According to the World Health Organization, which has not changed its definition since 1948, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Most people probably think of wellness in primarily physical terms—in which case good nutrition, hydration, clean air, exercise, and rest are the main issues. Some would add in a mental factor, as in the “mind-body connection,” and emphasize that true wellness is only possible when a person is healthy in both body and mind. But we would add that spiritual health is also essential.

In fact, we think that true wellness involves four arenas of life: body, mind, spirit, and social relationships. This is because we are all persons with bodies, minds, and spirits who live in the context of relationships—whether we are speaking of one-on-one friendships or our relationship to the entire human race.

Our basis for making this statement is our Judeo-Christian perspective. You will find many health-producing practices are promoted in the teachings of Moses and the Old Testament prophets and by Jesus and the writers of the New Testament. The Old Testament word for wellness is shalom, which is often translated “peace” even though its much broader meaning is “whole.” The New Testament word is soteria, which is often translated “salvation.” This word is best understood in the context of healing, health, and wellness.

Further, as one of our friends says, health is best understood as a verb, because it is dynamic, always changing as the sum of the relative healthiness of the factors just mentioned. So if you want to improve your health, you need to maintain or improve areas in which you are already “healthy” and be willing to make the changes that will take you toward better health in other areas.

Why? Because that line from the movie “The Princess Bride” is right: “If you haven’t got your health, then you haven’t got anything.”

Biological Health

Physical health, like each aspect of health, is on a continuum—in other words, nobody’s ever absolutely healthy and nobody’s ever absolutely unhealthy. One’s relative level of physical healthiness is always interrelated with other aspects of health—psychological, sociological, and spiritual. For example, some people, such as models or actors/actresses, who seem to be the “healthiest” (i.e. buff, skinny, tanned, muscular, or whatever words might come to mind) may be unhealthy in other aspects of their lives, so when everything is considered, their overall “health” is far less than they may have thought.

When you consider biological health alone, certain components are immediately evident, including (we know this is not an exhaustive list, but it is quite inclusive):

•  Good nutrition (eating and drinking the right things; avoiding the rest) •
• Avoiding toxins in your air, water, and general environment

•  Getting enough of the right kind of exercise

•  Getting enough rest

•  Taking charge or your health by seeing your medical/dental providers regularly

Nutrition

In 2005, after many studies showed that the consumption of whole foods, including fruits and vegetables, is the true key to healthy eating, the government changed its RDA of servings of fruits and vegetables from five a day to between seven and thirteen servings a day, depending on gender, age, and level of daily activity.

Healthier eating requires consumption of a wide variety of nutrient dense, lower calorie foods. The government’s site explains that: “Nutrient dense foods are those foods that provide substantial amounts of vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) and relatively few calories. Foods that are low in nutrient density are foods that supply calories but relatively small amounts of micronutrients, sometimes none at all. The greater the consumption of foods or beverages that are low in nutrient density, the more difficult it is to consume enough nutrients without gaining weight, especially for sedentary individuals. The consumption of added sugars, saturated and trans fats, and alcohol provides calories while providing little, if any, of the essential nutrients.”

The Harvard School of Public Health reported, “The largest and longest study to date, done as part of the Harvard-based Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, included almost 110,000 men and women whose health and dietary habits were followed for 14 years. The higher the average daily intake of fruits and vegetables, the lower the chances of developing cardiovascular disease. . . . [F]or every extra serving of fruits and vegetables that participants added to their diets, their risk of heart disease dropped by 4 percent.”

Envision taking a stroll through the original Garden (of Eden), snacking as you go on a pear or a plum and some nice fresh veggies like sugar-snap peas and a spear of dew-covered asparagus that has just popped through the soil. Then you munch some nuts or whole grains, with blueberries and raspberries for dessert. No “servings” to measure; no fats or carbs or calories to count; no additives or preservatives or trans fats; no herbicides or pesticides to worry about; no regimented meal times; no stuffing yourself until you’re about to burst. Instead, you’re just grazing along, with your hunger continually satisfied by the rainbow of delights the Creator has put there just for you.

