Nancy Appleton Books Health Blog

Noted nutritionist, author and health counselor Nancy Appleton PhD died on December 21, 2019 at her independent living community in San Diego after a fairly short and painless course of merkel-cell carcinoma. She was 84.

When confronted by a lack of answers to her frequent allergies, related persistent pneumonia and other similar ailments, the then Ms. Nancy Jacobs, rolled up her sleeves to find her own answers. Thus, the second act of her life became dedicated to finding the best way for all people to take charge of their own health. She found it in the research necessary to earn her PhD in Nutrition from Walden University that reinforced several related propositions: eliminate refined sugar, eliminate allergens, eliminate as many chemicals as possible, exercise more and eat gently cooked whole foods that all work together to create homeostasis, the body’s natural balance that promotes healing. Naturally, this message required writing books.

Starting with the ongoing bestseller Lick the Sugar Habit, Dr. Appleton wrote eight books on a variety of topics that all reinforced her basic thesis for good health. Osteoporosis. Proper cooking technique. A list of common foods and the amount of sugar added. Inflammation. The drink industry. An update to her seminal work with newer citations. And a commercialized edition of her PhD dissertation explaining her inveterate opposition to Louis Pasteur’s Germ Theory.

These books and theories weren’t going to disseminate themselves throughout the world at large and so, balanced with her responsibilities to her two, by this time, older children, Dr. Appleton went on semi-permanent global safari to explain her theories. For more than thirty-five years, there were few conferences, media appearances or foreign trips to collect data from societies with less penetration of sugary foods that she missed.

This life of dedication and love of travel didn’t just hatch overnight. Born Nancy Elizabeth Dwyer, she lived like a prototypical California Girl, completely outdoors…without access to sunscreen or full knowledge of how damaging the sun is. In her youth, family yachting trips to Acupulco might result in pictures waterskiing with her sister, Darlene. Additionally, she was a national junior tennis champion winning Doubles and coming close in Singles and kept playing the sport well into her early seventies. She also spent many years hiking and taking walks.

Her other great personal loves were travel and classical music. She told a story about seeing a production of Aida in Rome making use of the Colosseum. Actually, she didn’t really tell the story as her words failed her describing the spectacle where the impresarios apparently went nuts with live animals and décor worthy of an Elizabeth Taylor movie. Suffice it to say, she never saw another showing of that opera again.

Guided by all these threads of passion: travel, fighting for her own health, her love of family and the thrill of the next discovery, Nancy is remembered by those who loved her as a fighter constantly exhorting creative solutions from one’s life. She imparted the wisdom of “go around the other way” to her children and friends on numerous occasions. And to find beauty and joy where it exists, especially in Rachmaninov piano concertos.

Nancy expressed few regrets about her life before her passing. Certainly none concerning her manner of death, metastasized skin cancer, saying “maybe I’d wear sunscreen and a hat.” She asserted until the end that applying her nutritional theories to her own life possibly bought her another ten years fighting against a family inheritance of a weakened immune system and the harsh sun that always wins in the end.

If she could’ve, she would’ve used her last words to advocate for good health practices, including less sugar, everywhere.

Nancy Appleton PhD is survived by a sister, Darlene Lasher, a daughter, Laurie Schmid, a son, Gregory Neil Jacobs, a son-in-law, Mark Schmid and two grandsons, Garrett and Austin Schmid. Nancy chose to donate her body to UCSD Medical School and be remembered privately, according to her wishes. Please donate to your favorite charity in her name.