Health for a Lifetime

The Brain: Overfed, Under Nourished

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Hans Diehl, Don Mackintosh

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Series Code: HFAL

Program Code: HFAL000059


00:46 Hello and welcome to "Health for a Lifetime"
00:48 I'm your host Don Mackintosh
00:49 We're glad you are with us.
00:50 Also, today we have Dr. Hans Diehl with us...
00:53 Welcome Dr. Diehl. Good to be here, Don
00:56 Many times when I have spoken with you or we've talked,
00:59 over the years we've talked about the "CHIP Program"
01:02 "Coronary Health Improvement Program"
01:05 And just recently, you have finished a new series of videos
01:08 updating that with the latest scientific information,
01:11 all those different things, it's a delight to watch.
01:13 We have used it in our community.
01:15 I understand that these videos are also available
01:18 for other communities or other groups that want to get
01:20 the message of health out and have a team to support them.
01:24 Isn't that right? Yeah, that's right
01:26 Today, we have a very interesting subject though,
01:29 the brain, undernourished or overfed, to that effect,
01:34 and tell us a little bit about that...
01:37 What are we going to be talking about today?
01:40 Usually when we talk about being overfed and undernourished
01:43 we think more about the body usually...
01:44 Too much foods, the wrong foods,
01:46 not the proper nutrient values.
01:48 But could it be that we have a similar situation
01:52 with the brain or some portions of the brain
01:55 such as the frontal lobe... are actually UNDERFED
01:59 in contrast to the other portions of the brain
02:02 which are OVERFED.
02:04 I mean, just think about the informational age...
02:06 we are barraged with reports on stocks and bonds,
02:10 and greeds and scandals and everything else...
02:12 And could it be that some portions of the brain
02:16 that take in that information,
02:18 namely the BACK portion of the brain,
02:20 are actually OVERFED at the expense of the frontal lobe
02:25 where we store ethical values, spiritual values, family values.
02:30 That's the question!
02:32 And it sounds like, from that question,
02:34 that you have an answer!
02:35 Well, you see, when you look at the brain,
02:39 you look at the ultimate computer.
02:41 You have 3 pounds of gray mass,
02:45 you have some 50-100 billion cells and they ALL work
02:49 together... it's sort of the ultimate computer network.
02:53 And in this computer network everything is stored;
02:57 our experiences early in life;
03:00 we can have recalls within split seconds.
03:03 This is the ultimate design of electrochemical stimuli
03:09 that are representing many, many, many computers
03:13 that are all hooked together.
03:14 It's nothing like it ever designed.
03:17 So what you're suggesting is that
03:19 even though it's a great design,
03:20 we could somehow maybe make it be out of balance,
03:24 or undernourish a part or whatnot.
03:26 You know, it's very interesting when you think about the brain
03:29 brain anatomists began to map out the brain area,
03:34 and as they probed with special electrodes,
03:41 while people were sort of under anesthesia,
03:43 they began to realize that when you stimulated the
03:46 back area of the brain, that you see right now,
03:49 then all of a sudden they talked about figures
03:52 and facts and these kinds of things,
03:55 but when they began to stimulate the frontal lobe,
03:57 all of a sudden, it was different...
03:59 Then all of a sudden, they talked about
04:01 "I hear music of Beethoven"
04:03 They talked about ethical things.
04:05 They talked about family values.
04:07 And you see, it's interesting isn't it...
04:09 that when you have, for instance,
04:11 a rainbow that you see,
04:13 you see it at the back of your brain.
04:17 When you have a kiss, just like you see on the video
04:19 right now there... when you have a kiss,
04:21 that kiss is not being perceived on the lips...
04:27 No... it's back there on the sensory strip, right there!
04:30 And that's why somebody said...
04:32 "Well, it's probably all in the brain anyway"
04:34 and it IS!
04:36 Well, it's in your head... it's all in your head!
04:40 Yeah, and you have a very
04:41 carefully structured sensory strip.
04:43 This sensory strip is sort of in the middle of the brain,
04:46 the outer cortex here, and it picks up
04:49 the different sensory information in different areas.
04:52 For instance, you can pick up materials
04:55 pertaining to the knees at the very top of the strip...
