Health Insider Reveals the 5 Hidden Secrets Your Doctor Prays You'll Never Find Out About

8/9/2019 Health Insider Reveals the 5 Hidden Secrets Your Doctor Prays You'll Never Find Out About

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Health Insider Reveals the 5 Hidden

Secrets Your Doctor Prays YoullNever Find Out AboutJed Diamond, Ph.D. has been a health-care professional for the last 45 years.He is the author of 8 books, including Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places,Male Menopause, The Irritable Male Syndrome, and Mr. Mean: Saving YourRelationship from the Irritable Male Syndrome. He offers counseling to men,women, and couples in his office in California or by phone with people throughoutthe U.S. and around the world. To receive a Free E-book on Mens Health and afree subscription to Jeds e-newsletter go to www.MenAlive.com.

In 1965 I graduated from U.C. Santa Barbara and began medical training inNorthern California at U.C. San Francisco Medical School. I was young,idealistic and wanted to heal the world. After the first semester I dropped outwell, at least I tried to drop out. Before they would let me leave I had to see apsychiatrist.

Then, as now, it wasnt easy to get into medical school and I had a 4 year, fulltuition fellowship which was even more difficult to obtain. Clearly you had to becrazy to throw that away and walk out. But thats what I did. In the largerscheme of things, being a doctor wasnt right for me (though my family was surethat having a docta in the house would be good for everyone), but two incidentsturned my head around.

The first occurred just before classes began. All the new medical studentswho were on scholarship, presumably the cream of the crop, were invited to havedinner at the home of one of the top doctors at the school. I had envisioned anintimate gathering at the doctors apartment in San Francisco. All us bright-eyednew students discussing health issues of the day while we drank beers andwatched the sun set over San Francisco.

But where we were taken was to an estate in Marin County across the bayfrom San Francisco. We were wined and dined and clearly the message wasjoin the team, follow the rules, and this will be yours in a few years. Well, Imsure the message got through to most and many Im sure liked what they werereceiving.

I, on the other hand, was beginning to become disillusioned--really a goodthing, since giving up my illusions about medicine was an important step in my
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education. As the only son of socially progressive parents, I distrusted thosewho were in the helping professions but so obviously were wedded to makingmoney and building monuments to their success.

The second blow to my view of medicine came after one of our major exams.

I still remember the test. We were supposed to look through our microscopesand identify different tissue samples. It all looked like chopped liver to me, but Ihad studied hard and passed the test. I learned there was a make up exam forthose who failed. These students were allowed to do the test over after they hadlearned the correct answer.

I was shocked. Thats not fair, I told one of my friends. He explained thatthere were two kinds of medical schools. One kind took in a lot more studentsthan they had room for, then flunked out a group of them after the first semester.A type of trial by fire, I guess. The other kind screened their students carefullyand then went out of their way to keep all those who were selected. I never knew

about these different philosophies of education.

I had a rather rigid view of right and wrong and it seemed wrong to letsomeone who would have other peoples lives in his hands (there werent manywomen in medical school back then) slide by so easily. I decided medical schoolwasnt for me, saw the psychiatrist, dropped out, and enrolled at U.C. BerkeleySchool of Social Welfare.

What I Learned in Medical School

Although I didnt stay long in medical school I did learn the foundational roots

of modern western medicine including the following:

1. Focuses on treating disease, not preventing it.2. Relies heavily on surgery, pharmaceuticals, and over-the-counter drugs.3. Uses lots of high tech machines and tests.4. Looks at separate organs and systems, not the whole person.5. Separates mind from body.6. Teaches little about nutrition and exercise.7. Costs a lot of money for the results it delivers.8. Has a hidden code of conduct that benefits insiders.

Become a Community Organizer or a Shrink.

Berkeley was my kind of place in 1965. I was 21 years old, already a medicalschool dropout, which had a certain cachet, and ready to save the worldagain.The Vietnam war was revving up and I wasnt sure which side I should be on. Itwas confusing. My parents clearly were opposed to the war. But they wereopposed to all wars. I was clearly my parents child, which meant I needed to


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rebel. I had dropped out of medical school against their wishes. And it seemedonly right that if they were against the war, I should be in favor.