In a broad sense, the simplest way to eat well is to make better choices, moment by moment, day by day, from the garden or supermarket to the table, both in terms of the foods you choose as well as how you prepare them. Keep the “garden grazing” image in your mind the next time you shop and expand your list of favorite veggies beyond what you usually buy. If the people for whom you prepare food are reluctant to expand their whole food horizons, try one new thing per week (or per month—whatever works). And if your loved ones’ daily consumption of fruits and veggies is less than you know they need, you might consider whole food concentrates to fill in the gaps.

We are what we eat. Our body can only build and repair itself and fight off disease using the nutrients we provide. And the real drama is played out moment by moment on a cellular level. If your cells could talk, here’s what they might say: “Please feed us well so we can fulfill our part of your life dance as we were designed to do. We prefer slow food, no additives or preservatives, and as fresh as possible. And give us plenty of fruit and vegetable antioxidants to shield us from our constant free radical attack.”

Your body has over 200 kinds of cells; between 40 and 100 trillion cells, total. While you read that sentence, roughly 50 million of them died and were replaced. Your skin cells will replace themselves about once in a month, so an 80-year-old will have had 1000 skins before he or she dies. Your blood cells replace themselves about every four months; your bones, every couple years; your entire body, every five to seven years. So, if you feed your cells junk food for the next five to seven years, isn’t it logical that your entire new body will be less healthy than it might otherwise be if you had eaten well during that time?

What about diets?

An estimated twenty million Americans are dieting. A simple Internet search lists hundreds of “diets,” many of them sponsored by someone looking to profit from your loss—weight loss, that is. The main dozen or so, A to Z, are:

• Atkins
• Blood Type
• Cabbage Soup
• Fit for Life
• Grapefruit
• Mayo Clinic
• Ornish
• Pritikin
• Scarsdale
• South Beach
• Weight Watchers
• The Zone.

The reason these are still around, while others come and go, is that they all work to some degree, if by “work” you mean that people who follow them lose weight. But again we say: losing weight should not really be the central issue of any “diet” you choose, since we all know someone who has lost a lot of weight by dieting only to pack it back on, bite by bite, until within a year or three they’ve become more substantial than they were before.

We know someone who lost more than thirty pounds via starvation dieting. For some reason, perhaps because he was depressed or very unhappy or just needed to prove something, one day he decided to lose weight. The easiest way to lose weight, without changing the exercise quotient very much, is to severely restrict what you eat. It is hard for the first few days, but then it gets easier. Over time, however, it can become a fetish. He was not obsessed with body image, like some, just with not eating. Evidently he needed to prove something, so he did. He proved that he could will himself to weigh less, all the way down to less than he had weighed in high school. But of course, when he started to eat again, it all came back, plus some more.

These days there are many more programs to follow. So let’s analyze a few of the A to Z diets, starting with high protein-low carbohydrate versions such as Atkins and South Beach. You can lose some weight while following the Atkins diet, but later you’ll probably gain it back. If you like beef, bacon, pork, eggs, cheese, and so forth, a high-protein diet can be enjoyable. Millions would agree. Umm good.

Umm bad. When you eliminate or severely restrict carbohydrates, you ultimately experience “ketosis” from excess acids called ketones in your blood. (Acetone is a ketone, and you surely wouldn’t ingest that!) Ketosis occurs when the liver is forced to make sugar out of whatever protein is available, instead of making it from carbohydrates. This is not healthy in the long run, for anyone. It stresses your heart and kidneys. And your brain, which requires carbohydrates to some degree, may be forced into the situation of consuming its own cells in order to function properly. These diets are also low in essential B vitamins, vitamin C, calcium, and fiber, since many of the natural sources of these, including vegetables and fruits, are ignored.

