Updated: 2009-08-25, Author:  

Endorsements

Sylvia Myintoo

Violinist

This book helped save my life. Last year, at the age of 39, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis after a colonoscopy and several months of diarrhea. I lost a total of 30 pounds, and became so sick that I could not eat or get out of bed. Thank God for Kathryne Pirtle’s book and all of her insight. I started with bone broth soups and little by little used the information from the chapters “Foods that Heal”, as well as”Supplements” and “Making it Practical”. The information in this book, as well as the Weston A. Price Foundation saved my life. I relish my cod liver oil everyday, my raw dairy and grass fed beef. I am med free an dhealthy, back to my normal weight.

I want to share with everyone I know the information I learned in her book. It is very straight forward, easy to read and life transforming. I highly recommend it to all who are suffering and in pain, and seeking optimal health.


Rachel R. Resch

Physical Therapist

Must read for musculoskeletal problems. This book is a life saver! Two weeks after beginning Ms. Pirtle’s food plan, my debilitating, chronic knee pain improved 80%. Today I am pain free and in the best shape of my life.

As a physical therapist, I had tried everything I knew: physical therapy, osteopathy, homeopathy, prolotherapy, supplementation, anti-inflammatories, etc. A doctor suspected rheumatoid arthritis because of all the inflammation in the joint. RA – no; inflammation – yes.

It’s no secret that many of today’s chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, some cancers, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and asthma have been linked to systemic inflammation, and musculoskeletal pain is no exception.

While not every element of a program may fit everybody, the premise of this program is unquestionably sound and the advice excellent. Musculoskeletal pain and systemic inflammation are by-products of our vitamin D deficient society.Ms. Pirtle’s plan outlines a program rich in vitamin D and other nutritional factors that heal systemic inflammation.

“Performance Without Pain” is a part of an increasing movement of people who are finding healing through following the wise nutritional methods of our ancestors as modern dogmas have failed completely.”

Some examples are: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats and Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods.

Such information is vital for us as a society as we continue to explore lifestyle factors that contribute to health and healing. I believe the field of nutritional medicine is in its infancy, and 10, 20, 100 years from now, people will look back on texts such as these as the foundation of modern nutrition.


Paul Yeager

Author, Immune

Truly Visionary Material

Nothing motivated me to achieve excellence in my own personal health and well-being as did Kathryne Pirtle’s book “Performance without Pain.” As a lifelong classical violinist dealing with various repetitive stress injuries and spinal scoliosis, I’ve been into the dietary healing wisdom of the Weston A. Price and Price-Pottenger Foundations for some time, but it was Kathryne Pirtle’s boo kthat cemented the pieces of my health puzzle together by exposing the profoundly simple connections between diet and chronic inflammation/chronic stress. The way Kathryne relates her own story is superb. Furthermore, “Performance without Pain” reigns supreme as THE #1 PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE for transitioning away from the toxic poisons of Standard American Diet (SAD) and into a totally new way of life based on the healing wisdom of nutrient-dense, traditional foods. If you perform–in everythin granging from figure skating to life itself–you need this book!


Toni Di Donato

singer

A must read for those serious about taking charge of their own health.

Kathryne Pirtle’s book literally saved my life. I felt as though I was at the “end of my rope”. My story was very similar to Kathryn’s in that I had searched for years and had done all the “right” things by eating healthy (Iwas a vegetarian for 10 years), had been in the care of many alternative practitioners and had consulted many books and methodologies for healthier eating and living. By the age of 45, I had serious acid reflux problems and as a singer had survived 4 vocal surgeries for varicose veins and pollups on my vocal cords. As a professional singer, it was a depressing reality to say the least. I happened upon Kathy’s book and couldn’t put it down. Because of the simplicity of the layout of the book and it’s easy to follow ideas, I immediately began to incorporate the recipes suggested into my diet and found myself feeling better and better over time. I am now medication free and no longer have symptoms. I feel stronger than ever and am now able to work out without pain. At 50, I feel better than ever. I continue to follow the healthy eating principles laid out in the book.

Kathy’s book is easy to read, easy to follow and gives you practical solutions that you can begin to implement into your life immediately. The information is succinct, to the point, is supported by years of research and it WORKS!! There are also many references at the end of the book for supplemental support in the way of companies that provide great health and food products.

This book is a must have for anyone who is serious about taking the responsibility of their health into their own hands. No doctor or health practitioner can live your life for you and tell you what to do each day. This book gives you a practical guide for healthy eating to do just that. And it is workable, feasible and delivers results. I highly recommend that if you are ready to take charge of your own health and ultimate destiny, this book is a must!


Jacqueline Hunt

This book lives on my kitchen counter.

This book is exactly what I needed in my quest for an improved diet. I have Celiac disease (as does the author of the book) and I struggle with Osteoporosis. My 14 year old son also has Celiac disease and is slow to grow. My daughter is Autistic and has many gastrointestinal issues. The principles in this book allow me to maximize the nutrition of my family in a way that benefits all of us. Yes, it does require one to go back to the kitchen and put more effort into creating food from scratch but the benefits far outway the negatives. It makes me feel good that I am providing higher levels of vitamins and minerals to my kids in a more effective manner than simply popping a vitamin pill in their mouths.

