Dr Vernon Coleman - How to Live Longer and Stay Young for the Rest of Your Life: (With hardly any effort)

There is much more to life than simple good health.But good health is the foundation upon which everything else rests. Withoutgood health, none of us can enjoy life to the full.

We know moreabout staying healthy and fighting disease than at any other time inhistory. But finding the truth about medical matters is just as difficult as ithas ever been. In some ways, the explosion in research and the increasedavailability of medical info has made the truth even more difficult to find.

Who do youtrust? How can you tell whether or not a doctor is being paid to do or saysomething by a drug company with a product to sell? How can you be sure thatthe doctor advocating a particular treatment technique is not just trying towin another patient? And how do you compare different medical and surgicaltechniques?

Doctors whopractise as surgeons invariably claim that surgery has all the answers whereasdoctors who practise as physicians will often argue that surgery is barbaric,clumsy and dangerous and should only be used as a last resort. Who is right? Wehave to remember that if you visit a Ford garage and look at cars, the salesmanwill likely recommend motor cars made by Ford. If you visit a BMW garage, thesalesman will likely recommend BMW cars. Physicians think that they have thebest solutions. Surgeons reckon they can often offer the treatment of choice.

The problemwith finding the truth about health matters is that doctors tend to sing thetune they have been trained to sing. If you are suffering from cancer then asurgeon will sing the praises of surgery and a radiotherapist will sing thepraises of radiotherapy. But which is the right treatment for you?

It is easy todraw an analogy between finding impartial, well-informed medical advice andfinding impartial, well-informed financial advice.

If you have asum of money to invest and you ask a bond specialist to recommend a goodinvestment, he will suggest a bond. If you talk to a stockbroker, he willadvise that you invest directly in shares. If you talk to an insurance companyman, he will want to sell you an insurance policy. And if you talk to a bankmanager hoping that he will be able to guide you to the correct type ofinvestment the chances are that he will not know enough about what isavailable and feasible to be able to offer you the accurate, impartial advicethat you need.

A family doctoris the medical equivalent of a bank manager. In an ideal world, you would beable to ask a general practitioner to take over, guide you and offer youaccurate and impartial advice about health matters.

But most familydoctors are probably too busy to have the time to spare. And, to be honest,they are probably not up-to-date.

In the old daysmost patients preferred to see an older, more experienced doctor because theybelieved that he knew more and would have balanced his medical training with agood deal of acquired wisdom and common sense. But if a doctor qualified morethan five years ago then the chances are that just about everything he learnedat medical school is out-of-date and that everything he has learned since heleft medical school has been taught to him by drug companies. Just keeping up-to-dateis a pretty full-time job these days and most family doctors either donthave the time or arent prepared to spend it on keeping up.

Of course,there is one big difference between seeking investment advice and seekingmedical advice. If you receive poor investment advice then the worst that islikely to happen is that you will lose your money. But if you receive badmedical advice then you may lose your life.

And that bringsme to the purpose of this book.

I have arguedfor the whole of my professional life that every individual should have theright to take control of his or her own health.

You should makethe decisions about what happens to you. It is your life and only you can knowwhat is right for you. You should not allow anyone to make vital decisions foryou. Doctors make mistakes and most doctors have a vested interest of somekind.

Obviously, ifyou follow this philosophy then you will need information and advice. And thatis where I believe I can help you.

The bookcontains information and advice gathered from specialists around the world. Myaim is simply to help you make better decisions about your own health andhealth care and about how to live longer and stay healthier and as young aspossible. The final responsibility is still yours as it should be.

The advice Igive is always the advice I would take myself or the advice I would give tosomeone close to me.

Although I used to be a general practitioner, I nolonger practise medicine and so have no allegiance to any particular branch ofthe profession. I can approach each subject relatively free of prejudices orpreconceived notions.

And although I have grave reservations about manyaspects of modern medicine, I refuse to throw out the good with the bad. Ibelieve that sometimes orthodox medicine offers the best form of treatment andthat sometimes alternative medicine offers the best. I believe in a pick andmix philosophy. I am happy to take the best from any form of medicine.

Much of what you read here may surprise you. It maynot fit comfortably with what you may have heard from the medicalestablishment. Remember, however, that the medical establishment is controlledby the drug industry and that drugs are manufactured with the primary aim ofmaking money for the companies which make them.

I am not, ofcourse, trying to take over your doctors job. That would be lunatic. Afterall, one of my aims is to help you get the best out of your doctor.

And it would bequite against my philosophy to try to give you specific advice: my aim is tohelp you take responsibility for your own health. This book is not intended tobe, and cannot be, an alternative to personal, professional medical advice.Readers should immediately consult a trained and properly qualified health careprofessional, whom they trust and respect, for advice about any symptom orhealth problem which requires diagnosis, treatment or any kind of medicalattention.

I will give youthe best information and the best general advice I can. And because I believethat good health involves more than just a healthy body it also requires ahealthy mind and spirit too this book will deal with the mind and the spiritas well as the body.

You and I maynever meet. But I hope that through this book we can become good friends with acommon aim: continued good health for those we love and care about.