New York City Hypnotherapist Jeffrey Rose, interviews Dr. David Katz moments before he gave his keynote speech on Lifestyle Medicine at the 2017 Integrative Healthcare Symposium. Dr. Katz, the President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, offered his advice for incorporating lifestyle medicine into patient practices. Both he and Jeffrey realize the importance or promoting holistic health with their clients.

We discuss how advertising creates a hypnotic desire to eat processed foods that are unwholesome and do not promote optimum health. To the contrary, many of them promote poor health and contribute to chronic disease and obesity. Many of these processed foods, Jeffrey points out, make dubious health claims; low fat, low carb, low calorie that are designed to entice the consumer, yet in the end still are unhealthy. Typically, these food-like substances are filled with refined, inorganic sources and artificial ingredients which deleterious to our health. Dr. Katz emphasizes that not only is the promotion of these processed foods hypnotic, but the processed food itself is designed with ingredients that make them habit-forming. These ingredients may even be for example, excessive salt, sugar and fat. David references an important book on this subject: Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss. Dr. Katz emphasizes that instead of disputing subtleties about which diet is ultimately the best, we must better communicate to the public fundamental principles of better nutrition in solidarity. Dr. Katz talks about the organization he created called the True Health Initiative, which is a global coalition of health experts whose goal is to disseminate those health ideas people around the world can all follow to promote healthy nutrition and a healthier lifestyle. He believes that people should show more resistance and even outrage over the production and sale of food which is knowingly hurting people’s health.

David and Jeffrey also discuss the importance of sufficient, quality sleep as a fundamental building block for having a healthy, fulfilling life. This is an area of great importance to Jeffrey Rose, as he is the founder and leader of Start School Later, Rockland County, advocating for high school start times opening later in the morning so that our nation’s teenagers can enough sleep to be healthy, fully enjoy life, excel in school and achieve their full potential. Dr. Katz, as the head of an organization devoted to improving the overall well-being of individuals, knows that an important aspect of lifestyle medicine is to see that individuals get enough health-promoting quality sleep. David points out that for adults poor quality sleep can not only lead to poor performance at one’s job, poor social relations, but can even lead to a compensatory desire eat more food to feel better, and thus poor sleep can lead to being overweight and even obesity. In addition, poor sleep, according to Dr. Katz can be very disruptive to the proper functioning of regulatory hormones in the body. Jeffrey’s holistic approach to his hypnosis practice at the Advanced Hypnosis Center emphasizes the importance of overall lifestyle and includes guidance on how to successfully get proper, health-promoting sleep, regardless of any problems you may have experienced in the past.

New York hypnotherapist, Jeffrey Rose and Dr. David Katz conclude the interview with a discussion of the importance of exercising in nature. Jeffrey concurs with Dr. Katz, and has always felt that going out into nature should be an integral ingredient in living a healthy life. And this is not only for exercise but for breathing healthier air and getting health-promoting sunlight on one’s face, which produces natural Vitamin D in the body. Additionally, experiencing nature has a very positive effect on one’s sense of well-being.