September 21, 2009
You may recall back in Podcast Episode #54 that we had Dr. Carolyn Dean (pictured left) on the show to talk about her book (and one of my top recommended books for 2009) The Magnesium Miracle.
Dr. Dean has been at the forefront of health issues for 28 years and is known as “The Doctor of the Future”. She graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1978, holds a medical license in California, and is a graduate of the Ontario Naturopathic College, now The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto.
In addition to the highly acclaimed book, The Magnesium Miracle, she has authored or coauthored sixteen additional books, including the VidaCosta Good Health Encyclopedia, Death by Modern Medicine: Seeking Safe Solutions, The Yeast Connection and Women's Health, IBS for Dummies, and Hormone Balance.
Radio, TV and magazines interview Dr. Dean regularly — including ABC, NBC and CBS – and she has been extensively quoted in many media articles including The New York Post, Women’s World, and FIRST for Women.
So how does the “Doctor of the Future” stay fit? Here's what Dr. Dean had to say on her website:
“5:30 a.m. …I start my day with some wall push ups. That’s where you stand against the wall and push yourself off with your arms. This builds your upper body strength, posture and keeps the shoulders from rotating forward (i.e. slumping!). Next I do 10-15 minutes of stretches. Some call it yoga but it’s really just stretching postures. Most of what Westerners associate with “yoga” has as much to do with yoga as Wonder Bread does with Holy Communion.
The stretching gets me limber for my super squats. I’m doing several sets of 12 each day. They really get my pulse racing. At no particular time of the day my husband and I head out for a 10-minute walk across the neighboring golf course. That brings us to a concrete ocean boardwalk for another 35-minute speed walk to our favorite beach. We swim, snorkel, boogie board and generally enjoy ourselves for 30-45 minutes and then walk home. I drink a large can of coconut juice and go back to work. (Oh, and I shower too!) If I don’t have enough time for the beach I’ll swim in our community salt water infinity pool.”
In response to this post on her website, Dr. Dean received the following comment from a reader:
“Now that you’ve described your routine, could you do one for the 99 percent of your readers who don’t have your luxuries or live in opulence?”
Here is what the Doctor of the Future had to say:
“I found this reader’s comments a little confusing. You’d think I was paying hundreds of dollars for a gym membership, rode an expensive Tour de France speed bike or was paying Jack LaLanne to be my personal trainer.
Instead, all I do is some strength training (without even a dumbbell) and stretches (nothing joint-defying) in the morning… Speed walk with my husband… And swim in the ocean or pool.
Not exactly what I’d call “opulence.” Or at least not in the traditional sense. It’s certainly not a routine limited to 1% of the population.
If you want a club atmosphere, the YMCA has special sponsorship plans for those who can’t afford membership – giving them full access to their complete facilities.
But you don’t even need any of that, really.
Last time I checked public sidewalks – and public parks and conservation areas – were fairly common and free to use.
And even if it’s the dead of winter outside… you can do super squats in the comfort of your home. All you need are a pair of legs. Even one leg would do.
And even if you had no legs, you could use your arms to do body lifts…”
What do you think? Is Dr. Dean's fitness program reasonable, or completely unachievable for the “real working person”?
If you're more interested in Dr. Dean and what she has to say, you should go to her website, where she has a program called “Future Health Now” that actually introduces you to the 7 Pillars of Health that she builds her life around.
Here's my thought: if one of the nation's most experienced natural physicians is doing it, then it might be a good idea to check it out…what do you think?
Her program is completely reasonable! Whoever said it "for your readers who don't have the luxuries" took her program too literally. The only hitch is the access to a body of water for exercise. We live in the country and have a lake on our property, but many people don't. We're also located at least 20min from a town that has a gym with a pool, where someone could do everything together. So yes, some readers may have some problems making it work, but hey, there's no universal workout so its whatever is healthy and works for the individual. No need to force a workout on someone if they have to go to great lengths just to be able to do the workout.
Do I think that this type of activity could improve the health of everyone who did it? Yes, absolutely. But fat loss is another issue, and I wonder if this plan has an intensity level needed to accomplish that.
And, no many of us don’t have the luxury of the ocean being a 10 minute walk from our house but there are plenty of activities to substitute with.
Interesting, thanks Ben.
Maybe it was the part about living near the golf course and the ocean and the community salt water infinity pool that made the commenter talk about the “opulence”. I know I don’t have any of those things around me. The doctor should have commented on that instead of playing dumb about what the commenter was talking about. It was pretty obvious to me.
I think everything but the swimming is something that a “regular working person” could do. Not everyone has the access to a pool and/or large body of water or is near enough to a YMCA.