I decided the best way to resolve my dilemma was to find someone to teachme all the reasons we should be fighting there and someone else who could

teach me all the reasons we should notbe fighting there. It didnt take long forme to be clear that opposing the war was the right thing to do, even if it didcoincide with what my parents believed.

Graduate School was an interesting time for me. There were two main areasof study for those of us who wanted to be health care professionals. We couldbecome community organizers or we could become psychotherapists. Iwanted to be a community organizer, but after participating in an anti-wardemonstration I knew I couldnt do it.

When the police began pounding us with clubs because we didnt disperse

quickly enough, I flew into a rage. I knew if I could have gotten a hold of apoliceman I was angry enough to kill him. My feels scared me. I remembered abutton I had seen recently. It said: Support mental health or Ill kill you.

I decided Id better learn everything I could about my psyche, if I was going tobe any use to helping others. I graduated in 1968 and became a psychotherapistwho is trying to get his head together so he can organize.

Like most people Ive learned a lot more about health and healing since I leftschool. A lot has changed over the years and there are things I believe you needto know that your doctor is not likely to tell you. Here are a few of the things I

have found to be most important. They wont cure all your problems and thereis

a place for modern medicine in treating disease. There is scientific evidence toshow that the following techniques can be extremely helpful. But youre not likelyto hear about them from your doctor.

1. Learn to breath.

Stress is one of the major causes of illness today. And we dont needexpensive drugs or psychotherapy to combat it. According to Andrew Weil, M.D.,a world-wide expert on integrative medicine, and author of many books including,Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future,this is an example of an extremely low tech, free and simple technique that isspectacularly effective.

This breathing exercise is utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires nospecial equipment, and can be done anywhere. How many doctors are going totell you about this? Heres what doctor Weil tells us about how to do it.


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Although you can do the exercise in any position, sit with your back straightwhile learning the exercise. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge oftissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entireexercise. You will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue; trypursing your lips slightly if this seems awkward.

Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count

of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a

count of eight. This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more

times for a total of four breaths.

Note that you always inhale quietly through your nose and exhale audibly

through your mouth. The tip of your tongue stays in position the whole time.Exhalation takes twice as long as inhalation. The absolute time you spend oneach phase is not important; the ratio of 4:7:8 is important. If you have troubleholding your breath, speed the exercise up but keep to the ratio of 4:7:8 for thethree phases. With practice you can slow it all down and begin inhaling andexhaling more and more deeply.

Since stress is with us every day, you should do this exercise everyday. Tryit. Youll like it. I promise.

2. Learn to walk.

What we call depression has likely been around before recorded history andhas been recognized for thousands of years. Hippocrates, the Greek physicianwho was regarded as the father of medicine, was well aware of the disease ofdepression and called it melancholia. Data developed by the Global Burden ofDisease study conducted by the World Health Organization shows thatdepression is the leading cause of disability worldwide among persons age fiveand older.

If you see a doctor for symptoms of depression, they are likely to suggest ananti-depressant drug or some kind of talk therapy. What they wont tell you isthat there is a simple, yet effect way to treat depression. Its called walking. Inhis book, Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and CreateEmotional Well-Being, Thom Hartmann says, Our bodies heal rapidly fromillness, injury, or wound. Yet our minds and hearts often suffer for years withdebilitating symptoms if distress or upset. Why is it so hard for our minds andhearts to heal? One simple key to healing them can be just a short walk away.


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Simple walking is the original bilateral therapy. That is, it allows us tobalance both the left and right sides of our brains. Anxiety, anger, anddepression have been with us throughout human history. But it has only been inrecent time that rates of emotional illness have skyrocketed. Throughout most ofhuman history, we walked every day. Now, most people rarely walk any

distance. Could walking help treat mental illness (as well as obesity)? Hartmannthinks it can and has the evidence to prove it.

Heres how it works. Normally the brain converts our daily experiences intolong-term memories. However, a traumatic experience can get stuck in thebrain, unable to be stored as memory and persisting in the brain as if it werestill a present-time event.

When we walk, which engages both sides of the body, we simultaneouslyactivate both the left and right sides of the brain. This allows the brains twohemispheres to join forces to break up brain patterning and allow the sufferer to

release these distressesfrom extreme but brief upsets to chronic conditionssuch as pot-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

To achieve these results, Hartmann shows how we must learn to walkconsciously, holding an awareness of the distress (or desire we hope to attain) inmind as we move. This deceptively simple exercise actually works. Many haveused it to restore mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being as well as rejuvenateour bodys health.

