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Zusatztext 84622035 Informationen zum Autor David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.M., F.A.C.P., is the founding director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and the Integrative Medicine Center at Griffin Hospital. He lives in Connecticut. Stacey Colino is an award-winning writer who lives in Maryland. Klappentext "If you want to build better health and a better future, this book makes an excellent tool kit.”—David A. Kessler, MD, author of The End of Overeating and former commissioner of the FDA It sometimes seems as if everyone around us is being diagnosed with a chronic illness—and that we might soon join them. In Disease-Proof, leading specialist in preventive medicine Dr. David Katz draws upon the latest scientific evidence and decades of clinical experience to explain how we can slash our risk of every major chronic disease—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, dementia, and obesity—by an astounding 80%. Dr. Katz arms us with skillpower: a proven, user-friendly set of tools that helps us make simple behavioral changes that have a tremendous effect on our health and well-being. Inspiring, groundbreaking, and prescriptive, Disease-Proof proves making lasting lifestyle changes is easier than we think. Introduction When it comes to health, have you ever noticed how the media have a tendency to focus on the latest scary risk factor, a gimmicky new solution, or the bright and shiny promise of a cure (when there never really is one)? That’s because diet and health advice in magazines and on TV is, for the most part, designed to get us to read the issue every month or tune in to the program every day. The constantly changing news and advice can leave us feeling downright baffled, but it doesn’t bother editors or TV producers in the least. I know this, because I have a bit of insider experience. In addition to my work as a preventive medicine specialist, I have worked as a columnist for national magazines and as a medical expert for national news shows. One evening several years ago, I was preparing a segment about a new diet study for a TV program the following morning. During a phone call with the writers and producers, we were zipping through the content in a very routine fashion— until I shared what I thought the “punch line” should be. At that point, the senior producer, who had been listening silently, suddenly chimed in, “You can’t say that!” “Why not?” I asked. “Because you were on the show last week and you said the same thing,” she explained. “It will be boring if you repeat the same conclusion.” “Maybe,” I replied, “but it happens that fruits and vegetables are still good for people!” This is hardly an uncommon situation; I’ve encountered it many times in my work. The point here is there’s a constant tension in the media between what’s new and what’s true, what makes for sound science and what makes for provocative headlines or intriguing sound bites. Although I’m sympathetic to the media’s challenge to keep their audience engaged, dressing up dull scientific findings to make them sexier, fresher, or more surprising sometimes changes them to the point where the truth can be very hard to recognize. This phenomenon reminds me of the riveting courtroom scene in the movie A Few Good Men , where Tom Cruise’s character (a Navy lawyer) is grilling Jack Nicholson’s character (a crusty Marine colonel) about whether he ordered a Code Red. At one point Cruise’s character hollers that he wants the truth, to which Nicholson’s character famously replies, “You can’t handle the truth!” The notion that people can’t handle the truth if it isn’t wrapped in a pretty package is prevalent in the world of health and medicine, too. Can you handle it? This is an important question, because if the answer is yes, then you can take control of the master levers of your medical...
