Zulberg - Skinny Habits: How Ancient Wisdom Can Help You Lose Weight and Change Your Life FOREVER

This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about your health. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect that you have a medical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.

The information in this book is meant to supplement, not replace, proper exercise training. All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks. The editors and publisher advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and know their limits. Before practicing the exercises in this book, be sure that your equipment is well-maintained, and do not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training, and fitness. The exercise and dietary programs in this book are not intended as a substitute for any exercise routine or dietary regimen that may have been prescribed by your doctor. As with all exercise and dietary programs, you should get your doctors approval before beginning.

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher.

Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

For clarity, all Maimonides quotes are paraphrased and are reprinted with permission by Maimonides Research Institute and Moznaim Publishing Corporation.

2014 by Skinny Habits, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Illustrations of the Master Physicians are credited as follows:

: Unknown artist. Public domain.

: J. G de Lint (18671936). Public domain.

: Pierre Roche Vigneron (17891872). Public domain.

Book design by Christina Gaugler

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-62336-372-7 hardcover

eISBN-13: 978-1-62336-373-4

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To Rachel, Esti, Dina, Sara, and Devorah

If you follow the ways we have set forth, I will guarantee that you will not get sick throughout your life.... Your body will be in perfect shape and remain healthy all your life.

MAIMONIDES

What if I told you that the new science of losing weight and keeping it off, of achieving well-balanced emotional and physical health, is not new at all? It can be found in writings dating back to the 12th-century physician, philosopher, and biblical scholar Maimonides, and even further back 2,400 years ago, to the Greek father of medicine, Hippocrates.

Can ancient wisdom help us lose weight and gain health today?

We often think of ancient and medieval time periods as bereft of sound medical advice. We believe that back then people were struggling with rampant disease and food shortages. How could anything that the philosophers and doctors of that age have to say be relevant to our world of cutting-edge medicine and gleaming health gyms?

More than ever, todays science is reclaiming the solutions of eras gone by. Health and nutrition science is discovering that guidance on healthy eating and exercise can be timeless and has been with us since the earliest days of recorded medicine.

For example:

We think of ancient peoples as more active than modern humans, but 2,400 years ago, Hippocrates warned his patients against a sedentary lifestyle, encouraging them to get out more and exercise.

We believe that supersizing is a recent phenomenon, that portion sizes have tripled as recently as 20 years ago, and that modern science is only beginning to understand the connection between obesity and chronic disease. But 1,800 years ago, the Roman doctor Galen warned against overeating, explaining that doing so would put his patients at risk of developing a host of diseases associated with obesity.

We believe that the relationship between mind, body, and physical health is a modern discovery. Yet more than 800 years ago, Maimonides stressed keeping our emotions in equilibrium during health and illness. The concept of mindfulnessliving in the presentseems like a new, trendy subject in psychology, but Maimonides prescribed it to alleviate and prevent stress and anxiety.

Its mind-blowing to read ancient books by scholars and doctors whom I call the Master Physicians and to see how similar their caveats are to what youd read in the New England Journal of Medicine today.

In our world of cutting-edge medicine, we are still suffering from startling health statistics with more than half of the US population overweight or obese. Obesity is considered the second-leading cause of preventable death in America, with as many as 300,000 deaths per year. Eating disorders abound. We are flooded with conflicting advice and false promises to attain our dream of health and perfect weight. Type the term weight loss into any online search engine and the results are in the millions. There are carbohydrate-restricted diets, high-fat diets, high-protein diets, detox diets, fasting diets, point system diets, and many other commercial diets. Nonetheless, we live in a world in which optimum weight and health levels seem to be out of reach.

If obesity is preventable, why do many of the popular weight-loss solutions fail?

I believe the reason is that most diets fail to consider that the goals of weight management are more than just a list of permitted and forbidden foods. The American Dietetic Association puts it beautifully: The goals of weight management go well beyond numbers on a scale. The development of healthful lifestyles with behavior modification is important for overall fitness and health. Yes, times do change. Yes, science and technology do improve. But human behaviorour response to tempting but destructive foods and habits, our natural predisposition to laziness and inertia, and our instinct to cut corners on our dietremains the same. The Master Physicians may very well have had it right all along.

Sadly, much of their wisdom was lost to the general populace over time. Maimonidess 10-volume treatise on medicine and health, which incorpo (Please note: For clarity, all Maimonides quotes are paraphrased and reprinted with permission by Maimonides Research Institute and Moznaim Publishing Corporation.)

That said, scholars have told me about a sect of people living in Yemen until about 50 years ago who received and followed Maimonidess health principles meticulously. They had an average life span of 100 yearsjust what the Maimonides Guarantee assures us! Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, MD, wrote to me, I consider anything Maimonides said about nutrition to be true. Furthermore, I consider Maimonidess Guarantee to be ironclad. Similarly, Charlene Wolberg, MD, a nutritionist, doctor, and director of an obesity clinic in South Africa, concludes, The understanding of proper nutrition is returning to the principles espoused by Maimonides.

When I first began studying the medical teachings of Maimonides, it wasnt out of casual curiosityI was searching for answers out of necessity. In my midtwenties, I found myself overweight, unhealthy, and unhappy. Yet I didnt feel I could pick up one of the many popular diets described in books and on television. I needed something more than a diet to believe in. I wondered, what is the source of all human knowledge about nutrition? What is the role of the mind and emotions in our health? Where did the concept of healthy eating come from? Who first encouraged humans to exercise, and why?