Canada's Rex Murphy on USA Election

This USA coming President election is the costliest in history - 2 BILLION dollars, yes with a "B"!!!

But there has become a real dark side to USA President elections.

You need to hear Canada's Rex Murphy for CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).

Go to:  cbc.ca/thenational

Look for "October 31st The National.

You'll see also an inside view in Syria - one of the few journalists in the world to get inside this civil-war country.

Then you can move the red line at the bottom on to when Rex Murphy gives his speech about what has happened in USA President election.....it's true.....it's a political mess and hence the dirty fighting that goes on.
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The footage of the destruction from perfect super storm Sandy is expected to be 100 BILLION dollars to repair etc. Millions still out of power.....massive work lays ahead to restore things as they once were before the storm hit.
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Are you now and again watching BBC World News?

It is most of the time the only way North American people can see what is going on around the world.

Panasonic and other Japan names are in deep trouble, they just ain't keeping up to the fast changing world.....so Samsung and Apple are leaving them in the dust. Could be some of these big name companies will soon be found only in the history books. Sony....they have to soon bring out their earning figures, last year was down, so we shall see soon if this year was on the positive side or not.

A journalist in Greece has made public 2,000 people (the top guys/gals) in the money bracket that have Swiss bank accounts.....with ONE bank (as he said who knows how many others have Swiss bank accounts with other Swiss banks) , and we usually know what that means....tax evasion and the old story....the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Nothing new under the sun.

Portugal .... they also must bring in "cut backs" - austerity program so they can qualify for a Europe "bail-out." The people as in Greece are on the war-path.
We have the last resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire with as in Daniel's vision (chapter 2) feet of iron and clay - many countries in the EU are clay, in deep financial crisis. Many of them will probably disappear in time from the EU union.

South Africa.....50 percent of the youth are UNemployed. The nation is trying this and that to improve the stats for employment for the youth, but so far, with some employment programs in effect, the sad truth is that there are still 50 percent youth UN-employed.

China.... a small move up in productivity -GDP - but as one "expert" pointed out, there has to be a longer steady growth before people can celebrate.
A friend today was telling me that at least 90 percent of everything that the world's largest retail store (Wal-Mart) sells is made in China. So time will tell in the next 5 years if the number ONE economy in the world will remain with the USA or move on to China. It seems for now that prophecy that eventually the Beast Power of Europe will be the world's greatest trading power, is on hold. As I've said before, God can speed things up or slow things down in Bible prophecy. Time with the Lord is not as we view time. 70 or 80 years is about our average live span: to the Eternal One that is just a thousandth of the blinking of an eye.

As I've mentioned before, keep your eye on the freed Arab nations, for they are to form a union - the "king of the south" in Bible prophecy, with Egypt as their spear-head. Until that happens we are not close to the end of this age....it is in God's hands as to how fast that Arab union comes into being.

WATCH NOW AND AGAIN TO BBC WORLD NEWS, TO KEEP INFORMED AS TO WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE NATIONS OF THIS EARTH.
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Biotech Bullies

Breaking News Alert! Dr. Mercola Attacked by Biotech Bullies

October 31 2012 | 93,509 views | + Add to Favorites

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By Dr. Mercola

We all know that labeling genetically engineered foods is a common sense right that is enjoyed by over 50 other countries, including China, India, and Russia.

But for Americans, that right has been taken away from us. The chemical companies and the junk food companies have done everything possible to hide the truth from Americans for the sake of their profits.

I knew going into this battle, that it would be a significant challenge and risk to me personally. You see, when you fight against major chemical companies like Monsanto, you're sure to get a little dirty along the way.

The processed food and chemical companies have paid over $40 million to hide the science experiment that has secretly ended up on the dinner plates of hundreds of millions of unknowing Americans. These multinational corporations are worried, and will do anything to keep you in the dark.

Keep in mind that the top six funders of "No on 37" are also the six largestpesticide companies in the world! That alone should tell you that their stance has nothing to do with your health and well-being.

