Participants: Don Mackintosh (Host), Neil Nedley
Series Code: HFAL
Program Code: HFAL000218
00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health 00:04 and is not intended to take the place 00:06 of personalized professional care. 00:08 The opinions and ideas expressed 00:11 are those of the speaker. 00:12 Viewers are encouraged to draw 00:14 their own conclusions about the 00:15 information presented. 00:50 Hello and welcome to Health For A Lifetime. 00:51 I'm your host Don Mackintosh. 00:53 And today we're gonna be talking about 00:55 making and staying with positive health choices. 00:58 Talking with us today about this important 01:00 subject is Dr. Neil Nedley. 01:02 He is a physician from Ardmore, Oklahoma. 01:04 Well actually Dr. Neil Nedley, 01:06 you're not from Ardmore, Oklahoma, 01:08 you're kind of from the world. 01:09 Because you travel all over the place 01:10 and you talk about, 01:12 you know different things, 01:13 you're not just a physician in 01:15 Internal Medicine but you, 01:16 in the true sense of the word are a doctor, 01:19 that's a teacher. And you know 01:21 I've had occasion to work with you 01:22 on a lot of different things whether 01:24 it be depression recovery seminars, 01:26 or talking about the book proof positive, 01:29 or other various health venues and lectures. 01:32 And you know you're practices 01:35 kind of multi focal, I mean, 01:37 it doesn't mean that he who is 01:39 everywhere is nowhere, 01:40 it's just that you know, 01:41 you talk about cardiology and 01:44 do a lot of that in Internal Medicine 01:45 and Gastroenterology and then a 01:48 preventive medicine as well. 01:49 So you know, 01:51 we're just glad you took time from 01:53 such a busy schedule to be with us today. 01:55 Well thank you, it's, very glad to be here. 01:58 Now you know, 01:59 I'm sure in clinical medicine and then also 02:03 when you're teaching that you deal 02:05 with this subject a lot. 02:06 You see that people have gotten 02:08 into all kinds of problems and 02:10 they need to make positive changes and 02:13 then they have problems sticking with them. 02:15 Well you know 80 percent of the patients 02:19 that we see in a hospital setting are 02:22 there because of their addictive habits. 02:25 If you take habits that they know are 02:28 harmful to them and if they're able to 02:32 overcome those habits we would have 02:34 80 percent less hospital admissions 02:37 at least in the Internal Medicine ward. 02:39 So this is just kind of just like 02:40 everyday life things that they, 02:42 they could get a handle on. 02:43 That's right, you know of course 02:45 tobacco and alcohol are probably the big two. 02:49 But there are a lot of other addictions 02:51 out there as well that are more under 02:53 the table and people don't recognize the 02:56 severe consequences of 02:58 those addictions caused. 02:59 So what are some of those be, 03:00 we got alcohol, tobacco what are 03:01 some of the other addictions? 03:02 Well, sugar addiction. It's a big one. 03:05 There are many individuals that are 03:08 addicted to certain foods, 03:10 particularly the real high simple 03:13 carbohydrate foods, chocolate, 03:15 40 percent of females in United States 03:19 have an addictive relationship to chocolates. 03:21 Is that right? Yeah. 10 percent of males, 03:24 it still occurs in males as well. 03:26 Go ahead. No, so you've got chocolate, 03:30 you've got, what about caffeine? 03:31 Caffeine is another big one, 03:33 80 percent of Americans utilize caffeine regularly. 03:39 And that is an addictive drug, 03:41 it ends in INE and if you withdraw from it 03:44 you'll get, you'll feel like you're on chemotherapy 03:47 with the headaches and the zombie-like feeling. 03:49 And I remember doing that actually I, 03:51 I was working one summer night 03:53 began to partake of the soft drink that 03:55 I won't mention on air here but if I mention it, 03:58 everyone would probably know what 03:59 it was and, right, and then when I stopped 04:02 at the end of the summer I had these 04:04 terrible headaches for like five days and 04:06 I realized that was this what it was. Yeah. 04:08 I hope most people last about two or three 04:10 days but we've had people last 04:13 for as long as 14 days. 14 days, yeah. 04:16 Severe headaches from withdrawn. 04:17 So I suppose one of the challenges is 04:19 getting people to want to make a positive 04:23 health change and to understand 04:26 what a positive health change is? Yes exactly. 