You can be truly healthy! That's the message this book emphasizes, but it doesn't stop there. Be Healthy gives you clear guidelines to lifelong well-being. These guidelines are easy to understand. Besides providing solid information, Ed Dodge gives you the nuts and bolts of how to put this information into practice. Many people have health issues by the time they reach midlife, including problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and other disorders which affect the quality of their lives. This does not have to be the case. Health experts today agree that eighty percent or more of health problems such as heart disease or type 2 diabetes can be prevented. The key to prevention is a healthy lifestyle. Lifestyle is powerful. Most people underestimate this power, but scientists now say that healthy lifestyles are the most effective way to prevent most chronic diseases. Simple, easy to accomplish changes are the best way to stop the epidemic of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke and cancer flooding the globe today. Even if we as a people applied only the simple practices of walking 30 minutes daily and eating six servings of fruit and veggies every day, we could dissolve our country's health care crisis in less than a year. Our national health would be improved so much that our care system would no longer be in crisis mode. This won't happen because most people have not caught this vision yet. When they truly grasp it, we will become a healthier nation. Many lifestyle initiatives have been launched in the past decade by leading medical organizations. They include Harvard University's Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, the Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Institute, Northwestern University's Center for Lifestyle Medicine and many others. In addition, the American, Australian, and European Colleges of Lifestyle Medicine have all been established in the past ten years. Lifestyle medicine shows us how best to prevent and treat serious health problems. However, gaining this information is not enough. Consistently applying it turns out to be a stumbling block for many of us. We know what to do for good health, but we often fail to do what is best for us. Dr. Dodge comments: "I've grappled with this paradox in my own life. I tell this story in the beginning of this book to let you know that I've struggled with health issues myself. In this struggle, I've learned how to cope with them, and my understanding of how to do this effectively has grown through the years. "As a family doctor, I've helped many people deal with a great variety of health issues. I'm now retired from family practice, but I continue to teach healthy lifestyle principles through my writing and workshops. As you read this book, please remember that I know both the pitfalls and the joys of striving for a healthy lifestyle. Having experienced them myself, I'm on your side to encourage you to be your best, even through the toughest of times. "This book's guidelines to healthy living are based on solid scientific evidence. We deal with health challenges realistically and optimistically. The power of lifestyle is truly strong. It's amazingly effective in preserving and restoring good health. "I hope you enjoy reading this book, and that you make it a useful lifestyle tool." - Ed Dodge, MD, MPH
About the Author: Born in 1936, Ed Dodge grew up as a missionary kid in Angola, Africa. Some of his adventures included living in the wilds of northern Angola, hunting for wild game, and traveling across many poorly charted areas of Africa. He first visited Zimbabwe at age 12 when his parents drove across Africa with their four children to attend a missionary Conference. He graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine with his MD degree in 1962. Earning the Master of Public Health degree at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in 1967, he became an Assistant Professor at the Public Health College in Gondar, Ethiopia for two years. When he returned to the United States, much of his career was spent in Florida, where he directed a local health department for a few years and was a family physician for many years. He also served as Courtesy Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Family Medicine at the University of Florida. After retiring in 1996, Dr. Dodge made numerous Volunteer-in-Mission trips to Zimbabwe. In 2010, he was appointed Visiting Adjunct Professor at Africa University in Zimbabwe. He has taught in the Master of Public Health program for one semester each year since then. His years of experience in clinical and public health in Africa and the USA have given him a broad perspective of health challenges in both the developing and the developed world. Through his experiences, he grew to understand the great value of embracing the whole person, body, mind and spirit. Dr. Dodge has three children and ten grandchildren. He and his wife live in San Antonio, Texas when he is not doing volunteer work or teaching in Africa.