Doctors in the House

2.7
I'm a big fan of Dr. Joel Fuhrman and his seminal book on nutritional excellence, Eat to Live. We're adding folks to the Power Pantry rolls weekly, and if you've joined us recently, reading and following the powerful guidance in Eat to Live is a perfect place to start. You'll find solid, easy-to-understand concepts of how nutrient density and following a whole-food diet is the way to optimal physical health.

Here is tremendous guidance from a recent email blast of Dr. Fuhrman's:

The benefits of following the Nutritarian diet are numerous and life-changing. By following the Nutritarian diet, it is possible to:

• Achieve your ideal weight
• Improve your overall health
• Prevent and reverse heart disease and type 2 diabetes
• Protect yourself from cancer and dementia
• Reduce or eliminate your need for medication
• Avoid any unnecessary and potentially harmful medical interventions
• Raise heathy children and safeguard their future health
• Slow down the aging process
• Push the boundaries of human longevity

That's quite a list of benefits! I can attest that simple improvements in what I eat have brought me to a level of physical health that I haven't enjoyed since I was a kid. As I go into my fifth year of intentional lifestyle wellness, I'm still fascinated at how simple it is to achieve significantly improved physical health.

There's another doctor I'm quite impressed with, and I've benefited greatly from his guidance. Dr. Dean Ornish is a veteran of over 35 years of wellness research and oversees the Preventative Medicine Research Institutes (PMRI - click for their website). The basis of Dr. Ornish's work is what he refers to as The Ornish Spectrum. He has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that improvements in four simple areas of life will restore health and vitality to even the sickest patients. The four areas of Dr. Ornish's Spectrum are:

• what you eat
• how you respond to stress
• how much activity you have
• how much love and support you have.

With decades of proof, the improved lives of his patients stand as a testament to his good work. There is a wealth of tremendous research available from the PMRI research page on their website:
PMRI Research Highlights

Achieving your lifestyle wellness goals is simple, even though it may not be easy. If you're on the path, stick to it, and if you're just starting, welcome aboard!

By the Way

Dr. Ornish has a number of TED Talks where he reviews the great research his work has generated. It is incredible to me that he was spreading this guidance over 10 years ago; I'm thankful that it is becoming a part of the fabric and dialog of our American lifestyle... Here is his talk from 2004, and it's well worth the time to watch it:
Dr. Ornish - Healing Through Diet