04:29 Many people of course don't know that 04:32 they're doing things that are harming 04:34 their body and of course that's the 04:36 first step, is to give them the knowledge 04:38 of what those habits are doing to their body. 04:41 No one will ever move along the stages 04:44 of change unless they're given good knowledge 04:48 that they're convinced as good knowledge, 04:50 and then they'll be able to make the changes 04:53 from there hopefully. And so how do you 04:55 go about that I mean many times I'll say to 04:57 people you really shouldn't do that, 04:58 they just go oh you got to die at something. 05:00 Well they're not willing to give it up and they 05:04 think that the life would not be enjoyable 05:06 without it. There's a lot of 05:08 people that are so hooked to their 05:11 addictions that they think that somehow 05:14 life will no longer have joy 05:16 if they give that addiction up. 05:17 They give up that Hoho, zinger or 05:20 that chocolate bar whatever it is. Right, 05:22 exactly. And of course they, 05:24 the testimonies are very clear from people 05:27 who have given those things up that 05:28 actually their joy and happiness is 05:30 enhanced and not detracted from. Okay, 05:34 so coming to the first step then is 05:37 having them see that they're doing something 05:39 negative and then probably the second step 05:41 is replacing it with something positive. Yes. 05:44 That's right actually we have a graphic that 05:46 kind of you know even infants when they're, 05:49 when they're changing. 05:51 Have this struggle to go through, 05:53 they have to learn what to do, 05:55 they have to get ready to do it 05:56 and then they have to do it. 05:58 And so those are the preparation phase 06:02 so to speak of making a lifestyle change. 06:06 Yeah I mean I have an infant right now, 06:08 I have an eight month old and I have a 06:09 2 year old. And you know 06:11 the eight month old is learning how to 06:14 do things, the 2 year old is getting ready to, 06:17 get away from diapers and we're all praying 06:20 for that once a day, and then wanting to it 06:23 and identifying it, same kind of thing 06:26 in any change. Yeah, exactly. 06:27 They're having to go through those same 06:29 changes but fortunately for them 06:31 sometimes it's actually easier because 06:34 of the own barriers we adults 06:36 put up in making changes ourselves. Okay, 06:40 so anything you want to say about those, 06:42 learning what to do, and those steps other 06:45 than just identifying, they're pretty basic. 06:46 Well often when we're dealing we change, 06:49 we're talking about addictions and they're 06:50 some common characteristics of 06:52 addictions that would be worth 06:54 mentioning at this point. 06:55 A lot of people wonder what you say 06:57 for instance chocolate addiction. 06:59 And the majority, 07:01 there's five common characteristics 07:03 of addictions and majority of these will 07:07 be present in most addictions. 07:09 First is an overwhelming compulsion 07:11 to continually use, okay. 07:13 Then there is a need for increased 07:15 amounts overtime. And then if the 07:17 individual stops it they'll actually begin 07:20 to suffer withdrawal symptoms. 07:22 Then if they stop it for even a long 07:25 period of time maybe several weeks 07:27 or months there's still a pretty high tendency 07:29 that they're gonna relapse back into it. 07:30 And there's also a detrimental effect 07:33 on the individual or a society. 07:36 There's something that's quite interesting 07:38 in regards to bad habits versus good habits. 07:43 Bad habits tend to have a very addictive nature, 07:50 element, an element to them. 07:51 Where good habits, actually you can 07:54 withdraw from good habits and 07:56 choose other good habits and it's not something 07:59 that produces a lot of blood, sweat and tears 08:01 in regards of the individual. 08:03 I'd like to use the example of mangoes for 08:07 instance, my wife is allergic to mangoes, 08:10 breaks out on her mouth and you know she likes 08:14 mangoes but once we figured out 08:17 what's happening and I told that she 08:19 shouldn't eat mangoes anymore, 08:20 she didn't say Neil, I don't know how 08:23 in the world I'm gonna enjoy life without them. 08:25 I mean, are you serious, 08:28 I'm gonna have to give up mangoes, 08:29 she didn't sweat, she didn't you know 08:32 argue with me vehemently that you 08:35 have to die of something. 