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THE BIRTH OF TOTAL HEALTH Several years before I started my Total Health program in 1996,1 had the unique opportunity as a doctor of chiropractic to work in a medical office with doctors who specialized in family practice. We referred a number of patients to one another. Many of our "shared" patients suffered from prob- lems caused by obesity, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes, conditions that they preferred to address through lifestyle changes in diet and exercise rather than medication. So the M.D.s recommended a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet and ex- ercise program, an approach that was popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, which I too followed. But there was a problem. It wasn't working! Even though our patients were following the classic low-fat, high- carbohydrate nutritional guidelines promoted by the health care commu- nity, they were not losing much weight. They were not regulating their blood sugar levels. They were not lowering their cholesterol or reducing their blood pressure. In the mid-1990s, I began to have some health problems of my own- namely, I couldn't keep my energy levels up. I've always been a very active person. In high school, I was an All-American wrestler. And as a doctor, I loved cross-training for triathlons. So I was riding my bike, swimming, and running. I was also training a couple mornings a week in a form of Brazilian jujitsu. I was taking my sup- plements. And I was on my high-carb, low-fat diet. When it came to train- ing and nutrition, I was doing everything right. I figured I should be a superhuman. Instead I was exhausted. I'd have my high-carb meal, pasta with low-fat red sauce and some veg- gies, and about half an hour later, I felt as though I needed to take a nap. WHY THE TOTAL HEALTH PLAN WORKS I knew something was wrong. I even had my blood tested to see if I had anemia. I then became aware of nutritional principles popularized by best- selling books such as Enter the Zone by Barry Sears, Ph.D., and Protein Power by Michael Eades, M.D., and Mary Eades, M.D. According to these books, you could increase your energy levels by regulating your blood sugars. The key was to eat protein-rich, favorable-carbohydrate meals-not eliminate all carbohydrates, just increase the protein and ease off the un- favorable forms of carbohydrates. So I decided to give the Zone a try. For one thing, the physiology be- hind this way of eating made sense. For another, this was a balanced ap- proach to eating, not some extreme alternative such as diet pills or liquid meals. The results were fantastic. Within about two weeks my energy levels soared. I also lost about five pounds around the middle. Remember, all I wanted was more energy. The weight loss was a bonus! Most of all, I was ex- cited about the prospect of sharing this information with my patients. But unfortunately, I couldn't tell my patients to go out and buy these books because they were too technical for most people to understand.