Dr. Joseph Mercola lists twelve reasons to avoid the South Beach diet on his website, along with an evaluation of the Atkins diet, which he says will fail most people for two primary reasons: first, because one third of the population require a high-carb diet; second, because it fails to address the emotional reasons that many people eat improperly. He also lists a number of other secondary reasons.

Jack Medina, president of Designs for Fitness, was the strength and conditioning coach for five professional sports teams. He developed nineteen All-American gymnasts and three National Champions. He is internationally known in the arena of optimal nutrition for optimal performance. Of high protein/low carbohydrate diets he says: “This kind of diet is very deceptive and is potentially very dangerous to your health. I could never, in good conscience, recommend a high protein, low carbohydrate to anyone.”

The “blood type” diet is based on the theory that one’s blood type determines one’s susceptibility to disease, which foods you can tolerate, and what kind of exercise is beneficial. “When people eat the right foods for their blood type,” naturopath Peter J. D'Adamo says, “excess weight falls off—sometimes even faster than you might like.” The problem with this diet is there is no science to back it up, though people do lose weight while on it, because they are restricting what they eat.

Diets built around cabbage soup, grapefruit (or even peanut butter, popcorn, or chocolate) may work in terms of weight loss when Calories are restricted, because the bottom line of weight loss is that when you take in less Calories than you expend, you will lose weight. But we suggest that any diet program that has at its core one prominent element at the expense of the balanced nutrition your body needs will ultimately do you more harm than good.

The Ornish diet is one of the best, because lowering your fat intake while greatly increasing your intake of vegetables and fruits is the only dietary program, which, when combined with exercise and stress reduction, has been shown to have potential to roll back plaque buildup in the arteries. But Ornish is a fairly complicated vegetarian diet (note that Pritikin is also a vegetarian diet), so it may be hard to follow. Additionally, if you adopt this approach it will be important to include something with the amino acid leucine, which is essential to developing lean muscle and regulating hormones related to appetite and metabolism. And, if your strictly vegetarian diet does not include fish or other natural sources of Omega-3 fatty acids, you will need to take supplements to provide these essential oils. Cod liver oil is a good choice in this case since it also contains Vitamin D.

As far as The Zone is concerned, this “diet” seems to tap into the private fantasy of so many to somehow emulate professional athletes, who often speak of being in “the zone” when they accomplish spectacular achievements. In reality, “The Zone” diet is not a bad diet, though it requires precise knowledge of the relative values of various foods—knowledge that most people cannot acquire and use over the long term. In addition, there is no real definition, in the writings of Barry Sears, Ph.D., the zone’s originator of what the “the zone” really is. There is nothing scientific to show how one gets into “the zone,” or even, once there, how one benefits by being there. The basic fact is that this is just another reduced Calorie diet. The fantasies may help dieters stay on track, but Tufts researchers found that there was no measurable difference between the results of adherence to Atkins, Dean Ornish, Weight Watchers, or The Zone.

To summarize, all of the A to Z diets have something to offer. Some offer online advice and support, perhaps for a fee. Others, such as Weight Watchers, highlight the need for social support when you’re trying to make big changes in your life—and changing how you eat is one of the hardest things to change all by yourself.

The problem with most “diets” is not so much that they are “fads” but that their focus is negative—losing weight; counting cholesterol; knowing your RDAs; deciphering labels; computing Calories, carbs, or cabbages; worrying over fats, sugar, or sodium; weighing your portions, and so forth...to the point where you experience diet anxiety. The net result for many is that, once they’ve overstepped the restraints of whatever diet they’re on, they binge or relapse—the end being worse than the beginning.