04:58 OR, when you perhaps begin to move your trunk,
05:02 your pick up sensor information
05:04 right there in the trunk or the hands,
05:07 and so then it goes down the line... face and neck,
05:11 or, for instance, the lips and the tongue...
05:13 And please note, look how large the area
05:15 for the lips and the tongue is.
05:18 This is because the brain assigns groups of cells
05:23 according to the precision that is needed.
05:27 For instance, language, the formation of our lips...
05:33 all of that takes a lot more groups of brain cells,
05:40 so you have much more territory assigned on the sensory strip.
05:46 So I've heard this... that an elephant,
05:48 they have such a large brain because
05:49 they have to operate the trunk. YES!
05:52 And all that goes right to the nose.
05:54 Well for instance, if you happen to have a stroke,
05:56 right there... you see those 3 little areas there? Yes
05:59 This is now affecting the mouth area,
06:02 and perhaps the tongue area,
06:04 and that person will not receive sensory information
06:07 after a stroke pertaining to the mouth and the tongue,
06:10 and, therefore, they might have
06:12 speech impediments after a stroke.
06:13 Problems talking and all that. Yes
06:15 But aside from that sensory strip,
06:18 you have another strip right next to it,
06:20 and that's called the "motor strip"
06:21 and here now, you have information that is
06:25 coming into the sensory strip
06:27 and within milliseconds that information is translated
06:31 and being pushed towards the motor strip,
06:33 and it now activates things on the motor strip.
06:36 For instance, if you hurt your knee,
06:39 this is the information that comes to your brain
06:41 and goes to the sensory strip
06:43 where the knee is located. Right? Um hm
06:45 And THEN, it immediately is being transferred to the
06:48 motor strip so that you begin to jerk your knee.
06:52 And all of this happens in split seconds...
06:55 It's all integrated very, very carefully and processed.
06:58 Amazing! It really is!
07:01 So here again now... when you look at the
07:03 motor strip, you again see the lips are
07:06 UNUSUALLY large in the space that these brain cells occupy.
07:12 Again, just think about how we form our lips;
07:17 how we form words and how all these muscles
07:19 have to work together to produce language,
07:22 and that's why somehow, we have a larger area right there.
07:27 So the sensory strip and the
07:30 motor strip, they are closely aligned.
07:34 So when we are involved in a bad habit,
07:37 say... smoking which has the lips and these different
07:40 things involved in it, would that be the reason
07:43 it's so hard to change that habit...
07:44 because there is such a pattern right there?
07:46 Yeah, it could very well be.
07:47 You have to develop sort of a
07:48 brain-rut type of a thing, right?
07:50 And, every time you do something,
07:52 it gets into that same pattern again.
07:55 So we want to break-up the pattern somehow.
07:57 Yeah, we want to break-up that pattern.
07:59 Feed the right place and not the...
08:00 Yeah, but then the question is, how do we really do this?
08:03 So we have to be concerned about the sensory strip,
08:05 and we have to be concerned about the motor strip
08:07 because THAT'S where things are happening.
08:09 Well what about the frontal lobe then?
08:11 What role does it play?
08:12 That looks like midbrain what we've been talking about...
08:14 What does the frontal lobe do?
08:15 Well, maybe I can tell you a story. I love stories!
08:20 It happened at Harvard University.
08:24 A young man by the name of "Phineas Gage" was temping
08:29 dynamite and somehow, as he was working there,
08:33 the dynamite exploded and sent one of these iron rods
08:39 from his lower eye right through the frontal lobe
08:42 coming out again and everybody was concerned about
08:46 Phineas Gage - what would happen to him?
08:48 Did he die?
08:49 That's the amazing thing!
08:51 He did not die but this wound actually healed.
08:55 But something happened!
08:57 Phineas Gage, after this accident,
09:01 was no longer the same Phineas Gage!
09:04 You see, before this accident, he was very responsible,
09:07 he was devoted to one woman, he was a family man,
09:10 he was reliable.
09:11 He was just a high character kind of a person!
09:15 Ethical, moral, all those different things. Yeah!
09:18 And then something happened, this accident took place,
09:21 and all of a sudden Phineas Gage was
09:24 no longer Phineas Gage.
09:25 He was no longer the dependable person that
09:28 would come to work on time.
09:29 He was no longer the devoted husband.
