Author: Dr. Naheed Ali, M.D.
ISBN: 978-0982546925

Click Here To Purchase Are You Fit to Live?: 4 Steps to Improving Your Health

Dr. Naheed Ali's Are You Fit To Live? Four Steps to Improving Your Health reminds me of a cross-country bus tour: you briefly get a glimpse of nearly everything. And if you are looking for a health guide containing ample questions and answers concerning common ailments authored by a no-nonsense candid physician with a passionate perspective, hop on board with the good doctor.

As Dr. Ali mentions in his introduction, the book is an information book for the many people who don't really care to go through books filled with medical jargon.

Appropriately, Dr. Ali describes his book as “a health symposium in literary form,” and as such, he has organized Are You Fit To Live? into four principal sections: your mental health, sleep disorders, your heart and diet. No doubt, a good deal of our medical problems stem from one or more of these areas.

Each section is broken down into mini-bites of key facts that according to Dr. Ali will provide sufficient knowledge to save you from paying the ultimate price of medical illness and being deprived of a healthy life. As we all know, knowledge is power, and the more we are informed the more health conscious we become.

If we look to the opening section, “Don't We Lose Our Minds,” Dr. Ali begins by reminding us the important role our mental health plays in connection with our physical well-being.

Among the topics explored are anxiety and panic attacks, tattered nerves, insomnia, various medications and their precautions, trauma, learning to smoke less, and addiction. Included are seventeen basic questions if you believe you are suffering from depression. There is also considerable ink devoted to supplements and their value in helping us preserve our sanity. For example, Dr. Ali tells us that “all vitamin B types contribute in some way to a healthy mind. And did you know that vitamin A protects against mental anguish by reinforcing brain cell membranes with high fat content and thus buffering against free radicals?

The next section of the book deals with sleep disorders. We learn about improving our sleep habits, signs and symptoms of sleep disorders, insomnia and its causes, narcolepsy, jet lag, nocturnal wandering, importance of sleep for our health, teeth grinding and other interesting questions concerning sleep.

The third part digs into how we can cope with heart disease, after sorting out its symptoms. Several pages are dedicated to blood pressure and its importance concerning our health. This is followed by listening to your heart, chest pains, need to exercise, aspirin, strokes, risk factors for stroke, heart attack and heart burn, peripheral heart disease and heart attacks. What about aspirin? According to Dr. Ali, “the truth is that aspirin many not have a direct effect on the heart in a way that works miracles, but it can definitely impede cardiovascular pain and suffering in the long term.”

The book concludes with diet and how to evaluate what we eat. Dr. Ali serves us in small portions information concerning sodium, potassium, child obesity, the trust about enzymes, vitamins, importance of fluids in our diet, and ends with a summary of the major principles of a healthy diet.

Notwithstanding that I have read dozens of books that feed us the same information as this one, I must admit that after completing its reading, I came away with the knowledge that I had consumed something worthwhile and particularly of value for anyone endeavoring to enjoy as much as a healthy life as possible. What impressed me was Dr. Ali's broad appeal and focus on fortifying our common knowledge against unethical methods of prevention and treatment. How often are we hammered with outrageous treatment claims, which basically are pure nonsense and clutter. Owing to this clutter, we must differentiate and seek out valid answers based on scientific evidence and not being hoodwinked by silly claims made by charlatans that are only interested in picking our pockets.

The only issue I have with this book is that the general format in presenting its vast material is in need of professional editing. For example, there are too many run in sections. In addition, the titles of subsections should have been highlighted in bold letters. Missing was an index, as well as a section where readers could find additional resources and readings, either in print or on the Internet. Nonetheless, the book definitely merits a place on your book shelve to share with your other handy health reference texts.

Click Here To Read Norm's Interview With Dr. Naheed Ali

Click Here To Purchase Are You Fit to Live?: 4 Steps to Improving Your Health