This was just one of the ads that Monsanto & company have been sending voters to discredit me with lies. This is no surprise, considering how many people - inlcuding farmers, Monsanto has attacked in the past.

False Claims and Misrepresentations Used to Mislead Voters

The "No on 37" campaign has been caught misinforming voters again and again over the past several months. For example, on October 18, the "California Right to Know Yes on 37" campaign requested the U.S. Department of Justice conduct a criminal investigation of the "No on 37" campaign "for possible fraudulent misuse of the official seal of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration." According to the press release:¹

"The Justice Department should investigate this fraudulent dirty trick perpetrated by the 'No on 37' campaign," said Gary Ruskin, campaign manager of 'California Right to Know Yes on 37'. "They are running a campaign of lies, deceit and trickery, and some of it may be criminal."

The 'No on 37' campaign affixed the FDA's seal to one of the campaign'smailers. Section 506 of the U.S. Criminal Code states: "Whoever... knowingly uses, affixes, or impresses any such fraudulently made, forged, counterfeited, mutilated, or altered seal or facsimile thereof to or upon any certificate, instrument, commission, document, or paper of any description... shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both."

The letter also provides evidence that the 'No on 37' campaign falsely attributed a direct quote to the FDA in the campaign mailer. The quoted attribution, which appears below, is entirely false and fabricated. The FDA did not make this statement and does not take a position on Prop 37."

Other unethical transgressions employed to confuse voters who are still on the fence include:

• The repeated misrepresentation of their lead spokesman, the long-time front man for the tobacco industry, Dr. Miller. In campaign advertisements, Dr. Miller has been presented as being affiliated with Stanford University, when in fact he has NO such affiliation. The misrepresentation is in direct violation of the University's policy, and when Stanford learned about the false use of its name, they demanded that the 'No on 37' campaign change the ad.
• According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (the world's largest organization for food and nutrition professionals), No on 37 misled the public about the Academy's stance on genetically engineered foods in the Secretary of State's Official California Voter Information Guide. The press release² issued by the Academy reads in part:

"...the California Official Voter Information Guide regarding Proposition 37... inaccurately states that the Academy 'has concluded that biotech foods are safe.' The statement is false... We are concerned that California voters are being misled... Voters need accurate information in order to make an informed choice."

Fuzzy Logic Used to Confuse You on the Basic Issues

The anti-choice campaign likes to claim that Prop 37 was written by trial lawyers in order to hit small grocers and growers with lawsuits. The truth is that the "Yes on Prop 37" is a grassroots effort, started by a concerned California grandmother who saw that there was no way of avoiding genetically engineered foods even if we wanted to, since they didn't have to be labeled.

The labeling campaign is about having the right to know what's in your food – just like you're informed about the nutritional content, and the presence of peanuts (important for those with allergies) and other food additives. Whether genetically engineered ingredients are good or bad for your health is really beside the point. Aspartame is not good for you, yet it's on the label, and people have the right to consume it as they please. That's all this is about – just state what it is on the label.

The Monsanto campaign claims Prop 37 is "anti-science" and would ban safe foods. This is nonsense, as Prop 37 doesn't ban anything. It simply requires the label to state whether the food contains genetically engineered ingredients or not. You're still free to sell it and buy it.

The only thing it prohibits is the mislabeling of GE foods as "all natural," a term that many tend to associate with more organic standards – which GE crops cannot comply with. You're currently paying a premium for "all-natural" foods that actually use GE ingredients, thinking you're getting something better than conventional! THAT'S hurting your wallet. Accurately labeling these foods will not.

As for their argument that genetically engineered foods have been around for many years without health problems, this is another nonsensical claim, as there's no way of tracing any potential health problems back to the food without labelling! The potential truthfulness of their claim in fact hinges on GE foods remaining unlabeled. Without labeling there's simply no way to know, because there's no way to track or trace side effects like people can now do with aspartame, or any other food allergy.

