The Optimal CEO

In this episode, I'll talk about broccoli sprouts and a special chemical they have that has numerous health benefits. I'll also share with you a really fun lesson that I learned from trying to grow my own broccoli sprouts, and how that applies to your business and your wellness journey. Key Points Discussed:Quantity of days living longer versus quality of days (00:58)The power of broccoli sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables (02:53)Getting indole-3-carbinol from a natural source rather than from supplements (02:53)The farming blunder and what it teaches us about priorities, implementation, and focus (04:40)How our body is like a car and the spaghetti plate analogy (08:15)The self-scoring sheet to help you identify the potential causes of road hazards in your health (11:08)Additional Resources:www.BrianGBrown.comwww.BrianGBrown.com/Book--My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now!Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW--To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek--Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!--You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple: Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing why some women have high testosterone and what kind of havoc it can wreak on their system when it occurs. When it comes to testosterone levels in women, there's a lot of confusion among women, and also among health professionals. In fact, many health professionals don't quite know what to do when a woman has elevated testosterone levels. Stay tuned as I explain why that happens by focusing on polycystic ovary syndrome and diabetes.Key Points Discussed:The silent epidemic that is polycystic ovary syndrome (01:51)The kind of havoc high testosterone can wreak on the female body (03:42)The hormone dysregulation related to insulin that causes irregular periods (06:34)How well oral contraceptives work for hormone balancing (09:17)Teaching women to be self advocates for themselves (12:58)Understanding the relationship between hormones, blood sugar and insulin, and vice versa (16:50)Additional Resources:www.BrianGBrown.comwww.BrianGBrown.com/Book--My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now!Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW--To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek--Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!--You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple: Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing my experience with helping women overcome a host of hormone imbalances and mood issues with a miracle Vitamin that experts in functional medicine would arguably agree every woman needs.The levels of this magical Vitamin in women have been going down worldwide, and no one can really explain what causes it to go down, but I will tell you how to make sure your health provider is giving you the right treatment from the symptoms of low Vitamin P. Don't miss out.Key Points Discussed:The mysterious Vitamin P (01:00)Radiation type exposures and other exposures that affect women's health (02:44)The importance of healthy progesterone levels in women (05:34)The wonder drug that is progesterone and how the OBGYN community responds to it (10:15)Misinformation from the Women's Health Initiative study (14:11)The sink in the house that has never had its pipes cleaned (17:57)Feeling like a million bucks from getting the Vitamin P right (24:01)Additional Resources:www.BrianGBrown.comwww.BrianGBrown.com/Book--My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now!Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW--To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek--Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!--You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple: Podcasts!

In this episode,  I'll be talking about testosterone and debunking the four common myths about testosterone replacement therapy in men. There's been a lot of controversy about it throughout the years and the myths have been found to be perpetuated by fear and lack of understanding among patients and medical providers.Tune in as I share all the right information about men's testosterone issues so you can get the right treatment from your medical provider or avoid the dire consequences of low testosterone altogether.Key Points Discussed:Fighting misinformation with the correct information backed by studies (01:57)What is total testosterone and free testosterone? (03:12)The huge list of consequences of low testosterone (04:49)The numerous myths we hear about testosterone (07:54)Does testosterone cause strokes and heart attacks? (13:49)It's the lack of testosterone that is making you irritable (23:20)Additional Resources:www.BrianGBrown.comwww.BrianGBrown.com/Book--My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now!Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW--To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek--Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!--You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple: Podcasts!

In this episode,  I'll be sharing with you exactly what the mysterious godfather hormone is, why it's even called the godfather hormone, and many of the things that it can do to help you. This hormone is frequently overlooked even by those in functional and integrative medicine, despite being lauded as a solution to a lot of health issues.Stay tuned as I dive deeper into that to enlighten you on it's great potential in helping anyone optimize their health for the better.Key Points Discussed:The miraculous little hormone that solves a lot of issues in the human body (00:52)The health risks of having low levels of the godfather hormone (03:10)The role of natural killer cells (05:06)The more humane way of approaching the lack of knowledge about treatments (08:48)People who should stay away from Data until the right time (13:52)Additional Resources:www.BrianGBrown.comwww.BrianGBrown.com/Book--My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now!Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW--To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek--Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!--You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple: Podcasts!

In this episode,  I'll be sharing with you what you need to know about managing an undiagnosed thyroid condition that may in fact save your life. I'll dive into what really causes low thyroid, how the healthcare industry has been misdiagnosing patients with low thyroid, and the differences between natural and synthetic thyroid hormonesStay tuned to find out just how you can know if your thyroid levels are normal, and how you can get proper treatment if they are not.Key Points Discussed:Insurance companies and big pharma are to blame (00:51)Low thyroid related to cortisol being out of balance (02:46)Iron deficiency can make your thyroid not function properly (07:00)The dangers of an undiagnosed thyroid condition (10:51)Advocating for yourself being put on a natural thyroid medication (15:05)The detectives that medical providers are supposed to be (17:27)Additional Resources:www.BrianGBrown.comwww.BrianGBrown.com/Book--My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now!Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW--To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek--Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!--You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple: Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing with you how traditional medical training actually puts medical providers into certain boxes, and subsequently, puts you as the client or the health care recipient, in the boxes as well.Those boxes are actually the ones that cause you to be misdiagnosed when it comes to your thyroid conditions, and I'm going to dive into how this phenomenon may be affecting you so you can finally get the proper treatment you deserve and need.Key Points Discussed:The medical training of not thinking outside the box (01:05)The problems caused by untreated low thyroid (06:23)The lack of interpretive knowledge among medical providers (12:55)Missed diagnosis from poor processes of taking patient history (17:00)Functional, integrative, or naturopathic medicine can really help you with your thyroid type issues (22:35)Additional Resources:www.BrianGBrown.comwww.BrianGBrown.com/Book--My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now!Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW--To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek--Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!--You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be giving you an update on my upcoming book that's going to be out in about three months. I've been getting a lot of questions about it lately, and I want to do an update just to kind of let everybody know where we are.Tune in as I also start to kind of go through some of the framework of the book to let you know what to expect when the book comes out.Key Points Discussed:The boxes we live in and life outside of them (02:48)The “Inside the Box” health issues that are dealt with today (04:50)Increased interest in functional and integrative medicine (08:03)The things that hijack your happiness in midlife (12:18)--My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now!Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW--To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek--Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!