100 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The bible for how to maintain optimum health and treat common ailments, May 18, 2006
This review is written by a former hospital administrator of just under 2 decades. I have been studying health and nutrition for more than decade. I became very interested in alternative medicine when a family member was diagnosed with kidney cancer and the allopathic doctors (traditional MD's) could give no reason for the tumor.
The purpose of this book is to present a complete guide to preventative health maintenance. With preventative health maintenance described as a timely and appropriate investment of energy in your well being that will save you trouble down the road.
He subdivides his book as follows:
PART ONE: PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE (The basic information about designing a healthy lifestyle)
1. What Should I Eat?
2. Answers to Common Questions About Diet and Health
3. What Will You Have to Drink?
4. Air and Breath
5. A Guide to Exercise for People Who Hate the Whole Idea of It
6. Relaxation, Rest, and Sleep
7. Habits
8. Connections
PART TWO: SPECIFIC PREVENTION: OUTWITTING THE KILLERS (Specific advice about reducing your risks of getting the diseases that kill most people prematurely in our society)
9. How Not to Get a Heart Attack
10. How Not to Get a Stroke
11. How Not to Get Cancer
12. How to Protect Your Immune System
PART THREE: BASIC NATURAL TREATMENTS (the tools in the forms or natural treatments that we can use ourselves)
13. Simple Measures
14. Vitamins and Supplements
15. The Herbal Medicine Chest
PART FOUR: A TREASURE OF HOME REMEDIES FOR COMMON AILMENTS (this section deals with common ailments that respond well to gentle, natural therapies and lifestyle modification)
APPENDIX A: Finding Practitioners
APPENDIX B: Finding Supplies
APPENDIX C: Sample Recipes
In part one of the book the doctor does a wonderful job of explaining what we should and more importantly should not eat. The first chapter of the book is worth the price of the book alone. The doctor outlines 9 principles for a healthy diet that he explains in great detail without losing those of us that are not trained physicians or nutritionists. These principles are simplistic but very powerful. If you are a follower of a low carbohydrate diet you will not agree with what you will read in this section.
The doctor also goes into great detail regarding his recommendations for physical activity. He discusses all the common forms of exercise and the pros and cons of each form of exercise. How much exercise do we need? Thirty minutes of aerobic exercise at least 5 days a week. Not much of a surprise, but after you read the section on exercise you will understand why you need that much aerobic exercise, and hopefully that will get all of us off the couch, or away from our computers with a little more frequently. The doctor also discusses stretching and strength training and how much of these we need and why.
Part two of the book, on how to avoid specific diseases, is very well written, easy to understand, and easy to follow for those individuals that are highly motivated. The suggestions will not be palatable to everyone. But, if health is your primary motivation, there are wonderful ideas and suggestions contained in these chapters.
In Part three of the book the doctor has a brief chapter on simple measures that is very informative. In this chapter the doctor discusses simple techniques that we can all use at home to improve the overall quality of our health. I use the techniques in this chapter to feel better when I get a cold, or just don't feel like myself. The techniques really are simple and easy to use, but have a power effect on my overall well being.
Part four of the book covers the resources that any of us would need to follow the practices brought forth in the other portions of the book.
In Summation, I feel that this book is very well written and easy to understand. Once you have read this book I believe it will become your bible for how to maintain optimum health and treat common ailments. I highly recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in health.
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Reference on obtaining and maintaining good health, June 8, 2006
Dr. Weil has a rare outlook that you wish all health practitioners had. Specifically, he tries to take the best from traditional and natural medicine to help patients get and stay well instead of picking one of the two sides and calling the other side evil.
This book is a great reference for all kinds of questions you might have about health. Dr. Weil goes into detail on such basic yet crucial subjects as what you should eat and drink, how much exercise is enough, how to avoid cancer and heart disease to the extent possible, the role of dietary supplements, and even mental health. The majority of his answers to health questions will probably not be completely new to you, although I have never seen such a eclectic combination of viewpoints in one book before. What is particularly helpful is that Dr. Weil doesn't just tell you that you need to exercise, he tells you what goes on in your body if you do and if you don't. He doesn't just tell you to eat your vegetables, he points out that as infants we all loved vegetables and that it is probably the fact that vegetables become particularly unpalatable if served incorrectly that has trained us to dislike them. At the end of the book he has included some very delicious recipes to help you retrain your tastes.
Dr. Weil talks about various chronic diseases such as diabetes and has advice for diet, exercise, and supplementation in each case. I particularly liked his unique definition of depression as a state of high energy turned inward and negative. He states that you will never come to terms with your depression if you suppress it. He advises that you learn to own your depressions, appreciate them, and transform them, thus constructively using the energy they contain in the process.
I highly recommend this book to people of all ages who want common sense advice and recommendations involving achievable behavior on how to obtain good health.
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40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding review who value prevention, February 13, 2005
Author Andrew Weil starts by discussing preventative health and maintainance strategies including, "What should I eat". The book answers common questions about diet and health. It reviews issues as simple as the water you drink and the air you breath in the context of positive health. The significance of regular exercise, relaxation, rest and sleep is emphasized. Not only that, the author reviews specific ideas on how to prevent specific killers like heart attack, stroke and cancer etc. Finally, Dr. Weil talks about basic natural treatments including the use of vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements. This is a keeper!
Anil Minocha MD
Author: Natural Stomach Care
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