Our Hypnotist and nutritionist, Jeffrey Rose interviews Dr. James Gordon by first asking him about his Center for Mind-Body Medicine, which he explains teaches people about self-care and self-awareness. His organization teaches local health care people how to employ relaxation, meditation, guided imagery, and movement and dance to help people in their community to deal with high levels of stress from their current situations. We learn that there are many forms of meditation and he wants to find which ones are most efficacious for each individual. There are three basic forms of meditation: concentrative, mindfulness, and finally expressive, which is done with the body and can include dancing, chanting, and even whirling as is done in some cultures.

Jeffrey Rose and Dr. Gordon discuss what some have called the “Nature Deficiency Disease,” and that being cut off from nature is unhealthy, while reintroducing more nature experiences can have both mental and physical positive effects for the individual. Dr. Gordon points out that we ourselves are part of nature and not separate from it. Nature, for him, is about beauty and connectedness and it teaches us about the rhythm of life. Dr Gordon calls lack of being outside in nature a Nature Deficiency Disease or NDD. He says we are part of nature ourselves and tend to lose our true selves if we get disconnected from Nature.

Dr. Gordon feels that the medical establishment is slowly developing a better appreciation for the value of various forms of meditation for the well-being of their patients. He points out that meditation comes from the same sanskrit root as the word for medicine and should be taught as part of the curriculum for all health professionals such as medical work students, nursing students and social work students. Jeffrey asks him about his new book Unstuck,Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression. Dr. Gordon describes it as a guide to help people understand depression and help themselves. Becoming well is an heroic journey along which Dr. Gordon wishes to guide them.

Then he talks to psychiatrist Hyla Cass. She has a book which includes a model for a very extensive questionnaire to uncover the physiological basis of many presenting psychological symptoms. She believes that the often brief interviews that the patient has with their doctor does not work for guiding people to improve their life and resolve their issues. This is because the outcome of such an interview many times is that they are just given a prescription to deal with their presenting psychological symptoms rather than correcting the situation that is generating those symptoms. She believes that without having a prescription written for the mental symptom, they can do things to correct imbalances and improve their own physiological health so that the psychological symptom is no longer an issue. Today, psychiatrists are not interviewing their clients thoroughly and uncovering the physiological roots of many of their presenting negative psychological symptoms. For example, it may not be a psychologically based problem, but an iron-deficiency anemia or B12 deficiency, or a low thyroid which can leave you feeling really depressed and low energy. Meanwhile your practitioner may just write a prescription for depression.
Whereas he should be looking at all your hormones and your adrenals. Her book 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health explains all of this, and how you can change your diet and add supplements yourself to deal with any of these problems.

Jeffrey notes that he encourages his clients to take Omega-3 supplements which have been proven, among other things, to promote mental health. They both agree that exercise can be equivalent to taking anti-depressant prescription drugs. She points out that anti-depressant drugs have many negative side effects, while Omega-3 supplements have many additional, positive effects for the individuals. In addition, the body responds to good quality food and water and plentiful sleep as opposed to the negative side effect of using drugs to treat symptoms. Then they discuss her book: The Addicted Brain and How To Break Free in which she explains how you can use food and certain supplements to facilitate withdrawing from drugs, which also includes prescribed habit-forming drugs. She uses amino acids and fish oil to ease individuals out of their addiction, and unfortunately many addiction centers are just prescribing other prescription drugs. You can find out more at her website: cassmd.com

Jeffrey is then seen discussing the importance of Omega-3s from fish for brain development with the people from VitalChoice a company that sells wild Alaskan Seafood that has been carefully tested for purity.

Jeffrey then talks with Dr. Kenneth Bock, the author of Healing The New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma And Allergies. Dr. Bock thinks the cause is genetic susceptibility coupled with worsening negative, toxic environmental factors. It cannot be explained away by better diagnosis techniques. For him the increase in these diseases are real. He has a center in Duchess County called Bock Integrative Medicine, where he helps children and parents deal with ADHD. He loves to see the parents do better too, as they realize the importance of making good food choices and seeking out high quality, efficacious supplements in their own lives. Two of the most important for him are Omega-3 fish oil and Probiotics.

Jeffrey notes that children with proper nutrition, including low sugar, organic food, Omega-3s, sufficient sleep, and adequate exercise will be better able to escape ADHD. Dr. Bock points out that research is showing that it is not just heavy metals, but pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that are contributing to the present high level of ADHD among the child population. He says that medical professionals and parents are more likely today to heed the advice to avoid artificial colors and flavors, and preservatives in their food choices. This is because irrefutable studies have now shown a strong connection between adverse health and consuming these harmful substances. Dr. Bock is excited about continuing to educate people to get health-promoting, quality food in their life, and to encourage them to seek out higher quality, more efficacious supplements.