In Pursuit of Health and Longevity Wellness Pioneers Through the Centuries By Cal Samra

10/6/2018

Multi-volume author, Cal Samra, introduces us to his latest book about health and humor, In Pursuit of Health:
For the past 34 years, best-selling author Cal Samra, age 87, has been the editor of a national humor newsletter called The Joyful Noiseletter directed mainly to churches and health professionals. Health, physical fitness, and longevity have been the author’s longstanding interests during his years as an Associated Press and newspaper reporter, and as the lay executive director of the Huxley Institute for Biosocial Research, a medical research foundation. But he says he owes his health and longevity to the teachings of the many health pioneers, from long-ago centuries to the present, who are featured in this book.
For the book, this award-winning health and humor historian researched and treaded into the history and teachings of many health pioneers down through the centuries: religious figures of all faith traditions, medical doctors, nurses, health professionals, counselors, agnostic philosophers, bodybuilders, professional athletes, dietitians, and nutritionists, and rediscovered their admonitions on health and longevity which have long since been forgotten or ignored. Starting with the Hebrew prophet Daniel (circa 620 B.C.), he then proceeded down through the centuries to Jesus, the third-century Greek physicians, the Franciscans, John Wesley, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ellen White, Sojourner Truth, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the Hindu Swami Vivekanada, Teddy Roosevelt, George Bernard Shaw, Catherine Doherty, Linus Pauling, Jack LaLanne, Dr. Donald L. Cooper, M.D., Dr. Rex Russell, M.D., Patch Adams, M.D., Dr. Mehmet Oz, M.D., Etta Dale Hornsteiner, professional athletes like Tom Brady, and Serena and Venus Williams, Bob Hope, and many others. All of them were extraordinary men and women from numerous faith and philosophical traditions. They were Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, Moslem, and agnostic, African-Americans, Native Americans, and Mexican Americans. Many were immigrants or the children of immigrants.
Some were conservatives and some were liberals, but they all had a zest for life and a meeting of minds on living a healthy lifestyle. It is amazing how much they agreed upon. Many of these men and women regarded themselves, or were regarded, as health reformers. Their basic advice on living a healthy lifestyle was generally the same: eat fresh, natural, nutritional foods in moderation, exercise your body regularly, get sufficient sleep, keep your faith and your sense of humor, and strive to be a loving, caring, giving and forgiving person.
The focus of all these health reformers was living a healthy lifestyle. Many of these health pioneers were ignorant of the work and views of their predecessors, or chose to ignore them. It is altogether human to be reluctant to give credit to individuals outside one’s own faith or philosophical tradition. But ironically, some of the research of modern science is confirming the views of these prophetic health pioneers.
This book is the first book to attempt to trace the history of health pioneers, both religious and secular, down through the centuries, and to introduce them to readers. It is indexed and designed to be a resource book for medical doctors, nurses, chaplains, pastors, counselors, nutritionists, physical therapists, body-buildings, editors, comedians, clowns and anyone wishing to live a healthier and longer life.
Samra pleads with religious organizations to pay more attention to the pollution of our air, water, and food supply, which is eroding the health of people and congregations. “While you are teaching people how to get to Heaven, how about teaching them healthy lifestyles to survive on this earth?” he asks.
Several of the cartoons from The Joyful Noiseletter have been reprinted in this book.

I love this book. I also love what Cal is trying to do. Help people live longer and fuller lives with the aid of humor and good nutrition. What I can’t figure out is this a serious book that is funny or is it a funny book that is serious? Someone help me, please!
Cal is 87, he is doing great! I am only 65, when I grow up I want to be like Cal. I have a good start, I love to laugh and like to read funny stuff, I also have been working on improving my diet for some time, and take lots of food supplements.
If you are concerned about having a happy and healthful life, you can’t go wrong by getting this book and reading it very thoughtfully.
I give this book 4.9 stars! The score would have been higher except for the small handful of spelling errors I found.

