Eight Weeks to Optimum Health, Revised Edition: A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body's Natural Healing Power

This book carries practical advice, as well as structured suggestions, for making changes to improve over-all health. Exercise, diet, and breathing elements are covered. This book helped me deal with anxiety attacks without prescription medications. By following his advise, my general health improved noticeably in just one month. I still follow the overall plan, 6 years later!

This book is a very good first book to read if you are interested in becoming healthier. I like Dr. Weil's suggestions because he focuses on getting and remaining healthy rather than on getting well after getting sick. I have read a number of Dr. Weil's books, which are all excellent, but this is the one I recommend if you have not yet read any of his books.

Andrew Weil is a legendary figure in the Health business. He advocates a mix of conventional medicine( for crises) and alternative medicine ( prevention and maintenance). He is a best- selling author and this present work is a revised edition of one of his best known books. In it he provides an eight- week health plan for optimum health. Each week he gives his recommendations for changing one's self. Diet, exercise, breathing, overall mental and spiritual attitude are the fundamental subjects he deals with.. He provides case - histories which recount the cures of those who took his 'medicine' Weil recommends a number of changes in Diet which most nutritionists would accept wholeheartedly. He recommends a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, fibre, and fish - derived Omega- three.. Where Weil is controversial is in his wholehearted recommended of various alternative medicines and vitamin supplements. I do not know whether or not he is right in his claims for Gingkao Bilbao,, Milk Thistle( LIver illness) ,Saw Palmetto ( prostate ) but his use of anecdotal rather than statistical evidence is less than wholly convincing. I found most interesting his emphasis on ' breathing techniques' as basis for improved health. And I will perhaps make efforts at exploring it. He has special sections for those fifty years old, and for those seventy years old. On the whole I have a sense that he is sane, balanced and by and large correct in most of his recommendations. But I think caution is required in undertaking many of the supplements he recommends. Perhaps it is best to read this book, and take whatever practical messages one derives from it, to one 's own personal physician for evaluation.

Several years before the tipping point occurred and Americans were alerted in significant numbers to the dangers of trans fats (also known as hydrogenated oils), Weil, in 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, sensibly and clearly laid out the dangers of these kinds of processed fats and warned us of their dangers so emphatically that he made the elimination of them from our diet the first step in his 8-step plan. Weil uses credible science to backup his assertions, never offers fads or extremes, and best of all, he writes in an intelligent, personal voice, using phrases like "I'd like you to . . ." which give the book an intimate feel, as if you were consulting with a personal nutritionist. Further, he has the wisdom to see that improving our health is not based on micromanagement, tweaking one thing or another, but rather is a holistic approach requiring daily walks, bringing beauty into our lives with something as simple as having fresh flowers on the table, and meditating or doing yoga. While I don't embrace everything Weil suggests, I have embraced the gist of his message and, more specifically, have radically changed my diet. No longer eating refined sugar and hydrogenated oils, I have lost 40 pounds in the last five months. A great companion book that is compatible with Weil's philosophy on many levels and which has also helped me is The Philosopher's Diet by Richard Watson.

Dr. Weil is a Harvard-trained botanist and MD. More importantly, he has branched out into Integrative Medicine [his new name for alternative medicine] and is making the principles understandable to the general public. He recently started a 2 year Post-Doc program for medical students and already practicing MD's at the University of Arizona teaching integrative medicine and an integrative clinic for practice. That clinic now has a waiting list of over a thousand people! As the title states, this book breaks down the information into 8 weeks, simplifying the complicated process of changing one's whole life. Weil takes the reader by the hand and takes baby steps instead of huge leaps. [Which is acceptable if there are no current health crises]. One week, he asks you to find out about the water you drink, demonstrates a breathing exercise and asks the reader to go on a "news fast." No newspapers, evening news, or radio for a day. The following week he asks the reader to research organic produce and requests that flowers be bought for the home environment. These are tasks that are understandable making the reader feel successful each week. This work is grounded in good data, simply put and achievable over time. Weil "pads" the radical changes in between easy-to-make additions to one's life. One goes away feeling empowered instead of overwhelmed. An essential ingredient for changing one's lifestyle! This book is a great beginning for the beginner on the path to wellness and prevention! Dr. Weil is to be commended for breaking away from the myopic thinking of the traditional healthcare practitioner [which is changing!] and incorporating a broader picture of empowering the patient with practical, hands-on information. This book would have garnered a "10" had Weil moved a bit more to the left. But, as previously noted, this text is a wonderful place to begin! My hat! is off to him!