09:31 He would now follow more the
09:33 wine, women and song kind of a motto of life.
09:37 Something had happened, something had changed
09:40 the taproot of his personality;
09:43 it was no longer the same Phineas Gage...
09:47 And it was later that researchers began to
09:51 understand that what had actually happened was
09:54 that the frontal lobe had been damaged
09:57 where you have ethical values,
10:00 family values, spiritual values located,
10:04 and when you damage that frontal lobe,
10:06 something then can happen to the person.
10:09 So here on the graphic then,
10:12 is this the part you're talking about?
10:13 This was the part that was damaged?
10:15 Yeah, that's correct.
10:16 And it just took that out? Interesting!
10:20 Yeah, and you see as a result of this...
10:21 his personality began to change,
10:23 his temperament began to change,
10:25 the ethical values were now being changed and modified,
10:29 his judgment was no longer quite there,
10:31 and his religious values all of a sudden
10:33 had a different connotation.
10:35 So then it's the frontal lobe where these values reside,
10:38 and my question is...
10:40 Could it be - that in our society which emphasizes
10:44 informational pieces, information overload...
10:51 Yeah, data, statistics, facts and figures,
10:53 that feeds the back portion of the brain...
10:56 Could it be that the back portion of our brains
10:59 is overloaded-overfed and maybe,
11:02 at the expense of a balance,
11:06 where you have then, also the feeding of the frontal lobe;
11:09 responsibility, temperament and so on.
11:12 So, out of balance... that's an excellent question.
11:15 Could it be that we're feeding the back portions of the brain
11:17 while neglecting the front portions,
11:20 or in other words, having a self-induced
11:22 lobotomy so-to-speak where we're doing a
11:25 Phineas Gage on ourselves, excellent question!
11:27 We've been talking with Dr. Hans Diehl
11:29 We're talking about the brain...
11:31 Are we feeding the right parts the right things
11:33 in the right way?
11:34 When we come back, we're going to answer that question,
11:37 and we hope you'll join us!
11:40 Have you found yourself wishing that you could shed a few pounds
11:44 Have you been on a diet for most of your life,
11:46 but not found anything that will really keep the weight off?
11:49 If you've answered "yes" to any of these questions,
11:52 then we have a solution for you that works!
11:54 Dr. Hans Diehl and Dr. Aileen Ludington
11:57 have written a marvelous booklet called...
11:59 "Reversing Obesity Naturally"
12:02 and we'd like to send it to you FREE of charge.
12:04 Here's a medically sound approach successfully
12:07 used by thousands who are able to eat more
12:10 and lose weight permanently without feeling guilty
12:12 or hungry through lifestyle medicine.
12:15 Dr. Diehl and Dr. Ludington have been featured on 3ABN
12:18 and in this booklet, they present a sensible approach
12:21 to eating, nutrition and lifestyle changes
12:24 that can help you prevent heart disease, diabetes,
12:26 and EVEN cancer.
12:28 Call or write today for your free copy of...
12:30 "Reversing Obesity Naturally"
12:32 and you could be on your way to a healthier, happier YOU!
12:35 It's ABSOLUTELY free of charge, so call or write today.
12:43 Welcome back, we've been talking with Dr. Hans Diehl
12:45 and we've been talking about the BRAIN,
12:48 and more specifically the frontal lobe.
12:50 Dr. Diehl, I have a question about this story...
12:52 about Phineas Gage.
12:53 He was the one that had that self-induced frontal lobotomy
12:58 with that rod going through his brain...
13:00 Did it just affect his character and personality?
13:04 Was anything else damaged in his brain?
13:06 Did it affect his memory?
13:07 That's very interesting... it did not affect his brain
13:10 in terms of memory function or intelligence,
13:13 but it affected his will power and his moral values.
13:17 So he was coordinated, able to walk to work
13:19 do all those different things? Everything!
13:21 He could remember who he was and everything, he just was...
13:23 Well it seems that the taproot
13:26 of his personality had been changed - that was the big thing
13:29 ...the taproot of his personality was CUT,
13:32 the frontal lobe had become affected.
13:35 So he was just operating on
13:36 the other portions of his brain
13:38 rather than frontally through that part.
13:40 Well there's a famous Russian scientist,
13:44 Dr. Luria, and he recently said...
