Suzanne Somers - Breakthrough: Eight Steps to Wellness

CONTENTS

PART I
Breakthrough Medicine

PART II
8 Steps to Wellness

PART III
The Future of Medicine

TO ALAN:
TOGETHER WE WALK THIS PATH,
HEALTHY, VITAL, ENERGETIC, IN LOVE,
AND LAUGHING ALL THE WAY.

AND TO MY MOTHER:
IF I KNEW THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW,
YOU MIGHT STILL BE WITH US.

I GOT OLD BY MISTAKE.

Paul Colby, owner, The Bitter End, New York

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A PROJECT LIKE THIS does not happen without help. The doctors interviewed in this book have been invaluable, always responsive to yet another e-mail or phone call, patiently answering all my questions. This has been quite an education. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Dr. Jonathan Wright, Dr. Ron Rothenberg, Dr. Thierry Hertoghe, Dr. Jennifer Berman, Dr. Russell Blaylock, Dr. Eric Braverman, Dr. Steve Nelson, Dr. Howard Liebowitz, Dr. Prudence Hall, Dr. Khalid Mahmud, Dr. Michael Galitzer, Dr. Steven Hotze, Dr. Robin Smith, Dr. Candice Lane, Dr. Andy Jurow, Dr. Larry Webster, and Dr. Julie Taguchi. And to the professionals: Bill Faloon, cofounder of the Life Extension Foundation; David Schmidt, founder of LifeWave Nanotechnology; and Cristiana Paul, M.S.

Thank you to my darling daughter-in-law, Caroline Somers, who along with Danielle Shapero designed this beautiful book cover with their usual style and taste. Thank you to my editor Kristin Kiser, who has guided me with a gentle hand for the last fourteen books. She has been a great friend and ally, and I will miss her terribly. To Heather Jackson, my new editor, who has helped with the final editing of this manuscript and rolled with it so beautifully. I look forward to many books together.

Thank you to my publisher, Jenny Frost, and to her team: Tina Constable and Philip Patrick, who are not only talented but a lot of fun to hang out with; Heather Proulx, Lindsay Orman, Lucinda Bartley, and Julie Miesionczek; Amy Boorstein, Linnea Knollmueller, Christine Tanigawa, and Elina Nudelman.

Thanks to Marsha Yanchuck, my trusted friend and assistant for thirty-five years, who compiled the back-of-the-book resource guide, a job that I am incapable of doing. Thanks to Julie Turkel, my friend and executive assistant, who set up all the interviews and keeps my schedule running smoothly; and to darling Jordyn Goodman, my other assistant.

Thanks to David Vigliano, my agent and friend, and thank you Marc Chamlin (the Closer), my lawyer for the last twelve booksits working. And to Sandi Mendelson, my publicist forever, with gratitude and admiration.

Thank you to Cindy Gold for the fabulous jacket photograph, and to darling Mooney for keeping my golden locks hip and sexy.

Thanks to Dave Henson, my computer guy, and Sonia Greenbaum, my copy editor.

Thanks to Dr. Philip Miller for the Schopenhauer quote. It was exactly what I was looking for.

And lastly, thanks to Alan. He has been there for me dailyhelping, encouraging, listening to me read to him, and suggesting.

INTRODUCTION

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

Arthur Schopenhauer

IT IS THE YEAR 2041.This is me, Suzanne Somers, at ninety-four years old.

I am healthy, my bones are strong, my brain is working better than ever. Sleep is sound and deep, usually eight or nine hours nightly. I dont need sleeping pills; theyre not necessary. I wake up happy, excited, and active. Most mornings start with wonderful sex with my 105-year-old husband, Alan (who has also embraced the same health regimen). The two of us are enjoying our lives because along with our healthy, strong bodies, we both have great wisdom and perspectiveand this gives us an advantage over younger people.

Our children and their friends come to me for advice. Thats satisfying. I am not one of those old people put in the corner or, worse, put in a nursing home. Nope, not me, I got it early on. I wanted to live, really live. So I jumped on the fast-moving train of new medicine and never looked back. My friends laughed at me called me a nutcase and a health freak, but whos got the last laugh now? Huh?

I won I am vital, I am active; I am a productive member of society.

Because of my great health, I am not a drain on the system; I dont need pharmaceutical drugs. It would be nice if the government could grasp the wisdom of the supplements, bioidentical hormones, and detoxification that I have embraced for the last forty years. It would be great if they could understand and attribute this nondrug regimen to my fantastic health and sharp thinking and provide it free of charge to all our citizens. It certainly would save the government a lot of money in the long run, and bankruptcy would not be looming; unfortunately, big business is still in the way.

But I feel luckyI understood early on. I was not going to blindly accept outdated medicine. I knew if I were to survive in this toxic, stressful, polluted world I had to approach my health differently. I also understood that drugs were not going to be the answer for me unless absolutely necessary. I did have cancer once, but thank God I banked my stem cells in my early sixties, so I would be able to rebuild my immune system if the cancer ever came back. That was a relief for me. I could let go of the worry. Ive been fine ever since.

And those nanotechnology (nondrug) patches I have been using for the last forty years have really helped. Any time I experienced pain or low energy or sleep problems or weight problems, or the need for detoxification (if I wanted to kill off the free radicals that are part of todays toxic world), I put on one of the patches and the problems went away, with no need to turn to drugs.

I saw what happened to so many of my contemporaries, most of whom died early on from diseases that could have been rectified with hormones and cutting-edge, nondrug technologies. Instead, they chose the pharmaceuticals given them by their trusted doctors until they were out of gas and wacky. I loved these people, but my theories were so radically different from what their doctors were telling them that I had to back off.

I hung in there with my beliefs. I knew this was the better way. Those around me lovingly smirked and mocked my approach, and now its too late for them. I told you so seems empty.

Im a believer in pharmaceuticals: My friends nephew is a schizophrenic and those drugs have allowed him to live a somewhat normal life. I always say, Thats what drugs are forpain, infection, and mental illness. Without those drugs he would be in a mental home, but instead he gets to live with his family. They are a godsend for him.

I have stayed healthy all these years by eating good and real food; I realized early on the value of nutrients. It was simple, I thought: Good food results in healthy cells. I grew my own food and ate organic as often as possible. I never knowingly consumed chemicals. I replaced my declining hormones, which kept me happy and energetic, and I tried to avoid toxins in the house and the environment. I always knew chemicals could no longer be avoided completely in anyones life, so I did what I thought was the smart thing; I went to those antiaging doctors and they gave me intravenous drips of vitamin C and glutathione and other treatments to build me up.