The health care reform bill has passed and many people will be celebrating that, finally, the United States will work to assure every citizen health insurance that cannot be canceled because you change your job, because you get sick, or for any other reason.

Remember this is just a start to the transformation of health care. While all of the things I worked for with my colleagues Drs. Dean Ornish and Michael Roizen, on Capital hill the last year did not make it into the final bill, a few important things did and we can build on that. In fact, in my last meeting with Senator Harkin in December, he assured me that the passage of this bill would be just the beginning of reform and that after it passed we could move on to healthcare reform 2.0 that addresses more of the underlying issues about not only who is covered but what is covered.

Imagine having a condition with symptoms so severe that you can't leave the house, yet your doctor calls it a "functional," or "psychosomatic," disease -- meaning that it's all in your head.

Frustrating? Absolutely.

But it's a very real problem for the 60 million people -- that's 20 percent of Americans -- who have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). These people are plagued by uncomfortable and often disabling symptoms like bloating, cramps, diarrhea, constipation, and pain.

I have lots of patients with IBS, some of whom have suffered for decades without relief. Their previous doctors couldn't find the cause of the illness, so they were told to just get more fiber or take Metamucil, or were prescribed sedatives, anti-spasm drugs, or antidepressants.

That is NOT the answer. I've found a better way. And in today’s blog I am going to share 5 steps you can take right now to cure IBS without drugs.

But first I want to tell you about a patient of mine ...

"There are no studies that prove the benefits of nutritional or integrative therapies..."

It's a refrain that I hear time and time again.

And I hear it from my colleagues.

But they couldn't be more wrong!

They just have not done their homework -- or perhaps they are reading the wrong medical journals.

One of my favorite medical journals is the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," which every month publishes more than 300 pages of research with NO ADVERTISING. 

This is very unlike my other medical journals -- such as the "Journal of the American Medical Association" or "The New England Journal of Medicine" -- which have pages and pages of color glossy drug ads.

So today, I thought I would take you on a journey through just one issue of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" to see just how much research is being done on how food and nutrients affect our health. 

"Where can I find a doctor who practices the type of medicine that you do?"

That was the question I was asked a few weeks ago after I gave a talk about UltraWellness and Functional Medicine to the top health writers and publishers in America, who deal with all the leading edge nutritional and medical advice.

These were the key people from Reader's Digest, Time-Life Books, Rodale, Healthy Directions newsletters, More Magazine, and Agora publishing. 

They're the top thinkers, creative leaders, and very connected to the health world.

Yet even they were asking for help finding a doctor!

Unfortunately this is a question that I hear over and over again, wherever I go to speak about the new paradigm in medicine that deals with the roots of illness, not just the symptoms.

Everybody wants it.

But nobody can find it.

I often send people to the Functional Medicine website, which lists practitioners who attended an intensive 6-day training course. 

But that doesn't mean they have much experience -- just an interest and some basic training.

Your children will die younger than you will.

That's a scary thought -- and one that's going to become a fact if we keep following the same bad habits of the last 30 years.

There's no doubt about it.

We're living in a toxic food environment.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

This week, I'd like to share with you some critical information from a very important new book.

It's called "Ending the Food Fight, Guide Your Child to a Healthy Weight in a Fast Food/Fake Food World."

This book was written by a friend of mine, David Ludwig, MD, PhD. He's an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the OWL (Optimal Weight for Life) Program at Children's Hospital in Boston.

Simply put, his book is a manifesto that provides a solution to our frightening epidemic of childhood obesity and disease.

With a strong voice and a clear head, Dr. Ludwig tackles the problem of our toxic food environment and the unparalleled decline in our children's health straight on.