You can buy this book:
https://rdrpublishers.com/collections/health-and-fitness/products/in-pursuit-of-health-and-longevity-wellness-pioneers-through-the-centuries
https://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Health-Longevity
https://www.goodreads.com/-in-pursuit-of-health-and-longevity

You can follow Cal:
http://www.joyfulnoiseletter.com

23 Comments

Cal Samra link

10/6/2018 06:36:44 pm

Hi Mark: Many thanks for your kind words about my new book, and for offering me a captive audience.I wrote this indexed book with the idea that it would be scholarly enough to attract health professionals as well as layfolks like you and me. But most health and diet books tend to put people asleep, so I determined to fill my book with cartoons from several whimsical cartoonists and add some applicable humor and jokes. So it is a deadly serious book that I hope will also make people laugh out loud. All the health pioneers I quoted down through the centuries, from many faith traditions to agnostics, had a lot of similar things to say about living a health lifestyle. The book touches on the health
benefits of a kosher diet, a Mediterranean diet, a diet
of organic foods, a vegetarian diet, a vegan diet,and a
Jack LaLanne diet or a Tom Brady diet.But it's also about the ongoing pollution of our air, water, and food
supply that is harming the health of many people.
Again, thanks for giving me a platform.
Peace, Cal Samra

Mark

10/6/2018 07:11:28 pm

I love to laugh, Cal, that is one of the things that attracted me to your book. Over the years I have seen your Joyful Noise newsletter also, and enjoyed the humor there as well.
Health is important to me also, as it is almost everyone. Pollution is a serious issue, It affects everyone is so many ways, if there is a lack of clean air, water, and food; so I am ever so grateful to be able to deal with issues of health in humorous way.
I have some questions about writing your book.
You have written a somewhat similar book previous to this one, "The Physically Fit Messiah", which I reviewed in April of 2017. This question applies more to that book. What inspired you to write the book in the first place?
What is your routine when you sit down to write a book?
How much research did you do to write this book?

Cal Samra

10/6/2018 07:36:26 pm

Mark: I was concerned to note that so many parishioners were ailing or dying in the pews, and so many believers were neglecting the health of the body and had forgoten
the health practices of the Jews and the early Christians, as well as modern health pioneers. Jesus,
from his youth, was amazingly physically fit. Mary saw
to that. She fed him on fresh organic foods -- they didn't
have ast foods or processed foods in those days. He
was also very physically active on daily basis, and walked everywhere without getting his feet wet. I've
touched on that in my new books, but added a whole
bunch of other health pioneers from 650 A.D. to the present --starting with the Hebrew prophet Daniel.
My routine: I take a shower, feed my dog, have a breakfast of Kashi, bananas, blueberries, & almond milk, pray for family and sick friends, and attack my
typewriter (Yes, I still use a 40-year-old typewriter.)
Most of the materials in my book I received from subscribers to The Joyful Noiseletter: medical doctors,
pastors,chaplains, nurses,physical therapists, bodybuilders,counselors, et al, and expanded on them.
My Messianic Jewish friend, Steve Feldman, one of our
consulting editors, reports that he has written a Jewish
cowboy song. He calls it "Shalom on the Range."
Cheers, Cal

was raised on kosher foods

10/6/2018 07:55:43 pm

I think your analysis is spot on. Our eating habits have deteriorated in the name of convenience. That downward trend has been going on for a long time. The solutions have been coming forth slow and steady. It is happening. Now, every major grocery store has a health food section, and there are organic choices in many departments and aisles of the stores. So, it's getting better but it takes time.
New questions.
How many books and what types have you written?
You have had a long career in the newspaper business. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

10/7/2018 11:38:29 am

You're right on target, Mark. The young people, the millennials are leading the change in Americans' eating habits. They are much more health-minded than their parents, but is a slow process that will take a coupl e of generations.
I've written a couple dozen books, most of them humor and cartoons books. My four books published by Guideposts -- Holy Humor, More Holy Humor,
Holy Hilarity, and More Holy Hilarity --have sold over a million copies, and are still selling, thank God.
I worked for the Associated Press in Detroit and
Ann Arbor, and also a reporter for The Ann Arbor
News, The Flint Journal, The Batttle Creek Enquirer and The Newark Evening News in NJ.
And as an old-time journalism I amazed at how much
journalism has changed in the last decade. We
prided ourselves on our objectivity and fairness, and
for keeping our own opinions out of the stories we wrote.
Cheers!
Cal

