A HELPful Book: Undoctored

By Lee Aase • April 12, 2023

Before we started HELPcare, I documented my health journey (and Lisa's) that had begun in 2016 on my personal blog, Social Media University, Global (SMUG).

Below is the text of a book review post I originally published in May 2020 on SMUG, about four years into our health journey and a little over a year after Dr. Dave's grocery-store recommendation.

I first heard about UNDOCTORED(#CommissionEarned) in early January 2019. I was out grocery shopping at our local ALDI, when I ran into a high school classmate, and my former primary care physician, Dr. David Strobel. 

David is currently practicing in a clinic that serves the Pipefitters union, and he said he was seeing lots of benefits for his patients in encouraging them to follow these prevention-oriented practices.

Dr. William Davis, the book’s author, is an interventional cardiologist. After having performed more than 5,000 cath lab procedures, he was jarred by the loss of his mother to sudden cardiac death into taking a fresh look at what he believed about heart health.

The first book that came out of his investigation was the New York Times bestseller Wheat Belly, which advocated a grain-free diet and launched the grain-free movement. I hadn’t heard of that, but given my celiac disease and the need to avoid wheat, barley, and rye because of gluten, I was already partway to the grain-free lifestyle.

That, along with my friend David’s vote of confidence, led me to seriously explore the recommendations in UNDOCTORED. Dr. Davis’ point is that many of our diseases of civilization have common roots and can be prevented, or in many cases reversed, through diet and lifestyle changes.

While he has a somewhat jaded view of the medical industry, Dr. Davis doesn’t believe prevention is the solution to everything. He just believes, and has validated to some extent through his online community, that many conditions can be significantly improved through these upstream interventions.

Highlights of his recommendations:

  • Avoid all grains, not just those that contain gluten. He argues that eating the seeds of grasses is a relatively recent innovation, and our bodies are not genetically adapted to process them.
  • “Don’t buy lean cuts of meat; buy the fatty cuts. If you eat a steak, eat the fat.”
  • Count your blessings, not your calories. Eat until you’re satisfied.
  • Don’t drink cow’s milk. No other mammal drinks the milk of another mammal.
  • Eat “wild, naked and unwashed.” Food should be as close as possible to its natural state, not excessively processed.
  • Cultivate your bowel flora through probiotics and consumption of prebiotic fibers.
  • Don’t take multivitamins. Instead, focus your supplementation on a handful of vitamins and minerals that are seriously deficient for most modern humans.

The last section of UNDOCTORED makes recommendations on those supplements Dr. Davis says are helpful:

  • Vitamin D
  • Iodine 
  • Fish Oil capsules high in EPA + DHA
  • Magnesium
  • Zinc

This is a 400-page book, and I’ve only touched some of the broadest points. If you want to check it out further before diving into the book, see Dr. Davis’ blog.

Lisa and I have been implementing most of the recommendations for about 18 months. She has noticed that the Magnesium seems to help her restless legs and has enabled her to sleep better, and I believe the Zinc has contributed to substantial improvement in some skin problems I had experienced.

Given the research about the role of Vitamin D in fighting COVID-19, we’re especially glad we’re doing that supplementation.

What's new since then?

Among the many interesting developments since I originally published that post on my 57th birthday:

  • As I'm nearing my 60th birthday next month, Lisa and I have three more years of sustained weight loss and renewed health. I've been at or below my goal weight since March 2020.
  • Dr. Dave is no longer working at the Pipe Trades clinic, because we helped him open HELPcare Clinic in February 2022. That means he's my primary care doctor again, too!
  • Dr. William Davis has continued to be one of my influencers, along with about 75 other experts I call my Health Sherpas. You can follow all of them on Twitter through this list. We feature several of their books on our Recommended Reading page.
  • While we recommend those books, we've also condensed many of their observations, flavored with Dr. Dave's expertise, into HELP: The Health, Energy & Longevity Plan, which Dr. Dave and I published in October 2021. HELP is available at no charge: just request your copy!
  • We use HELP as the framework for the metabolic health coaching we provide through HELPcare, and which is included in HELPcare Clinic membership.

Through HELP and HELPcare Coach we're giving you shortcuts that will hopefully save you time in getting the health results you're seeking.

If you can use the free resources including the learning modules and the member community to improve your health without using our premium services, we'll be delighted.

Negligible cost to us and lots of benefit to you! And if you want to pay it forward, just share the resources with your friends so they can benefit too. Or you could support our work through a contribution to HELPcare Foundation.

If you'd like more intensive help, learn more about the HELPcare Coach or HELPcare Clinic options, contact us.

Lee Aase

Lee Aase is the founder of HELPcare LLC, which provides comprehensive membership, marketing and management services for provider-owned HELPcare Clinics, as well as metabolic health education and coaching for people interested in restoring health and reversing disease through lifestyle changes. Lee and his wife Lisa live in Austin, MN and have six married children and 18 grandchildren.
Please sign in or register to post a reply.