08:36 She didn't hide mangoes in the, right, 08:39 around the house, exactly. 08:42 And of course the Lord's choices are that way. 08:44 One of God's principles is freedom of choice. 08:47 In fact He was so willing for freedom 08:50 of choice to be there that He was more 08:52 willing for sin to enter into the world 08:54 than for freedom to be done away with. 08:57 And so His choice is we have freedom in that, 09:01 we can choose, if you're addicted to broccoli 09:03 you might be disappointed that you 09:05 no longer can eat broccoli but 09:07 you'll be able to do that very well. 09:09 The devil's habits, there's a grip of vice 09:14 that's put around the individuals 09:16 they start utilizing that. 09:17 And so even if they want to have the 09:19 freedom to change afterwards and they know 09:22 that they should change, 09:23 the grip is so strong that it requires 09:26 some pretty tremendous resources 09:28 including spiritual resources for them 09:30 to ever be able to change. 09:31 So what would you say to the person 09:34 that comes to you and says, 09:35 well yeah man but these are plants God created 09:39 and I'm just smoking them, 09:40 so God created those, 09:42 you know I've had people telling me 09:43 that the substances that they're buying 09:45 of were created by God. Well. 09:48 Just because it's a plant, 09:50 it doesn't mean it's healthy. 09:51 I mean you know where does you know 09:54 heroin come from. You know there's 09:57 all sorts of drugs that are derived 09:59 from plant sources that are clearly 10:01 harmful to the brain, harmful to the body. 10:04 Tobacco is one of those as well, 10:06 marijuana is there and so I take issue 10:09 with the people that say well it's all 10:11 natural because there's clearly some things 10:15 that are natural that are quite harmful, 10:16 I mean yeah, snake venom is natural too, 10:18 but we wouldn't want to inject it into us. 10:21 Yes. Right. And I guess the first story 10:24 there in Genesis about the first drug pusher 10:27 if you will, he said hey, 10:28 you have some of this it will make you get high, 10:30 you will get higher than everybody else, 10:31 that's right, you'll have insight, 10:33 they will do this, yeah, 10:34 it was kind of a very addictive kind 10:36 of drug pusher kind of conversation. 10:37 It was. Yeah. It was going to make 10:41 her feel good. Right. 10:43 Put her into an enhanced fear and of course 10:46 there's a lot of people when they start 10:47 utilizing drugs that's why they utilize it, 10:49 they utilize it to get high at first. 10:52 But as the grip starts getting them 10:54 then they actually don't use it to get 10:58 high anymore, they use it to numb their pain. 11:00 Because in between times they have some 11:02 very low periods of no pleasure, 11:06 you know lower than what the 11:07 human being is supposed to be at 11:08 and so they try to get their pleasure 11:10 scale up to the "normal level" now. 11:13 They're having to utilize these drugs 11:15 just to numb their pain. 11:16 So identifying these addictive things 11:21 sometimes people just to come like for 11:23 instance you mentioned chocolate. 11:25 Are you saying that's like the devil's food? 11:30 Well there's some worse food that you could 11:33 actually eat believe it or not than chocolate, 11:36 but a chocolate is high in fat, 11:38 it's high in sugar, it adds to the waistline 11:42 and it also adds to some brain problems overtime. 11:49 A chocolate temporarily increases 11:52 serotonin levels; this is one of the 11:53 reasons why it somewhere addicted, 11:55 the dopamine levels also go up 11:56 because of chocolate. And so many 11:59 women call them comfort foods, 12:01 you know when I feel bad 12:02 I just need to have some chocolate and 12:04 then I feel better for a while. 12:06 But that only lasts a short term 12:08 and then their pleasure, 12:09 their dopamine levels go down 12:10 lower than what they're supposed 12:12 even during a period of fast. 12:14 And so they feel that need again. 