The American poet, W.H. Auden, put it quite nicely when he once said, "Health is the state about which medicine has nothing to say." I have spent most of my adult life trying to achieve that state of silence; actively searching for health products that perform as promised, taking me to a medical-free zone or as close to it as possible.

Each product produced a result which surfaced as a blip on the radar screen guiding me gently towards the secret light of perfect health. Perhaps collectively working to keep me afloat over the years, warding off at the very least chronic conditions that seem to plague so many people today.

As I see it, there are just a few simple rules to live by in order to achieve good health. You try very hard to avoid and/or minimize stress, pollution, eat a balanced diet, get some exercise and then, I believe, you supplement and with a little luck you remain relatively healthy. Barring any unforeseen accidents, you live to be 90, maintaining a bit of clarity as to the events that passed leading you to this wonderful, ripened age.

The important thing is to keep things natural. You will notice I did not mention anything about taking pharmaceutical drugs in my approach to wellness. I am not a big fan of prescription drugs and over the counter medications and believe they should be minimized at all costs.

Until recently I never even gave them much thought. It was the drug companies' ability to advertise that first made me suspicious of their drug pushing ways. It is too much like the happy side of a soap opera playing out on my television screen followed by a succession of swiftly read words, in the gentlest tone; words like constipation, nausea, cramping, dizziness, anxiety, depression and even death. And I am certain that without an extreme amount of vigilance on my part to avoid these drugs to begin with, I would fall into the small category of casualties. Life can be just that cruel.

Here is a statement that should flash on the bottom of our television screens while watching a drug commercial. In a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a report concluded that 44 percent of all of the studies done by pharmaceutical companies were suppressed because they contained adverse information. Now that is note worthy information!

There is also the economic tie between the pharmaceutical industry and doctors that should raise a red flag of concern. One report concluded that $10,000 per drug company per doctor per year is spent on attempting to influence doctors