The Big 5

The Big 5: Five Simple Things You Can Do To Live a Longer, Healthier Life by Dr. Sanjiv Chopra with David Fisher          Audio Book: 5hours, 41 minutes   Hardback Book:  224 pages     

Yes, the author is the brother of Deepak Chopra.    He points out his findings on how to improve your life, your health, your metabolism virtually everything by implementing these 5 things in your daily routine:   Meditate 15 to 30 minutes daily whether that means being in a religious meditation or tuning into your own breathing and letting your mind rest from all the daily stress - it will tune you in to your most calm self.    He says if you can mediate twice daily like he does, you will be in an even better place.    Take Vitamin D3 supplements as American tend not to get enough sunshine in their lives so his recommendation is go out into the free sunshine and soak up all those delicious rejuvenating rays of pure Vitamin D or if that is not your favorite thing to do, then go for Vitamin D3 supplements.   He says Vitamin D is good but Vitamin D3 is like turbo charging your system.   Exercise at least 30 minutes 4 times a week though every day is even better,  and last but not least – Eat Nuts.    Any kind of nuts.   Peanuts, cashews, pecans, walnuts, almonds, pistachios – if it is a nut it is going to do good things to your body.     He said often diet gurus will tell you if you are hungry to eat a handful of nuts – and this is why – nuts contain the good fat your body needs, not the transfat in a bag of chips or cookies, etc.   Also, nuts are like little engines that will rev your energy level once you eat them.    A natural energy boost.    And number 5 is in the Big 5 is drink coffee daily.    I know, it’s like Whaaaaat?    Coffee is o.k.?    Not only that, but he recommends up to 6 cups a day.    He goes in to all the great attributes of coffee and how it helps the body fight the major cancers,  Breast, liver, pancreatic, etc.    He cites examples from world-wide studies done over the years and builds a very convincing case for his theories though he has been laughed at over the years by various colleagues for promoting free cures (sunshine, etc.) rather than pharmaceutical ones.   There are some truly amazing findings to be considered here.  Dr. Chopra says these five things especially when done together will keep you mentally, spiritually and physically in tip top shape and help you to be able to focus, to de-stress, to feel better in general and to be able to take all this good feeling from home to work then home again and still be feeling at your optimum level and if you do it right, none of it is going to cost you much at all– sunshine is free, walking is free, meditating is free, o.k. you have to buy the coffee and nuts but that is still cheaper than buying pharmaceuticals.    As an extra bonus he adds toward the end of the book that the reader should take an aspirin a day if your system can tolerate it or at least carry one with you at all times in case of a medical emergency such as a heart attack.   Aspirin thins the blood keeping it from clotting so that blood clots can’t form, break off lodge in your brain and cause massive strokes/heart attacks and possibly death.    He didn’t add it to the Big 5 because some people are allergic to aspirin or their systems just cannot tolerate taking lysergic acid diethylamide (aspirin).   For some individuals depending on your biological makeup aspirin could prove hazardous, but, he recommends checking with your doctor to find if it is doable for you – he thinks aspirin is a real miracle cure in its life saving properties.    Very good book.