3. Learn to eat.

"Let Food Be Your Medicine and Medicine Be Your Food. These words ofwisdom are attributed to Hippocrates, the father of medicine 2500 years ago.Think for minute how profound these words are. Modern science now confirmsthat eating right can prevent and cure most diseases. We dont need all thedrugs being touted by the pharmaceutical industry. And we dont need theunhealthy, high calorie, refined foods which are pushed on the public by thegovernment/corporate food complex.


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According to Walter C. Willett, M.D., chairman of the Department of Nutritionat the Harvard School of Public Health, the USDA guidelinesthe famous foodpyramidis not only wrong but also dangerous. After I left medical school Ilearned how much the official government guidelines on health are influenced by

big business, including the meat and dairy industries. Heres the HarvardHealthy Eating Pyramid:

1. Start with exercise. A healthy diet is built on a base of regularexercise, which keepscalories in balance and weight in check. Read five quicktips for staying active and

getting to your healthy weight, and a dozen ideas forfitting exercise into your life.

2. Focus on food, not grams. The Healthy Eating Pyramid doesnt worry about specificservings or grams of food, so neither should you. Its a simple, general guide to how you

should eat when you eat.

3. Go with plants. Eating a plant-based diet is healthiest. Choose plenty ofvegetables,

fruits, whole grains, andhealthy fats, like olive and canola oil. Check out these delicioushealthy recipesthat bring the Healthy Eating Pyramid into your kitchen.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/staying-active/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/staying-active/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/staying-active/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/staying-active/staying-active-full-story/index.html#bottom-linehttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid-full-story/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/health-gains-from-whole-grains/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/recipes/home-cooking/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/recipes/home-cooking/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/recipes/home-cooking/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/staying-active/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/staying-active/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/staying-active/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/staying-active/staying-active-full-story/index.html#bottom-linehttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid-full-story/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-and-fruits/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/health-gains-from-whole-grains/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/recipes/home-cooking/index.htmlhttp://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/recipes/home-cooking/index.html


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4. Cut way back on American staples.Red meat, refined grains,potatoes, sugary

drinks, and salty snacks are part of American culture, but theyre also really unhealthy.

Go for a plant-based diet rich in non-starchy vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. And ifyou eat meat, fish and poultry are the best choices.

5. Take a multivitamin, and maybe have a drink. Taking a multivitamin can be a goodnutrition insurance policy. Moderate drinking for many people can have real health

benefits, but it's not for everyone. Those who dont drink shouldnt feel that they need tostart. Read aboutbalancing alcohol's risks and benefits.

4. Learn to give hugs not drugs.

There is no single effort more radical in its potential for saving the world thana transformation of the way we raise our children. --Marianne Williamson

According to John Robbins, author ofReclaiming Our Health: Exploding the

Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing, 3 to 5 percent ofAmerican school children take a mind-and behavior-altering prescription drugcalled Ritalin. They do so because they have been diagnosed as having adisease, called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

The assumption is that these children have a brain dysfunction or disease.Yet doctors prescribing Ritalin, and other related drugs, rarely, if ever, performneurological tests. Instead they take the word of parents or teachers, whose

judgments are invariably subjective.

And which kids are put on Ritalin? Most are boys. These boys are

hyperactive, disruptive, and angry. But do they really have a brain disease orare they reacting to a school and home environment that doesnt understand theneed for males to roughhouse and play active games? As Robbins points out,Many are simply children who have a strong sense of their own inner rhythmsand timing. These youngsters are often frustrated in authoritarian situations, andconforming to the rules of a classroom or of autocratic parents can be difficult forthem.

Many of these kids are eating junk food or foods laced with additives, whichcontributes to their excitability. In 1985, Lancetpublished the most convincingevidence of the relationship between certain foods and hyperactivity. In an

extremely well designed study, 79 percent of hyperactive children improved whensuspect foods were eliminated from their diets, only to become worse againwhen the foods were reintroduced. Artificial colorings and flavorings were themost serious culprits. Sugar was also found to have a noticeable effect.