12:16 So why do they go down? 12:18 Well it's really due to, you know, 12:22 any drug whether it's heroin, 12:26 whether it's cocaine, whether it's even 12:30 things that are not drugs, 12:32 pornography for instance is associated 12:35 with an elevation in dopamine levels 12:38 that is not based on something 12:40 that is long lasting. The long lasting way of 12:44 doing it is to eat a complex 12:46 carbohydrate diet, where you get 12:48 that nice steady state of dopamine levels, 12:51 it's not way up there off the scale, 12:53 above where human pleasure should 12:55 be like it is when these drugs 12:58 are utilized but it's up there at a nice level 13:00 where the individual can be a happy person 13:02 the entire day and not have these 13:05 periods of downtime. Okay. 13:08 So basically you've said tobacco, alcohol, 13:14 chocolate, some of these comfort foods, 13:17 will it be like simple carbohydrate foods 13:21 that make the sugars go up really high, 13:23 sugars all these other different things 13:25 are things we wanna avoid and those are 13:27 the things you are asking us to make 13:30 positive changes concerning. Right. 13:32 and there's other things that are not ingested 13:34 you know for instance gambling, 13:36 highly addictive. Gambling, pornography, 13:39 gambling, pornography, Internet, 13:41 there's Internet addictions. Many people, 13:44 both genders get involved in Internet 13:47 addictions but often with the women 13:50 it's you know it's the friendship, relationships 13:54 with these faceless people that they 13:56 never meet, that they're hooked to. 13:59 We're talking with Dr. Neil Nedley, 14:01 we're talking about making and then 14:03 maintaining positive choices in our lives. 14:06 When we come back we're gonna talk about 14:07 some of these things we've just 14:08 kind of introduced, we hope you join us 14:11 when we come back. 14:12 Are you confused about the endless stream 14:17 of new and often contradictory 14:19 health information, with companies 14:21 trying to sell new drugs and 14:23 special interest groups paying for studies 14:25 that spin the facts, where can you 14:27 find a common sense approach to health? 14:29 One way is to ask for your free copy of 14:31 Dr. Arnott's 24 realistic ways to 14:34 improve your health. Dr. Timothy Arnott 14:36 and the Lifestyle Center of America 14:38 produced this helpful booklet of 24 short 14:40 practical health tips based on 14:42 scientific research and the Bible, 14:44 that will help you live longer, 14:46 happier and healthier. For example, 14:49 did you know that women who drink more water 14:51 lower the risk of heart attack. 14:53 Or that 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night 14:55 can minimize your risk of ever 14:56 developing diabetes. Find out how to 14:59 lower your blood pressure and much more 15:01 if you're looking for help not hike, 15:03 then this booklet is for you. 15:04 Just log on to 3abn.org and click on free 15:07 offers or call us during regular business hours, 15:10 you'll be glad you did. Welcome back. 15:16 We're talking with Dr. Neil Nedley 15:17 We're talking about making and 15:19 maintaining positive health choices. 15:21 We've talked about some things 15:22 that are very addictive, 15:24 we've talked about tobacco, 15:25 we've talked about alcohol, 15:26 we've talked about chocolate, 15:28 and we've talked about Internet, 15:30 we've talked about pornography, 15:32 we've talked about gambling. 15:33 Dr. Neil Nedley, are there other things 15:35 we should mention when we talk about 15:36 things that are addictive. 15:37 Very common addiction in the 15:39 United States is Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin. 15:44 These drugs that people utilize to make them 15:47 feel differently, again it's a false way 15:49 of altering the way they feel. 15:51 After they utilize them for more than 30 days, 15:54 they get a grip on them and they are 15:55 tough to get off it 15:56 And they're effecting their relationships, 15:59 they are effecting a lot of things 16:01 about them that they don't have a clue 16:02 that it's effecting them on, 16:04 until they go through the withdrawal process 16:06 and get off of them and then their 16:08 relationships dramatically improve 16:10 and all the enemies that they had 16:11 before are no longer there, extra, 16:14 and the common addiction in the US. 16:19 So in another words that the brain is 16:22 kind of organized around that substance 16:25 however you get it. That's right, 16:26 with those drugs it's increasing GABA 16:29 and so your body quits making it because it's 16:32 depending on the drugs and so when you 16:34 quite utilizing and the GABA goes down 16:36 to extremely low levels making you feel anxious 16:39 and almost wanting to crawl out of your skin, 16:41 you can even have a seizure with abrupt 16:43 withdrawal if you're on large doses of Xanax. 