Some 30 or 40 years ago, there was general belief that "scientific

medicine" would in short order obliterate just about all disease.

Optimism continued to mount as new antibiotics and tranquilizers were

discovored, new surgical pmcedures devised and space age diagnostic

techniques perfected. For a while it seemed that if we could all live just a

few more years, new discoveries might make us immune to death itself.

Looking back, we can see that the party mood began to sour about

I0 or 15 years ago. More and more people suspected that medicine s

voyage of discovery had degenerated into a mere joyride of doctoring.

Antibiotics and tranquilizers were pmscribed and swallowed--

like Good & Plenty s. X rays were ordered for trivial masons. Surgery

rates climbed like the bull stock market, and medical bills followed.

It was not just an innocent burst of enthusiasm. Real harm was

done. Drugs, we all learned, sometimes had a tail called "side effects."

Needless X rays were thought to promote cancer. Many operations, we

learned, were ineffective or unnecessary or both.

But that s only half of the new perspective. The other half has this

to say: Even when done correctly, even when done with care and

compassion, the medical approach to disease is incomplete. Wonderful,

yes. But not quite the whole answer.

. What it ignores is the dimension of natural healing: strcngthening

the body s immune system through nutritional and other natural

means; physical therapies; stress reduction; diet improvement; and

lifestyle change. To ignore these factors is to forgo, perhaps, a much

more conservative, perhaps even more effective treatment. And even

when extensive medical intervention is required, we now know, the

battle against disease cannot be won by medicine alone. Unless the

body has sufficient vitality to recover from the trauma of intervention,

then reestablish a state of health that will prevent the return of disease,

medicine may be for naught.

Some people reacting against what they see as overdoctering have

rejected the technological approach almost completely. They have

mtumed, in effect, to the 19th century, relying on herbs, untested diets

and unscientific procedures to treat all illness.

But there is no need to reject all of modern medicine because of its

~casional excesses. Nor is total rejection very smart. Today, we are in

the unique position of being able to take advantage of the best

technological medical care and the best natural healing techniques.

By using both approaches, as dictated by good sense, we can

literally enjoy the best of two worlds.

The information and ideas in this book are therefore meant to

complement the guidance you receive from your physician, not to

replace it. Doctors today are becoming more aware of the alternative and

natural approaches to health and may be perfectly willing to discuss

them with a patient who expresses interest.

Many readers will find this volume of The Prevention Total Health

System~ to be of special interest. It may well open a new world of health

possibilities to you. Read it, learn and, together with your doctor, arrive

st a weU-munded plan of health-restoring therapy.