The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 20 August 1998
by Andrew Weil, MD
The road to good health is paved with newspaper stories saying that this study or another has contradicted other studies. Reports repeatedly confirm that Americans are more overweight than ever. Doctors at HMOs are reluctant to prescribe treatments and those are traditional and often toxic. For the past couple of decades, an explosion of alternative medicine has been happening. We are obsessed with our health, and with quick fixes that generally treat one symptom or ignore the integral systems that are our bodies. Can't we just have one pill that makes everything better?
Dr. Andrew Weil has yet another point of view to offer to the vast sea of health information. This one, he hopes, is a voice of reason. Weil outlines here, an approachable eight-week program for healing. He argues that we cannot hope to attain health unless we treat our entire beings in a way that improves our own natural healing abilities. The program takes eight weeks so that it can help the reader form new habits over time. Each week, Weil recommends exercise, diet, mental health, and other projects geared toward reducing toxins in the environment, and increasing one's intake of natural and healthful vitamins and foods. He recommends behavioral changes as well as dietary ones. The ideas are approachable and attainable, if taken in Weil's compassionate and easygoing manner. He avoids shocking the system, and hopes to improve long-term health. At the end of the eight week program, there are recommendations for people with particular issues, such as age and cardiovascular health. At times, Weil's recommendations sound a little close to the fringe, but by far most of the ideas are reasonable, and relatively easy to implement. He scatters positive affirmations through the book and takes a constantly encouraging tone. At no time does he say "do this or you will fail". Take some of the ideas or all of them, his only goal is some improvement in healing and health.