16:46 And so it needs to be done under doctor 16:48 supervision, but it's very important for 16:51 anyone listening out there that's on 16:53 these drugs I can tell you, 16:54 your life would be enhanced, 16:56 if you would see a good addictionologist 16:59 to help you get off of those drugs 17:01 and there is a good process on how 17:03 it can be done and virtually anyone can. 17:04 So how would they go about it, 17:06 what's the process? 17:07 Well the process on those drugs because 17:10 if you are on high doses you can end up 17:12 seizing as we wean them down slowly 17:14 over the course of three to five days, 17:16 they're decreasing the dose a little bit more 17:18 until they finally get to the place within 17:20 a month, where they're no longer taking that. 17:22 And it'll take another 30 days after that 17:24 for your brain to start producing GABA 17:26 like it's supposed to. So the individual 17:29 will have to be willing to put up with some 17:32 withdrawal for quite a period of time. 17:34 So it's best to be around people 17:35 that kind of understand what's 17:37 happening during that time. 17:38 Well I think it's good if you're on this 17:40 to let your family know what's happening 17:42 and they can support you in that. good. 17:46 So what do we do then we find ourselves 17:49 wanting to make these good choices, 17:51 we talked about what causes and addiction, 17:53 what do we do to make the changes 17:56 and then maintain them. 17:57 Well we have a graphic that shows something 18:00 that is surprising to a lot of people on these 18:02 addictions, whether it's a gambling or tobacco 18:07 or whatever. Many people say 18:09 well what if I just you know cut down 18:11 to using it just once a month. It's certainly an 18:14 improvement but the desire is 18:16 being kept alive. And actually may 18:19 even be increased during times and you are not 18:22 using it giving rise to feelings of a deep 18:25 distressing sense of deprivation. 18:27 And so if the addiction is permanently 18:30 abandoned and the thoughts directed toward 18:32 the joy of being free, 18:33 the addiction will soon not be missed. 18:36 And this is something that's important; 18:39 I've had people say well you know 18:40 I'm just a social smoker. 18:42 And they don't realize that they're setting 18:45 themselves up for quite a bit of distress 18:48 in between times. 18:49 So this pathway is maintained by that, 18:51 you know the addicted pathway is 18:53 maintained by that just one time a month. 18:56 That's right. And so the solution to 18:59 anything that's an inductive habit 19:01 is total abstinence for life. For life. 19:03 Shut the door completely. 19:05 That's right. Clean break. 19:07 And it sounds cruel to people that have 19:10 that addictive relationship there but 19:13 I can tell you it's not cruel, 19:15 it is the most sympathetic, 19:18 most compassionate way for that person 19:20 to be able to live a joyful life and once 19:24 they're over that addiction then their 19:27 thoughts are directed towards the joy 19:28 of being free and the addiction 19:30 won't be missed. Early on you've 19:32 said there's an addiction to sugar, 19:34 so they never have sugar their entire life. 19:36 Well for those that, 19:38 that have a heavy sugar addiction, 19:40 there maybe certain foods in it, 19:41 you'll still be able to eat fruit and things 19:43 like that, my father for instance 19:45 had a sugar addiction and he recognized it 19:49 when he was over 200 pounds and was 19:51 starting to suffer a lot of health problems 19:54 and he gave sugar up. 19:55 And it was a four month ordeal 19:57 before it no longer had an appeal to him. 20:01 But if he happened to eat a piece of pie 20:03 my mother would still bake him pies 20:06 but the pies had no sugar in it and 20:08 she baked us pies with sugar. 20:10 The pies happened to get switched, 20:11 he said it's a sickening sweet 20:13 that's not even enjoyable anymore. 20:15 Ice cream was sickening to him, 20:17 I mean now he enjoyed an apple 20:18 as much as he used to enjoying apple pie. 20:20 Because now he was enjoying the natural 20:23 sweetness and really getting a lot of 20:25 enjoyment out of that, 20:26 in fact my uncle used to come up from Texas 20:28 just to watch him eat, he thoroughly enjoyed 20:30 natural food without having to dump sugar on. 20:34 Well that was a powerful thing that 20:35 you saw people, that's right, 20:37 making and then maintaining 20:38 choices exactly. Well you have a 20:41 graphic that helps us understand more 20:45 about long term success. Yes. 20:47 This is a graphic that actually goes 20:52 through the four stages of change 20:54 but this graphic that's on the screen 20:55 we'll deal with it since it's up there. 