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And welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori with you. Doctor Elson Hass is a longtime philosopher, teacher, and integrative family physician. In nineteen eighty four, he founded still directs one of the first integrative medical clinics in the United States,
the Preventative Medical Center of Marin in northern California. Doctor Elson is the author of a number of popular books, including the groundbreaking first book Staying Healthy with the Seasons, his most recent Staying Healthy with New Medicine, a pioneering evolving modern day medical approaches to healing. Doctor Elson is one of the first doctors to integrate ancient Eastern healing traditions with the modern Western medical practices remarkable. He offers
a variety of online courses. We'll tell you about some of them available to you as his popular Detox in Spring cleansing groups, weight management, and his new program holds Self Detox. Doctor Elson Hass Back on Coast to Coast Nelson always a pleasure, Welcome, well, thank you.
George's great to be with you again, going away from Detroit. But oh yeah, we need. We need peace more than ever now.
Oh my gosh, we really do. And I have a feeling by the time people wake up in the morning, we could have a mess in the Middle East.
Elson, Well, sorry, kind of messy the second the news. I try not to watch the news too much because it stresses my mind and my heart. But you got to pay attention to what's happening.
How did you get involved in this new type of integrative medicine.
Hey, I went through medical school in Annaburg, Michigan. Came out to California in seventy two. You know, the times they were changing, and I got interested in learning about health and healing. I started with myself. I did a ten days juice cleans. I was introduced to that by a man who wrote a book called The Master Cleans. And I did ten days and drop twenty pounds. My allergies cleared up. On the third day, I had more energy, less sleep, and I felt like a new person. I said, Wow,
this is how I want to feel. And I started to eat differently, and I started exercise and get myself in shape, and you know, the whole change in lifestyle, and you know, I kind of gave up certain food that gave up red meats then, and I just started eating clean more cleanly, and studying herbs and Chinese medicine and saying, hey, there's value in all these systems that you know. I've been around a lot longer than Western medicine, you know. But I was a Western trained doctor. So
I said, well, how do I bring this together? And my folks were my folks, after they helped me get through med school. They said, what are you doing Elson, I said, well, I'm learning about a new a new type of medicine, you know. So I wrote a book, Staying Healthy with the Season, that came out in eighty one.
It's been out forty two years and still some people's favorite book, and introduction to a healthier type of medicine and paying attention to nature, paying attention to the cycles, looking at herbs, looking at nutrition, and how do we shift and adapt because everything keeps changing, We have to keep evolving and growing. And you know, paying attention to the cycles of life and nature to me is really key.
That's so cool. I have a simple philosophy. If you don't have your health, you can't help the people you care about.
Well, exactly, you can't help yourself. And that's you know, and I've been doing these detox programs and you know, I just kind of realized that, you know, I've been still a family doctor. I'm busier than ever. And we should talk sometime about the shortage of family doctors and the lack of quote, you know, the care that people really need. But I realized that most health issues that people have have they have emotional and mental aspects. They have a spiritual so we're not connected to a real
deeper self. And so I realized after forty some years of doing detox and spring cleansing, it's much more than the physical detox. We have to learn how to clear our mind and make new thoughts and visualize our health better. We have to deal with our emotional stresses and strains that get stuck in our body, and you know, all have to connect, you know, to a spiritual truth for us so that we can really embrace our life more completely.
What do you recommend people do to make that first jump to start being more healthy.
I think the first step is is to look at yourself, be more self aware and self reliant, because you know, we have an inner doctor that we need to really address and to look and say, well, what can I do for a couple of weeks. Can I get off my sugar, caffeine, alcohol, Can I give up you know, rich foods. Can I get away from certain drugs that I'm on? People are just inundated with you know, the quick fixed medical care, and they're not really looking at
the causes. So you know, ask yourself what's really underlying this? And you know, I have done thousands of people George over my career, just watching them change and getting doing my detox diet or getting off you know, caffeine, alcohol, sugar, wheat, dairy, which sounds like a lot for some people because it's
you know, a lot of what they eat. But the difference that happens when people do that is they start to lighten up, their inflammation goes down, they start to feel better, their symptoms get better, their allergies get better, their digestion gets better, and it really makes a difference for them.
That is pretty dramatic. And people can start instantly with this too, can't they exactly?