In the late-1980s, Dr. Roy Vartabedian came up with a revolutionary food evaluation system designed to help people achieve and maintain optimal nutrition, positively, which he described in his best-selling book, Nutripoints. His basic goal was to help consumers, confused by labels and overwhelmed with data, to easily discern which of many apparently identical food items in the grocery store provides the best nutritional bang-for-the-buck. Aided by computer technology, Dr. Vartabedian developed a method for scoring more than 3,000 natural, processed, commercially produced, and fast foods, assigning each a “nutripoint” value. The number was reached by weighing each food’s good nutritional components such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein, against its unhealthy components such as cholesterol, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. Yes, he did compare apples and oranges; iceberg versus romaine lettuce; chicken versus “chicken of the sea”; butter and I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter; Campbell’s tomato soup versus the Health Valley version, Dannon versus Yoplait yogurt.

If a food has a positive nutripoint value it is healthful—for example, one cup Whole Wheat Total cereal scores +64.5. If its score is negative, it is unhealthful—McDonald’s scrambled eggs scored -19.5. Score positive 100 or better in a day from a variety of foods (he uses six food groups) and you have eaten healthily. More is even better. But—and here’s the best part for us yo-yo dieters—if you have an unhealthy day, you can catch up tomorrow or over the next few days. There’s no need to hang your head, give up, binge, or starve because if you provide your body the balanced nutrition it needs, it will make the right adjustments.

Beyond the simple wisdom of this approach, its genius is that it removes the burden of trying to follow restrictive menus comprised of hard-to-measure portions of hard-to-find foods you would normally never eat unless you were dieting. For example, let’s suppose one of the A-Z diets might call for four ounces of baked cod (+3.5—the numbers are in nutripoints), a cup of turnip greens (+79), 1/2 cup of wild rice (5.5) and 1/2 cup of fresh fruit salad (+13). Unfortunately, today you have a hankering for red meat and you’re not in the mood for fish. Either you chew your cod in frustration or you check nutripoints to find that lean round steak has a score slightly better than cod. Combine this with some vegetables you like (examples: broccoli, +53.0; asparagus, +44; tossed salad, +33; canned peas and carrots, +25, summer squash, +24.5; baked potato, +8.5) two slices of whole wheat bread (brand makes a difference) +6.0, and a quarter cantaloupe for dessert, +29, and you’ve dined healthily on foods that you enjoy. (Note: this is just one example of many positive and appealing options this way of looking at dieting provides.)

Let’s face it—to live, we have to eat. So the main issue isn’t how to keep ourselves from eating, but how to make better choices between brands or varieties available. For some people, the net result of practicing a program like nutripoints will be that they can continue consuming food similar to what they ordinarily consume; while by making healthier choices they move themselves and their loved ones toward optimal health without much apparent change. Most of us, however, will need to make more substantial changes in order to recover from the cumulative negative result of our dietary commissions and omissions. The good news is that if you start eating healthier now, you’ll start being healthier tomorrow.

Tips for Encouraging Kids to Eat Healthy

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions. In fact, it was recently estimated that children today have shorter life expectancies than their parents—the first time in recorded history that this has been true—due to childhood obesity, which is very hard to overcome later in life.
Any parent or caregiver who is concerned about keeping his/her child healthy will want practical ways to get the child to make nutritious food choices. Here are a few tips to encourage your child to eat healthy:

•  Have fruit washed and easily available.

•  Cut up vegetables and have them ready to eat. Keep them in disposable plastic bags visibly placed on the bottom shelf of the fridge.

•  Use fruit for a sweet snack.

•  Cut up fruit and vegetables in fun shapes and send them as a snack in packed lunches.

•  Serve fruit and vegetables with a variety of delicious dipping sauces as a snack at home.

• Serve salads first at dinnertime, when kids are hungriest.

•  Try new fruit and vegetables—don’t assume your kids won’t like them. Choose a variety of colors. (Sometimes a child needs to be exposed to a new food fourteen times before they’ll eat it.)

• “Pulverize and disguise” your vegetables, adding them to soups, pasta, eggs, burritos, etc.

• Have your kids help plant seeds and grow a vegetable garden.

•  Make smoothies loaded with a variety of fruits (strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, bananas).

