The Journey From a Good Diet to a Healthy Brain

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a detective.  While serving as an Army medic, I realized that medicine combined detective work with my other love, science. I went through the U.S. Army Physician Assistant Program at Fort Sam as a member of the Texas Army National Guard and spent the next 7 years as the medical officer for a mechanized infantry battalion.  

During my 24 year career in medicine, I’ve had a wide variety of experience in family practice, emergency medicine, neurotology (hearing and balance specialty), and surgical critical care. 

In 2006, I suffered my own health challenges for which my conventional medical training and experience provided few treatment options and no cures.  I began to look into alternative, integrative, and functional (root cause) medicine. It was there that I found the answers that I needed.  With dietary and lifestyle modification, my issues resolved. I was hooked. I obtained more formal training through the Institute of Functional Medicine and eventually, board certification through the American Academy of Anti-Aging. 

As a functional medicine practitioner, I am always considering the entire patient—mind, body, and spirit.  A critical (perhaps the most critical) and recurring theme has been stress and its effect on my patients’ health.  It has been estimated that 75%-90% of visits to healthcare providers are related to stress. In the patient with chronic health issues, I believe the correlation to be 100%. In retrospect, stress was one of the major drivers of my own health challenges. 

Although many of my patients are able to make significant gains in their health with some simple interventions, the surprising majority have their minds scarred by traumatic events, unhealthy relationships, lying beliefs, and dysfunctional ingrained patterns of thought.  These scars lead to problems in the major control center of the human body, the brain. Problems with the brain manifest as the sometimes seemingly unrelated conditions of depression, anxiety, hypervigilance, insomnia, cognitive issues, cardiovascular disease, autoimmunity, gastrointestinal problems, etc.  This list is endless. Most don’t make the connection between the brain and the rest of the body. After many years in functional medicine I realized that the most impactful part of my job is to see that they do. 

Once a patient made this connection, I would suggest a variety of interventions including prayer, meditation, connection with community and nature, various movement disciplines, and counseling.  Some patients implemented these things without much perceived success, and others seemed too paralyzed in their current condition to move forward with any of them. 

If I was to help my patients, I knew that I needed to dig deeper.  The pervasive and deleterious effects of brain dysfunction spurred a diligent search for solutions.  When a fellow provider introduced me to Iasis Microcurrent Neurofeedback (MCN) I was intrigued but (as a scientist) skeptical. Could the results of MCN really be as good as its providers suggested?  The more I learned about this modality, the more convinced I’ve become that it’s a critical piece of the puzzle for those struggling with chronic disease and mental health challenges. 

I’ve seen the results in my family, friends, and in Val’s clients.  This doubting Thomas is convinced.

MCN, coupled with the foundational disciplines of good nutrition, sleep, movement, and counseling can make significant inroads into multiple disease processes. For more information as to how MCN does this, please see this page.