My first book Recipe for Health (2002) teaches how to get and stay well. It defines optimum health and describes ten principles essential to its achievement. These include clean air, pure water, fresh juice, whole foods, natural light, physical exercise, personal hygiene, periodic cleansing, adequate rest & sleep and nutritional supplements.

In Habits of Health I describe seven habits of human behavior that improve and sustain long term optimum health and wellness. They include world travel, sport, music, personal hobbies, continuing education, nature walks and gardening.

Good habits create positive effects, bad habits create negative effects. As creatures of habit it’s up to us to choose the right ones. Good habits should employ rational thought, improve resistance to disease, stimulate neurogenesis as we age and provide massive personal pleasure and enjoyment. Happiness is found in the process of doing what we love and enjoy. It ensues those who are willing and able to take action.

World Travel

"He who travels to be amused or to get somewhat which he does not carry (within himself) travels away from himself. Travelling is a fool's paradise."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Travel broadens your mind, staying put deepens it. If you’re constantly on the move you can’t develop the same relationships with the environment or people that spending years or decades in one location permits. But here’s the thing. There’s a big wide world out there and it’s INCREDIBLE to experience and see with your own eyes. Don’t let it pass you by.

There are few things in life that can offer the same intrigue, adventure, mental stimulation, emotional satisfaction and pure awe that world travel provides. Travel helps us discover new things about ourselves and the amazing world around us. Like exercise, travel forces us to adapt and remodel ourselves. In the process we become more functional and independent.

To fully develop our mind in context with reality we must open it up to new thoughts and ideas. We must routinely compare what we currently know to what is ultimately known as truth. If you live in a secure, cozy opulent bubble, especially one that protects you from the harsh reality of the 'real world', chances are the disparity between what you know as truth and what truth actually is, is enormous. The message here is get out and open your eyes!

The Stress of Travel

People who travel frequently are exposed to high levels of mental, emotional and physical stress. That’s why you have to be fearless, flexible and fluent. World travelers must deal with immigration politics, airline security, racial discrimination, certain health risks and even loneliness and heartache. But so be it. The benefits of world travel far outweigh any risk or cost. Travel is a marvelous and incredible investment.

I've been shot at, stabbed, chased by bandits, deceived by con artists and even jailed by corrupt law enforcement agents. But in spite of these “negative” experiences, I wouldn't trade the personal growth, adventure and education I gained for anything.

I caught the travel bug early in life. At age eight I received a 12 inch globe of the world for Christmas. I would spin that globe around for hours dreaming of where I wanted to go and what it would be like. But I had no idea how glorious and different the rest of the world really was. You never really do until you get out there and see it for yourself.

At age 19 I decided to leave home by myself and circumnavigate the globe. I knew my destiny was out there. I worked and broke bread with many souls from different cultures in some very strange and exciting places. I met fascinating people with different attitudes and values than mine, visited hundreds of churches, temples and mosques, asked multitudes of questions and paid close attention to the locals.

I trained in a thousand gyms and swam in lakes, rivers, oceans and streams. I walked countless miles and hitchhiked across entire continents. I laughed and cried and felt every emotion imaginable. I witnessed many incredible events but this was my greatest discovery. Physically active people who consistently consume high quality, fresh real food and who live in sanitary conditions with access to clean running water demonstrate the best health.

Every key lesson I learned abroad was profound, but the culture shock wasn't “out there”. It’s was in my homeland. It wasn’t until I ventured out into the “forbidden zone” and returned that I realized how much I had changed and grown from within.

First World countries are not the center of the world. They are not the best, the most progressive or where freedom reigns exclusively. Freedom and true health are a state of mind, and although environment and people do play a role in our health and happiness, it’s what’s inside your cerebral cortex that really counts. World travel helps to detoxify, restore and rebuild you from the inside out.

"In England it becomes every day more and more the custom to send young people to travel in foreign countries immediately upon their leaving school and without sending them to any university. Our young people it is said generally return home much improved by their travels. A young man who goes abroad at 17 or 18, and returns home at one and twenty, returns three or four years older than he was when he went abroad, and at that age it is very difficult not to improve a good deal in three or four years."

~ Adam Smith The Wealth of Nations (1776)

Related Article: Hawaiian Paradise

As always...stay well and live free! Dr.C