--You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be telling you about some new emerging information about a little known group of compounds that hands down will probably be the future of medicine, easily making brain fog a thing of the past. Tune in and keep an open mind because a lot of this stuff is new, but I'm cautious to be an early adopter as I adopt them personally before I test them out on clients. For the past year, I have been using it on myself (and a few close medical practioner friends) in an experimentation mode. I really believe these compounds will help people feel better and have a better quality of life outside of just simply doing diet modification, lifestyle modification, and hormone replacement therapy, but I want to make sure I have some personal experience with them since the data available for other studies is somewhat limited. Key Points Discussed: The Lego blocks similarity (01:45) The natural emerging treatment compounds (04:16) The plaques that form in the brain (10:07) Getting people off addiction to anxiety medication using a peptide (13:54) The nasal spray that enhances cognitive function and improves energy (17:07) The power of proper sleep, diet and hydration (21:45) A proven eight fold improvement in work capacity (25:23) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be talking about how hormone imbalances could be contributing to your brain fog, disrupting your productivity, knocking you out of peak performance, and affecting your bottom line. If you're a high achiever but there's a mysterious gap between where you are and where you want to be, some days you feel like your energy is zapped, some days you may or may not feel like your motivation and zeal for life and work are gone, and you may feel like you can just fall asleep if you sit more than five minutes undisturbed, then this episode is for you. Key Points Discussed: The forbidden words your primary care provider shouldn't tell you (02:50) Getting empowered with the right information (04:20) Does replacing hormones treat brain fog? (06:35) Healthier testosterone levels equals better performance (09:36) The impact of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (13:33) Customized wellness plans to take you from great to extraordinary (18:11) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be talking about thyroid issues and why they may be your biggest challenge when it comes to overcoming brain fog. I'll tell you why your medical provider unknowingly ignores its impact on your body and overall health, and is unable to make the proper diagnosis in the first place, which leaves you untreated. Stay tuned as I unravel this medical mystery, so you can finally get the treatment you so direly need to get rid of that brain fog. Key Points Discussed: The mysterious thyroid hormone (01:03) The corruption behind the makers of Synthroid (03:17) There's a lot of people out there with untreated low thyroid (08:16) Find a medical professional who really understands thyroid management (13:33) Getting your mojo back (17:32) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing with you how a little known hormone, in the supplement world, may in fact be one of the best-kept secrets around. It's a powerhouse of wellness goodness that can help you eliminate brain fog, among a host of other things. So stay tuned as I reveal this tiny little hormone's secrets. Key Points Discussed: 99% of health professionals don't know this little powerhouse hormone (00:59) Living in a litigious society that hinders proper healthcare (04:21) Uses and potential side effects of DHEA (07:33) The brain's amazing ability to change and adapt to almost (15:31) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing with you how Vitamin D3 may very well be one of the easiest hacks to help you eliminate brain fog. Most people don't realize that Vitamin D is not a vitamin at all, but a hormone. It's responsible for hundreds of metabolic processes within our bodies, and inside and outside our cells. I'm going to take a broader approach to this and tell you why Vitamin D3 is important to your general health, including in getting rid of brain fog, so stay tuned to learn more. Key Points Discussed: The genetic impact that vitamin D3 has on the body (02:03) The most misunderstood and overlooked laboratory result (04:51) Vitamin D3 levels and cardiovascular risk (10:36) Vitamin D deficiency causes a faster rate of cognitive decline, studies show (17:17) The best source of Vitamin D3 (21:38) Getting rid of that nagging voice inside your head (24:14) Additional Resources: Find my Recommended Sources of Vitamin D Here -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be doing the introductory episode into the brain fog buster series and sharing the foundational secrets to getting rid of brain fog to help you get back your health. Brain fog is one of the most popular complaints I hear from patients and it's characterized by memory problems, lack of mental clarity, poor concentration, poor focus, poor attention. It plagues almost everyone at some point, especially as we age, usually starting around the age 30, and getting worse as time passes. It's pretty sneaky and in some cases challenging to get rid of. Listen in today as I start unraveling this mystery and listen all the way to the end because I have a very special announcement for you. Key Points Discussed: Possible causes of brain fog (01:18) Putting a bandaid on a gaping wound that requires stitches (03:37) Getting a good handle on sleep (04:56) Using stainless steel containers instead of plastic ones (09:44) The journey of pursuing perfection (14:10) Peptides and their contribution to overall health and wellness (17:01) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing with you how focusing on the flies in your wellness care can hurt you. Choosing whether or not to focus on the fly refers to using the right diagnosis process that will lead to an effective solution to your health issue. To explain that to you further, I'll use an example from my photo safari in the Maasai Mara, and trust me, it's going to be very insightful, so stay tuned. Key Points Discussed: The flies on the lion's face (02:52) A person's wellness is like a picture (05:34) Partnering with a provider who will focus on the fly from a micro standpoint (08:09) Human beings don't need a cookie cutter approach (11:00) It's all about individualized care (15:03) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing with you how starting with the wrong picture of your health can set you up for failure and how choosing the right picture can set you up for success. Medical providers often get an incomplete picture of where their patients want to go healthwise and they make clinical decisions based on incomplete information. In order to have all the pieces to the puzzle that is your health, you need to have the right picture of your vision for your health, and I will teach you where to start so you can approach a provider who has what it takes to figure out how to permanently help you out of your health issue. Key Points Discussed: The real picture of health (01:02) The Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) conundrum (01:51) Its begins with proper history (04:04) Getting down to the pixel and granulated level (07:37) Getting on the path to success and feeling better (09:52) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing with you how to choose the right medical provider so you can get the right treatment that will actually leave you feeling better and healed from exactly what ails you. Finding the right medical provider in our very challenging medical system can be a daunting task, but the right providers are there, and by the end of this episode, I'll have shared how you can identify them. Key Points Discussed: Our broken and challenging medical system (00:55) The repercussions of rubber stamp treatments (01:48) Finding a provider with the right passion (03:50) Providers' zeal unwillingly traded for frustration and fatigue (05:40) Getting the right provider with the right lens (08:36) The long exposure will leave you feeling better (11:34) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing with you that one of the biggest struggles you have with achieving consistent world changing impact with your business, is too little adaptive reserve. And once you get that straightened out, you can 10X your peak flow state, that allows you to achieve maximum world changing impact. So stay tuned to find out how. Key Points Discussed: The answer that is adaptive reserve (02:09) Our bodies need multiple reservoirs of resources to function daily (04:16) The right personal mindset (06:38) Wanting to be in peak flow (09:28) The right provider must have the right passion, lens and length of exposure (11:17) Moving from balanced state to peak performance state (19:04) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be pulling back the curtain on the diet Industry and sharing with you how they are fleecing you with their “programs”, and causing you to have worse health, not better health, and potentially putting your life at risk. If you've ever been told to count points, you won't want to miss this episode. So stay tuned to find out how you can arm yourself with the correct knowledge and get the help you need with your health. Key Points Discussed: The treatments that leave you nutritionally depleted and struggling with health (01:15) The diet industry is all about the quick buck (04:02) Counting points will have a disastrous effect on your health (05:40) Changing our mindset about weight loss: Focusing on body composition (10:37) All calories are not created equal (14:10) Using the clothesometer technique (16:56) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll be sharing with you the number one sneakiest reason why your low energy isn't happening solely because of being overweight, and how this sneaky little thing may actually be causing your weight gain and your fatigue. Listen in to find out how you can tackle this commonly missed, but easily treatable problem so you can restore your energy and start losing weight. Key Points Discussed: Low energy is actually a symptom (01:24) Your weight is not to blame for your energy issues (03:46) Each case of weight gain and low energy is unique (05:47) Insulin resistance is the culprit (07:07) We need to eat more vegetables and organic protein (12:02) Helping CEO entrepreneurs perform at the top of their game (15:41) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll share the insider secret of the medical community that leaves you high and dry without answers for why you feel bad. Statistics show that 92% of the time, people walk out of medical offices with an antidepressant prescription, whether they want it or not, thereby denying them the answers and treatment they deserve. I'll share with you the three things you can do to work around this problem so you can always approach your medical provider armed with the right information. Key Points Discussed: Psychiatry is the catchall for “We can't figure it out” (03:27) Rubber stamp treatment never turns out well (05:33) Type 2 diabetes can be picked up 5, 10, or 15 years ahead of time (07:30) Discovering functional and integrative medicine (10:24) The 3 step solution for the hopeless and desperate patient (14:04) Taking time to tease through a patient's problems (18:25) Your issue might be complex, but it's not complicated (22:35) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, I'll talk about the near-death experience that brought about the Optimal CEO brand and the Optimal CEO Podcast. Since I was 5 years old, I had continually suffered from a very rare medical condition that used to affect me sleep, and it went on into my adulthood. At some point, it affected me to the point that I almost wrecked my car on two different occasions while on the interstate. I had to finally seek help and the journey of recovery from it all is what led me to become The Optimal CEO. Key Points Discussed: The night terrors (00:57) Dying 14,600 times in 45 years (07:16) Learning and applying both functional and integrative medicine (12:26) Transitioning into a new model(15:26) The Optimal CEO and serial entrepreneur (18:14) From pain and suffering to peak performance state (23:18) A continuous personal optimization journey (25:19) -- My new book will be releasing soon. Be sure to join the Inner Circle now! Happiness Hijackers Inner Circle: http://bit.ly/2wC9esW -- To work with Dr. Brown, please visit: http://bit.ly/2Z6r9Ek -- Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! -- You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

