Colbert Don - The Seven Pillars of Health The Natural Way to Better Health for Life, Library Edition

DEDICATION

I have had the opportunity to work with some well-known ministries in the United States and have had the privilege of speaking in many churches in the States. However, I attended a meeting a few years ago for the Global Pastors Network in which the late Dr. Bill Bright was speaking. He informed us that more pastors were leaving the ministry than were entering the ministry. Also, there was a high rate of depression among pastors, their wives, and their children.

I have treated many pastors in my medical practice who are literally burned out. Our pastors and ministers of the gospel are becoming an endangered species, and we need them strong mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually in order to help usher in the End-Time revival.

Therefore, I dedicate this book to all the ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christpastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles. I pray that this book and the knowledge and wisdom it contains will educate, inspire, motivate, and enable our ministers to carry out their calling, which, in my opinion, is the highest of all.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the people at Strang Communications Company for helping to make this book a success: Stephen Strang, Tessie DeVore, Bert Ghezzi, Lillian McAnally, Debbie Marrie, Deborah Moss, and many others at Strang Communications. I would also like to thank Joel Kilpatrick for lending his writing skills to the project and Bob Zaloba for his input.

A special thanks to Beverly Kurts for her long hours, dedication, and research that she provided. She was a tremendous help to me. Also, I would like to give a special thanks to the entire staff of Divine Health Wellness Center for their support. Thanks to Cathy Leet for her insight.

A special thanks to my mom, Kitty Colbert, and my dad, Don Colbert Sr., for being such wonderful parents and a tremendous influence in my life.

Last but not least, thanks to my wonderful wife, Mary, who has helped me present this material to churches for over a decade. She has been patient and a support to me while writing this book.

CONTENTS

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

W elcome to The Seven Pillars of Health ! This book will introduce you to the seven basic pillars of a healthy lifestyle. It is designed to become your road map for health for the rest of your life.

This book is different from other health books for several key reasons. First, most other popular health writers are not medical doctors. I am. I have been a medical doctor since 1984 and have been board certified in family practice since 1987. I treat patients and operate a thriving medical practice in Orlando, Florida. If you come to my medical office during the week you will see me in blue surgical scrubs with a stethoscope draped around my neck. I will be reviewing patients files and meeting with patients. I dedicate my life to helping people become healthy. Living a healthy life is not just theory and research for me; its fact.

The Future of Medicine

Thomas Edison once said, The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.

Because I have made my career as a medical doctor, the advice I give in this book is not just something I picked up from the Internet or from other medical professionals. These are not the seven fads of health or the seven theories of health, but the seven pillars of health. Backed up by medical research and my actual experiences with real problems and real people that span over two decades of practice, these seven pillars have contributed health and freedom to thousands of people.

For the past ten years The Seven Pillars of Health has been the basis of my medical practice and my ministry. You see, Proverbs 9:1 tells us, Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. When I read this verse over ten years ago, it became the inspiration for the message you now hold in your hands. Since that time, I have taught these seven pillars to some of the largest ministries in the United States as well as in dozens of churches. Many hundreds of people have told me of major improvements in their health just from attending the one- or two-day seminars. This book includes information from those seminars, plus much more, and presents a user-friendly, easy-to-read, positive handbook on health.

Laying the Foundation

In laying the groundwork to help you obtain a higher level of health, I have implemented a couple of teaching tools. At the end of each day is a section I call "Building Blocks to a Healthy Life. In these sections are the following features:

Points to Ponder. This summary highlights the principles for that particular days material. It is something for you to reflect on throughout your day.

Action Step. What we read stays with us longer when we apply what weve learned. Each day you will be able to implement some small change to help you live in divine health. Making small changes every day will make applying the principles easier.

Far from being a "dont, cant, shouldnt book, The Seven Pillars of Health is designed to liberate you and help you make choices that bring you freedom in every area of your life. To withstand the storms of life diseases, attacks, and injuriesyou must build on some fundamental precepts. Those precepts are found in The Seven Pillars of Health and are timeless biblical truths.

Some authors write books that may leave you feeling hopeless and as if everything is gloom and doom for you. I will not cajole you, make you feel guilty, or tell you to bear heavy burdens. My purpose is simply to show you how you can become strong, healthy, energetic, disease-resistant, younger-looking, wiser, smarter, and better looking. Studies now show that we can reduce our risk of deadly diseases such as heart disease by 80 percent or more and cancer by 60 percent or moresim-ply by leading a healthy life.1 I will give you knowledge about your body and how it operates so you wont be "destroyed for lack of knowledge, as an ancient prophet said. It wont take more work on your part. You will simply exchange old habits for new ones.

As just one example, many health books tell readers to avoid coffee as if it were some kind of plague. I dont say that. Instead I will show you how to have healthy, caffeinated coffee every day, if you choose. I will also show you how to sleep through the night, how to better cope with stress, how to get rid of mental fogginess, and much more. God has given us life to enjoy it. I have written The Seven Pillars of Health to be a handbook for enjoyable living.

Why Fifty Days?

This book is designed as a fifty-day journey, one entry per day.

On the Jewish calendar, every fiftieth year was the Year of Jubilee, when slaves were set free from their masters and debtors were released from their debts. In a similar way, this book will help to set you free from poor health, bad habits, and disease.

Over the next fifty days, read each daily entry and incorporate these valuable pillars in your life. Please do not try to rush through this program in one sitting, or you may be overwhelmed by the information. Take it one day at a time : digest the material you read, make notes, and pray and ask God to enlighten you. My main concern is that these seven pillars of health become your foundation for a lifetime.

Again, welcome to The Seven Pillars of Health ! May this book change your life forever.

Don Colbert, MD

PILLAR 1

Water

DAY 1 : Water and You

M y wife, Mary, and I flew into a city where I was speaking at a conference, and a local family met us at the airport. To my surprise, the husband and children hugged me, and some of the children began to cry. Never before had I received such a warm reception.