The Disease Delusion: Conquering the Causes of Chronic Illness for a Healthier, Longer, and Happier Life

For decades, Dr. Jeffrey Bland has been on the cutting edge of Functional Medicine, which seeks to pinpoint and prevent the cause of illness, rather than treat its symptoms. Managing chronic diseases accounts for three quarters of our total healthcare costs, because we’re masking these illnesses with pills and temporary treatments, rather than addressing their underlying causes, he argues. Worse, only treating symptoms leads us down the path of further illness.

In The Disease Delusion, Dr. Bland explains what Functional Medicine is and what it can do for you. While advances in modern science have nearly doubled our lifespans in only four generations, our quality of life has not reached its full potential. Outlining the reasons why we suffer chronic diseases from asthma and diabetes to obesity, arthritis and cancer to a host of other ailments, Dr. Bland offers achievable, science-based solutions that can alleviate these common conditions and offers a roadmap for a lifetime of wellness.

“The godfather of functional medicine elegantly explains the core tools to overcome the chronic ailments of modern society.” — Mehmet Oz, M.D.

“Dr. Bland’s book should be a textbook in medical schools all over the world. I wish I had found it while I was in medical school myself.” — Alejandro Junger, MD, Founder of the Clean Program

“What the personal computer revolution did for old-fashioned mainframe computing―empowering us all―is what functional medicine is doing for healthcare; and if there is a Steve Jobs of functional medicine, it is Jeffrey Bland―visionary, innovative, and perennially two steps ahead.” — Dale E. Bredesen, MD, Augustus Rose Professor, Director, Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research, Director, Neurodegenerative Disease Research David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA

“Filled with solid science, fascinating medical detective stories, and practical tips, this powerful book can save your life.” — Daniel G. Amen, MD, Founder, Amen Clinics and New York Times bestselling author

Treatment of chronic diseases—diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, dementia, and many others—is responsible for 78 percent of total health-care costs in the United States. Yet instead of identifying, preventing, and addressing their underlying causes, we're managing symptoms of these illnesses with pills and temporary remedies. In The Disease Delusion, we learn how we can fundamentally change how we perceive illness and approach a cure.

Dr. Jeffrey Bland leverages a lifetime on the cutting edge of research and practice to create a road map to good health by helping us understand our bodies' fundamental processes and the root causes of chronic illness.

Complete with self-evaluation questionnaires and sample meal plans, and supported by the most recent advances in health science, Dr. Bland's book is indispensable for anyone determined to live long and well.

Dr. Jeffrey S. Bland is known as the "father of functional medicine," and over the past thirty-five years has taught more than 100,000 health-care practitioners around the globe. He has been a university biochemistry professor, a research director at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine, the cofounder of the Institute for Functional Medicine in 1991, and the founder/president of the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute. He lives in Seattle, Washington, with his wife, Susan, and near his three sons and their families.