The blog is about health and gives useful information on health and disease.

Years ago I spent a great deal of time explaining the “doctor within,” Super Foods, and so on, to a patient of mine, a well-known sports figure. He was suffering from frequent colds and a depressed immune system. He listened very carefully, asked intelligent questions and took careful notes. He came back to see me periodically, each time assuring me that he was following the program I had outlined for him. But I could tell from the examinations that his health was disintegrating. His laboratory tests and other clues told me that he wasn’t following my advice. His wife called me one day to say that he hadn’t made any changes in his diet or his outlook. Indeed, she said, he continued to eat all the wrong foods and did nothing to alleviate his stress. This man practiced a form of denial, and he eventually wound up with cancer.

Let me tell you about another patient, a man with diabetes, which required daily insulin injections. This wealthy businessman loved to eat large, thick steaks, sweet-and-sour Chinese food and deli-sandwiches. He ate his way through the fanciest restaurants in Los Angeles and, for that matter, all over the U.S., as he traveled about the country. He came to see me regularly, listening attentively as I explained how and why he should start protecting his “doctor within.” Like the sports figure, however, he didn’t make the commitment to his health. Then a diabetes-related gangrene attacked his foot, and part of it had to be amputated. Now he was ready to make the changes. Unlike a salamander, he couldn’t grow back the part of his foot he had lost. But by adopting all the health-enhancement techniques I’ve described in this book, and others that I designed specifically for him, he brought his diabetes under control. He is doing well, feels well and is looking forward to many productive and healthy years.

I can’t slap your hand every time you reach for unhealthy food; I can’t force you to follow the Immune For Life program. But I can tell you that there is no more precious thing on earth than your good health. Nature has endowed you with the best doctor you can have: your “doctor within.” As a physician, my advice is to take care of it. You’ll be rewarded with long life, vibrant health and happiness.

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As a rule, you can’t feel good if your muscles are weak. Instead, you feel tired, below par. Feeling this way affects your emotional state. You probably feel depressed and unhappy with your inability to perform the activities you want to do. Many people tell me they can’t carry bags of groceries because their arms feel too tired.

For these and other reasons, it’s important that you tone the large-muscle groups in your arms and legs. Brisk walking or jogging tones your legs. Swimming tones arms and legs. For my arm exercise I keep two barbells near my bathroom sink. I turn on the Physician’s Radio Network in the morning to hear the latest medical news and do these three exercises for the muscles of my arms and shoulders. Start with light weights; three or five pounds is fine. I believe it’s better to do more repetitions with light weights than to struggle through fewer repetitions with heavy weights. You can always increase the weight as you get stronger.

Bicep Curl: The biceps are the muscles on the “inside” of your upper arm, the muscles that tighten when somebody rolls up their sleeves and “makes a muscle.” Hold one weight in each hand, with your arms resting at your sides. Your little fingers should be closest to your body, your thumbs furthest away. Keeping your elbows firmly at your sides, lift your hands, bending your arms at the elbow, and bring the weights up until they almost touch the front of your shoulders. Then lower your arms back to the starting position and repeat. Do five to start. Gradually work up to 20 to 30 curls without stopping.

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CRUNCHY POTATO SALAD

2 lbs. potatoes 1/2 cup celery 1/2 cup sweet red peppers 3/4 cup scallions 1/4 cup parsley 1/2 cup nonfat yogurt

2 tbls. cider vinegar

1 tsp. curry powder

Wash all vegetables. Skin potatoes, chop celery, pepper and parsley; thinly slice scallions. Steam or boil potatoes until tender, then drain. Cut potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes, and combine with chopped vegetables. In a small bowl, mix yogurt, vinegar and curry powder. Stir yogurt mixture into potato mixture. Cover and refrigerate until serving time. Excellent for carry-out lunches.

Serves 4 to 6.

OKRA STEW

1 large onion

4 medium tomatoes

1 clove garlic, minced

1 six-oz. can tomato paste

2 tsps. lemon juice 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 lb. okra

Wash vegetables. Chop onion and tomatoes. Saute onion and garlic in water until tender. Add tomato paste, tomatoes, lemon juice and oregano. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Wash okra and cut off the cone-shapped top. Add to tomato mixture. Simmer, covered, 20-30 minutes. Serve over hot grains.

Serves 4.

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Take care of your “doctor within” and your immune system— starting now. Don’t wait for the trouble signs to appear, because by then it may be too late. The road to lifelong immunity starts right here, right now, with the Immune For Life program.

The Immune For Life program begins by acknowledging the importance of your “doctor within.” I designed the program to, first, stop harming the good doctor and, second, to begin strengthening this ally. Whatever your immune status, you can begin—right now—to make the changes in your habits and lifestyle to stop harming your “doctor within” and put you on the road to vibrant health and happiness. Here are the basics of the Immune For Life program:

1. Do you know if your diet is sabatoging your “doctor within”? Or how many health-destructive negative thoughts pass through your mind every day? Knowledge is power. Find out whether your life-style and daily habits are helping or harming your “doctor within.” In the Immune For Life Workbook that starts on page 149, you’ll find a series of quizzes that will help you evaluate your daily habits and thoughts. Taking the quizzes will teach you a great deal about yourself and will point to potential trouble spots for your “doctor within.”

2. Stop harming your “doctor within” and immune system with the dangerous Standard American Diet. Instead, add years to your life and life to your years by switching to the Super Food diet. Find out which foods are the Super Foods, with extra power to protect you against cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, depression and other diseases.

3. Make sure your “doctor within” is getting all the vitamins and minerals it needs by adopting a Nutri-Prevention program of supplements best suited to your needs. Your program may include DLPA—dl-phenylalanine—a natural and safe nutrient that bolsters the immune system, blocks chronic pain and relieves certain types of depression by protecting and enhancing the endorphin hormones.

4. Meld your mind and body into an invincible barrier against depression, negative thinking, physical and emotional disease. Learn how not to be a stress seeker who risks heart disease and other problems by trying to take on the world single-handed. Find out whether you’re a stress phobic, with depressed, unhappy thoughts that increase your risk of cancer and other diseases. Learn to make affirmations and visualizations a part of your everyday Immune For Life program.

5. Discover how brisk walking and other simple exercises can strengthen your “doctor within,” bolster your immune system and fight depression.

6. Soothe and simultaneously energize your “doctor within” with Meditative Relaxation. This is an excellent way to dispose of the stress, anger and frustration that are so destructive to your health and happiness.

The Immune For Life program is relatively simple. But it all depends on your making, here and now, a firm and irrevocable commitment to zestful health, happiness and longevity.

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