20:57 This is, if you've been off in addiction 21:01 for a period of time and then you happen 21:03 to relapse back into it one time. 21:06 This is a quote from Ellen White, 21:08 it says "If you have made mistakes, 21:09 you certainly gain a victory 21:11 if you see these mistakes and 21:12 regard them as beacons of warning." 21:14 She goes on to say that, 21:18 "then you can turn defeat into victory, 21:22 disappointing the enemy and honoring 21:24 your Redeemer." So in another words 21:26 don't focus on making these oh I'm gonna fall 21:29 because if you learn from that fall 21:31 you're actually stronger. That's right, 21:32 a lot of people once they fall they thrown 21:34 their talent say I'm never gonna get 21:35 over this, this is just something that 21:37 I'm gonna have to put up with but 21:39 the good news is that they, if they stop and 21:43 analyze what went wrong during that fall. 21:46 It wasn't just one thing and usually it's about 21:49 two or three things, some barriers 21:50 were let down some other things 21:52 and if they set up those barriers 21:54 analyze it right about it, 21:56 they're actually going to be much less 21:57 likely to relapse again. And that's how 22:00 you can turn defeat in the victory, 22:02 meaning that the devil will be not happy 22:06 that he even tempted you to begin 22:08 with because you're that much stronger. 22:10 Okay so in other words like the person 22:12 that says, okay I just had one spoon of 22:14 that ice cream and I failed now, 22:17 so I'm gonna eat the whole gallon. 22:18 This is the, this was the kind of thing 22:22 that can help them say hey no, 22:23 you don't need to do that, that's right, 22:24 that's right, you just need to stop and analyze 22:26 what went wrong. Okay. So you have, 22:29 you have a series of phrases here 22:31 that can help us. 22:32 Yeah the four stages of change. Okay. 22:34 The four stages of change, 22:36 number one is consciously 22:38 incompetent. Okay. And that means, 22:41 I should say unconsciously 22:43 incompetent that means that the 22:44 person is ignorant, they don't know 22:46 that what they're doing is wrong 22:47 and it's harming them. 22:48 And so they seem to be happy 22:49 'cause ignorance is bliss for a while but 22:52 eventually it catches up with them and 22:53 they start having a marked decrease 22:56 in their quality of life due to their habit. 22:58 How they move to consciously incompetent 23:01 is by knowledge. 23:02 The Bible says my people are destroyed 23:04 for a lack of knowledge, 23:05 so it's a very important step, 23:07 good knowledge to move them 23:08 to stage two. 23:09 But they still haven't changed. 23:11 Once they institute the change 23:13 then they go to consciously competent. 23:15 And then once they stay in the 23:17 consciously competent phase, 23:18 for my father it was four months 23:20 with his sugar addiction then he became 23:22 unconsciously competent in other words 23:25 he had no desire for it anymore, 23:27 he was enjoying his new life much better 23:30 than he did his old life and it wasn't 23:33 something he had to try for anymore. 23:35 There wasn't any real effort involved in him. 23:37 So he's actually moved to the place where 23:39 it's just secondhand nature, just second 23:42 nature. When he goes there 23:43 he doesn't struggle with the menu 23:44 over oh this, first is that, right, exactly. 23:47 Anyhow he didn't use the artificial 23:49 sweeteners either, a lot of people never 23:50 get over their sugar addiction 23:52 because they're dumping the artificial 23:53 sweeteners in and of course that just 23:56 fosters their desire for the real thing. 23:58 So with him it did require some effort, 24:01 the consciously in fact you know caffeine 24:03 will be the same way when you 24:04 give up caffeine, when you get thirsty 24:06 you are gonna think of a caffeine drink 24:08 and you're gonna say no, not this, 24:11 drink water. And that process 24:13 of telling your mind no, 24:15 not this but water is gonna have 24:17 to be repeated for several weeks 24:19 until you get to stage four. 24:21 But a lot of people give up in stage three, 24:22 they think they're gonna have to go 24:23 through stage three their entire life, 24:25 and they won't. It's actually much better 24:28 I mean the. Or they think they're gonna 24:30 just being you know striving to enter 24:32 the straight gate, that's right. 