Welcome to today's episode where I'm going be sharing with you FOUR THINGS that are destroying the success in your wellness journey… and possibly even destroying the success of your business. Stay tuned as we dive into these muddy waters and clear them up for you on this episode. Thanks for joining me today! Those of you who've been following me for some time know that I used to practice psychiatry before I reskilled and transitioned to doing functional and integrative medicine. My days in psychiatric practice served me well. It made me a keen observer of human behavior patterns. It's something that years of training and practice instilled in me, and something that's difficult to turn off… it's automatic. After moving into functional and integrative medicine, I prided myself on not practicing psychiatry only to realize two years later, I hadn't really quit. As time has passed, I've identified some major hang-ups that hold people back in their wellness journey and business… And, if I'm being completely transparent… these four hang-ups come from many hours of personal self-reflection in my own journey! Not ironically, many of my CEO-entrepreneur personality TYPE-PATIENTS… very successful in their own rights… have also been held back in their businesses because of these same four things. Now don't get me wrong… they are successful… but what I'm talking about is next level success… going above and beyond in their businesses where they are right now… going to a level that quadruples the impact that they have in their current business So today, as we get started, I'm going to need to be brutally honest with you! So hold onto your hat because we're about to take a whirlwind journey.  I can give you a little HINT: it has nothing to do with the latest and greatest product or service… marketing tool… software… or whatever gadget you need to make your life easier  It has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE SIX INCH SPACE between your ears.  Let me explain.  These FOUR THINGS that I've discovered… when you overcome them… will absolutely propel your health and business to the next level The No. 1 THING Holding You Back Is…  You don't know your PURPOSE  In other words… WHY YOU GET OUT OF BED IN THE MORNING?  STORY: Tell Story of WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY  Find your why… and you'll find your destiny The No. 2 THING Holding You Back Is…  You are living as a slave to COGNITIVE BIAS  What do I mean?  Ultimately what drives our opinion is that which we first learn  You may be saying, “Huh?”  Let me break it down…  You've got some old ways of thinking and old ways of doing things that need to be abandoned  You need to adopt a new way of thinking  You need to read more… if you own a business… you should read every sales and marketing and copywriting book you can get your hands on  You need to be a perpetual student  Don't just listen to or read everything that supports your way of thinking  You need to read everything that goes against your thinking  Challenge yourself to enter into conversations that challenge WHY YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE  STORY – My antidepressant journey: Tell my story of believing what I was taught in my medical training and how it led me down a 16 year path with 9 different antidepressants… and how it wasn't until I changed my thinking that I was able to truly heal The No. 3 THING Holding You Back Is…  You don't know your VALUE… or the VALUE OF WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER  And HINT: I'm not talking about your products and services  I'm talking about what YOU can offer this world… the WORTH YOU PROJECT INTO THE WORLD  STORY – Losing Weight and Clothes too big  You see… we can't choose our season… but we can choose our attitude  You are NOT a commodity  You are unique  Gifted with abilities, talents, skills, and personality that makes you UNIQUELY you!  No one else can be you… they can try to imitate you, but they CANNOT BEEEEEE YOU!!!  If they try to imitate you, they are simply human doings… NOT HUMAN BEEEINGS!!!  And when you grasp the concept that your are uniquely created to make a specific impact with a specific tribe of people, then you naturally transition to understanding that you have to be a PRODUCT OF THE PRODUCT… You have to be a product of your own uniqueness… being you can be 100% cerebral… taking place only in your head… but until you allow it to shine, you will stay imprisoned to mediocrity!  YOU ARE THE PRODUCT!!!  THE BRAND IS YOU  YOU ARE WHAT PEOPLE BUY  If you project a VALUE of a 10 cent piece of candy, guess how big your business will be????  IF YOU  PROJECT THE VALUE OF THE RAREST DIAMOND OR RAREST PRECIOUS METAL ON THE PLANET… GUESS HOW BIG YOUR BUSINESS WILL BE???  You see, I used to struggle with “Just-me-itis”…  You know, that negative self talk… “I'm just a little ole country boy from Mississippi who grew up dirt poor and somehow stumbled into successful business… why me… why do I deserve to be hear… shouldn't it be somebody else?  NO…. IT SHOUD NEVER BE ANYBODY ELSE… IT'S ALL YOU!!!  You have to believe in yourself b/c if you don't, no one else will…  Stop trading yourself as a commodity… you are rare… you are precious  Embrace it… stop wallowing in “Just-me-itis” and…  When that thing rears its ugly head, play “Whack-A-Mole” with that thing… and beat it back down QUICK!!!  And let me finish with this… DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE AND BELIEVE THIS IS JUST ABOUT YOU…. BECAUSE GUESS WHAT? IT'S NOT!!!  It's not about you OR how much money you can make in this business…  It's about YOU loving the people you serve so much that you give them the best product they could ever have in their hands  SO…. GET THIS… PAY CLOSE ATTENTION  SO YOU CAN MAKE AN IMPACT IN THEIR LIFE… AND MAKE THEM…. I REPEAT… MAKE THEM A PRODUCT OF THE PRODUCT  Do you see the difference?  You HAVE TO KNOW YOUR VALUE IN ORDER TO CREATE VALUE IN OTHERS  It's all about changing their life!!! Nothing else  When you FOCUS ON THIS… your wellness will improve from the inside out and your business will naturally grow  YOU ARE ONLY THE CONDUIT FOR THEM FINDING THEIR VALUE!!!  Pour yourself into other and watch the growth that occurs in your life LAST ONE…. The No. 4 THING Holding You Back Is…  You need to stop outsourcing your responsibility!!!  You outsource your responsibility to TWO THINGS  PEOPLE  CIRCUMSTANCES  We need to stop this madness  We live in a time where you can pop something into a microwave and POOF… 30 seconds later, you have whatever it is you want.  We are impatient.  We also live in a time where few people accept responsibility… FOR ANYTHING  Let me give you and example…  We're currently into our THIRD generation of health consumers who have outsourced their responsibility to a broken medical system… expecting the next latest and greatest magic bullet to make them feel at ease… in their DIS-ease.  I think one of the things that gets people hung up on outsourcing their responsibility and making them emotionally worn out is they focus on too much negativity that is TRULY BEYOND THEIR CONTROL  Let me explain…  The technique that I'm about to share with you… I learned from a mentor of mine… Dr. Andrew Weil  YOU NEED TO GO ON A MEDIA DIET  Let me explain… It's really simple… Stop listening to, reading, or watching news of any kind.  Now, I know that flies in the face of everything you've been taught about being a responsible adult BUT IT WORKS…  AND… It just so happens, I've been on my media holiday for about 8 years now… and guess what, it works  So, my challenge to you is this… FOR ONE YEAR… STOP LISTENING TO ALL NEWS… STOP WATCHING ALL NEWS… AND STOP READING ALL NEWS  If you do this, you can trust me on two things…  No 1: If it's important enough… if it's headline news… you'll hear about it in your daily life  No 2: You can't get the mess in your own MIND & LIFE straight why do you want to add more mess into your mind that you can't do anything about?  There's no honor in  Some of you are in toxic relationships… and you make it the reason you're being held back  Guess what?  You just gave that person all the power and control  You just outsourced your responsibility to them  Some of you are sitting there and saying things like, “I could never do this like so-and-so does… He has more resources… he has more of this… or he has more of that…”  Guess what?  You just outsourced your responsibility  START TAKING OWNERSHIP OF YOUR LIFE… IN EVERY AREA… STOP OUTSOURCING YOUR RESPONSBILITY TO OTHERS That's it for today's episode. I hope you've enjoyed it… but more importantly, I hope you've been challenged… maybe even shaken. Take action today. Don't wait. Discover your purpose… stop living as a slave to cognitive bias… know your value… and stop outsourcing your responsibility Until next time, this is Dr. Brian Brown signing off.

