Montel pushes for 'living well'

[Guest guest]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-montell-ladnsbdec30,0,6040088.storyMontel pushes for 'living well'

BY CARLEY DRYDEN |Los Angeles Daily News December 30, 2007 Montel is 51, has six-pack abs, a new wife and multiple sclerosis. He's equally fine with all of it.Living Well, the title of his new book, due to be released Wednesday, seems fitting to describe the life of the Emmy-winning host of The Montel Show, which at 17 years is one of the longest-running television shows currently on air.' new book details his 21-day plan for

transforming your life and health through diet and exercise, with

personal stories, expert interviews, recipes and workouts. devised the Living Well Plan

— a combination of a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and

fish, paired with frequent, moderate exercise — to help tackle the

painful symptoms of MS, an auto-immune disease affecting the central

nervous system. Q. You've released the Living Well

DVDs and penned motivational memoirs. What do you hope readers will

take away from this book that they haven't from your other productions? A. This

is my seventh book. Every single one of my books has been different.

This book is about how to transform your life. The DVD series, which I

released a year ago, brought together six of the top life coaches from

around the world. What I wanted to do was motivate people to make a

change in their life. The past 2 1/2 years, I've been guinea-pigging

myself with a certain regimen to see if I could mitigate the symptoms

(of MS) and I've done just that. Q. You've

had your talk show since 1991, established the Montel MS

Foundation and the After-Care program, and supported charitable

organizations; there's no denying your altruism. What led you to your

chosen life path?A. There's not one thing. Living is made by what you earn. Success is made by what you give.Q. You're known for motivating others. What motivates you?A. What

gives me satisfaction is recognizing my work as some benefit to someone

other than myself. Everything I've done has been a way to try in one

way, shape or form, to uplift someone else. And that's what I get out

of it. I've been on the air for 17 years. Two years ago, people would

come up to me and say, "Hey, Montel, I love your show, what's up?" and

now people come up to me and say, "Montel, thanks for saving my

mother's life." Q. What do you feel has helped your show remain so successful and endure through changing times?A.

I think with us, No. 1, it's not just about entertainment, it's about

providing a service. And you can do those things and they don't have to

be mutually exclusive. And I think the public's figured that out and

that's why we're still here.Q.In

the book, you discuss your diagnosis with MS. The doctors told you to

prepare to die. You went through depressive episodes. Other than

changing your diet, what helped you get through those tough times?A.

My initial reaction with MS was just as devastating as anybody, a death

sentence. We know a little more now — that it will decrease my life

span and it's a progressive disease. There is no cure for it, and

there's nothing that can slow it down. The truth is I'm like a ticking

time bomb, and I dealt with that for a minute. Then I had to put that

into perspective. I had to deal with the fact that the disease and

medication causes depression. But what I've been so hopeful about is

that I wasn't on a journey for naught. I was reaching for things that

could make a difference, and every time I made a little difference, I

realized it made a bigger difference. So I just kept making little

differences at a time and, collectively, I've reduced the impact of my

symptoms directly through diet. Now rather than look at my disease as

"Oh, woe is me" I look at it with hope knowing "Oh well. I can impact

this no matter what." Q. So what's some of the best life advice you've been given?A. Unfortunately,

I haven't gotten a lot of great life advice from a lot of people. I

think the best advice I've gotten, and I hate to sound pompous, is the

advice I keep giving to myself every day. When I wake up in the

morning, I ask, "What did I do yesterday that's worthy of talking about

today?" Before I go to sleep at night, I ask, "What did I do today

that's worth talking about tomorrow?" And when I answer those things,

that's what sets the tone for the entire day. We're constantly looking

back at ourselves and trying to figure out what we did wrong, but very

seldom do we look back on what we did right. Q. You recently (Oct. 6) tied the knot. How is newlywed life treating you, and how has your wife helped you cope with the disease?A. She's

been an integral part of my disease since we met. She wasn't afraid of

it and embraced all aspects of it. Embraced it in that I have symptoms.

I walk funny. I don't sleep right. A lot of strange things that I do,

most people don't do. I take three needles a day. She deals with all

those things and is extremely supportive. Q. There is an obesity issue plaguing Americans today. How do you think this book or you, yourself, will help combat the problem? A. We

look at obesity from a vanity standpoint. I'm trying to look at our

weight from a health standpoint. We use the term "obesity" to discuss

health. That's also the reason we have shows — to make a spectacle of

size. But the truth is, 80 percent of Americans are not morbidly obese.

But 60 percent of that 80 percent are clinically obese. Our government

has put out studies in the last year that all confirm: Look, you can

wait around and die or you can start being proactive about living. It's

that simple. I can make a choice to sit around this weekend and eat

nothing but slop and feel miserable this whole week or I can eat

correctly and feel better.

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