It's "Do or Die" Time...

While these chemical companies claim their genetically engineered seeds will one day feed the world, they lie to us and create massive amounts of patented genetically engineered sugar beets, soy, and corn for high fructose corn syrup.

These crops are not fit to feed cattle, much less humans. How can anyone ignore the fact these companies are producing products that are devastating human health while monopolizing our entire agriculture and food system?

The junk food grocery association has indicated Prop 37 is their #1 initiative to stop, and they are spending tens of millions to prove it. You'd think if they would be using genetically engineered foods to save the starving people around the world, labeling them should be a great way to advertise. So why do they want to prevent labeling genetically engineered foods so badly?

The LA Times has just reported the "Yes On 37" campaign still narrowly leads in the polls 44 percent to 42 percent.

We are at the crossroads and a win is within reach, but we cannot ignore the fact these chemical companies are buying votes with tens of millions of dollars by spreading lies.

So now is the time for the final push to win the Right To Know Genetically Engineered Foods by simply labeling them like over 50 other countries around the world including Russia and China.

We need to reach many Americans who don't know these genetically engineered foods have been introduced into our food supply.

Our message is simple, just like Prop 37. A few words on a label to inform consumers if products contain genetically engineered ingredients. Let's allow consumers to decide, and not the chemical companies or junk food industry.

The PERFECT Storm - Miracle Hospital!

ABC news this evening is calling Sandy - The Perfect Storm.

The film footage is mind-numbing.

The New York subway down and out - some of it 50 to 60 feet of water covering parts of it.

8 Million people in the dark without power.

Of course dozens and dozens of plane flights cancelled.

The New York Stock Exchange down and out again. The last time it was down for 2 days in a row was back in 1888.

Chicago  - 10 foot water waved coming in from the lake towards down town.

There was the footage of a 100 house district fire - 100 homes burnt to the ground, the flames being blown around by the Sandy storm.

Then we had the miracle hospital - miracle from people. The hospital looses power, back-up generators go down - don't work. Doctors and Nurses and whoever else, had to bring down, one by one, all the people on every floor to ambulances, lined up one after the other. Babies on respirators .... nurses using hand-pump ones to keep them alive. 15 long grueling hours of work to bring down every patient into ambulances to take them to other hospitals.
AND NOT ONE LIFE LOST!!

Now that is some people miracle!!

Among all the horrors of this mighty massive perfect storm, you have the dedicated workers of one hospital without power able to save every life as they moved them to other hospitals. Now that is INSPIRING, if anything is inspiring!!
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IT'S MIND-BENDING!

AS YOU WATCH THE DIFFERENT TV STATIONS AND SEE ALL THE VARIOUS HAVOC AND DESTRUCTION THAT SUPER STORM SANDY IS LEASHING OUT; AS YOU SEE ALL THAT HAD TO BE CLOSED DOWN, SHUT DOWN, AND JUST BLOWN DOWN AND OUT, IT IS TRULY THE STORM OF THE LAST 100 YEARS OR MORE.

SANDY STILL HAS TO TRAVEL UP INTO CANADA, SOUTHERN ONTARIO, AND OVER TO THE MARITIME PROVINCES OF THE FAR EASTERN PARTS, SO THEY TELL US, WITH MORE DESTRUCTION.

THE SANDY STORM WOULD HAVE BEEN BAD ENOUGH JUST BY ITSELF BUT AS NEVER BEFORE, WE HAD THIS HUGE NORTHERNLY SYSTEM COMING DOWN FROM THE ARCTIC, AND WHEN THE TWO MET.......ONE MASSIVELY HUGE SUPER STORM SANDY.

