Welcome to a new blog with the goal of helping you to take charge of and improve your Health by adopting a healthy lifestyle. I’m J. Joseph Speidel MD, MPH a physician and researcher who is board certified in the field of preventive medicine and public health. I graduated from Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health and am a professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. I am the author of more than 300 scientific publications in the field of health and will base the information in this blog on the scientific evidence derived from medical research that is presented in my new book, The Building Blocks of Health––How to Optimize Wellness with a Lifestyle Checklist.
Healthy behavior is essential for a long healthy life. The U.S. spends more than $200 billion a year on diabetes and heart disease. Healthy behaviors could eliminate 90% of the diabetes, 80% of the coronary heart disease, and nearly half of the cancers that afflict Americans. With a healthier lifestyle, many of us
could live longer without the disabilities that can ruin quality of life and live 10 to 15 years longer. The benefits of a healthy lifestyle are amazing.
A blog or book can’t take the place of a well-trained health care provider, they should be your partner in your quest for good health. But your doctor or nurse practitioner is usually just not given enough time to convey all of the advice you need to get and stay healthy. I hope this blog and my book can help provide much of the information your doctors would give you if they had enough time.
Future blogs will describe the multiple lifestyle factors, the Building Blocks of Health, that are essential for good health. Each the behaviors and health factors on the Lifestyle Checklist will help you put in place
the Building Blocks of Health. They include good nutrition, weight control, and getting plenty of physical
activity. But, you can’t rely on doing just one thing, like getting a lot of exercise, to keep yourself healthy. Even marathon runners get heart attacks if their nutrition and other health behaviors are unhealthy. And you can’t rely on avoiding just one risky behavior, like not smoking, to stay healthy. Multiple factors are at work to make us sick or keep us healthy.
This blog presents opinions and ideas and is intended to provide helpful general information. I am not engaged in rendering advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures and suggestions in that are presented are not in any way a substitute for the advice and care of the reader’s own physician or other medical professional based on the reader’s own individual conditions, symptoms or concerns. If the reader needs personal medical, health, dietary, exercise or other assistance or advice the reader should consult a physician and/or other qualified health professionals. The author specifically disclaims all responsibility for any injury, damage or loss that the reader may incur as a direct or indirect consequence of following any directions or suggestions given in the book or participating in any programs described in this blog or in the book, The Building Blocks of Health––How to Optimize Wellness with a Lifestyle Checklist. References for most of the health related information in this blog can be found in the book, The Building Blocks of Health now available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Building-Blocks-Health-Lifestyle-Checklist-ebook/dp/B08RC3XRCY/. Copyright 2020 by J. Joseph Speidel.