•  Give your kids concentrated fruit and vegetable snack foods, without artificial ingredients.

In addition to these tips, here are some healthy snacks to have available when anyone has the “munchies”:

Raw veggie strips (cucumber, jicama, bell peppers, cauliflower, tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini spears)
Celery with nut butter and raisins
Sugar snap peas
Hummus and carrots
Popcorn seasoned with herbs
Pretzels with nut butters (almond, peanut, cashew)
Dried Figs
Plain yogurt with applesauce or fresh fruit
Edamame
Homemade muffins with ground flax meal and nuts
Rice pudding
Zucchini pancakes
Homemade snack mix with cereals, pretzels, nuts, dried fruit
Apple slices with cinnamon
Yam chips
Raw nuts (macadamia, pistachios, sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews)
Homemade frozen juice pops
Refried beans with sprouted grain tortillas
Spelt sesame sticks
Brown rice with vanilla soymilk and one teaspoon maple syrup
Roasted soy nuts
Larabars
Sliced turkey rolled with asparagus inside
Cheddar Guppies (healthier version of goldfish)
Terra Taro Chips
Fruit Kabobs (kiwi, melon, mango, pineapple, plums pears, strawberries, blueberries, papaya, orange sections)
Hard boiled eggs
Olives
Guacamole with baked corn chips
Popcorn sprinkled with Parmesan
Pita or English muffin pizzas with strips of bell peppers and olives
Cottage cheese with applesauce
Smoothies with flax seeds and fruit
Turkey jerky (low sodium; no MSG)
Homemade muesli (rolled oats with nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc.)
Sesame seed bars
Zucchini bread
Black bean salsa with baked corn chips
Chickpea pate
Baked sweet potato chunks
Raw seeds (pumpkin, sunflower)
Calbee Snapea Crisps
Fruit juiced sweetened cookies
Marinated mushrooms
Brown rice heated and served with Bragg’s liquid aminos
Organic Food Bars
Rebars
Whole wheat pasta salad with tuna, olives, and chopped tomatoes
Rice crackers with olive tapenade or kidney bean spread
Concentrated fruit and vegetable snacks; specifically, natural whole food based “Gummies” vs store bought gummies, which are mostly sugar and food coloring  (click the image below to see how to order "Gummies" that contain real fruits, vegetables, and grains)

Note: The list above was furnished by Toni Olson.

Supplement Wisely

One of our friends often addresses groups of doctors on the subject of nutrition. For several years now, he’s been taking an informal poll as he launches into his subject. “How many of you supplement?” he asks. Ordinarily, 60 to 70 percent raise their hands. “Why?” he asks, to which he hears a variety of answers, the main point being, “Just in case I’m not getting everything I need from what I eat.”

Dr. Paul Williams, an ER physician, described his own experience with this dilemma: “I used to have a shelf in my kitchen that was dedicated to my row of bottles. And every day I would take some Vitamin A, B-Complex, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc, selenium, chromium, dolomite, lecithin...and others I’ve forgotten by now. I thought then, 20 and 25 years ago, that I’d better do this because by the year 2000, I’m sure we’ll have evidence that either I should have been doing this, or at least I did not do myself any harm. As it turns out, I was wrong on both counts,” he admitted.

About 62 percent of Americans reported in 2002 that they had used a supplement during the previous twelve months. This represented a 23.7 percent increase since 1987—a veritable windfall for companies that produce such products, for the stores that sell them, and for the small army of entrepreneurial distributors hawking products person-to-person, the true contents of which no one really knows.

