The odds are that you picked up this book because your doctor just told you that you’re sick. Maybe you have just diagnosed with hypertension you have elevated blood sugar -the first signs of diabetes. And he told you that you have 2 months to lose weight and start exercising or you’ll be on medication for the rest of your life. Or maybe your dad just had a heart attack and you’re afraid you’ll end up the same way. You know what you need to do but how do you start?

Your doctor has diagnosed the problem and can provide pills to control your symptoms, but the power to improve your health rests solely with you. . Your doctor is definitely the best person to direct the treatment of your disease, but his focus is on controlling your symptoms with medications; not on the ways exercise or diet can be used as a preventative medicine. With an appropriately directed exercise program you can take charge of your health. You can drop your blood pressure, treat your diabetes, strengthen your osteoporotic bones and even control the pain of arthritis. You can actually fight your disease with the right exercise program; a program targeted to fight your specific medical problems. And in some instances, you can cure it. That is far more than modern medicine has to offer. You will see that you are more powerful than any pill your doctor can give you. I know; I’m one of the doctors that prescribe those pills. But I also know that your lifestyle choices, what you eat and how your exercise are the best ways to treat and potentially cure your disease.

One very important example is the anti-hypertensive effect of exercise. Daily exercise can be as effective and any beta-blocker or calcium channel blocker in dropping your blood pressure. Think of it. It is actually possible to stop your medications with the right exercise program. Please don’t stop taking your pills without your doctor’s supervision, but as your blood pressure falls lower and lower with each office visit; your physician will be the first one to want to cut back on your medication. Less medication means fewer medication side effects, (exercise is the only ‘medicine’ without any) and less money out of your hard earned paycheck as your monthly medical expenses drop. There is nothing but good news here