Herbal Health

Stress phobics are the opposite of stress seekers. A phobia is an irrational fear, and stress phobics have a tremendous fear of confrontations—indeed, of life itself.

Stress phobics suffer in silence rather than assert themselves. They turn their anger and frustration inward. This is manifested clinically as depression. Stress phobics see the world as an unfriendly, unhappy and frightening place. These depressed stress phobics have strong feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Nothing seems worthwhile.

The negative thoughts in their heads are turned into hormones that actually attack and suppress their immune system, making them more susceptible to disease. Stress phobics seem to have more arthritis and cancer than do stress seekers or stress handlers.

Are You a Stress Phobic?

Are you a stress phobic? Check off the items that apply to you. Do you . . .

( ) Have difficulty expressing your feelings?

( ) Feel helpless to change your personal or work situation?

( ) Accept things even if you know you could improve them?

( ) Wish that once, just once, they would listen to you?

( ) Have vague feelings of dissatisfaction?

( ) Put up with things because you’re afraid they’ll get worse

if you try to change them?

( ) Often wonder if suicide might not be a good way to end

your problems?

( ) Figure you’re never going to amount to much?

( ) Have trouble picturing yourself as a successful person?

( ) Wonder if anyone would notice if you died?

( ) Wonder why you were ever born?

If you checked more than two items, you may be a stress phobic. Your mind is stuffed with “impossible” and “I can’t” and “why bother” and “no one cares.” These thoughts are turned into chemicals that handcuff your “doctor within” by suppressing your immune system. Your negative thoughts actually make you more vulnerable to disease. And diseased you will be unless you learn how to keep your mind clear of immune-suppressive thoughts.

*135\80\8*

Then one day, while running in a 10K race at UCLA, I saw a paraplegic man, lying face down on a small, lightweight gurney, pulling himself along the course with two canes. He’d put one cane down and pull the gurney forward a few inches. Then he’d put the other cane down, pulling his gurney foward a few more inches. I wondered how he was going to make it up the hill, so I slowed down and trotted right behind him. He went right up that big hill, slowly, a few inches at a time. Drenched with sweat, huffing and puffing, he proudly finished the race, smiling at the applause he received as he struggled across the finish line.

If he can find the time, energy and discipline to exercise, I vowed, so can I. Since then, the dog has never looked too tired to go walking with me.

Do you set aside time for exercise? Have you the energy and discipline?

*91\80\8*

I tell my patients to fill their kitchens with these Super Foods and other healthy foods (Super Foods are starred):

VEGETABLES

Artichokes
Chard
*Parlsey
Asparagus
Cucumbers
Parsnips
*Beet Greens
Eggplant
Potatoes
Beets
*Garlic
Radishes
* Black
*Ginger
Rutabagas
Chinese
Green
<, *Scallions
Mushrooms
Peppers
*Spinach
* Broccoli
Jicama
Squash
*Brussels
Kohlrabi
* Sweet
Sprouts
Leeks
Potatoes
*Cabbage
Lettuce
*Sweet Red
* Carrots
Mushrooms
Peppers
*Cauliflower
Okra
Watercress
Celery
*Onions
Zucchini
• Vegetables are low in fat, sugar and sodium, and contain no cholesterol. Vegetables provide you with complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, minerals and enzymes.

• Eat more raw than cooked vegetables. Cooking destroys many nutrients.

• Instead of boiling or baking vegetables, steam them—just until they’re tender, yet crisp. Steamed vegetables are tasty and nutritious.

*50\80\8*

If you think you have nothing to worry about because your doctor has told you’re in average health, think again:

• The average American in average health has the average heart attack.

• The average American in average health gets the average cancer, diabetes, stroke.

• The average American is tired and unhappy

• The average American has no idea what it’s like to feel really great.

• The average American stumbles from doctor to doctor, pill to pill, disease to disease—until he dies.

• The average American dies too young, feeling old and worn out.

• The average American is scared—and should be!

As a physician who has worked on the front lines of crisis medicine, treating patient after patient in the intensive care units and coronary care units, and seeing thousands more in my office, I can tell you that the average American is a medical disaster waiting to happen.

One of my patients complained: “It started about a year ago, Dr. Fox. I had a cold, and then a flu, then another cold, then another flu, and my nose was always running and one thing after another. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get well. A whole year of being sick! What’s wrong with me?”

What was wrong? For any number of reasons, his body’s defenses were down. As you will learn, colds, flus and other problems are clues, telling us to take a look at the patients’ entire defense system. The colds and flus aren’t diseases in themselves; they are symptoms of the underlying problem, which is a breakdown of the “doctor within.”

*5\80\8*