[american dream] effortless well-being

Open letter to Americans [and others too]

Do you really think this pill is the answer?

Acomplia, the new weight-loss pill from Sanofi-Aventis, has not yet been approved in the United States because of questions about its safety. But some Americans have decided not to wait. Many are traveling to Europe, where the drug has been approved, or buying the medicine through foreign Web sites, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues its evaluations of the treatment.

I say to not only Americans, on the strength of the body of medical literature, that what is needed is not a pill but:

1] Exercise! Nothing more, nothing less. Go out and do it, whether it's mall-hiking or out in the real world;

2] Eat right. Halve the portions and get off the processed;

3] Appreciate. Be satisfied and keep your ambitions within bounds;

4] Love right. Get the head straight and put the other at the centre of your world;

5] Laugh;

6] Reconnect with your Maker.