But for a moment, let’s forget statistics and go count the supplements on your shelves. If you take only a multivitamin with mineral supplement, you’re rare indeed, though you’re probably not aware of which brands of multivitamin with mineral supplements are actually good, and not potentially harmful, to you. More likely, you’re also taking a single nutrient vitamin such as Vitamin C or E, or folic acid if you’re pregnant, a single nutrient mineral such as calcium or iron, or a combination of these. You may be taking Vitamin A (beta carotene), B-Complex, zinc, selenium, chromium, manganese, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, or others supplements like aloe, echinacea, garlic, ginseng, ginko biloba, glucosamine, grape seed extract, lecithin, milk thistle, St. John’s wort, fish oil or flaxseed oil (both sources of Omega-3 fatty acids) amino acids, or other energy-enhancing or body-building supplements. If you’re taking all these, plus others, you surely need a large cabinet to store them in safely, since you would not want the kids getting into them or you’ll end up calling the poison hotline!

One reason you’re supplementing with whatever you’re using is that you read somewhere (or perhaps heard from a friend) that a particular substance can achieve something that you like the sound of—more energy, protection against cancer or chronic disease, relief from symptoms you already have, improved memory or physical or sexual performance, and so forth. Your assumption may be that while whatever you’re popping may not prove to be the magic bullet for anything in particular, at least it won’t hurt you. If so, one question begs to be answered: Are you sure you know what you’re doing?

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dietary supplements available in most grocery stores.
Yet who really knows what all these products are, what they do, and especially how they interact with each other or with prescription medications the buyer might be taking? So buyer beware...and be informed, because what you don’t know might hurt you—actually, it might kill you, quickly or slowly, depending on what the product in question is, the dose, and whether you take it in isolation or with other supplements.

Supplement facts and fiction:

Facts:
• About 30,000 nutritional supplements are available in the U.S.A. Government controls have been lax in some areas, and safety is a valid concern. In many cases, the purity and concentration of a particular product’s nutrient may not match the manufacturer’s claims.
• If your diet is rich in a variety of ripe, raw vegetables and fruit daily (or the micronutrients of the same via some other means), you probably need no additional vitamins or minerals except Omega 3 fatty acids (via certain fish, supplements of fish oil or to a lesser degree, the oils of legumes such as flaxseed).
• You should not take any manufactured vitamin or mineral in isolation or in megadoses, except with the advice and consent of your physician;
• Vitamins, minerals, food supplements, herbs, or other non-prescribed alternative medicine products may interact with other medicines that you are taking and interfere with their absorption or breakdown and removal from body. Always inform your doctor about any diet you are on or supplements that you may be taking.
• Some products are not what they claim to be; for example, anti-aging products claiming to be “human growth hormone” (HGH) are peddled on the Internet. These are not true HGH, or even synthetic HGH, which is available only by prescription, but substances that are supposed to increase your body’s production of HGH.
• USDA scientists have developed the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) scale, which has identified certain “superfoods” that have up to twenty times the antioxidant power of other foods. All the top foods are vegetables and fruits—see Appendix 3. Artificially produced “antioxidant” supplements, even in megadoses (see warning above) cannot provide what these simple foods provide because...
• Many artificial supplements are not very “bioavailable,” which means that the body does not actually absorb or use them efficiently, possibly because they are not natural. For example, while a small apple contains only 5.1 mg of Vitamin C, the effect of its beneficial food compounds (polyphenols and flavonoids) equals the effect of 1,500 mg of Vitamin C. Without doubt, getting your vitamins and minerals from natural foods is always better than avoiding real food and trying to cover your nutritional backside with a potpourri of pills.

Fiction:
• If you can buy a supplement in a natural food store or on online, it must be safe.
• You can believe what you read about supplements in “health” magazines. One such “magazine” markets hundreds of supplements, many supposedly for specific conditions.
• “Thermogenic” products, meal replacement products, and diet shakes can “burn off” fat.
• Cellulite can be effectively treated with pills, creams, or other supplements. Though some creams may have temporary effects, none has been shown to have a permanent effect. One of the more humorous claims related to this was made in 2004 by an Italian jean manufacturer, which touted “jean therapy” for cellulite as a result of friction during wear releasing anti-cellulite cream imbedded in the fabric—for a mere $139 per pair.

