A recent news item on the Internet said that more than 4 million people in the U.S. are vegetarians. It gave no details, but was making the point that more than 4 million people in this country alone are concerned enough about their health to take the time, and to make the effort, to live a vegetarian lifestyle. On a worldwide basis, the number is, of course, much higher.

I mentioned in my previous article (20 years ago I recommended against Being a Vegetarian), that in 1986 I came to the realization that I had become a vegetarian without ever intending to become one. In fact, twenty years ago, I was recommending against becoming a vegetarian, even though I was fairly certain that this was the healthiest lifestyle for disease prevention. I am repeating here what I said in that article for emphasis. The more I learned about health and unhealth (disease), the more unhealthy food I avoided and the more healthy food I consumed, but it was over a period of 12 years because I was in a learning process.

How this relates to Dr. Ted's 30 Year Diet is that this diet is so-named because it is a lifestyle. It is not a quick-fix diet or a fad diet, but a lifestyle. It is not an unhealthy diet that will cause a person to lose several pounds of fat, muscle and water. It is a healthy diet. It is a healthy lifestyle.

The ideal purpose of a diet is to improve one's health while improving one's appearance and self- esteem. Yes, self-esteem. I have spoken with numerous persons who are overweight (fat) including children. There are many different reasons for compulsive eating, which will be addressed in a future article, but for this article, my experience has been that fat people don't want to be fat.

A jolly, red-nosed rolly-polly Santa Claus may appear to be in good health as he scampers around rooftops carrying a heavy bag of gifts, but that is fiction. It is not true. It is a fairy tale. In reality, Santa Claus would probably have high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, and either colon cancer or prostate cancer. We live in reality and if you will read and learn about health, your reality will improve.

What I want to provide to you, my dear readers, is reality. Reality and hope. I bring to you the distilled and summarized results of thousands of scientific laboratory studies and surveys. I bring to you the good news that the battle against the common adult diseases has been won. In fact, it was won over 15 years ago with the realization that people who have unhealthy lifestyles contract the most diseases. Please take a look at two previous articles about cancer battles having been won 16 and 17 years ago.

Findings of clinical tests and health surveys are continuing to proclaim the same good news. The risk of diseases in general is lowest in people who eat healthy food, avoid unhealthy food, maintain a healthy weight, and do regular moderate exercise.

These are the reality and hope I bring to you, no matter what your age or illness ... even if you are a teenager with acne, allergies and asthma, or if you are my age (63) and are plagued with high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis. Your body has been designed to maintain its health and to be self-repairing. It does take an effort to eat healthy food & to do regular moderate exercise. I tell you, dear reader, it is well worth it because it works. It just requires gradual changes over the next 30 years.