13:59 This is a Russian scientist.
14:00 Dr. Bernell Baldwin, as a brain physiologist recently said...
14:06 "When you look at the frontal lobe, the frontal lobe
14:09 is the front seat driver of the brain. "
14:13 Now it's almost like a symphony conductor...
14:16 The frontal lobe integrates, synthesizes, brings together,
14:22 creates balance, spiritual values,
14:26 service orientation... these kind of things
14:29 are seated in that frontal lobe,
14:32 and that's the symphonic conductor...
14:35 if that's indeed the symphonic conductor
14:37 you will hear music instead of noise.
14:41 So aside from having a terrible injury like Phineas Gage,
14:45 could we be inducing frontal lobe damage by things we do
14:49 as Americans or as individuals, maybe not just in America,
14:53 but wherever in our own lifestyle?
14:57 There are probably various ways of how you can
15:01 damage the frontal lobe and how you can build it.
15:04 You can damage it by perhaps playing down the sense of
15:09 responsibility, making ethical judgments,
15:12 and basically perhaps focusing on facts and data and so on.
15:21 You can also harm this by alcohol, by habit patterns
15:27 that are now emerging as being perhaps not in the
15:31 best interest of health; they now appear to be
15:33 irresponsible choices.
15:35 So you can damage the frontal lobe by our behaviors
15:38 but we can also build it up.
15:41 Let's come to that building up in just a minute,
15:43 but one of the things that damages it is alcohol.
15:46 What would be some other foods
15:48 or different things that would damage it?
15:49 Well, I don't know if there are specific foods,
15:54 but I would think that, for instance, when you have
15:58 a pension for violent exposures via movies or
16:07 becoming involved in violent behaviors.
16:09 These are then things that perhaps
16:11 damage the frontal lobe.
16:12 It's not just the physical damage that I talked about
16:15 in Phineas Gage's situation,
16:17 but it could also be these kind of things that we embrace
16:21 ...visual things that come into our frontal lobe.
16:25 So we need to be careful about what we eat,
16:27 what we drink, what we see,
16:29 what we hear... all those different things.
16:30 Well you know, I kind of wonder what the effect of
16:32 soap operas might be on the frontal lobe.
16:34 You know... allurements!
16:37 These are all things that perhaps don't build
16:40 that sense of having a balanced lifestyle
16:44 to shape the ethical values that we were called to have.
16:48 So by beholding, we're changed.
16:51 Yeah, yeah, you can behold different things.
16:55 You can behold violence, or you can behold,
16:58 shall we say... family values.
17:00 You can, perhaps, become concerned about
17:06 how to take care of my kids...
17:08 How can I make time for my children so I am
17:12 a father that is involved in shaping the destiny of my kids.
17:16 I mean these are all values that
17:18 relate to giving of yourself, serving others,
17:22 nobility of purpose, LOVE...
17:25 These are all values that apparently
17:27 influence the frontal lobe.
17:29 Let's say someone is watching today and they
17:31 accidently turned to 3ABN instead of their soap opera...
17:35 and they realized that they are just hooked on
17:38 this particular soap opera, and they just
17:40 watch it again and again and maybe they want to change it
17:43 What are some of the good things
17:44 they can do to replace that?
17:49 Yeah... what are they going to do?
17:51 Well first of all, I think you want to, perhaps
17:54 expose yourself to some other things.
17:56 You know, maybe you want to read a biography or
18:00 perhaps pick up a video that talks about...
18:04 shall we just say... the life of Albert Schweitzer
18:07 ...A man who was a great organist,
18:09 well-known, famous, and yet he was
18:12 drawn by the needs in Africa,
18:15 and then turned his life around and now
18:16 became involved in serving others...
18:18 maybe that would be one step.
18:20 So read biographies, read meaningful history,
18:24 read these types of things that there are noble characters
18:28 that we're focusing on.
18:29 Yeah but I think it has to go beyond that...
18:32 I think once we become more aware that our
18:36 greatest joy in life, really,
18:38 comes by being of service to others.. in a proper way,
18:45 once we realize that there's a nobility in becoming involved
18:50 in the betterment of our society,
18:53 then we have to just go beyond that recognition
18:56 and do something about it.
18:59 And that means... what can we do?