THEN WITH THAT 7.7 EARTHQUAKE - ANOTHER HUGE ONE - JUST OFF THE COAST NORTH OF VANCOUVER, CANADA. NOW IF THAT HAD BEEN THE ***BIG***ONE THEY FIGURE IS OVERDUE FOR THE WEST COAST.....COMING JUST A FEW DAYS BEFORE SANDY HIT THE LAND OF THE EAST COAST........WELL IT DOES NOT TAKE MUCH TO SEE THE DISASTER - EAST AND WEST: WOULD HAVE MADE ALL OTHER DISASTERS OF THE LAST DECADES LOOK LIKE A PICNIC ON A SUNNY AFTERNOON.

IT IS COMING - DISASTER FOR THE WEST, ESPECIALLY NORTH AMERICA. YOU NEED TO STUDY MY EXPOUNDING OF THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL ON MY WEBSITE AND KNOW WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR OUR PEOPLE. REPENTANCE ON A NATIONAL LEVEL IS THE ONLY THING THAT COULD STOP IT COMING TO PASS, AND THE SAD TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS THAT WE HAVE GONE OVER THE LINE TO EVER HAVE NATIONAL REPENTANCE. THERE WILL BE NO REAL HUMBLE REPENTANCE FOR OUR NATIONS. OUR SINS HAVE REACHED UNTO THE HEAVENS. IT MUST BE WE MUST REAP WHAT WE HAVE SOWN.

WHAT HAS BEEN PROPHESIED FOR US WILL COME TO PASS.

I HAVE DONE MY JOB AS A WATCHMAN TO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.

YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN HAVE BEEN WARNED.

SO IT IS WRITTEN AND SO IT WILL COME TO PASS.
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SUPER SANDY HITS!!

WELLLLL.......ARE YOU SEEING AND HEARING ABOUT THE STORM OF THE CENTURY, THE LAST 100 YEARS THAT IS?

THEY ESTIMATE 20 BILLION - WITH A "B" - OF DAMAGE, AND .... WELL WHO KNOWS HOW LONG THE CLEAN UP WITH TAKE, AND GETTING EVERYONE BACK WITH POWER.

AGAIN THE "EXPERTS" .... AND WE CAN SEE FROM THE MAPS .... TELL US THE MASSIVE SIZE OF THIS SYSTEM.

WALL STREET.....FIRST TIME CLOSED DOWN SINCE IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, OVER 100 YEARS AGO!

PARTS OF SOME STATES ARE TO GET MANY FEET OF SNOW!!

SOME SAY IT IS WORSE THAN THEY PREDICTED IT WOULD BE.

DID GOD DIRECTLY BRING ABOUT THIS SUPER STORM......WELL......AMOS CHAPTER 4 IS STILL IN THE BIBLE.  IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT LATELY, OR NEVER, THEN MAKE SURE YOU DO.

ONE THING IS FOR SURE, GOD HAS ALLOWED IT, HE OBVIOUSLY DID NOT STEP IN TO MOVE IT AWAY.

THE FORCE OF NATURE AGAINST US ..... A LESSON IN HUMILITY IT SHOULD BE, BUT I DOUBT THE HUMILITY TO TURN US BACK TO GOD AND REALLY STUDYING THE BIBLE TO GUIDE US IN OUR DAILY LIVING, WELL THAT JUST AIN'T GOING TO HAPPEN, I'M SORRY TO SAY.

SUPER SANDY ISN'T FINISHED WITH US YET, SHE'S GOING TO SMACK IS DOWN STILL SOME MORE BEFORE SHE'S THROUGH WITH THE EAST OF NORTH AMERICA.
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AN EXAMPLE!!!

DURING THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES 2012 IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI, I was asked about Bible Prophecy and what was ahead for us - the USA. I said we would be finally destroyed - one third in pestilence and other physical calamities - one third of us destroyed by an enemy, in literal arms force, and the remaining one third scattered in slavery to the lands of our enemies.

To be destroyed in warfare, without us even being able to fight back, seemed a little off the wall to some of my hearers. Wondering how such a mighty arms power as the USA could be attacked without being able to fight back.

