In a time of anxiety like ours and when people have grown used to expect almost instant gratification from all quarters, including from healthcare providers, maintaining good health becomes a tricky business. An increasing number of people in North America are turning to more traditional ways of disease prevention and cure. Health concerns are becoming a pressing matter in the face of growing pandemics such as obesity and degenerative diseases many of which can be traced back to poor nutrition and bad lifestyle choices. There is also a general feeling that we have become nature's worst enemy and we lost the way of living in harmony with the environment. This is reflected by the growing concern of millions of people about the possible consequences of global climate change on the quality of life on this planet and what action should be taken to alleviate its negative impact.

In the quest for good health several simple principles must be observed:

• adequate nutrition, which includes plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, fiber and probiotics.
• a marked decrease in energy intake as part of weight reduction (for the overweight and the obese) program.
• regular maintenance programs such as liver detoxification, colon cleansing and parasite removal.
• healthy lifestyle that includes daily physical excercising and proper rest.
• constant mental activity meaning continuing learning and cultural activities.

Humans are omnivors who need a wide variety of foods to sustain life and maintain proper body functions. The proportion of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the diet changes during lifetime. While young people require more animal protein, the older ones are better off with far less animal protein, partly because older people produce less stomach acid to initiate protein breakdown. An important part of the nutritional process is played by raw foods for they contain all the micronutrients and digestive enzymes needed for proper absorption that ensure normal body functions. Numerous epidemiological studies demonstrated that the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables significantly reduced the risk of certain cancers. As the World Cancer Review Fund's expert panel concluded in its November 2007 report, daily consumption of fruits and vegetables decreases the risk of cancers of the mouth and pharynx, lung, stomach, colon and rectum. A diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables was also found to decrease the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Such a diet is very useful in managing body weight, especially in obese people. In addition, as numerous studies have shown, caloric restriction has many health benefits such as increasing insulin sensitivity, improved carbohydrate metabolism, lower blood pressure and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and age-related illnesses.

There are cases however, when taking extra micronutrients from nutritional supplements is justified. Such cases are listed on the right of this page.

The importance of good nutrition in disease prevention/cure was so eloquently put by Hippocrates some 2500 years ago by saying: "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food".

So, maintaining good health requires permanent attention and is an ongoing process that should start early in life. Once a disease has reached its clinical stage playing only with diet or nutritional supplements may not do you much good. More aggresive treatment methods have to be sought. So, be alert and don't let the body get into the red, healthwise. I wish you success in this noble endeavour!