Foreword by Erminia Gurneri, MD

​​After his heart attack in 2003, Ravi Sahay read Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for reversing heart disease and ultimately participated in the Healing Hearts program where I served as medical director at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla CA.  By the time I met Ravi, he had documented coronary artery disease and a left anterior descending artery stent. As an interventional cardiologist I soon realized that stents were effective only as an acute treatment for vascular
disease but did nothing to reverse the underlying cause.
After reading my first book The Heart Speaks, Ravi became more aware of the stress in his life and the impact stress was having on his health. He continued to struggle with hypertension and later developed cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. He realized inflammation was the root cause for many of his health challenges prompting him to pursue aggressive lifestyle change. His chronic inflammatory conditions had spanned beyond his heart and included eczema and sinusitis. Both stress and chronic gum disease were additional inflammation triggers. With an earnest desire to heal, Ravi persevered with my treatment recommendations and made many lifestyle changes including a healthier eating pattern, increased exercise, daily detoxification, and stress reduction.
Ravi is not a typical patient; he is an empowered one. In 2006, he wrote a book, My Health is Your Wealth, about his conviction that inflammation is the smoking gun for most chronic diseases. In that book, Ravi hypothesized that Candida overgrowth and/or Ayurveda Dosha imbalance are the possible root causes of many chronic conditions. He started to experiment with lifestyle changes including diet, exercise, daily nasal irrigation, and other detoxification practices, including natural antifungals.
Ravi realized early on, that gut health and brain health are closely connected. He learned that immunity is the result of a dynamic balance of the complex ecosystem inside our body—our microbiome. Medical advances in understanding the microbiome has brought new knowledge and hope to understanding and treating chronic disease.
May You BE Healthy, provides a detailed and well-constructed map for building a strong immune system naturally. Ravi’s book combines the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda with modern knowledge of the Microbiome and provides practical tips for a healthy life.
As we know, food is medicine. Ravi provides practical information on nutrition and explains what prebiotic and probiotic foods are, and how they are essential for a healthy microbiome. In addition, He provides a delicious and nourishing array of recipes that are anti-inflammatory and promote a healthy gut microbiome.
Ravi thoughtfully discusses the ways in which our personal choices can affect our health, something I consistently discuss with my patients. Our lifestyle affects our energy, clarity of thinking, ability to fight off illness and is linked to every chronic disease. Ravi highlights how we all need to strive for balance; physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. This mind-body-spirit way of living enhances health and well-being.
Like many physicians and healthcare providers, I was trained to treat disease after it occurs. I have dedicated the last 20 years of my life retraining myself and others to think differently about the creation of health. My goal is to serve as a catalyst for change by empowering individuals to transform their life and by empowering healthcare providers to prevent disease utilizing the wisdom of all global healing traditions.
Ravi is one of those empowered patients and this book is a do-it-yourself manual for wellbeing. I sincerely hope this book will accelerate the healing you wish to see in your life.
 
 
Many Blessings for health and healing,
 
Mimi Guarneri, MD, FACC, ABIHM
President Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine

About the Author

RAVI SAHAY experienced the power of lifestyle changes by using an integrative (holistic) approach to healing and prevention for chronic conditions. After many serious ailments, Ravi reclaimed his health and is passionate about sharing the essential knowledge that helped him do so—ancient Indian Ayurvedic wisdom and the recent rediscovery of the microbiome. Ravi taught economics and math at the University of Phoenix and received an award for his first book, My Health is Your Wealth. Ravi lives in San Diego and speaks and writes about health and well-being.