Toni Olson’s Guide to Buying Healthy Groceries

For many food products, multiple choices are available in most grocery stores. Health-conscious consumers make healthier shopping choices. Some brands listed below may not be available where you shop, but the key is to read the labels and compare ingredients in order to identify the healthier brands. Be wary of the following terms: enriched, refined, or fortified. The basic principles include: choose whole foods free of herbicides or pesticides, hormones or antibiotics, additives, preservatives, refined sugars, salts, artificial sweetening, caffeine, coloring or flavoring, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats), hydrolyzed vegetable protein, nitrates, nitrites, and MSG.

Copyright, Toni Olson. All rights reserved. Note: This and other similar practical helps appear in Simple Health by David B. Biebel, DMin, and Harold G. Koenig, MD.

Longevity 

The book 70 Ways to Beat 70 creatively presents health-enhancing (therefore, longevity enhancing) practices that anyone wishing to live long and age gracefully can observe. Here is the table of contents, arranged alphabetically:

Introduction    

        1.    Accept Your Mortality    

        2.    Attend a Healthy Church    

        3.    Avoid Fad Diets    

        4.    Avoid Infections    

        5.    Avoid the Debt Trap    

        6.    Be Content    

        7.    Be Kind to Your GI Tract    

        8.    Be Thankful    

        9.    Be Who You Really Are    

      10.    Break Bread Together    

       11.    Breathe Clean Air    

      12.    Build Strong Bones    

      13.    Create Your Legacy    

      14.    Cry More    

      15.    Dance—Or Learn To    

      16.    Develop Resilience    

      17.    Discover, Use, and Celebrate Your Talents    

      18.    Dodge Cancer    

      19.    Don’t Give In to Chronic Disease    

     20.    Don’t Smoke or Hang Out with People Who Do    

      21.    Don’t Worry, Since It Doesn’t Change Anything    

     22.    Drink Lots of Clean Water    

     23.    Eat Well, Be Well    

     24.    Enjoy a Hobby    

     25.    Enjoy Your Work    

     26.    Feast on Fiber    

     27.    Forgive Others    

     28.    Forgive Yourself    

     29.    Fulfill Your Purpose    

     30.    Get a Good Night’s Sleep    

      31.    Get and Keep Your Affairs in Order    

     32.    Get Out There    

      33.    Hang Loose or Stress Could Get You    

     34.    Have at Least One Close Friend    

      35.    Hold On to Hope    

     36.    Keep Your Eye on Your Eyes    

      37.    Keep Your Heart Smart    

     38.    Keep Your Mind Sharp    

     39.    Keep Your “Wow” Working    

     40.    Know the Skinny on Fat    

      41.    Laugh More    

     42.    Lighten Up    

     43.    Live in the Now    

     44.    Love and Be Loved    

     45.    Love God without Being Religious    

     46.    Love Your Liver    

     47.    Mind Your Mouth    

     48.    Nurture Family Relationships    

     49.    Nurture Something    

     50.    Pay the Kindness Forward    

      51.    Play More    

     52.    Practice Generosity    

      53.    Practice Safe Sex    

     54.    Pray 24/7    

      55.    Prevent Accidents    

     56.    Remember Who’s in Charge of Your Health    

      57.    Save Your Skin    

     58.    Seek Solitude    

     59.    Simplify Your Life    

     60.    Stay Active    

      61.    Stay Connected    

     62.    Stay Creative    

     63.    Supplement Wisely    

     64.    Surround Sound Your Soul    

     65.    Take a Little Wine?    

     66.    Take a Nap    

     67.    Take a Walk    

     68.    Tune Your Immune    

     69.    Value Yourself    

     70.    Volunteer and You’ll Never Be Bored Again    

Conclusion: What Are You Waiting For?    

See the recommended resources section of this website to find out how to order your own autographed copy of any of the books listed here.

Also, watch for our forthcoming book (December 2009):

50 Ways to Have a Great Day.