Eat, Drink, & Be Merry: America's Doctor Tells You Why the Health Experts Are Wrong Hardcover - 1999

From the publisher

"Help me, Dr. Dean! I want to be healthy, but I just don't know where to turn for advice."

No wonder. How often have you felt whipsawed by the experts, confused by conflicting advice, or torn with guilt over what you eat, drink, think? Prepare yourself for a shock: You can relax, enjoy life, and still be healthy.

This is a different kind of health book by a different kind of doctor. Dr. Dean Edell, a former surgeon whose radio call-in show is heard by millions of listeners every day, sifts through the outrageous health claims flooding the media. He takes on the health gurus who urge you to abandon much of what you enjoy in life and make you worry needlessly. He frankly discusses sex and drugs, evaluates alternative medical practices, and pleads with our germ-phobic society to just calm down. He also gives you the scoop on what really goes on inside hospitals and inside the minds of doctors.

Chill out. Dr. Dean is going to change the way you think. You can eat certain fat-laden foods and be healthy. You can exercise far less than you thought and in ways you never imagined. You can enjoy sex and even some mood-altering substances in moderation, and do a world of good for your body and mind.

Dr. Dean's radio audience has heard him condemn the very media that keep him in business. In the book and on the air, Edell exposes the sloppy, irresponsible, and dangerous health reporting that is the daily fodder of newspapers, talk shows, and TV news segments. Scare stories and miracle cures make news, responsible follow-ups do not. From the headlines, you'd think that rare diseases like mad cow and ebola are lurking in every hamburger or on every toilet seat. Read the chapter on germs to learn why our abuse of antibiotics poses a far greater threat to our health. In other chapters you'll discover the link between chronic fatigue syndrome and environmental illness, and find out why you should relax and enjoy that glass of wine with dinner.

Dr. Dean's experience within the medical establishment, in the alternative medicine community, and in the media give him a unique vantage point from which to evaluate breaking medical news. He offers a critical perspective that cannot be matched by anyone else today, either in the media or in medicine.

Dr. Dean tells you what has been scientifically proved and what has not. Most important, he gives you the tools you need to make good personal health decisions about the next crop of health gurus and the next medical "breakthroughs." He teaches you to rely on common sense and a critical eye, and to trust yourself and your judgment, based always on what is scientifically sound.

Seasoned, frank, funny, and compassionate, Dr. Dean is an iconoclast who takes on the medical establishment, the health-and-fitness industry, and the media with equal gusto. In Eat, Drink, and Be Merry he offers you the truth about healthy living. Be forewarned: Some of your most cherished beliefs about health may fall by the wayside.

Did You Know That . . .

• People who crave ice chips may have a nutritional deficiency?

• An octogenarian in China disclosed his secret of longevity: a diet that includes rats?

• Saturated fat may reduce the risk of stroke?

• Some canned and frozen foods can be more nutritious than fresh?

• Dementia appears to be less common among those who eat more fish?

• You can lose weight by fidgeting, chewing on a pencil, or drinking coffee?

• Exercising in polluted air is worse for your lungs than not exercising at all?

• Playing an instrument is not only good for your mental health, it burns 160 calories an hour?

• Certain snake oils may have actual therapeutic potential?

• Research shows that aloe vera slows healing of wounds?

• Sex can cure headaches?

• The aromas of pumpkin pie and lavender can be erotic stimulants?

• It can make a difference what gender your doctor is?

• Studies show that people often postpone dying until after holidays?