Dr. Julian Whitaker is the author of 13 books on topics such as weight loss and diabetes, and he also runs the Whitaker Wellness Institute in Newport Beach, California. Dr. Whitaker talks to Dr. Oz about using integrative approaches to medical care and shares his suggestions about ways to be and stay healthy.

Dr. Whitaker says he opened the doors of the Whitaker Wellness Institute more than 25 years ago, treating people with all types of diseases through lifestyle changes and the best of conventional and alternative therapies. "We bring people in and we address their lifestyle, we address their nutritional supplements," he says. While Dr. Whitaker says he has been successful in treating people with natural therapies, he says the medical industry has fought him. "The general business of medicine is to keep it pharmaceutical, hospital-based, high-tech and surgery," he says. "If you use natural therapies and people begin to get better and begin falling out of the general realm, you can generate a lot of animosity. It is economic."

Despite the opposition, Dr. Whitaker says he has treated more than 35,000 patients. Dr. Whitaker says the best way to avoid health problems altogether is to adopt a healthy lifestyle. He shares some tips that he says can help people stay healthy and well:

• Stop eating so many carbohydrates. "Knock out the starch, don't eat bread, don't eat sugar desserts and don't eat sugar foods," Dr. Whitaker says.
• Watch your fat intake. Consume primarily unsaturated fats and reduce saturated and trans fats in your diet, Dr. Whitaker says. You should also increase your intake of omega-3 fatty acids.
• Lose weight and exercise. Dr. Whitaker says it's important to make a written commitment to yourself about how much and how often you will exercise. If you break the contract, he says you must set up consequences for yourself.
• Take a multivitamin. Dr. Whitaker says the vitamin should include vitamins C, E, A and B6, as well as trace minerals and antioxidants. He also says that you should take 10 capsules of fish oil every day to achieve the optimal amount of omega-3 fatty acid. "I think nutritional supplements are the greatest medical breakthrough of the last century," he says.