Books

The UltraMind Solution: Fix Your Broken Brain by Healing Your Body First

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
  • Pub. Date: December 2008
  • ISBN-13: 9781416549710
  • Sales Rank: 202
  • 464pp

Synopsis

A hidden epidemic races around the globe — we can't see it or touch it, which makes it so dangerous.

The invisible epidemic has led to the suffering of millions who spend billions on drugs, only to find they don't work.

This is an epidemic of broken brains.

"Broken brains" go by many names — depression, anxiety, memory loss, brain fog, attention deficit disorder, autism, and dementia, to name a few — and show up in radically different ways from person to person, making each seem like a separate problem.

But the truth is that these "diagnoses" are all the result of a few basic problems with our biology. Pinpoint these biological problems, fix them, and let your body's natural healing intelligence take over to repair your brain. Now you can experience an UltraMind — one that is highly focused and able to pay attention at will, with a strong, reliable memory and a mood that is calm, confident, in control, and in good spirits.

We have all heard of the mind-body connection or how our thoughts affect the health of our body. But the reverse is far more powerful: what you do to your body, your basic biology, has a profound effect on your brain.

Have you ever experienced instant clarity after exercise? Alertness after drinking coffee? A mental crash after popping candy? Does your brain inexplicably slow down during stress, while multitasking, or when meeting a deadline? Each is an example of how what we do to our bodies — whether through nutrition, sleep, exercise, or stress — has a dramatic effect on our brains.

Conventional treatments don't help, or provide only slight benefit, because they just manage symptoms rather than deal with— and heal — the underlying problem. And just as brain problems all stem from the same root causes, they all have the same solution — The UltraMind Solution.

Our ancient genes interact with our environment to create systemic imbalances that affect our brains. Correct those imbalances — most caused by nutritional deficiencies, allergens, infections, toxins, and stress — and you can achieve optimum mental health without drugs or psychotherapy.

The UltraMind Solution is the future of medicine, the culmination of the last twenty years of research on what makes the brain happy, focused, and calm; research that has uncovered a few simple factors that explain why things go wrong and how to fix them.

Don't wait for this revolution in medicine to trickle into your doctor's office: it usually takes research twenty years to move from the lab to the patient. The answers are here, right now, in The UltraMind Solution.

Publishers Weekly

From his own account, stress and mercury poisoning transformed Lenox, Mass., physician Hyman (UltraMetabolism) from a physical and mental titan to a depressed, anxious chronic fatigue sufferer. His journey to health included visits to a TCM practitioner and a Hawaiian naturopath. Here he cites the main culprits of his and other serious, now epidemic, conditions (mood disorders, Alzheimer's disease, ADHD, autism, etc.): 21st-century lifestyles, dangerous environmental toxins and genetic liabilities. Hyman contends that psychiatrists and neurologists prescribe cognitive therapy and medication, but do not address the physical damage causing brain dysfunction. His program to balance seven key body systems consists of a gluten- and dairy-free diet; 30 minutes of daily walking and morning and evening self-care rituals. Quizzes help readers determine their weaknesses and whether to follow the basic plan, optimize it or seek medical intervention. Hyman thoroughly explains each body system; the impact of poor diet, stress and environment; the best foods and supplements; and ways to detoxify and activate the body's own healing mechanisms. An online companion guide offers additional advice (for example, a more vigorous physical training regime, brain exercises and ways to ease detoxification side effects and constipation), as well as allergy-free recipes. (Jan.)

Biography

Mark Hyman, M.D., is the editor in chief of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, the most prestigious journal in the field of integrative medicine. After ten years as co-medical director at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires, he is now in private practice in Lenox, Massachusetts. He is the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Ultraprevention. H