Staying Healthy, Staying Vital - published 2003

This is my most comprehensive book thus far. It took me 7 months to gather materials, 6 months to write and 3 months to edit (with help) at a time where I had not much to do and spent 6 hours a day on the book. Many doctors, pharmacist and nutritionist have said it is very informative. But this is my least salable book as it is a bit thick. Malaysians tend to want to read thin booklets and feed off leaflets that are created by marketing companies. All my thin books are selling well off the shelf in the bookstores.

PREFACE

Welcome! We certainly live in exciting times as medical science brings us closer to immortality, we can now live fuller and more enriching lives even with advancing years.

In recent time there has been a great explosion of interest in health, wellness and health supplements. In Malaysia, there are now over 33,000 products registered with the Ministry of Health and most of them are food supplements or traditional medicines. This underestimates the number of actual products in the market as there are many products that are unregistered and sold illegally.

Often promoters of these products will make many claims. For the average individual it is difficult to validate all these claims and decide what is really appropriate for their condition.

Far too often, these products offer a panacea or a cure-all promise. They tend to give people an idea that a pill or nutritional supplement will do wonders even without modifications to lifestyle such as diet and exercise. Of more serious concern is that large amounts of nutritional supplements, traditional medicines and extremely strong protein supplements, are being recommended and sold by people with little understanding of health sciences, motivated only by commercial interests.

Healthy living is not just about a pill, a particular diet or exercise regimen. It is an attitude that encompasses diet, exercise and many other factors. The explosion in health matters is legitimate, as it is estimated that over 80 percent of all illnesses have environmental and lifestyle causes. But the public should be given correct information.

Over the years I have seen health from different perspectives – from the viewpoint of a western-educated physician, where I received my training, the incentive-motivated pharmaceutical Sales Representative, a Sales/Marketing Manager of a multi-national drug company, Medical Director of two American health care companies selling pharmaceuticals, vitamins, anesthesia, skin care products, medical & pediatric nutrition; the Head of Scientific Affairs (Asia) of a German multinational pharmaceutical firm and as a sports-loving doctor. I am also an adviser to 2 large manufacturing plants (with combined output >170 million capsules per month) and familiar with Good Manufacturing Practices, QA, QC and regional regulatory policies and requirements. I have also trained and consulted for several large global MLM companies and have spoken in USA, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia.

I have learnt to see the merit in each health discipline and not to be myopic by espousing only one school of thought. What this book aims to do is to put all these many claims into a balanced perspective, so that we do not look at individual tree trunks in a jungle with regard to our health, but to appreciate the overall forest.

Your total health is dependent on living in newness and wholeness of life, and should not be a slave to a product or a particular diet. Man is born free, but indeed, everywhere in his life, he is in chains. It is the truth that sets him free.


Dr. Victor Chen