Thanks for joining me today. This episode wraps up the last of a three-part series that I consider my journey to wellness. Last week, I explained how I went from depressed and suicidal to fully restored with natural treatment alternatives after a 16 year journey with 9 different psychiatric medications. I explained my epiphany that as we age, there are certain biological systems that begin to decline in the body… and how my traditional medical training had not prepared me for this epiphany… because the “lock-step” mantra of traditional medicine is… “You're getting older… what do you expect… here's the latest and greatest Big Pharma treatment for you to try.” Today, in this last segment, I'm going to explore at topic that's very near and dear to my heart… that is, the topic of obesity. Now, before you tune out and quit listening because you think you don't have a weight issue, I want you to hear this… If you were to step onto the scales right now… what's going on inside your body is way more important than the number you'd be staring at. In the past few years, obesity researches have expanded their focus to include people who are… what they call… THIN ON THE OUTSIDE… FAT ON THE INSIDE. You see, there's more than one way to be obese. In the traditional sense of the term, “obesity” means you're visibly overweight. In the non-traditional sense of the term, “obesity” means you look “normal” on the outside but you are fat and fluffy on the inside. Now, I know this may be a new concept for some of my listeners out there. What do I mean by this? Let me explain. Some people fall within a “normal” weight… yet, when we look at their lean muscle mass to fat mass ratio, it's way off. According to the American Council on Exercise, those who are physically fit… not to be confused with athletes.. should fall with these ranges… Women should have about 21-24% body fat and men should have about 14-17% body fat. Now, my thoughts are that these are simply goals to shoot for. However, while you're moving toward these goals, start working aggressively on becoming thin on the inside. Here's what I mean… There are a lot of people running around with high inflammatory numbers in their bloodwork… high cholesterol numbers… really crappy diets… and very little exercise WHO APPEAR to be able to eat anything they want without gaining any weight. They appear thin by society's standards. Yet, when we literally take a microscopic look at them, they are a HOT MESS. You see the unfortunate bill of goods we've been sold is that obesity is defined by physical appearance. This is simply a social construct that has a very narrow, and often damaging, impact on your health… both emotionally and physically. It lulls people into the false sense of security that everything is A-OK if our outward appearance fits societal norms… when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. How many times have you heard of a person, who appears physically fit, having a heart attack or dropping dead of a heart attack? Look at the Biggest Loser's TV personality Bob Harper. He ate well, exercised regularly, and had the physique of a male model, yet Bob had a heart attack in 2017. This is public knowledge… and the reason he had this heart attack was because of a genetic condition that made him fat on the inside. Because of his specific Apo-E Genotype, he had an elevation in a dangerous little cholesterol particle. This little particle is 300% more predictive of vascular event deaths than any particle we know of. Did you know that traditional medicine lipid profiles, also called cholesterol panels, don't even check for this? Did you know that 99% or more of cardiologists worldwide poo-poo the concept of even checking for this particle? And that they rationalize their lack of checking it with the statement… “We don't have anything to treat it with”? And did you know that this is medical lingo for BIG PHARMA hasn't given us a treatment? And did you know that there are TWO natural treatments that will virtually take this particle to nearly undetectable levels within about 12 weeks and in many cases… they may even reverse the plaque deposits in the arteries that have been caused by this particle? I venture a guess that you didn't know any of these things. And the reason is… there's no magic bullet treatment put out by BIG PHARMA to treat it… therefore, no one in the medical community or public gets told about it I'm telling you these things so you can be informed. I want you to make an educated decision about your health… about your wellness journey… about whether or not you're truly thin… or secretly obese. This little particle is called lipoprotein alpha… and it's one that we all need to start paying attention to… it's one that I aggressively monitor and treat in my wellness clients. There are many other examples we can talk about in relation to being defined as obese, but I want to transition to another golden goose that no one dares to talk about. In the late 1800's, Dr. John Harvey coined the phrase “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” He coined this phrase to sell his line of “health foods” to his patients. His brother, WK Harvey, was the business brains behind this concept. WK took this concept to the masses in 1908 when they incorporated as the international brand they're known as today. After nearly 60 years, their loyal customer base had become unshakable in their belief that breakfast was the most important meal of the day… Their campaign was a huge success. At that point, this corporate giant was able to add alternate sales slogans such as… “We put more into your morning” and another slogan that we all grew up hearing…“They're Grrrreat.” That's right. The inventors of Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes convinced the world that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. The Kellogg corporation is now one of the most powerful food giants in the world marketplace… And generations of unsuspecting people have been led to belief that grains are the answer. I call this era in food history “The Grain Rush.” But the Kellogg corporation was not the only company to participate in the “grain rush of the 20 th century.” Companies like the – Martha White Corporation, – Betty Crocker, – Little Debbie, – General Mills, and – Proctor and Gamble, – All jumped on the bandwagon and grew their respective companies to corporate giant status Grain was king… and unfortunately, it still is. If you want to know more about how grains have flooded our consciousness, diet, fat cells, and waist-lines, check out the Netflix documentary, The Magic Pill. It will be one hour of your time well spent in gaining a keen understanding of why you shouldn't be eating grains and other processed foods. Now… I want to close out with this. I get asked all the time, “Brian, how did you lose all your weight?” Was it easy? Heck no!!! Did it require hard work? You better believe it did!!! Am I still a work in progress? You better believe I am!!! I've found what works for me… And there was no magic pill. Trust me on this one. Believe me, if it was a fad and out there to be found, I did it. I've done the HCG diet, where I only ate 500 calories per day & injected HCG hormone daily I've done amphetamine diet pills. I've done herbal diet pills I've done Ephedra before it was banned I've done nutrisystem I've done weight watchers I've done jenny craig I've done LA Weight Loss I've done just about every crazy fad diet ever published… like the cabbage soup diet… the egg diet… and many more I can't even remember… the list just keeps going on and on What worked for me was this… Eating clean, whole, organic foods… eliminating grains from my diet (and yes, corn is a grain and not a vegetable)… eliminating sugar from my diet.. perimeter shopping… food prep… smart exercise… drinking 4L water per day… quality sun exposure… getting the right amount of sleep every night, hormone optimization… thyroid optimization… and stress management. Researchers tell us that the average American gains 1 to 2 pounds per year. Researchers also tell us that the obese population is one of the fastest growing populations and that diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer growth almost mirror the growth curve of obesity. The net result of using the techniques I've found has caused me to lose that much or more every year. Now, in the atmosphere of transparency, I can't say that every waking moment of every day in my weight loss history was perfect. There were times I gained weight back. Times where I fell off the trail horse… and had to get back on to continue my journey… And other times when I fell off the trail horse, walked into the gorge, and jumped off the cliff… only to find myself, 320 pounds later, desperately climbing back up that cliff… through that gorge… to find my trail horse patiently waiting for me to saddle up and continue my journey. But, with humble gratitude, I can honestly say, I've never gained back up to 390 pounds. Thankfully, I always came to my senses… crawled back up that click, out of that gorge… and back into the saddle. As weird as it may sound, it's those journeys… those major fowl-ups that have made me the clinician I am today. It's made me that proverbial hand over the side of the cliff that's always there to help a brother or sister back up on their feet and continuing their