing these together in a form that is easy to comprehend and apply. This book does not pretend to have the answer to arthritis, for there is not one answer. Rather it provides a vast array of information, giving the reader information from which to pick and choose, make their own decisions and then run with what fits their situation best. I know you will benefit greatly from the information herein. Thank you Raquel for all your hard work and your obvious desire to help others better themselves.

-Joel R. Robbins, D.C., N.D., M.D.