Jordan Rubin and The Maker's Diet

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When I first bought the book, THE MAKER'S DIET, I read a bit and put it down, tossing it off as - yet another - raw food, vegan diet.  Recently, in finishing the research for the diet section on this site, I gave the book another chance and found that my early impression was somewhat erroneous but I retain mixed feelings about the book.  The chapter on Rubin's history is very interesting especially about his history with severe illness which he claims healing from using his own Maker's diet.  The next chapters on the science behind the Maker's Diet are a bit rough to stomach.  Rubin suggests things like eating soil to strengthen the immune system (he sells a refined version) and criticizes modern sanitation, forgetting that before modern sanitation, people did not have long lifespans and few of them survived childhood.  Although he does cite some of what he quotes, most of it is NOT from peer reviewed journals but rather naturopathic books and the like.

(Maybe some of the reason Ruben changed venues is because he was ordered by the FDA to stop making claims that his diet healed anything)

Jordan Ruben was the son of a naturopathic practitioner and although he was unvacinated and lived according to naturopathic standards of health,  he apparently had a complete immune system breakdown while in his Sophomore year in college.  After claiming doctors had sent him home to die, he had a consult with an elderly man who told him his problem was he was not living according to what God suggests in the Bible.  The idea intrigued him and he traveled to California to study further with the man (whose name for some reason, is not given in the book).  The diet and health practices he learned, he formulated into what we now know as "THE MAKER'S DIET"  Rubin said he went from 111 lbs to 180 lbs.

The MAKER'S DIET starts with a 40 day program, in which the last part is what you are supposed to do for the rest of your life.

The three points are:

• Eat HSO "homeostatic soil organisms" - this is supposed to boost your immune system by forcing your body to produce antibodies etc. The large "Garden Of Life" corporation which Ruben founded, sold a version of this which supposedly, was pleasing to the palate (reasonably) Rubin closed the "Garden of Life" website in 2009 and his new website is unclear as to what products he's now selling.
• The Maker's Diet is low carb with the usual restrictions - no white sugar or white flour, all organic foods, unpasturized milk products etc (unpasturized dairy products are the most prevailent cause of food-based infectious disease in 3rd world countries). It's expensive and not convenient to get, to say the least.
• Using "Clenzology" to clean our bodies - this leaves the friendly organisms on the body while cleaning - he also sold this in "The Garden of Life"  - it was just regular soap with a few natural products added.

Ruben suggests exercise but like the other faith-based diets does not really go into detail about it.

The book is interesting if not real science based and the section where he critiques the low carb, low fat and other "delete an entire food group" diets may be the best part.

To learn more about this program, you can buy the book, THE MAKER'S DIET available in bookstores or Amazon, or else join as an online member of his website.

While THE MAKER'S DIET book is interesting, I don't think many people will want to go into the expense and trouble of this program.

There appear to be several "Maker's" type diets (Many offer personalized plans and consulting - for a price, of course)

• Don Colbert, MD
• Matt Stone