journey. When it comes to losing weight, I have to talk about a hot button of mine. That hot button is amphetamines. There are amphetamine clinics everywhere. They are in business because human beings are inherently lazy and want a quick fix. We live in a “microwave generation” where we expect to get results in 30 seconds or less. When it comes to sustained… and I emphasize the word “sustained” weight loss, amphetamines are dangerous. I used to do Resting Metabolic Rate testing on ever one of my weight loss clients. The clients who were coming off of amphetamines had the lowest metabolisms of any group of people I saw. Here's why. When you take amphetamines, you force your body to lose all sensation of hunger… Your body naturally goes into a catabolic state… this is where we get the word cannibalism… And, it's exactly how it sounds. When your body is being starved… It's in such dire need for protein that it will turn on it's own muscle to get it. Your metabolism is 100% linked to your ratio of lean muscle mass to fat mass. When your muscle mass declines, so does your metabolism. This is why when former amphetamine clinic patients get off of the amphetamine, they typically gain all of their weight back plus some. Our goal in obesity management is to preserve lean muscle mass NOT tear it down. I personally think it borders on malpractice to prescribe amphetamines for weight loss. BUT… it's BIG PHARMA that gives us this treatment… and when you combine this with the human nature of wanting a quick fix AND the persuasive messages of BIG PHARMA… people lose all aspects of being an independent human and become like sheep… or maybe a better way of putting is, they become “sheeple.” I urge you to not get offended. Instead, get the facts… be informed… and be aware of the hidden agendas behind certain things. Losing weight is not hard… but it does require commitment and hard work. It requires preparation… and for some, it requires tracking every single thing that goes into your mouth. Again, these are not popular messages, but they are true. You can't eat processed foods and achieve “sustainable” wellness… You might look thin on the outside, but you will still be fat on the inside. That wraps up this final episode about how I came to do what I do know. I hope you've gained some insight… and most of all, I hope I gave you some things to think about on your wellness journey.

Welcome to the Optimal CEO Podcast. This is Dr. Brian Brown. Join me on today's episode where we'll be discussing how I went from depressed and suicidal to naturally restored and ended a 16 year relationship with psychiatric medications. Thanks for joining me today. Last week, I explained how I discovered at age 45 that I'd been dying every single night since age 5… and how that journey gave me a profound appreciation for functional & integrative medicine. I also discussed why a blended approach is the best approach to wellness and why many wellness gurus are off-base when they tell you that their way is the only way because it's the availability of blended options that bring about wellness success in this complex system we call the human body. Today, I'm gonna to continue my story and tell you how I found a way to get off of psychiatric medications after 16 years. Let's jump right in… I've been practicing psychiatry since 1998. I've treated children as young as age 5… adolescents… young adults… middle-age adults… and senior adults. In that time, I've treated thousands of patients who were not content with life. If “happy” is defined as “feeling or showing contentment,” then I've met a lot of people who were not content (not happy) with life in their present situation. Depression and anxiety are rampant in the Western world, yet the only answer that traditional medicine seems to have is in the form of developing the next “latest and greatest” magic pill. I've actually been one of those “discontent . . . unhappy” people myself. All my life, I had longed to become a doctor. I had felt this calling since I was a young boy. It's all I'd ever dreamed of and all I ever talked about. It's what I had my sights set on. I wanted to help others and was hardwired from birth to be an empathic, caring individual. Also, in my mind, it was a way for me to find some happiness. I developed a hardworking nature right from the start: I started mowing yards when I was nine years old and started flipping burgers when I was fifteen years old. I've done everything from changing oil and pumping gas, to patching flat tires, to driving a gas truck, to unloading trucks at UPS. I'm thankful for those experiences because they have gifted me with the work ethic and people skills I have today. Because of my hardworking nature, the academic rigors of my training were second nature to me as evidenced by being a straight “A” student through my high school, undergraduate, and graduate studies. My story actually begins in the spring of 1997 when I was in my next-to-last year of professional training. One of our lectures had just dismissed for a fifteen minute break in the middle of a four-hour stretch. It was an unusually beautiful spring day, so I went outside to get some fresh air and enjoy the tulips that were in full bloom. I went to the third floor balcony that overlooked a park, the closest thing to nature near my lecture hall. I was right in the middle of my lifelong dream on that third floor balcony. . . but I wasn't happy; somehow, happiness had eluded me. I would later realize that by this point, I had been struggling with depression for about two years and that health professionals had the highest rates of suicide among all other professions. As I stood there on the balcony, propped against the balcony railing and facing the street below, I saw a dump truck speeding down the road in front of me. As the truck approached, I had a flood of emotion as all of the blood rushed from my head. I became dizzy andthe whole world around me spun out of control in a maze of vertigo. My heart was racing, and I was overwhelmed by a nauseated feeling in the pit of my stomach . . . Yet, at the same time, I had a sense of immediate relief and heard a small voice whisper, “It's over now.” It wasn't a horrific voice. It was a peaceful voice. You see as that dump truck sped by, I experienced all the sensations of being thrown over the railing into the path of the oncoming truck below—I had actually envisioned throwing myself over the rail. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. I still remember that feeling to this day. I also remember, in that split second, not knowing whether it was actually happening or all a dream. Sadly, part of me hoped that it was real. When I came to my senses and realized that it was all a vision, I was scared. It rocked me to the core. I immediately had flashes of my beautiful wife and my two beautiful daughters who were three and six at the time. Guilt and shame immediately set it. How could I have such a vision? How could I even feel hope that it was actually happening? What was wrong with me? I left the balcony that day and never stepped foot out there again. I was so ashamed. I didn't tell anyone what happened until about twenty years later. And it wasn't until a year after that incident on the balcony that I confided in a colleague that I'd been struggling with depression and anxiety. She never asked about suicidal thoughts, and I never told her… And I sure as heck didn't tell her about the dozens of other times I had avoided the impulse to swerve my car into the path of oncoming traffic while driving. She put me on Prozac, and it was at that time that I began a sixteen-year journey into the world of “chemical happiness.” I've often reflected why I went on the that first medication. The only conclusion I can draw is that I was new in my profession… in the field of psychiatry… and it just made sense. It was the way I was trained. I told myself, “Brian, why wouldn't I do this? It's what I'd do for one of my patients. Some people get their “chemical happiness” fix through drugs or alcohol, and others, like me, get their fix through antidepressants.” This is how I rationalized it. Isn't it funny how we as humans will find a rationalization for most anything that we want… or anything that we are doing… just to make sense of it all. But… I don't beat myself up too much over this journey, because my knowledge was limited when I made the decision. I guess you can say I wasn't as enlightened as I am now. And… I would even add that it was this journey that has allowed me to help so many others. So… in a strange way… it had to happen… and again, here's the rationalization of it all. Now, let's get back to the rest of the story. In the course of sixteen years, I tried nine different psychiatric medications in the pursuit of happiness… medications like Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Buspar, Lamictal, Strattera, and Provigil. None of these gave me the happiness I wanted. In fact, they made me feel numb. I couldn't feel anything. I had no emotion. And on top of that, I gained 170 pounds… At 390 pounds, I guess you can say I was “fat and chemically happy,” but I would use the word “happy” very loosely. Over time, I grew to hate the very pills that were supposed to make me feel normal. And yes, I use the word “normal” very loosely also. More than anything, I wanted off these