19:02 So we can then focus on these noble characters;
19:05 we can maybe read the Bible, look at the life of Christ,
19:08 all these different things and this is going to help us
19:11 in our actions and different things as well... Anything else?
19:14 Yeah, it will balance our personality,
19:16 it will drive the personality in a more balanced fashion.
19:19 You know when I was doing the CHIP Program in India,
19:23 I ran across a story of one of the Indian philosophers,
19:27 and the story is told of an affluent man,
19:31 a Brahmin in the Himalayas...
19:33 It was wintertime, it was cold,
19:36 and as he was on his way home, he saw some human wreckage
19:42 on the sidewalk, a drunken body...
19:46 And he first tried to make his way home and ignore what he saw,
19:52 and then he thought about that.
19:54 He went back and he picked up this bundle of humanity,
19:58 he put it on his back...
19:59 It was cold and he dragged this man home and took care of him.
20:04 The next morning, the light came on in his mind,
20:10 and he realized that this man, this human wreckage,
20:15 had actually given HIM the human warmth that he needed
20:19 to make it home without freezing to death.
20:21 So here it is... as you serve others,
20:25 you also, I guess, find true happiness yourself.
20:29 And that's what you found in
20:30 serving others in the CHIP Program around the world too.
20:34 Yeah, that's correct, but it really all comes down
20:37 in the end, I think, at least for me to one basic question.
20:41 You know... What is really the purpose of our life?
20:44 And you know, I'm reminded of this light bulb here...
20:46 You know, this has something to do with our purpose of life.
20:52 This light bulb can look pretty good...
20:56 We can look pretty good on the outside;
20:58 we could smell good.
20:59 We get all powdered after coming on the set here.
21:02 You know, the wrinkles are all taken care of.
21:04 Well ALMOST all. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...
21:08 And so, everything looks good, but you know,
21:11 the purpose of life REALLY, to me at least,
21:15 is to better the life of someone else;
21:21 to illumine the pathway of someone else.
21:24 You see, life can look pretty good on the outside...
21:28 You got your BMW in the garage.
21:30 Your house is paid for.
21:32 Everything looks nice on the outside...
21:34 BUT if you are not connected on the inside,
21:37 if there is no central mooring to a source of power -
21:41 when the symphony conductor
21:45 is not there to make music out of your life,
21:49 and it's just noise, then we begin to realize
21:52 that maybe something is missing,
21:53 maybe we're not plugged in.
21:55 Maybe just like this filament inside this light bulb,
21:58 if that filament is broken or that filament is not connected
22:02 to the power net, there's nothing going to happen.
22:04 It just looks good but it doesn't do anything.
22:05 Yeah, but if it is connected, LOOK!
22:09 That's right! You see, and I think
22:10 THAT to me at least has become an illustration of
22:13 the purpose of life.
22:15 If my life does not illumine the pathway of someone else,
22:22 then it's not really lived in its fullest sense.
22:26 And so, I have found in my own life, that by being able to
22:30 respond and to give and to make a part of my thinking,
22:35 and feeling of being other-person-oriented,
22:39 it doesn't quite have that
22:40 quality that is now so meaningful to me...
22:43 And that is one of the reasons why the CHIP Program,
22:46 the "Coronary Health Improvement Project"
22:48 has become such a great JOY to me because through it
22:50 people can learn responsibility;
22:53 they can learn how to make some simple lifestyle changes
22:56 and the hypertension disappears, they lose weight,
23:00 their cholesterol does goes down,
23:03 the heart disease diminishes,
23:05 the diabetes, oftentimes, is no longer there...
23:09 And that gives me a PROFOUND JOY,
23:12 And I know that, you see, then my life
23:15 hopefully will illumine the pathway of someone else
23:20 and maybe of whole towns or cities.
23:24 Now I notice here in your video series,
23:27 and of course I've used it in the community that I'm from,
23:31 and we've had about 700 people
23:32 go through the program where we are...
23:34 Currently now, they're running a program,
23:37 and they run them several times a year,
23:39 and there are different people from all walks of life there...
23:42 But what I notice in that program,
23:44 you talk about the light going on,
23:45 and I want to see whether or not
23:46 you agree with me on this...
23:48 You present... I mean I have people that come
23:51 YOU KNOW... to the program and they've been
23:54 somehow dragged there by circumstances... Their wives!