24:34 And that striving doesn't last long time 24:38 necessarily, I mean some addictions 24:40 are powerful enough, they can last months. 24:42 But it gets easier as those weeks go by 24:46 and you know the Lord's choices that's 24:49 why the Bible says that thy right hand 24:51 there are pleasures forever more. 24:53 I mean this is a much more happy existence 24:56 to not have something that you know is harmful, 24:59 that you're continuing to do and 25:02 continuing to recognize that to no longer 25:05 having anything that you're habitually doing 25:08 that you know is harmful to you. 25:10 Well let's take an example, 25:11 let's take caffeine and let's goes through those 25:13 stages with that someone what would you do, 25:16 someone comes into your office and you 25:17 realize they're having palpitations, 25:19 they're having all these caffeine induced 25:21 arrhythmia's. Okay, first thing I would 25:24 give them is knowledge about the fact 25:26 that caffeine is doing this to them. 25:27 And tell them the best way is to get off 25:30 of caffeine and we would go through 25:33 the mental exercise that they need to do, 25:35 you know they need to quit buying it, 25:37 they need to have some water around instead, 25:41 water is the best beverage and so 25:43 when they first go to stage three 25:44 when they get thirsty they're gonna say 25:46 no not caffeine, water. 25:48 The next time they get thirsty 25:50 they're not gonna think of water, 25:51 they're gonna think of a caffeine beverage. 25:53 No not caffeine, water. And so this process 25:57 will need to be repeated a couple of 25:59 weeks maybe it doesn't take as long for 26:01 caffeine maybe a month and then pretty soon 26:03 when the individual gets thirsty the 26:05 caffeine drink is even on the mind, 26:07 now the neurons have changed so that 26:09 water is on the mind and the individual 26:11 just habitually goes for water and 26:13 has no desire for the caffeine anymore. 26:17 So back to the first stage again, 26:19 you brought, you brought the other sheet 26:21 or a pamphlet that you give them on caffeine 26:22 or do you just talk about it to them. 26:24 Well, we do have literature that we can 26:26 give them as well. Is this true, 26:28 a woman just asked us about caffeine, 26:30 is it true that when you actually drink 26:31 caffeine it's a diuretic, 26:33 can you lose more flu than you gain 26:34 drinking it? That's true, yeah; 26:36 it's not a good way to hydrate yourself. 26:37 So you don't really even get a benefit 26:39 when you're drinking a drink. 26:40 You're not getting a benefit. 26:42 Those of the kind of things you cover 26:43 with them? That's right yeah. 26:45 and so they see all that and then, 26:46 and you know studies show that if you're 26:48 under the influence of caffeine you're more 26:49 likely to gossip than when you are not 26:51 under the influence of caffeine. Okay. 26:54 That's when you stick to the strict definition 26:57 of gossip of sharing private information 26:59 with someone who is not part of the problem 27:00 or part of the solution to the problem. 27:02 Now these stages they seem very 27:06 logical but you know you're a Christian 27:08 clinician and physician, 27:09 how do you bring the spiritual element 27:11 in as we have this last minute here. 27:13 Well the spiritual element is involved 27:15 in all the stages. You know God is the 27:17 author of truth and so He is the source of 27:21 knowledge. Scientific studies are just 27:24 expressions of that knowledge and so 27:27 God helps to implant the truth 27:29 there for to move to stage two 27:31 and then no one will go to stage three 27:33 unless the spirit of God is working on 27:34 their heart, because these addictions 27:36 are so powerful human beings can't 27:38 neuronally do it themselves, 27:40 they have to be willing but then they 27:42 have to rely on God. We've been talking 27:46 with Dr. Neil Nedley and really the bottom line 27:48 is the power of the Gospel. 27:50 It's what we need to make and maintain 27:54 positive choices. Thanks so much 27:56 for joining us for Health For A Lifetime. 27:58 God Bless You. |
Revised 2014-12-17