medications. I tried a number of times to stop taking them, but I failed every time. The withdrawal side effects were not fun. Did you know that the drug companies that make these medications will tell you that they are not addictive? In the purest sense of the definition, maybe not, but in reality definitely so. When you try to stop these medication and have symptoms like rebound depression… rebound anxiety… nausea… headaches… and irritability… just to name a few… there's no doubt that these drugs are causing addictive problems. Unable to effectively get off these meds, I repeated the vicious cycle of finding the next pill that would hopefully work and not have major side effects. Oh! And speaking of side effects. They are horrible! Depending on the drug, you can be excessively sleepy and want to sleep all the time OR not be able to sleep hardly at all. You can have nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, increased appetite, loss of appetite, anger, rage, irritability, no libido, erectile dysfunction… and these are just some of the most common ones. Oh… and the yawning can be terrible… yawning all the time… and there's nothing you can do about it. During my personal sixteen-year journey into “chemical happiness,” I was treating patients with these same medications that I tried… They were dealing with the same side effects… and dealing with the same withdrawal issues. I followed the mantra of my professional training and just accepted that this was the way things were supposed to be. Again, I rationalized it with another professional mantra that we were offering the very best treatments available… after all, what other options were there. How naïve that was to say that… but it's where I was at the time. During that time, I mostly treated patients who were in their mid- to late thirties and older. They would tell me that they were feeling unhappy . . . but many of them would follow it with, “But I know it's not depression . . . it's got to be something else . . . some kind of imbalance.” Most of the time, they would follow it with a laundry list of psychiatric medications they had tried—none of which worked well. Then one day, around the age of forty, it dawned on me: maybe my patients had been right all along! Maybe my medical training had failed me. Maybe the pharmaceutical industry had lied to me. Maybe there were answers outside of traditional medical approaches. I had to find a different way of doing things. From that point forward, I made it my mission to become a student of the best alternative therapies that a person could use to physically and emotionally regain happiness from the inside out. Now, believe me, I knew that walking down this road could mean committing professional suicide. You see, I had been practicing psychiatry for years now. I was a company man. I spoke for numerous pharmaceutical companies. I talked the talk and walked the walk. I believed the lockstep answers fed to me in my medical training, and, not ironically, these same answers were fed to me by the drug reps that made sales calls on me at my office. For those of you who may not know, here's a bit of insider information… a peak behind the curtain, if you will. As a prescriber, you don't get asked to be a speaker for a pharmaceutical company unless you're a high volume prescriber… that's the first thing you need to know. And secondly, Big Pharma has pockets deep enough to be very persuasive. They provide prescribers with the most recent studies… all of which happen to prove their point and sway prescribing in their direction. They are fully aware that prescribers are busy and have little time to do in-depth clinical reading of professional journals. But the proverbial rabbit hole goes deeper. All you have to do is follow the money. Open up most any professional journal, and you will find TWO to SIX page advertising spreads for this drug or that with a cost-per-ad that will rival advertising costs in major secular publications. These same Big Pharma companies are the ones that will pay $100,000 or more for a booth at a professional conference. I give you these tidbits to let you know that the information medical professionals have at their disposal is tainted… and the professional organizations are tainted… they have been corrupted by Big Pharma. I've lived it. I've seen it first hand. And, as you may recall from podcast episode one, the numbers show it. The U.S. is almost last in health outcomes and almost first in healthcare spending. When are we going to wake up and recognize the disconnect here? But, I digress. Until this point, I had been 100 percent sold on the fact that pharmaceutical drugs were the answer, but that day I had my epiphany, something inside of me snapped. I was repulsed by all the lies propagated by Big Pharma . . . lies fed to me during my education; lies that led me down a path of unrest; and lies that certainly didn't reverse my depression. I couldn't live like this anymore, and I couldn't keep poking pills down my own throat and down the throats of my patients either. You might say I had a professional mid-life crisis. I refer to it as an awakening. I remember resolving in my mind that I couldn't do this anymore. Either I was getting out of health care altogether or I was going to reinvent myself. I set out on a journey to find answers, and it came in the strangest of ways. While away at a cardiovascular conference, the keynote speaker, who was the world's foremost authority on cholesterol, said something that lit a spark in me. Here was a guy being paid big bucks by some Big Pharma brand to speak about cholesterol. Instead, what he did surprised the audience. His entire lecture was on the natural treatment of elevated cholesterol. I have to admit, I was in awe. As a former speaker for Big Pharma brands, I knew what it meant to do what he was doing. He was committing professional suicide, but he didn't care… something that I later confirmed in a conversation with him. During that conversation, he also shared some insights that changed the course of my professional career. He pointed me in the right direction, telling me who I needed to study under to gain the knowledge and expertise that I needed. I immediately started seeking that education. After studying under the guru that he recommended for less than three months, I closed down my office practice. I had never been so sure of something in all of my life. I kept doing inpatient work to pay the bills, but I didn't darken the door of an office for nearly a year and a half. I went on to train under this guru for a total of three years. During that first year of training, I began implementing the techniques on myself… and guess what? I began to feel better. I began to lose weight and keep it off. My energy came up. My mood improved. I had stumbled onto something big. I eventually stopped my antidepressants completely in the spring of 2013. Finally, I was free. I had become an escape artist! I had escaped the confining boxes that Big Pharma and traditional medicine had me trapped in. It was a beautiful thing. But something still wasn't quite right. Sure, I was off antidepressants and happy for the first time in nearly two decades. But something was off. Then, it dawned on me. I had to share this with others and help them become escape artists too. In my second year of functional & integrative medicine training, I re-opened the doors of my office. This time, I wasn't practicing psychiatry. I was so turned off by traditional psychiatry that I didn't even want to be associated with it, and I was proud that I had escaped that box and was now beginning my journey to help others escape that box too. I laugh about it today, but it took me two years to realize that I never left psychiatry. I recall coming home one day and saying to my wife, “Guess what? I realized today that I never quit practicing psychiatry, I'm simply doing it differently. I'm doing it holistically.” Always the voice of patient wisdom, my wife said to me, “I was wondering how long it was going to take you to figure that out.” You see, it wasn't enough for me to transform myself. I had to pay it forward. I had to share other people… a way to get out of the confining boxes that traditional medicine, Big Pharma, and others try to put us into. And, that's exactly what I do today. Sure, my repertoire has far surpassed natural mood management. In my office, we manage auto-immune disorders, obesity, nutritional deficits, PCOS, menopause, andropause, gut issues, and thyroid dysfunction… just to name a few. But… since this episode is focused on the natural recovery from depression, I'll leave you with this. Throughout my years of traditional psychiatry and functional psychiatry, a few things have remained consistent… Research shows that women and men in their early thirties begin to experience a decline in hormone activity by as much as one to two1 to 2 percent per year… and this decline continues through the rest of their life. I don't think it's a coincidence that according to the National Center for Health statistics, women age 40 to 59forty to –fifty-nine have the highest rates of depression over any other age group (12.3 percent in fact%)… suicide rates among men are highest in their fifties, and, regardless of gender, those age 40 to 59forty to –fifty-nine are the least happy when compared to every other age