I am hardly a doctor basher. Last I checked, I was a cardiologist actively involved in seeing hundreds of patients a month. In the next few months I am lecturing at several medical meetings sponsored by University faculty and hold the position of professor at 3 universities myself. But… it is no exaggeration to say that in general conventional medicine is slow to adapt new ideas and platforms. While I could pick many aspects of practice that are due for an overhaul, I want to focus on 3 that come to mind that need to be flushed from medical jargon.
1. “Moderation in everything is the key”
This is simply wrong. My advice for patients is “extreme in diet, moderate in fitness, abundant in love”. Why do I say that? Although I wont go into detail about fitness, there is abundant research in the last few years that extreme exercise, like repeated marathons or triathalons, may acutally increase the risk of heart diseases. The current mantra is exercise is like a medication and the dose matters. More central is the issue of nutrition. Simply put, medical societies have failed to address the critical connection between diet and the origin and reversal of chronic diseases. For example, years ago Dr. Dean Ornish compared the impact of the diet and lifestyle on blocked heart arteries. The control group was told to follow there doctors dietary recommendations and the experimental group was told to follow an “extreme”diet constituting mainly plants. At the end of 5 years, heart artery blockages became more severe in the conventional group but showed reversal in the “extreme” diet! Other examples of “extreme” diets stressing quality of foods, plant-centric approaches, and organic produce have shown reduction in cancer growth, reversal of aging, and reduced excretion of pesticides in children and adults. I advise you to be vigilant in what goes into your awesome body to maximize your health and vitality.
2. “Vitamins just make expensive urine”
Oh how doctors love to bash vitamins, or nutraceuticals if you want to impress friends. When I am at a party with doctors and it is a bit dull I just say in a loud voice, “excuse me, I have to go take my last few dozen vitamins”! Sure, there are legitimate areas of confusion but are all vitamins just window dressing to make someone rich? Hardly based on the science. For example, take Coenzyme Q10, an antioxidant and substrate to make energy in every cell in the body . Can you find CoQ10 in a hospital? Can patients or their families freely bring a bottle into the hospital to use for health? The vitamins will likely be confiscated like crack. How strange when studies show improved outcome including death when CoQ10 was studied in rigorous trials. My favorite 4 vitamins, or my Core 4, for all to consider is a probiotic to improve their gut health or microbiome, chelated magnesium to assist in over 300 enzymatic reactions, Vitamin D3, and CoQ10. Shh, I take about 20 more to assist optimal cellular health on a daily basis.
3. “A sleeping pill won’t hurt you”
At that same time that medical science has shown the importance of 7 good hours of sleep to restore our metabolism to normal overnight after a stressful day, fewer and fewer people are achieving those good 7 hours. Whether it is EMF and wifi, bright lights rich in 480 nm blue waves from our PCs, pads and phones, or jobs that hyper-connect us 24/7, nearly a majority of respondents to surveys indicate that they sleep poorly. So what is the harm in your doctor giving you a prescription for a sleeping pill (hypnotic) or stress pill (anxiolytic) to help you sleep for the rest of your life? In fact, that recommendation from your doctor may risk your very life. In a recent matched-cohort study from American clinics, a prescription for even <18 sleeping pills a year was associated with a 3-fold increased risk of death and higher doses increased the risk of dying by 5-fold. Of course, it may be that people getting those prescriptions had other reasons for poor sleep that were associated with death but we must consider the possibility of a direct relationship. In another even more recent analysis involving 100,000 subjects, a prescription for hypnotics or anxiolytics was associated with a risk of dying that was over 300% higher than those without a similar prescription.
What should you do if you are sleeping poorly? I suggest you say No Thank You to your doctor’s prescription. Make your bedroom cold and dark. Turn off your wifi and cellphone if you can. Take an Epsom salt bath and meditate for 10-20 minutes before bed. Consider adding a nighttime cocktail of chamomile tea, magnesium lotions or powders, or herbs like valerian before bed. I sleep on sheets that ground me to the earth and recommend that approach to you too.
Life has changed dramatically since Marcus Welby MD and Dr. Spock advised us on how to maintain our health. Even Dr. Spock reevaluated his advice to so many mothers late in his life and advised extreme care in dietary choices for optimal health. We live in an age where it is acceptable to question medical authority, particularly on issues about nutrition, and it is advisable to link over to www.pubmed.com and search the National Library of Medicine to seek your own information. When I went to medical school at the University of Michigan my favorite professor told me that 50% of what he was going to teach us was wrong, but he did not know which 50% it was.
1. “Moderation in everything is the key”
This is simply wrong. My advice for patients is “extreme in diet, moderate in fitness, abundant in love”. Why do I say that? Although I wont go into detail about fitness, there is abundant research in the last few years that extreme exercise, like repeated marathons or triathalons, may acutally increase the risk of heart diseases. The current mantra is exercise is like a medication and the dose matters. More central is the issue of nutrition. Simply put, medical societies have failed to address the critical connection between diet and the origin and reversal of chronic diseases. For example, years ago Dr. Dean Ornish compared the impact of the diet and lifestyle on blocked heart arteries. The control group was told to follow there doctors dietary recommendations and the experimental group was told to follow an “extreme”diet constituting mainly plants. At the end of 5 years, heart artery blockages became more severe in the conventional group but showed reversal in the “extreme” diet! Other examples of “extreme” diets stressing quality of foods, plant-centric approaches, and organic produce have shown reduction in cancer growth, reversal of aging, and reduced excretion of pesticides in children and adults. I advise you to be vigilant in what goes into your awesome body to maximize your health and vitality. indicate that they sleep poorly. So what is the harm in your doctor giving you a prescription for a sleeping pill (hypnotic) or stress pill (anxiolytic) to help you sleep for the rest of your life? In fact, that recommendation from your doctor may risk your very life. In a recent matched-cohort study from American clinics, a prescription for even <18 sleeping pills a year was associated with a 3-fold increased risk of death and higher doses increased the risk of dying by 5-fold. Of course, it may be that people getting those prescriptions had other reasons for poor sleep that were associated with death but we must consider the possibility of a direct relationship. In another even more recent analysis involving 100,000 subjects, a prescription for hypnotics or anxiolytics was associated with a risk of dying that was over 300% higher than those without a similar prescription.
What should you do if you are sleeping poorly? I suggest you say No Thank You to your doctor’s prescription. Make your bedroom cold and dark. Turn off your wifi and cellphone if you can. Take an Epsom salt bath and meditate for 10-20 minutes before bed. Consider adding a nighttime cocktail of chamomile tea, magnesium lotions or powders, or herbs like valerian before bed. I sleep on sheets that ground me to the earth and recommend that approach to you too.
Life has changed dramatically since Marcus Welby MD and Dr. Spock advised us on how to maintain our health. Even Dr. Spock reevaluated his advice to so many mothers late in his life and advised extreme care in dietary choices for optimal health. We live in an age where it is acceptable to question medical authority, particularly on issues about nutrition, and it is advisable to link over to www.pubmed.com and search the National Library of Medicine to seek your own information. When I went to medical school at the University of Michigan my favorite professor told me that 50% of what he was going to teach us was wrong, but he did not know which 50% it was.
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