10/7/2018 02:01:54 pm

Journalism is certainly not the same as it was 50 years ago. In all of your newspaper experience, what was your favorite type of story to cover?
Who is your favorite comedian or comedienne?
Back to writing books, now.
Are you writing anything these days, either for publication or for fun?
Do you think that a writer needs to read books, why or why not?
Do you read books for entertainment or homework?

10/7/2018 04:10:48 pm

Mark-- I enjoyed covering positive human interest stories with people who had a sense of humor.
Jack Benny, Red Skeleton, Carol Burnettt were my favorites.
I do a lot of writing, rewriting, and editing on our
national humor newsletter, The Joyful Noiseletter.
I enjoy reading books by humorists, also serious
biographies. Yes, a writer need to read books by
other authors to keep his own mind stimulated.
Mainly I read books for entertainment.
Shalom, Cal

10/7/2018 04:32:14 pm

Those are some very talented people! Each a master of their craft. Of the three, Red Skelton is my favorite. I watched him with my parents when I was very young and grew to appreciate his skill and timing.
Biographies and humor are great choices. Have you noticed the explosion of memoirs in the last few years? With the internet and online tools, publishing is so much easier than it used to be. These are not always quality products, but I have read some very moving stories.
New questions.
Being the editor of a humor and faith newsletter, you see more jokes than a dozen people do in their lifetime. Do you have a favorite format or style of humor?
What do you look for in a good cartoon?
Do you accept unsolicited submissions? Where can interested people find the submission guidelines for the JoyfulNoise Newsletter?

10/8/2018 04:40:26 pm

Mark-- The Marx Brothers and :Lucille Ball also were a lot of fun.
The Joyful Noiseletter focuses on joke pastors can tell.
Jokes they can use in their sermons to wake up congregants when their attention if flagging, or they are
starting to fall asleep.
We welcome clean church and family humor,including
unsolicited submissions.
We have 16 gifted cartoonists from a variety of faith-traditions,including Jeff Keane of "The Family
Circus." They are delightful cartoons about church and
family life, often following the church calendar, like
Christmas and Easter.
We have no submission guidelines. But we welcome
a good clean joke with brevity. They can be sent
our e-mail address: JoyfulNZ@aol.com. Upon publica-
tion we always credit the name and address of the
sender.
Shalom, Cal

10/8/2018 04:49:22 pm

Humor is a great way to renew attention and make people feel good at the same time. I love the work of Lucille Ball, I consider her a comedic genius. Jerry Lewis is right up there also, in my book.
Your submission guidelines are the shortest I have ever seen. How about short stories that are clean and funny, is there a maximum length on those, or is it strictly jokes and cartoons?
New questions about writing.
What were your intentions or your goals when you wrote this book? Do you feel you were successful in getting that message across to the reader?
Do you read books for entertainment or homework?
What are three things, that you wish you knew before you wrote your first book?