group.? Sadly, with hormone disruptors in our diet and environment, we are seeing the ages for these statistics drop. So.. is hormone decline the cause of this depression epidemic in adults age 30 and over? I certainly think it's one of the main causes. In fact, since I've been practicing functional medicine, I've developed a very good track record at helping people avoid antidepressants and helping them come off of antidepressants… all by natural means. And… now that I have a functional medicine background, when we look at those in their late teens and twenties, I often find nutrition, diet, gut disturbances, PCOS, and/or thyroid as the cause. Many of you listening to this podcast may have been struggling silently for years… Or perhaps this is a new struggle… Either way, you need the help of a functional & integrative-medicine provider because most likely your regular medical provider doesn't have the necessary information to help you take back control of your life. Don't be forced into boxes of an antiquated system that you have no business being put into… boxes that follow old, unchallenged treatment modalities. You can easily find yourself in a cycle of being bounced around from doctor to specialist to new specialist with different results and no clear answers. Sadly, when traditional medicine can't find the answer to what ails you, it will typically use depression and anxiety as the default diagnosis box to put you in. If you don't take away anything else from this episode, I want you to leave with this… Be informed… know your options… stand up for better alternatives… and find your voice!!! Join us next time where I'll be talking about the last segment in my personal story. From 390 lbs. To A Fit Without Diet Pills

I've been practicing psychiatry since 1998. I've treated children as young as age 5… adolescents… young adults… middle-age adults… and senior adults. In that time, I've treated thousands of patients who were not content with life. If “happy” is defined as “feeling or showing contentment,” then I've met a lot of people who were not content (not happy) with life in their present situation. Depression and anxiety are rampant in the Western world, yet the only answer that traditional medicine seems to have is in the form of developing the next “latest and greatest” magic pill. I've actually been one of those “discontent . . . unhappy” people myself. All my life, I had longed to become a doctor. I had felt this calling since I was a young boy. It's all I'd ever dreamed of and all I ever talked about. It's what I had my sights set on. I wanted to help others and was hardwired from birth to be an empathic, caring individual. Also, in my mind, it was a way for me to find some happiness. I developed a hardworking nature right from the start: I started mowing yards when I was nine years old and started flipping burgers when I was fifteen years old. I've done everything from changing oil and pumping gas, to patching flat tires, to driving a gas truck, to unloading trucks at UPS. I'm thankful for those experiences because they have gifted me with the work ethic and people skills I have today. Because of my hardworking nature, the academic rigors of my training were second nature to me as evidenced by being a straight “A” student through my high school, undergraduate, and graduate studies. My story actually begins in the spring of 1997 when I was in my next-to-last year of professional training. One of our lectures had just dismissed for a fifteen minute break in the middle of a four-hour stretch. It was an unusually beautiful spring day, so I went outside to get some fresh air and enjoy the tulips that were in full bloom. I went to the third floor balcony that overlooked a park, the closest thing to nature near my lecture hall. I was right in the middle of my lifelong dream on that third floor balcony. . . but I wasn't happy; somehow, happiness had eluded me. I would later realize that by this point, I had been struggling with depression for about two years and that health professionals had the highest rates of suicide among all other professions. As I stood there on the balcony, propped against the balcony railing and facing the street below, I saw a dump truck speeding down the road in front of me. As the truck approached, I had a flood of emotion as all of the blood rushed from my head. I became dizzy andthe whole world around me spun out of control in a maze of vertigo. My heart was racing, and I was overwhelmed by a nauseated feeling in the pit of my stomach . . . Yet, at the same time, I had a sense of immediate relief and heard a small voice whisper, “It's over now.” It wasn't a horrific voice. It was a peaceful voice. You see as that dump truck sped by, I experienced all the sensations of being thrown over the railing into the path of the oncoming truck below—I had actually envisioned throwing myself over the rail. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. I still remember that feeling to this day. I also remember, in that split second, not knowing whether it was actually happening or all a dream. Sadly, part of me hoped that it was real. When I came to my senses and realized that it was all a vision, I was scared. It rocked me to the core. I immediately had flashes of my beautiful wife and my two beautiful daughters who were three and six at the time. Guilt and shame immediately set it. How could I have such a vision? How could I even feel hope that it was actually happening? What was wrong with me? I left the balcony that day and never stepped foot out there again. I was so ashamed. I didn't tell anyone what happened until about twenty years later. And it wasn't until a year after that incident on the balcony that I confided in a colleague that I'd been struggling with depression and anxiety. She never asked about suicidal thoughts, and I never told her… And I sure as heck didn't tell her about the dozens of other times I had avoided the impulse to swerve my car into the path of oncoming traffic while driving. She put me on Prozac, and it was at that time that I began a sixteen-year journey into the world of “chemical happiness.” I've often reflected why I went on the that first medication. The only conclusion I can draw is that I was new in my profession… in the field of psychiatry… and it just made sense. It was the way I was trained. I told myself, “Brian, why wouldn't I do this? It's what I'd do for one of my patients. Some people get their “chemical happiness” fix through drugs or alcohol, and others, like me, get their fix through antidepressants.” This is how I rationalized it. Isn't it funny how we as humans will find a rationalization for most anything that we want… or anything that we are doing… just to make sense of it all. But… I don't beat myself up too much over this journey, because my knowledge was limited when I made the decision. I guess you can say I wasn't as enlightened as I am now. And… I would even add that it was this journey that has allowed me to help so many others. So… in a strange way… it had to happen… and again, here's the rationalization of it all. Now, let's get back to the rest of the story. In the course of sixteen years, I tried nine different psychiatric medications in the pursuit of happiness… medications like Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Buspar, Lamictal, Strattera, and Provigil. None of these gave me the happiness I wanted. In fact, they made me feel numb. I couldn't feel anything. I had no emotion. And on top of that, I gained 170 pounds… At 390 pounds, I guess you can say I was “fat and chemically happy,” but I would use the word “happy” very loosely. Over time, I grew to hate the very pills that were supposed to make me feel normal. And yes, I use the word “normal” very loosely also. More than anything, I wanted off these medications. I tried a number of times to stop taking them, but I failed every time. The withdrawal side effects were not fun. Did you know that the drug companies that make these medications will tell you that they are not addictive? In the purest sense of the definition, maybe not, but in reality definitely so. When you try to stop these medication and have symptoms like rebound depression… rebound anxiety… nausea… headaches… and irritability… just to name a few… there's no doubt that these drugs are causing addictive problems. Unable to effectively get off these meds, I repeated the vicious cycle of finding the next pill that would hopefully work and not have major side effects. Oh! And speaking of side effects. They are horrible! Depending on the drug, you can be excessively sleepy and want to sleep all the time OR not be able to sleep hardly at all. You can have nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, increased appetite, loss of appetite, anger, rage, irritability, no libido, erectile dysfunction… and these are just some of the most common ones. Oh… and the yawning can be terrible… yawning all the time… and there's nothing you can do about it. During my personal sixteen-year journey into “chemical happiness,” I was treating patients with these same medications that I tried… They were dealing with the same side effects… and dealing with the same withdrawal issues. I followed the mantra of my professional training and just accepted that this was the way things were supposed to be. Again, I rationalized it with another