I am convinced that the large food manufacturers in this country have totally impoverished our food supply. Dr. Weston A. Price first discovered this in the 1930’s. As hard as it is going to be for the general public to understand “where we went wrong”, I believe that, with the help of Kathryne Pirtle’s book, we must begin to taech the truth about what is healthy and what is not.


Joanne Hay

Health Advocate

Contrary but true. While conventional nutritionists continue to follow unscientific, never been proven, recommendations like:

1. fibre for everything from constipation to heart disease
2. eat low fat foods and replace animal fats with vegetable oils like corn and soy (even though no human has done so before)
3. unfermented soy foods, high fructose corn syrup and refined sugar are safe
4. and so by the way are formeldehyde forming artificial sweeteners and food colourings and preservatives.

Kathryn Pirtle guides you in a very different direction. One which, in her personal experience, leads to near miraculous health outcomes.”Performance Without Pain” belongs with the growing record of experiences of those who turn their backs on modern nutritional dogma and follow the food ways of our ancestors.

Nina Planck in her great “Real Food” gives us new science which is contrary to corporate agendas, however, Pirtle’s book simply tells her story of redemption from the hell of constant illness and pain to enjoying her body again. Much like “A Life Unburdened” by Richard Morris, this is simply a story about turning your back on what our society dictates is good food and finding your way back to real food.

The foods she recommends requires a rethink of what is important in your life and a reshuffle of your timetable but if robust health is your goal, you’ll enjoy the wisdom borne of Pirtle’s experience.


Anonymous

Professional violinist and health advocate

Around three years ago, I received an HIV+ diagnosis. Just prior to my startling and terrifying experience of receiving this diagnosis, I had received educations in Western anatomy, physiology and pathology apart from my training to become a massage therapist. During this time, I had become intimately familiar with the problems confronting athletes, musicians, dancers and others who are highly prone to having repetitive stress injuries and chronic conditions such as carpal tunnel, tendonitis, functional scoliosis, torticollis, gastro-esophageal acid reflux disease or GERD, tennis elbow, etc. As a professional violinist,this background gave me a special insight into my own functional scoliosis produced by nearly life-long violin playing, and how to remedy these conditions to some extent.

When I received what I thought at the time was my life-threatening “HIV” diagnosis, what at first seemed to be unrelated to my violin-related problems,which was my quest for truly optimal diet and supplements, led me eventually to the conclusions about human nutrition reached by Dr.Weston A. Price and the Weston A. Price Foundation. I personally have zero doubt that if I had not implemented these specific findings in my kitchen and in my life that I may either not be alive today, or may have unwisely succumbed to taking what are well known to be highly chemo-toxic and potentially fatal AIDS medications. Furthermore, there is a growing movement of HIV+’s here in the Bay Area who share my views on Weston Price and have had similar survival experiences with these findings.

What I also learned when I implemented this new diet, however, was not only how to live with an HIV diagnosis free of pharmaceuticals and free of opportunistic infections, but that many of the chronic conditions that I had experienced for so long as a result of violin playing had underlying roots in the poor nutrition I was receiving prior for most of my life.

Ms. Pirtle’s book is sure to serve as a profound turning point for artists and others who live as performers, and therefore for the whole world. It delivers the plain and simple truths on the nutritional roots of the extremely common conditions which we are faced with as performers, and it delivers an easy-to-follow road map showing how to make it back to a state of perfect, optimal health, which is so extremely crucial to our way of life as performers. The information she presents, which is well-grounded in the Weston Price body of knowledge on nutrition and literally saved my life, is certain to massively improve yours.


Carsten Vagn-Hansen

“Carsten Health Consult,” Vejle Denmark

Most disease and health problems start with the wrong food, bad quality of food, bad digestion and trouble with a leaky gut, leading to inflammation and pain. Kathryne Pirtle presents this on a background of her own experience in an easily understandable way of the basic facts. This will free the reader from symptom treatment with potentially dangerous drugs and lead the way to remove the causes of pain and inflammation.


Catriona White

University Dance Professor, Former Ballet Dancer

“I know that this approach to eating works, as it has, over the past five years, changed my life dramatically for the better also. You can do yourself a wonderful favor by reading this book, and trying it! ”


Gail Williams

Horn Soloist
Professor of Music, Northwestern University
Former Associate Principal Horn, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

This book is a must read from a Mom’s point of view to that of a professor. Through research from personal health problems, Kathy Pirtle has written a very important and revealing book. The chapter on milk and grass-fed animals just made me smile, since I grew up on raw milk. Being a healthy child with no digestive problems to an adult with colitis, I certainly will be researching changes in my diet.

From the perspective of a professor, this book also offers new insight into treatment approaches of embouchure strength and stability problems in brass and woodwind players.