What would happen, Robbins concludes, if instead of cozying up to the junkfood industry, our medical authorities stood up and demanded that our children
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be fed a healthy, natural, and uncontaminated diet? Our children might have abetter chance to grow up calm and clear.

My own research indicates that children (and adults) need loving touch andemotional support throughout their lives. Studies show that male children dont

get held as much or as often as female children. Further, male children aretreated more roughly and are forced to be big boys and not to cry when theyare hurt.

We could go a long way to creating healthy and happy human beings if westarted early and treated our children, particularly our sons, with more lovinghugs and fewer mind-altering drugs.

5. Learn to balance your hormones.

Nothing in the universe exceeds the power of your hormones, says Abraham

H. Kryger, M.D., author ofA doctors guide to Sex, Love, and Long Life. Fromthe instant you were conceived, your hormones have been driving your body andinfluencing your every thought. Without hormones you would never feel alonging for sex or a thousand other desires, and life, as we know it, could notexist.

Even if most people are not aware of the importance of hormones in ourlives, women have learned about the profound changes that occur when theyapproach the menopause years. However, until I wrote my book MaleMenopause in 1997 much less attention had been focused on the changes thatoccur in men.

I reported on a survey conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide. They askedmore than one thousand adult men in the U.S. to discuss their knowledge oftestosterone and hormone replacement therapy. The survey showed that 68percent of men cannot cane a single symptom or condition associated with lowtestosterone. Only 15 percent cited a decreased sexual drive, 6 percent namedfatigue, and 3 percent cited a decrease in lean muscle mass as symptomsassociated with low testosterone. Less than one percent linked low testosteronelevels to a loss of bone density.

Ive found that things havent improved a great deal since then. Although theadvent of drugs such as Viagra have focused more attention on sexuality andmid-life sexual dysfunction, there is still little focus on hormones and theirimportance for men and women as we age. This is a real tragedy since thepopulation continues to age and our ignorance about hormonal changes causesmen and women over 40 needless miseries.

In my over 20 years of caring for patients and conducting clinical research inreproductive endocrinology, says Nancy Cetel, M.D., author ofDouble


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Menopause: What to do when both you and your mate go through hormonalchanges together, I continue to observe and respect the undeniable linkbetween hormones and midlife dynamics. Doctor Cetel recognizes the criticalimportance of keeping our hormones balanced. As a gynecologist andreproductive endocrinologist, I believe that hormones make the world go round.

And when they are out of whack, so, too, is our personal world.

There is help for the millions of men and women going through the changeof life, but you arent likely to hear about it from your family doctor. You have todig to find experts who understand whats out of whack with our hormones andwhat to do about it. One such expert is Travis Deuson, M.D. of BodyLogicMD inEncino, California.

Here are Dr. Deusons suggestions of how we should choose a doctor who istruly expert in dealing with hormonal issues. Look for a doctor who is certifiedand specializes in hormonal balance using bioidentical hormones, he says. He

also recommends a doctor who takes An integrated approach that includesnutrition, exercise, healthy lifestyle choices and hormonal balance. Heconcludes that The synergy created by eating right, exercising, limiting stressand balancing hormones leads to amazing improvements in vitality, energy,appearance and wellbeing. I couldnt agree more.

Conclusion:

Ive used all these low tech approaches and have found them very helpful.This doesnt mean I have turned by back on traditional western medicine--Farfrom it. A few years ago I was walking in back of my house and felt a sharp pain

in my leg. I didnt think much of it at the time, but later that evening it was stillhurting. My intuition told me something wasnt right.

I went to see my doctor. Shes a small-town doctor who takes time to listen toher patients. After talking to me, she decided to do an ultra-sound on the leg.Turned out I had a blood clot and I might have died had I not come in. I wastaken by ambulance to a hospital where specialists operated on me, removed theclot and found that I had a rare blood clotting disease that no one was aware Ihad.

I thank my lucky stars that we have all the high tech devises, drugs, andmachines for those once in a life-time emergencies. But for most of my healthcare needs, Im glad I know about hormones and hugs, eating, walking, andbreathing.

For more information about my work you can visit my website atwww.MenAlive.com.
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Health Insider Reveals the 5 Hidden Secrets Your Doctor Prays You'll Never Find Out About