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Since 1996, while helping many individuals, bodybuilders, amateur athletes and professional athletes with their nutrition programmes, one common trend I kept noticing was the relationship between stress/depression and binge eating. Put simply, when these people were stressed or depressed, they ate and drank. Food (chocolates, potato chips, sweets etc) and alcohol were almost like an addictive drug. For some, these binge sessions were completely out of character;while for others, they didn't even enjoy the foods they binged on.

In 2003, I consulted my father, James K J Kang, my mentor in life, about a solution to help my clients comply with their food programmes. He suggested a relaxation technique that he has been practising and teaching for over 40 years - Traditional Chinese Meditation, otherwise known as Chi Kung (literally translated, The Work of Chi). Although my father had been advising me to learn meditation ever since I was 15 years old, I was never interested (I hope the readers of this book don't make the same mistake!).

His advice to me was to encourage my clients to meditate as a way of helping them relax and hence reduce stress and combat depression. But there was one catch, I had to learn and practise meditation for an unspecified period myself until, in his opinion, I was ready to teach. I agreed, and two years later here I am writing the foreword to his book. Traditional Chinese martial arts, stretching and meditation were all taught in a person-to-person manner, and the ancient manuscripts were written by Chinese scholars in a way that even a person fluent in the Chinese language may not understand. Consequently, they have to be translated into common Chinese words and that translation process requires specialised training.

This book contains the essence of my father's meditation techniques derived from information that was passed on to him by his meditation masters (of which there were many!). Some of this information comes via recorded history, and some via myths and stories that were passed on by master to student from generation to generation. I can confirm their authenticity from my own research. Over the past two years, I have benefited greatly from the practice of meditation. I am now able to keep better control over my emotions, enjoy high energy levels without stimulants (such as caffeine), sleep better and experience a clearer mind in general. In fact, I would go so far as to say that my life would be of lesser quality and productivity without my daily meditation session upon waking (and sometimes before bed).

After reading this book, I hope you also will benefit as much as I have from learning, practising and teaching meditation yourself. Yours in meditation, Wetex Kang B Pharm (Hons) MPS Author of NZ Low Carb Lifestyle The most comprehensive guide to following a low carbohydrate lifestyle in New Zealand