I love Dr. Ornish’s proven research in preventive and lifestyle medicine with his 4 key factors:
A primarily whole food plant based diet. But that is NOT enough as he emphasizes in his research.
Movement and exercise (walking is proven to decrease inflammation which is the cause of many chronic illnesses)
Reduction of chronic stress (add prayer and meditation—we can’t afford Not to make time for it. Increase this A Lot of one of my current goals. By the way, a good book on meditation with a Christian perspective that I’m currently reading is The Mindful Catholic by Dr. Greg Bottaro and helps with perceived stress and responding to stress.)
Love and intimacy. Research shows that loneliness kills more people than even a poor diet does. Connect with family and friends daily and spend quality time with the people you love.
“A recent study proved that chronic stress or depression increases inflammation as well. Researchers at Harvard used positron emission tomography (PET) scans to measure activity in the amygdala, the part of your brain that controls the fight-or-flight stress response as well as depression. The researchers found that perceived chronic stress or depression in the people they studied caused markedly increased ongoing activity in their amygdala, which in turn caused their bone marrow to produce cells that cause inflammation. This, in turn, caused their coronary arteries to become inflamed and clogged—causing marked increases in cardiac events such as heart attacks and strokes.”
Plant Based God's Grace 