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8 Weeks to Optimum Health by
Andrew Weil M.D. (Author)
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- Paperback: 288 pages ; Dimensions
(in inches): 0.67 x 8.22 x 5.51
- Publisher: Ballantine Books;
Reissue edition (June 16, 1998)
- ISBN: 0449000265
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Book
Description
In Eight Weeks to Optimum
Health, Dr. Andrew Weil translates the brilliant insights and
discoveries he outlined in his acclaimed bestseller, Spontaneous
Healing, into a practical plan of action: a week-by-week,
step-by-step program for enhancing and protecting present and
lifelong health. The Eight-Week Program sets up a foundation for
healthy living that will keep your body's natural healing system
in peak working order. With clearly defined and authoritatively
informed recommendations, Dr. Weil explains how to
¸ Build a lifestyle that protects you from premature illness and
disability
¸ Fine-tune your current eating habits so that your diet is more
nutritious
¸ Walk and stretch in regimens that satisfy weekly exercise
requirements
¸ Safeguard your healing system by adding four antioxidant
supplements--vitamin C and E, selenium, and mixed carotenes--to
your diet
¸ Incorporate five basic breathing exercises for greater
relaxation and energy
¸ Benefit from visualization, overcome sleeping problems, and
test and filter your water supply
¸ Make art, music, and the natural world more important parts of
your life
PLUS--a dozen tailored programs that address
the specific needs of pregnant women, senior citizens, overweight
people, and those at risk for cancer.
"Health," Dr. Andrew Weil writes, "is a dynamic and temporary state
of equilibrium destined to break down as conditions change." In
other words, there's no such thing as the type of health that allows
you to feel equally great every day of your life. Instead, Weil
suggests, your goal should be to improve your resilience to disease,
and while you're at it, feel more joy and strength.
As to how you should gain this strength, joy,
and resilience, Weil doesn't come on with a hard sell to give up
every bad habit or all of the foods you enjoy. Instead, he suggests
gradual changes: clean your pantry of whatever cooking oils you have
there, except olive oil; start taking vitamin C three times a day;
walk a few minutes a day; eat some fish and broccoli. The program is
so simple and sensible that anyone trying it probably will feel
better in a week.
The program then gets progressively more
involved--more supplements; more of a shift toward a diet based on
whole grains, fruits, and vegetables; more exercise. Besides these
steady changes, each week's program has a focus: In week 2, you
start drinking bottled or filtered water; week 3 focuses on organic
produce; week 4, on sleep; week 5, using a steam bath or sauna; week
6, trying a "universal tonic" like ginseng; week 7, volunteering in
your community; and finally, in week 8, figuring out how to
integrate permanently the elements of the program into your life.
Even those who don't go for the entire program
will probably find something here to like--the recipes, maybe, or
the suggestion that you cut back on strenuous types of exercise like
running and competitive sports in favor of brisk walks. It's
perfectly useful either way: as a total lifestyle overhaul, or a
series of suggestions, any one or two of which will probably help
you feel better. --Lou Schuler
From the Publisher
When my mother went on the
Sugarbusters diet recently, she had made a decision to change not
only her eating habits, but her physical exercise habits as well.
She'd heard about Eight Weeks on Oprah and asked me to get her a
copy.
We now have lengthy discussions about the principles of Dr. Weil's
approach, and she is leading a much healthier life. It's been a
great way for us to bond as well.
A. Scheibe, Editor, Ballantine Publishing Group
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