10/9/2018 05:02:35 pm

Mark--The funniest jokes are short and to the point. Besides, being a small bimonthly humor newsletter, we have severe space limitations, so we generally do not
seek short stories. But if we do, we'd like them to be kept to a typewritten page-and-a half. We give credit
and the author's copyright on the story, so he or she can sell it to any other publications But we do not pay
for published stories --we pay only for the cartoons of
our own cartoonists.
I hope my book helps people live healthier lives and
enjoy the pleasures of God's gift of life for a longer
time. I also hope the book prods the clergy of all faith-traditions to take care of their own health, and to be
more concerned about the health of their parishioners
and the destructive anti-health forces in our society. In
the 18th century. John Wesley, the founder of the
Methodist Church, concerned that only the rich could then afford a doctor, wrote a book on health principles
and prevention to help his own pastors, his congregation,and the poor. Wesley was prophetic, but
even many modern Methodist ministers have forgotten,
or never knew, Wesley's excellent health tips. It is also
human nature to ignore the health advice of health
pioneers not in your own faith-tradition. What I tried
to point out in my book was that all of the health
pioneers down through centuries, whatever their
faith tradition or lack of any faith tradition, had a
meeting of minds on many health issues.
I read books both for entertainment and homework.
I wish I knew that I would still be poor after writing
five best-selling books. But I would have written them
anyway, for the pleasure of knowing they helped some
people.
Shalom, Cal

10/9/2018 05:33:38 pm

Good line about jokes! But so appropriate.
That was one of the more interesting things I got from your book. With or without a faith tradition, the advice for healthy living was pretty much the same, for two millennia.
I think human nature is pretty much the same also, people will eat and live as they want until they have to change. As sentient beings, sometimes we act against our own best interests, much less the best interests of our community.
Having five best-selling books doesn't guarantee a spot on fantasy island? That is a bit of a shock, there must be more to that story.
New questions.
What was the best money you ever spent as a writer to enhance your career?
Do you subscribe to any magazines, newsletters, blogs or podcasts that enhance your writing career?
What are your favorite reference books for writing?

10/10/2018 03:18:24 pm

Mark--You're asking some great questions, but I'm not sure my answers are all that illuminating.

10/10/2018 03:33:01 pm

I've been too poor to spend much money to enhance my writing career. Journalists aren't the richest people.
My publishers, though, spent quite a bit of money on
advertising on my five bestsellers.
I do get the newspaper of the Michigan Press Association, and some Protestant and Catholic
publication exchange their subscriptions for a
subscription to The Joyful Noiseletter.
We have a very talented webmaster who designed
our website and got a lot of information about our
ministry in it -- at www.joyfulnoiseletter.com.
I use the Concordance, several different Bibles, and
Webster's Dictionary, mostly.
Blessings of Good Cheer, Cal Samra

10/10/2018 03:48:43 pm

Cal, no worries, you are doing just fine! I appreciate your answers. I am glad to hear your books are still selling. Although humor isn't the most popular genre, it's quite enduring. Your books will outlive us all.
New questions.
I would think that being a journalist has positive and negative aspects in terms of writing a book. Do you agree and why or why not? If you do agree could you talk about some of those aspects.
What did you buy with your first royalty check?
What was the earliest experience that made you realize that you could influence and change lives with the power of writing?

10/10/2018 07:15:12 pm

Mark:
As a newspaper journalist of the l950s to the 1980s, we were trained to be objective, impartial, fair-minded in our reporting, and to keep our opinions out of the stories we were writing. I like and respect that kind of
journalism. But journalism has changed dramatically in
the last couple of decades. We're not getting hard news so much as we're getting someone's opinion of
the news. And reporters of all political persuastions
are stampeding to give their own opinions, with the
result that the news media, which have been the bulwark of democracy, sadly have been losing credibility with the public. Jefferson said that if given
the choice, he would take newspapers over government. But I suspect Jefferson would be
saddened by the decline of journalism in this century.

I tried hard to use my old-fashioned journalistic skills
in writing my book, and made an effort to be fair
to everyone, even though I may have disagreed with
them on some issue.
But writing a book is somewhat different because it
gives an author the opportunity to express his own
views somewhere towards the end of the book.

I bought a Golden Retriever puppy -- and my wife
bought a minivan-- with my first royalty check.

I first realized that the pen was mightier than the
sword when I wrote my first love-letter to my
high school sweetheart. But it worked for only
six months before she tossed myeover for another guy.