23:59 Maybe their wife is "Mrs. Circumstance"
24:01 I don't know or whatever, and they're there...
24:03 And they are not really happy to be there,
24:06 but then the information starts to come to them...
24:09 And, I don't know, maybe that's midbrain information
24:13 because there's a lot of facts and different things
24:15 and it kind of moves maybe from the back...
24:17 You get them up there walking around or the program does.
24:20 In our particular thing, we have a map
24:22 where they're walking along and they're starting to
24:26 drink water... which they never
24:27 drank water before, all those different things...
24:29 And THEN, pretty soon about, I think it's about week 2,
24:32 and, you correct me if I'm wrong,
24:33 it seems as though THEN, up here, they start saying...
24:36 "Wait a minute" They make a decision
24:39 that this is good rather than being, what would you say...
24:43 tolerated - Is that what you see?
24:45 Yeah, I think after about 2 weeks on the CHIP Program,
24:49 the benefits are coming to these people.
24:51 You know there are sometimes many mundane things
24:53 like the constipation problem becomes alleviated...
24:59 Then the light comes on! Right?
25:00 Well, this is very important, yes.
25:02 Or the blood pressure goes down,
25:03 and they have now HOPE again in life.
25:06 And as we begin to move into the 3rd and 4th week,
25:08 and we begin to talk about... we actually talk about
25:11 the purpose of life!
25:12 Because health is not just eating right and exercising,
25:15 but it's also... How do you treat yourself...
25:18 and how do you treat your fellow human being?
25:20 I mean, you can eat ALL the alfalfa sprouts
25:23 and if you abuse your wife verbally or you are lying
25:29 to cover yourself in an employment situation,
25:32 you're not really healthy!
25:33 "Healthy" then has to do with being BALANCED.
25:35 "Healthy" has to do with EMOTIONAL HEALTH,
25:38 PHYSICAL HEALTH, SOCIAL HEALTH,
25:40 and SPIRITUAL HEALTH...
25:42 And I think that's ULTIMATELY where a lot of meaning
25:47 comes to people as they begin to identify with the finest
25:50 Role Model available.
25:53 In other words, probably Christ,
25:55 is that what you're referring to? Yes
25:57 And I think the Bible puts it this way...
25:59 It says, "... The Light that lighteth
26:01 EVERY man is coming into the world"
26:03 This is the whole idea.
26:05 You know, in our personal experience,
26:09 then with the CHIP Program,
26:10 and then with the interaction
26:13 we have with these different people,
26:15 we see them then trying...
26:17 Well, what I find and, again, correct me if I'm wrong
26:20 with your experience, but what I find is that
26:22 the people that are long-term successful,
26:24 are the ones that move to that frontal lobe
26:28 spiritual consideration, is that right?
26:30 And that's why we cannot leave it out.
26:32 It's one of the basic ingredients of good health...
26:36 How to feed the frontal lobe and strengthen it,
26:39 so that we are not overfeed in the wrong area,
26:43 and undernourished in the frontal lobe.
26:46 A couple of weeks ago, in our CHIP Program,
26:49 we had the privilege of having a friend of yours,
26:51 Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn with us,
26:53 and you know, as I talked with this wonderful gentleman,
26:57 I saw that, in his way of dealing with patients as well,
27:02 really, when it came down to it, the personal interaction
27:05 that he was having with people
27:07 was helping them learn how to feed that frontal lobe...
27:10 And he was, what would you say...
27:13 spending personal time with these individuals,
27:15 opening his home, his heart,
27:18 had a monthly phone call with them,
27:20 and his study, as you've referenced in your
27:23 CHIP Program many times, is one of the longest
27:26 running study that shows long-term success.
27:29 You see, he was not just doing it as a professional person
27:32 fee-for-service, but he was
27:34 genuinely caring for his patients,
27:36 invested himself in their lives,
27:39 and that's what made all the difference, I think.
27:42 We've been talking with Dr. Hans Diehl
27:44 He has given us facts that can feed not only
27:48 the back of our brain and the middle of our brain,
27:50 but can help us nourish that frontal lobe
27:53 and, thereby, serve others, serve the Lord,
27:56 and have health that lasts for a lifetime!


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Revised 2014-12-17