Hello {FIRST_NAME}!

Happy Thanksgiving! Welcome to our third edition of the Rays of Hope Newsletter! With the strongly positive response to our first two newsletters, I am excited to have so much great content this month:

- An exclusive interview with an individual that has been responsible for shaping holistic medicine in America! There will be more of these interviews in future issues.

- Book Review: Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics

- Highlighted Medical Study: Benefits of a low-fat vegan diet

Please send me your thoughts, inquiries and ideas.  Lastly, check out our blog for frequent updates, news and stories.

Living well,

Marlene

Founder, MedMacro.com

Forward this message to a friend

For many, Dr. Siegel (who prefers to be called Bernie, not Dr. Siegel) needs no introduction. He has touched many lives all over our planet. In 1978 he began talking about patient empowerment and the choice to live fully and die in peace.

As a physician, who has cared for and counseled innumerable people whose mortality has been threatened by an illness, Bernie embraces a philosophy of living and dying that stands at the forefront of the medical ethics and spiritual issues our society grapples with today. He continues to assist in the breaking of new ground in the field of healing and personally struggling to live the message of kindness and love. His web site is www.BernieSiegelMD.com.

QUESTION: Dr Siegel, let us start by asking you the difference between “curing” and “healing”?

BERNIE: Curing is physical, healing is on the emotional and spiritual level. When people heal their lives, there are physical benefits to it; there is more and more science and research to prove this theory. Your emotions become the chemistry in your body, such as having faith, love, hope to aid in the healing process or fear and loneliness having a negative effect.

QUESTION: What inspired you, Dr Siegel, to leave the practice of medicine and lecture, write books and lead support groups about mind, body and spiritual healing?

BERNIE: I started a support group called ECAP-Exceptional Cancer Patients. My wife Bobbie named it that! My patients asked me how to live between office visits because they said, "We can’t take you home with us." I realized from the group experience that if you helped people live, they also lived longer! I realized that there are universal themes relating to “survival” from any situation, which leads to being born again and creating the person you want to be and the person you were intended to be. When you eliminate what is “killing” you, you save your life!

QUESTION: Why are people self-destructive?

BERNIE:  We get messages from our parents, teachers, clergy and other authority figures about self-worth and self-love from an early age. These messages are embedded within our personality and related to the likelihood of getting disease. I believe that we should “license” parents and they should have an education about how to raise children so they don't give them mottoes to die by but mottoes to live by.

QUESTION: What can we do to “train” medical school students and physicians in America on holistic medicine?

BERNIE: I do speak at medical schools around the country to open up the minds of med students to holistic information. The US is behind the training of physicians in Europe who understand “integrative medicine”. They already incorporate natural remedies and mind-body healing into their practices. I learned this this when our son was in Europe recently and being treated by some doctors there.

MEDICAL CONNECTION

Here’s more good news about following a low-fat vegan diet: A new report published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association finds not only that a low-fat vegan diet is more effective in the treatment of type 2 diabetes than the conventional diabetes diet, but also that individuals following this diet regimen have a nutritional profile that reduces the risk for heart disease. 

In a 22-week study, 99 people with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to follow either a low-fat, low-glycemic vegan diet or a diet based on American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines. The vegan diet consisted of grains, fruit, vegetables, and legumes. Participants avoided animal products and fatty foods, and favored low-glycemic-index foods, such as beans, vegetables, pasta, and fruit. There were no restrictions on calories or portion sizes.
The vegan diet dramatically cut cholesterol, fat, and saturated fat, and increased healthful fiber, beta-carotene, and vitamins K and C. Overall, the vegan group saw a significant increase in the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) score, which indicates the risk of heart attack and other diseases, while the ADA group saw no improvement in AHEI score.

MAKING THE READING CONNECTION

BOOK REVIEW

HIP CHICKS GUIDE TO MACROBIOTICS

Author: Jessica Porter

Jessica Porter teaches macrobiotic cooking classes in Toronto, where she lectures on the spiritual and emotional dimensions of macrobiotic practice. She has also taught cooking in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and London.

For women for whom looking good means feeling good, macrobiotic chef and cooking instructor Jessica Porter offers fresh, contemporary, and accessible insight into a dietary practice that has been invigorating women's health for generations. Cooking tips and recipes are combined with Jessica's no-nonsense philosophy and witty anecdotes to create a book that will inspire you to hit the kitchen armed with the tools you need to strengthen your mind and body through food.