A note from Dr. Ornish:
In over 30 years of clinical research, I've learned that pleasure, joy and freedom are the keys to living better, not willpower, deprivation and austerity. It's simple: Joy of living is sustainable; fear of dying is not.
There is more to the latest advances in medicine than new drugs or surgical procedures. Some of the most exciting, effective treatments are neither high-tech nor expensive. The simple choices that you make each day can make a powerful difference in how you feel. You know that exercise is good for you, and you know that the right combination of foods and nutrients will help you to stay healthy. But did you know that by making good choices, you can improve your long-term health and help you live a happier, more fulfilling life?
Why? Because life is to be enjoyed. When people eat more healthfully, exercise, quit smoking, manage stress better, and love more, they find that they feel much better, very quickly. Fortunately, the latest studies show how dynamic and powerful the mechanisms are that control our health and well-being.
Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, where he holds the Safeway Chair. He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Ornish received his medical training in internal medicine from the Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital. He received a B.A. in Humanities summa cum laude from the University of Texas in Austin.
For over 32 years, Dr. Ornish has directed clinical research demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease, without drugs or surgery. He directed the first randomized controlled trial demonstrating that comprehensive lifestyle changes may stop or reverse the progression of early-stage prostate cancer. His current research shows that comprehensive lifestyle changes affect gene expression, “turning on” disease-preventing genes and “turning off” genes that promote cancer and heart disease, as well as lengthening telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that control how long we live, in collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009.
Dr. Ornish is the author of six best-selling books, has written a monthly column for Newsweek and Reader’s Digest magazines and is Medical Editor of The Huffington Post. He consults with food companies to make more healthful foods and to provide health education to their customers and employees, and chairs the health advisory boards of Mars and other companies. He also chairs the Google Health Advisory Council.
How do I motivate my kids to exercise more?