By J. Joseph Speidel
The Building Blocks of Health
In his book, The Building Blocks of Health––How to Optimize Wellness with a Lifestyle Checklist, preventive medicine expert J. Joseph Speidel, MD, MPH, describes why most of us have a lifestyle that harms our health. He documents that by following his Lifestyle Checklist, we can put in place the Building Blocks of Health and reverse much of the lifestyle-related damage to health that leads to illness and premature death. Based on more than 2000 articles from the medical literature, the book lays out the scientific basis of why adopting healthier ways of eating, exercising, and living prevents disease, optimizes, and maintains health.
Author of more than 300 scientific publications
J. Joseph Speidel
Joseph Speidel MD, MPH is a board certified public health physician and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health, and serves on the Editorial Board of the University of California, Berkeley Wellness Newsletter. Dr. Speidel is the author of more than 300 scientific publications in the field of health and population.
His previous positions include directing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Population, president of Population Action International, directing the population grants program at the Hewlett Foundation and Co-director of the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health.
As director of USAID and Hewlett Foundation programs, Dr. Speidel was responsible for the management of development assistance and philanthropic awards totaling more than $1 billion. Dr. Speidel has made more than 250 radio, TV, and personal appearances including on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, BBC, Voice of America, Good Morning America, The Charlie Rose Show, and Larry King Live.
Published Articles
Published Book
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Dr. Speidel has spent his career saving lives. Now, he’s empowering you to save your own. In The Building Blocks of Health, Dr. Speidel breaks down the science of disease prevention into accessible advice that will help you live a longer, healthier life.
– Neal D. Barnard, MD
President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Adjunct Professor, George Washington University School of Medicine
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The Lifestyle Checklist
The Lifestyle Checklist includes both behaviors like healthy nutrition and factors, sometimes called biomarkers, that are indicators of good health, such as blood pressure values. For each health behavior or factor, you can keep track of compliance with a simple yes...
Screening for health risk and monitoring our risks
Although much of what you need to do to prevent illness is up to the lifestyle you choose, the help of a health care provider, for example, a physician or licensed nurse practitioner, is also important. A routine physical exam will include a detailed medical history,...
The elements of a healthy lifestyle are synergistic
Studies that consider multiple lifestyle health factors linked to good health provide strong evidence that no one health-enhancing factor is decisive and that the more beneficial factors—the Building Blocks of Health—that are present in a person’s life the healthier...