Shalom, Cal

10/10/2018 07:56:59 pm

You are right, Cal, journalism has changed dramatically from just the facts, to here's my opinion, like it or not. I think Cronkite is spinning in his grave.
Who got the most value from that first royalty check, you or your wife?
A love letter. That's great! As I suspected, you have always been good with words.
New questions.
Do you think you were born to write or did you have to learn the craft?
Did you plot out your book or did you just write by the seat of your pants when you wrote "In pursuit..."? How about when you wrote "The Physically Fit Messiah"?
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

10/11/2018 08:46:06 am

Mark: A lot of people are spinning in their graves,including Walter Cronkite.
My wife couldn't get to the bank quick enough to deposit my first royalty check.
Maybe, like musicians, writers are born to their talent,
but it takes a lot of hard work to develop it. I'm not
big on genetics. If they don't know the cause of an ailment, they are quick to blame genetics, discounting
the unhealthy life style of a person.I love music and wish I could play a musical instrument-- I tried but
failed miserably. So I did what came easily -- write.
Much of my material for both books came from
contributions from health professionals, pastors,
nutritionists, body builders, et all -- articles that
originally appeared in The Joyful Noiseletter. So
it was just a matter of organzing them into chapters
and padding them out with more research.
It's annoying when I'm awakened at 3 or 4 in the
morning with an idea, a quote, a fact,or something
that I may have missed in the manuscript.
Peace & Good Cheer, Cal

10/11/2018 09:09:57 am

Raw talent and discipline are an unbeatable combination. I agree, it takes work to develop talent. There is nothing wrong with pursuing what you are naturally good at and improving your capabilities.
Many authors have reported they get their best ideas in the early morning hours. Much to the annoyance of most authors, if they are not normally early birds. Sometimes it must feel like a curse to be so talented.
New questions.
What is the hardest part of writing a book?
Do you ever brainstorm with non-writers and if so, is it effective?
Is there really a such thing as writer's block and how do you overcome it?

10/11/2018 04:07:27 pm

Mark -- It's all hard-- from start to finish, but a lot of fun, too.
Lawrence Durrell (The Alexandria Quartet) wrote that he
frequently had to get away from his typewriter and renew himself by being with other people.
I have a lot of friends who are nonwriters, and I get a lot
of inspiration, ideas-- and jokes-- from them. They don't
all have enough brains to brainstorm, but I love 'em all
and they all contribute ideas and their friendship.
I've had writer's block, but I usually overcome it by
going out and doing something -- playing tennis, or
helping a friend, seeing a good comedy, or just
clowning around with friends.
Peace and All Good,Cal

10/11/2018 04:21:54 pm

That is great, Cal. You have learned to draw inspiration from a lot of people.
Your solution to writer's block makes a lot of sense to me. I know some writers who have multiple projects going on, novels, short stories, pieces for competitions, and more. When the muse stops talking on one piece, jumping to another project frequently gets her to speak again.
New questions.
Do you have a favorite book or two that you have read many times?
Which of your books is your favorite, and why?
How do you balance the demands on your time as a writer with personal relationships?

10/12/2018 04:53:23 pm

The Joyful Noiseletter has a Facebook page, but I rarely communicate on it.
A dear friend of mine of 69 years passed away yesterday,
and I will be going to her funeral tomorrow morning, so my answers tonight will be brief. She made it to 89..
My favorite book is the Bible, and as many times I have
read it, I still find nuggets of wisdom that I overlooked.
My biggest regret is that I am a slow reader, and books
I'd love to read pile up on me.
Friendships are more important to me than writing,and
I put my family and friendships before everything else.
Shalom, my friend. Cal

10/15/2018 07:02:34 pm

I am very sorry to hear of the passing of your friend. You knew her longer than I have been alive. It's hard for me to imagine the depth of loss you feel. Know that I am praying for you and her family.
It is amazing, no matter how many times you read the Bible, there is always something new.
Relationships are so very important, there is no doubt about that. Thank you for the reminder.
Thank you so much for joining me this week, the interview has been interesting and enlightening. I am looking forward to your next book. Shalom, my friend.

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In Pursuit of Health and Longevity Wellness Pioneers Through the Centuries By Cal Samra

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