This book was written for general, academic, and professional readers. When Poor Was Healthy challenges the conventional belief that drug medication and invasive therapies are necessary to treat chronic diseases, such as hypertension, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease that often can be prevented and reversed through simple but effective comprehensive lifestyle changes. It contends that individuals of all soc- economic levels can make modest behavioral changes to improve their health. Then it guides the reader through the process.