professional mantra that we were offering the very best treatments available… after all, what other options were there. How naïve that was to say that… but it's where I was at the time. During that time, I mostly treated patients who were in their mid- to late thirties and older. They would tell me that they were feeling unhappy . . . but many of them would follow it with, “But I know it's not depression . . . it's got to be something else . . . some kind of imbalance.” Most of the time, they would follow it with a laundry list of psychiatric medications they had tried—none of which worked well. Then one day, around the age of forty, it dawned on me: maybe my patients had been right all along! Maybe my medical training had failed me. Maybe the pharmaceutical industry had lied to me. Maybe there were answers outside of traditional medical approaches. I had to find a different way of doing things. From that point forward, I made it my mission to become a student of the best alternative therapies that a person could use to physically and emotionally regain happiness from the inside out. Now, believe me, I knew that walking down this road could mean committing professional suicide. You see, I had been practicing psychiatry for years now. I was a company man. I spoke for numerous pharmaceutical companies. I talked the talk and walked the walk. I believed the lockstep answers fed to me in my medical training, and, not ironically, these same answers were fed to me by the drug reps that made sales calls on me at my office. For those of you who may not know, here's a bit of insider information… a peak behind the curtain, if you will. As a prescriber, you don't get asked to be a speaker for a pharmaceutical company unless you're a high volume prescriber… that's the first thing you need to know. And secondly, Big Pharma has pockets deep enough to be very persuasive. They provide prescribers with the most recent studies… all of which happen to prove their point and sway prescribing in their direction. They are fully aware that prescribers are busy and have little time to do in-depth clinical reading of professional journals. But the proverbial rabbit hole goes deeper. All you have to do is follow the money. Open up most any professional journal, and you will find TWO to SIX page advertising spreads for this drug or that with a cost-per-ad that will rival advertising costs in major secular publications. These same Big Pharma companies are the ones that will pay $100,000 or more for a booth at a professional conference. I give you these tidbits to let you know that the information medical professionals have at their disposal is tainted… and the professional organizations are tainted… they have been corrupted by Big Pharma. I've lived it. I've seen it first hand. And, as you may recall from podcast episode one, the numbers show it. The U.S. is almost last in health outcomes and almost first in healthcare spending. When are we going to wake up and recognize the disconnect here? But, I digress. Until this point, I had been 100 percent sold on the fact that pharmaceutical drugs were the answer, but that day I had my epiphany, something inside of me snapped. I was repulsed by all the lies propagated by Big Pharma . . . lies fed to me during my education; lies that led me down a path of unrest; and lies that certainly didn't reverse my depression. I couldn't live like this anymore, and I couldn't keep poking pills down my own throat and down the throats of my patients either. You might say I had a professional mid-life crisis. I refer to it as an awakening. I remember resolving in my mind that I couldn't do this anymore. Either I was getting out of health care altogether or I was going to reinvent myself. I set out on a journey to find answers, and it came in the strangest of ways. While away at a cardiovascular conference, the keynote speaker, who was the world's foremost authority on cholesterol, said something that lit a spark in me. Here was a guy being paid big bucks by some Big Pharma brand to speak about cholesterol. Instead, what he did surprised the audience. His entire lecture was on the natural treatment of elevated cholesterol. I have to admit, I was in awe. As a former speaker for Big Pharma brands, I knew what it meant to do what he was doing. He was committing professional suicide, but he didn't care… something that I later confirmed in a conversation with him. During that conversation, he also shared some insights that changed the course of my professional career. He pointed me in the right direction, telling me who I needed to study under to gain the knowledge and expertise that I needed. I immediately started seeking that education. After studying under the guru that he recommended for less than three months, I closed down my office practice. I had never been so sure of something in all of my life. I kept doing inpatient work to pay the bills, but I didn't darken the door of an office for nearly a year and a half. I went on to train under this guru for a total of three years. During that first year of training, I began implementing the techniques on myself… and guess what? I began to feel better. I began to lose weight and keep it off. My energy came up. My mood improved. I had stumbled onto something big. I eventually stopped my antidepressants completely in the spring of 2013. Finally, I was free. I had become an escape artist! I had escaped the confining boxes that Big Pharma and traditional medicine had me trapped in. It was a beautiful thing. But something still wasn't quite right. Sure, I was off antidepressants and happy for the first time in nearly two decades. But something was off. Then, it dawned on me. I had to share this with others and help them become escape artists too. In my second year of functional & integrative medicine training, I re-opened the doors of my office. This time, I wasn't practicing psychiatry. I was so turned off by traditional psychiatry that I didn't even want to be associated with it, and I was proud that I had escaped that box and was now beginning my journey to help others escape that box too. I laugh about it today, but it took me two years to realize that I never left psychiatry. I recall coming home one day and saying to my wife, “Guess what? I realized today that I never quit practicing psychiatry, I'm simply doing it differently. I'm doing it holistically.” Always the voice of patient wisdom, my wife said to me, “I was wondering how long it was going to take you to figure that out.” You see, it wasn't enough for me to transform myself. I had to pay it forward. I had to share this gift to help transform other people. And, that's exactly what I do today. Sure, my repertoire has far surpassed natural mood management. In my office, we manage auto-immune disorders, obesity, nutritional deficits, PCOS, menopause, andropause, gut issues, and thyroid dysfunction. But… since this episode is focused on the natural recovery from depression, I'll leave you with this. Throughout my years of traditional psychiatry and functional psychiatry, a few things have remained consistent… Research shows that women and men in their early thirties begin to experience a decline in hormone activity by as much as one to two1 to 2 percent per year… and this decline continues through the rest of their life. I don't think it's a coincidence that according to the National Center for Health statistics, women age 40 to 59forty to –fifty-nine have the highest rates of depression over any other age group (12.3 percent in fact%)… suicide rates among men are highest in their fifties, and, regardless of gender, those age 40 to 59forty to –fifty-nine are the least happy when compared to every other age group.? Sadly, with hormone disruptors in our diet and environment, we are seeing the ages for these statistics drop. So.. is hormone decline the cause of this depression epidemic in adults age 30 and over? I certainly think it's one of the main causes. In fact, since I've been practicing functional medicine, I've developed a very good track record at helping people avoid antidepressants and helping them come off of antidepressants… all by natural means. And… now that I have a functional medicine background, when we look at those in their late teens and twenties, I often find nutrition, diet, gut disturbances, PCOS, and/or thyroid as the cause. Many of you listening to this podcast may have been struggling silently for years… Or perhaps this is a new struggle… Either way, you need the help of a functional & integrative-medicine provider because most likely your regular medical provider does not have the necessary information to help you take back control of your life. Don't be forced into boxes of an antiquated system that you have no business being put into… boxes that follow old, unchallenged treatment modalities. You can easily find yourself in a cycle of being bounced around from doctor to specialist to new specialist with different results and no clear answers. Sadly, when traditional medicine can't find the answer to what ails you, it will typically use depression and anxiety as the default diagnosis box to put you in. Be informed… know your options… stand up for better alternatives. Alright, that concludes today's episode. Next time, I'll be talking about the last segment in my personal story. From 390 lbs. To A Fitness-Work-In-Progress