The Salerno Solution: An Ounce of Prevention, A Lifetime of Health

The United States is on the verge of a health crisis of monumental proportions. We have virtually eradicated polio, measles and other devastating diseases, made childbirth significantly safer for both mothers and infants and saved countless lives with antibiotics. Likewise, we have dramatically lower rates of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, influenza and periodontal disease - meaning that today's children, unlike their peers 70 years ago, can expect to survive beyond than their first few years. However, these and other impressive medical victories are now being undermined by a bevy of other health problems, many of our own making. For the first time, children born today are likely to have a shorter lifespan than their parents, thanks to damage that will be wrought by the terrible trio of obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer's. We know that our health problems are pandemic. The rates of obesity, diabetes, environmentally-related cancers and dementia are skyrocketing. We live in a toxic world where our bodies are continuously assaulted with toxic chemicals, food additives and even electromagnetic pollution. Even as our bodies are burdened with an increasingly greater toxic burden, we are less able to defend ourselves against their assault, weakened as we are by the Standard American Diet (SAD). And now we are exporting this unhealthful way of eating to the rest of the world. Ironically, most of the diseases that plague us in the 21st century are associated with excess consumption, specifically heart disease, diabetes, obesity, many forms of cancer and even Alzheimer's. Excess intake of white flour, sugar, other refined carbohydrates and trans fats is the culprit that robs us of our health, stamina and lifespan. Nutrition continues to be the stepchild of the medical establishment, which focuses instead on treating illness after the fact, usually with expensive drugs, each with its long list of side effects, rather than prevention. This is despite the fact that statistics published by the American Medical Association show that 73 percent of all diseases are directly related to nutrition. Two driving forces in Dr. Salerno's life have come together in this book. First, in understanding of the role that environmental factors play in our health and second in the knowledge that nutritionally-based medicine can help remedy the situation in concert with changing our polluting habits. Dr. Salerno's understanding of the healing power of nutritious food and the health risks inherent in refined and processed foods was honed as he worked side by side with the late, great Dr. Robert C. Atkins. Many of his long-term patients are now Dr. Salerno's patients and he can see the impact that his dietary approach has had on their health. Many are getting on in years and are still remarkably vigorous and free of disease - due no doubt, to decades of following his low-carb, high-nutrient protocol, all clinically validated in their medical records. This book offers simple, but profound changes you can make in your daily life so that you can dramatically boost your chances for remaining - or becoming - healthy, despite the toxic soup in which we stew. Against such a challenge, three squares and a daily multivitamin won't give you the defensive edge you need. The Salerno Solution includes a proactive approach to nutrition based on a low-carbohydrate, low-glycemic diet, fortified with nutritional supplements targeted to strengthen your immune system, reduce inflammation and destroy free radicals that cause dangerous oxidization. Dr. Salerno's other book, Fight Fat With Fat, makes an excellent companion to this book.