I mean, you could be anything. You could be on medicines. You know, sometimes I's around a lot of medicines. You need to check with your doctor because oftentimes you start to feel better quickly and your blood pressure goes down, your blood sugar or your cholesterol, you don't need as much medicines. A lot of people can get away from them. Now. I prescribe medicines every day, but I prefer to, you know, do lifestyle first, natural therapies next, and drugs as the
last resort. But when people come in on drugs, you've got to make sure that the right medicines, the right amounts with outside effect without interactions. And that's a lot. I mean, you know, right now, there's a shortage of family doctors really across the country, but particularly in the day area where I practice. You know, I'm the only clinic. I mean, I used to be kind of the integrative
alternative doctor. People came for another opinion, or they didn't want to take the drug or do the surgery they were looking for. That I have an answer for them. You know. Now I'm seeing everybody out that the seniors that moved to Marin County. You know, I'm the only clinics seeing new new new patients and Medicare patients and all that. Because I'm one of my unique aspects of about a medical center is that we have done a
more integrated practice using the insurance model as well. And you know it really it really helps a lot of people to have that because not everybody can afford, you know, the expensive doctors.
Why do you think there's such a shortage elson.
I think doctors are going into they have big loans, they're going into jobs, they're going into specialty practices. They don't want to really be an old time family doctor that gets to know who patients are, takes you know, gets to know their parents, their kids. It really is, you know, it really is a valuable experience because it's you know, it's like more like a family. My clinic is run. I mean, I tell people I'm still practicing at seventy six because I want healthcare to be educational
and fun. So I want people to really engage, you know, and and I'd like to be their partner in their health care, not just the doctor who tells them what to do. And I encourage them to take hold of their inner doctor, to take hold of their habits, and to look honestly at themselves and say, well, what's underlying this. I wrote a whole chapter in my new medicine book on understanding the causes of disease, and it really has
to do with our habits. It has to do with are we getting all the nutrients we need or we're getting too many toxins that interfere and inflame us and causes problems. And once you get you start getting good nourishment in and you get rid of some of the junk and the irritants. Hey, you guess what, You start to feel better pretty quickly.
Generally, Y also, do you think most people are unhealthy or healthy?
I think most people get into layers of illness when they have problems and symptoms, and they just cover them up with treatment, which is helpful, but not everybody wants to make the changes they need to do. So I think by and large, I mean, if you look at I think twenty year olds are not as healthy as they used to be. Fifty year olds are probably a little healthier than they used to be because they're kind of awakened a little bit more. But I think it's
really individual. I mean, we all have a mixture of you know, good health sides and poor health side. So I think generally people are you know, are themselves.
Are you a booster? And supplements and things like that, which I've been taking all my life.
Yeah, I do a lot of natural therapies in our clinic, and you know, I probably have three hundred different products, you know, mostly professional grade ones, and you know, we use we use that as part of our experience. I mean, everyone of my patients has a different diet, set of supplements and medicines that they take, so in that way,
they're a unique experiment and they pay attention to. I mean I've lectured to you know, you know, around the world and all over the country less of now, mostly online. But I realized that when I talk to doctor, they say, you have to know that everything we do in medicine is an experiment because you don't know what the result will be until you do it, and it's really an experience.
The patient has an experience just because of you know, a certain drug work for somebody doesn't mean it's going to work for the other person, and so you have to just pay attention to that. People have to listen to their body. The doctor has to listen to the patient. And you know, I tell people I practice with kindness and respect for you to really embrace who you are, and you know, the philosophy of being a preventive medicine doctor or a barefoot doctor. You know where in China,
you know, they were paid to keep people well. You know, to me is the key, and I think, you know, there's not a lot of young people. I mean, I'd love to have a new a new doctor come in that I can kind of train a bit and you know, kind of take over. I just you know, I've been at my clinic for forty years and I don't want to I don't want it to lose that. We serve a lot of people in the community.
So, you know, well, good for you with y Nelson Haws. His website is linked up at Coast to Coast am dot com. On April twenty seventh, He's got a whole self detox program. We'll tell you about that tonight and make sure you take down some notes on that and people can get to that link through your general website too, can't they. Doctor.
Oh yeah, seltonhas md dot com or the whole self detox dot com.
Yes, were you born in Michigan?
I was born in Detroit. Yeah, raised went to Mumford High School. Then I went to ann Arbor and I was there in the late sixties and early seventies and left there. When I had a chance to go intern, I said, I'm going to Berkeley, and then I worked at Highland House School in Oakland, and then I just went into practice. So I got I kind of jumped out of underground into med school early, and then I jumped into practice. So I just said, I got to get out there and do it. And I wanted to
change how medical practice is done. And you know, I'm happy that I think I've done that in a good in a good way, and it's still working. And I have, you know, lots of patients who are appreciating the team that I have, and you know, we have a really good team of people that still love working together and serving our community.
A lot of people will ask you when we take phone calls next hour, what are some of the things I can do right now to start changing my life? What do you tell them?
Pay attention, listen to your body, start to breathe more.
What do you mean by breathing more?
