TRIPLE LIFE THREAT

Lyman offers a medical guide analyzing the latest advancements in (and rewards of) maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Now in his 90s, the author draws on his lengthy career as an investigative medical journalist and writer about chronic diseases in this primer for proactively managing certain chronic diseases. Lyman believes that, while modern science has fortified life and made it somewhat more controllable, this progress has also generated some negative consequences, including environmental chemical toxicity from the production of xenobiotic substances. He asserts that medically revolutionary scientific advancements have brought about a slew of “health conditions of non-obvious origins” like allergies, asthma, fibromyalgia, adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, and others. The author sounds more hopeful when describing the advancements made in the field of human antioxidant use and immune system defense compounds found in many organic plants, fruits, vegetables, and grains. Readers facing a diabetes diagnosis will find Lyman’s straightforward and extensive discussions on the many aspects of the disease immensely worthwhile. Chapters on the dos and don’ts of nutrition (“there’s magic in fermented foods”), vitamins, and lifestyle offer encouragement to eat with balanced nutrition in mind. The text draws from numerous research projects, statistical data, and clinical reference volumes in its balanced analysis of many common chronic ailments, but the main focus is on diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly community. Lyman’s prose is energetic throughout while remaining informative and cautiously optimistic, even if a fair amount of his analysis and health guidance becomes mired in academic medical terminology—the discussion of pharmaceuticals, for instance, may fly above the heads of lay readers. The guide is a useful reminder about the dangers of chronic disease and offers steps to try to avoid it altogether, outlining new medical testing and technology coming down the pipeline. The author clocks his biological age as 20 years younger than his chronological age and attributes that to advancements in nutritional medicine; readers should take note.

A practical, optimistic, and densely informative text aimed at preventing chronic disease.