Rubin, Jordan 1975(?)–

(Jordan S. Rubin)

PERSONAL: Born c. 1975; married; wife's name Nicki. Education: Holds a doctor of naturopathic medicine degree (NMD), credentials as a Certified Nutritional Consultant, and Ph.D. degrees from the People's University of the Americas School of Natural Medicine and the Academy of Natural Therapies.

ADDRESSES: Home—West Palm Beach, FL. Office—Garden of Life, 5500 Village Blvd., Ste. 202, West Palm Beach, FL 33407.

CAREER: Writer, nutritionist, entrepreneur, business executive, public speaker, and consultant. Garden of Life, founder and chief executive officer, 1998–. Frequent guest on television and radio talk shows.

WRITINGS:

Patient Heal Thyself: A Remarkable Health Program Combining Ancient Wisdom with Groundbreaking Clinical Research, Freedom Press (Topanga, CA), 2003.

(With Joseph Brasco) Restoring Your Digestive Health: How the Guts and Glory Program Can Transform Your Life, Twin Streams (New York, NY), 2003.

The Maker's Diet, Siloam (Lake Mary, FL), 2004.

The Maker's Diet Shopper's Guide, Siloam (Lake Mary, FL), 2005.

(With David Remedios) The Great Physician's Rx for Health and Wellness, Nelson Books (Nashville, TN), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Jordan Rubin is an author, nutritionist, consultant, and public speaker. In 1994, when he was nineteen, Rubin's health was severely threatened by the effects of Crohn's disease, a serious intestinal disease. He lost almost half his body weight and suffered from numerous other conditions, including immune system breakdown, anemia, diabetes, frequent infections, hair loss, fibromyalgia, and chronic depression. Conventional medicine was unable to help him, and hundreds of different types of alternative treatments failed to improve his condition. Finally, relief came when he encountered an unconventional nutritionist who "believed Jordan was ill because he was not eating the diet of the Bible," noted a writer on the Maker's Diet Web site. After he changed his lifestyle to reflect this change in diet, Rubin's health gradually began to improve until, some months later, he was free of symptoms and fully recovered from the disease that nearly took his life.

An entrepreneur and business owner, Rubin founded the nutritional company Garden of Life in 1998 to help him pass on his knowledge to others and to assist clients with achieving their nutritional goals. Rubin also began to write books explaining the dietary and nutritional systems that had saved him. In The Maker's Diet, for example, Rubin explains how one's health can be dramatically improved by following the simpler diet of those who lived during biblical times. "The overarching message is actually quite nonparochial: that we should eat the same foods consumed by more primitive people," namely, hormone-free, grass-fed animals; organic fruits, vegetables and grains; and raw, unpasteurized milk products," observed Shawn Donnelly in Muscle & Fitness. In an interview with Paul O'Donnell on the Beliefnet Web site, Rubin noted that the basis of the Maker's Diet is "to eat a healthy diet. There are two criteria for me to eat a food. Number one, it had to be created by God as a food. Number two, it needs to be consumed in the form that is compatible for the human body—in the form that God created it." Rubin suggests avoiding processed and refined foods, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, margarine, and other artificial foodstuffs. He suggests avoiding other types of food prohibited by the Bible, such pork and shellfish. Rubin also encourages followers of the diet to add whole food nutritional supplements to their diet. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly noted that "his approach is unique and provides a refreshing, holistic antidote to many of today's fad diets."

A number of Rubin's claims have been called controversial, and some critics have questioned his credibility, but he stands firmly behind the benefits he says are found in his nutritional programs. He told O'Donnell that a belief in God is not necessary to follow the Maker's Diet. However, Rubin also declared, "I believe that people that do are going to use this program above any other one."

Other of Rubin's books draw upon nutritional habits of the past in order to build a healthful diet in the present. The Great Physician's Rx for Health and Wellness takes up where The Makers Diet left off, providing a plan for a complete lifestyle makeover based on nutrition and hygiene precepts from the Bible. In Patient Heal Thyself: A Remarkable Health Program Combining Ancient Wisdom with Groundbreaking Clinical Research, Rubin explains the causes of several common diseases and includes advice on how to cure those diseases and reverse health problems. "Here [readers] will find a golden opportunity to learn how to begin to heal themselves," commented Paul A. Goldberg in the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients. Restoring Your Digestive Health: How the Guts and Glory Program Can Transform Your Life explores how diet and nutrition can help cure and reverse the effects of a number of digestive diseases. Reviewer Jule Klotter, writing in the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, concluded that "even people who don't want to follow the full Guts and Glory Program can learn ways to enhance digestive health from this book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Better Nutrition, August, 2003, "Powerful Healing," review of Patient Heal Thyself: A Remarkable Health Program Combining Ancient Wisdom with Groundbreaking Clinical Research, p.16; June, 2004, "Whole Health," review of The Maker's Diet, p. 16.

Library Journal, October 1, 2005, Noemie Maxwell, review of The Great Physician's Rx for Health and Wellness, p. 102.

Muscle & Fitness, August, 2004, Shawn Donnelly, "Honor Thy Fodder: From the Last Supper to New York Times Bestseller, The Maker's Diet Shows Readers the Light of Eating Clean," p. 224.

Natural Health, September, 2003, Judy Bass, review of Restoring Your Digestive Health: How the Guts and Glory Program Can Transform Your Life, p. 88.

Newsweek, April 19, 2004, Arian Campo-Flores, "Diets: Now, Milk and Honey," review of The Maker's Diet, p. 14.

Publishers Weekly, April 26, 2004, review of The Maker's Diet, p. 62; September 12, 2005, review of The Great Physician's Rx for Health and Wellness, p. 63.

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, August-September, 2003, Paul A. Goldberg, "Empowerment," review of Patient Heal Thyself, p. 159; July, 2004, Jule Klotter, "The Guts & Glory Program," review of Restoring Your Digestive Health, p. 127.

ONLINE

Beliefnet, http://www.beliefnet.com/ (January 23, 2006), Paul O'Donnell, "Eating from the Bible," interview with Jordan S. Rubin.

Maker's Diet, http://www.makersdiet.com/ (January 23, 2006), biography of Jordan S. Rubin.

NuvoBody, http://www.nuvobody.com/ (January 23, 2006), biography of Jordan S. Rubin.