I just pay attention to your breathing a little deeper, inhaling and breathing out through your nose. My son's been studying this a lot, and it's already beda practice, you know, just to walk, you know, when you're exercising, when you're walking outside, and hail through your nose and let it, you know, and then just let it out. You can breathe in and out for your nose. So that's one thing. And just you know, to me, pay attention to what's going on between your ears. You know, you have stories
that you tell yourself that hold you back. Do you have things that upset you know? How can we address that? You know? And besides that, we have all the nutritional and uh, you know, dietary changes that people can do. I mean, most everybody George has hooks on you know what I call the snack habits s NACC, sugar and nicotine, alcohol, caffeine chemicals. Yeah, you know, we've talked about this before,
about you know, the detox. So I think the first level that people can do is like, maybe I should take a few weeks off from my habits of X, Y and Z, you know, and just see what happens. How much do I need those things? How can I embrace uh, you know, a new a new feeling by not being dependent on that. You know, do we need caffeine for energy. What about can we use nutrients for energy? You know, so some things like that. I mean, there's
a lot of deeper things that we can do. You know, I want people to start visualizing their health and visualizing a certain amount of peace within. Can we calm ourselves and we calm our minds, Can we calm our emotions. Can we connect to our essence, our purpose, our spirit?
You know, I see more and more people doc walking with walkers or canes, generally elderly, some of them not, but more and more people than I've ever seen in my life. What's happening there.
You should see how many people I see who have new joints. They're you know, they're bionic people. They have these and hips, and it's just as part of what medicine, the tech, you know. I mean, I have a slide in my intro talk I just did recently, you know, it says, you know, it's kind of computer images on the screen and it's like technology and beyond, but also
back to the basics. So I mean, we had, you know, a lot of people, I mean I've had I have a lot of patients who have they can't walk to the pain in their hip and ourthrits in their hip. They get a new joint, Hey, they can walk again. They feel better. So, you know, there's a lot of benefits that we have in technology, and you know, we
use Western medicine to repair things. But we can reverse a lot of the progressive degenerative diseases I called the triad of problems high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and the diseases that come and progress with that. We can change a lot of that with just differences in lifestyle, difference in the food we eat, difference in handling our stress, you know, changing our attitude. You know what I call my five keys to staying healthy.
What do you think of moderate exercise?
Stock I think moderate and even more dynamic active exercise, but a good balance and exercise, you know, I want you know, I mean people who are you know, a little overweight or heavier up top, you know, shouldn't and they're aging, you know, shouldn't probably be running because running is a stressful thing on the body. But you can use the treadmill, you can use an elliptical, but I
think people need a good combination. And I know I exercise probably six hours a week, three different times at the gym, I do elliptical, and I do recomb and bike and I do some weights and then I do some stretching and I do some swim and you know jacuzzi, and I fine, My body feels refreshed, My endorphins come up. You know, it just helped me feel happy. So I think people need a good balance of stretching, wait for you know, and you know, get flexibility, waits for strength,
cardio for endurance. So I think, you know, we need more than Yeah, we need regular exercise for sure. People feel better when they do that.
How much of all this is just plain common sense?
Much of it? Much of it is like what did it take? You know, we don't we don't educate our young people, and we never we never have. We got pushed into four food groups and you know, eat a bunch, drink a bunch of milk, eat a bunch of cheese, eat some meat, and you know, throw a few vegetables in there, and then all the fast foods we've gotten. We've you know, we've altered the body, and we've created a lot of obesity, and we've created a lot of inflammation.
And you know, people need to wake up from that it's it's not a healthy path. But the common sense is, you know, for most people common sense maybe I can just go get a fast food a meal for you know, three dollars, and you know that's sensible to them, but it's not healthy.
What changes a person's pattern where you know, you're there in their twenties, thirties, forties, but then when they get to their sixties and seventies, they seemed to deteriorate quicker.
How come, well, I mean to me. You know Bethany who worked on my books with me, he's a big fan of yours. She said, people change because of crisis or vanity. You know, you're either falling apart, or you look like you're falling apart, or you put too much weight on and follow you get a wake up call. You know, I just had this all this pacing the small and he you know what, he's a healthy, youngest guy.
But if cluster was high and he was worried about it, he started exercising and he dropped eighteen pounds and as cluster went down fifty points. He didn't take any medicines for it. You know that was a possibility, but he said, I want to try this first, and I said, and I bet you feel different, he said, I feel so much better. I said, and a few people tell you
how you look different? Yeah, he said. The families didn't know when I first changed my diet towards is my family who are kind of generally overweight, you know, overeaters in Detroit. You know, we're like, what did you do? And I told him what I did. I said, oh, that sounds hard. You gave up this and you gave up that. I said, yeah, I started eating healthy, vital food and that makes a big difference.
The greatest compliment to DOC is when you haven't seen somebody in a couple of years and they see you and go, you look great exactly, and they really mean it.
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