I answered and said......"If the God of this universe unleashed the physical forces of nature on us, like 5 or 6 hurricanes, earthquakes, and whatever else......we would be immediately brought to our knees, and be in such a mess physically in every way, it would not be hard for an enemy to invade, drop their bombs on us and.....well the rest would be history.

SO  NOW  WE  HAVE  STORM  "SANDY"  ABOUT  TO  HIT  THE  EAST  COAST  OF  THE  USA  AND  CANADA.

THEY ARE CALLING IT "THE STORM OF THE CENTURY" - "STORM ON STEROIDS" - "MEGA STORM" - "THREE STORMS IN ONE" AND WHATEVER ELSE TO DESCRIBE A MASSIVE STORM SO LARGE, IT HAS NOT BEEN RECORDED BEFORE IN NORTH AMERICA, WELL NOT FOR 100 YEARS OR MORE AT LEAST.

AND BECAUSE OF A SYSTEM COMING DOWN FROM THE NORTH POLE AND THIS HURRICANE MEETING THAT SYSTEM, IT IS GOING TO TRAVEL FROM EAST TO WEST, AND NOT AS USUAL WEST TO EAST.

IT COULD BRING MASSIVE FLOODING, POWER CUT OFF FOR DAYS FOR SOME, SNOW, RAIN, OF COURSE DOWN TREES AND JUST HUGE DESTRUCTION. IT IS SLOW MOVING SO THEY BELIEVE IT WILL JUST KINDA STAND STILL FOR DAYS AND POUR OUT ITS FURRY ON MILLIONS, TENS OF MILLIONS.
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NOW ADD TO THIS THAT TODAY THERE WAS A 7.7 EARTHQUAKE NORTH OF VANCOUVER, B.C. CANADA. BECAUSE THE EPI-CENTER WAS IN A LITTLE POPULATED AREA, IT TOOK NO LIVES. BUT THE EXPERTS SAID, IF THE EPI-CENTER AT BEEN NEAR VANCOUVER......IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT PICTURE, AS 7.7 IS HUGE ON THE SCALE

THE EXPERTS HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR A FEW DECADES OR MORE THAT THE WEST COAST IS ***OVERDUE*** FOR THE ***BIG ONE*** THE MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE, AS THE WEST COAST PLATES OF THE EARTH ARE MOVING TO WHERE IT IS JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE ***BIG***ONE COMES. HOW BIG WILL IT BE.....WELL GOD ONLY KNOWS, AS HE ONLY KNOWS WHEN IT WILL COME.

PUT  IT  ALL  TOGETHER  AND  IF  GOD  UNLEASHES  THE  FORCES  OF  NATURE  UPON  US  ALL  AT  THE  SAME  TIME - WE  WILL  BE  ON  OUR  KNEES  OR  ON  OUR  FACE  IN  THE  MUD.

WE  SHALL  SOON  SEE  WHAT  GOD  ALLOWS  TO  HAPPEN  WITH  THE  MASSIVE  STORM  CALLED  SANDY,  AS  IT  BARRELS  TOWARDS  THE  EAST  COAST  OF  NORTH  AMERICA.
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BRAIN recovery!!

Why Psychiatry Needs to Add Brain SPECT Imaging, Especially in Complex Cases

October 28 2012 | 82,297 views | + Add to Favorites

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To view the full interview, please click HERE!

Download the FULL Interview Transcript

Visit the Mercola Video Library

By Dr. Mercola

One of my own recent interests has been brain plasticity - the ability of your brain to recover, repair, and regain functionality that had previously been lost. This idea conflicts with the conventional view that once you lose brain function, it's permanently lost.

Dr. Daniel Amen is a physician and board-certified psychiatrist. He's written fiveNew York Times bestselling books, and is the medical director of the Amen Clinics in Newport Beach in San Francisco, California; Bellevue, Washington; Reston, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; and New York City.

He's also one of the foremost experts on brain imaging science, which is the topic of discussion in this interview. Brain plasticity features heavily in Dr. Amen's work with SPECT imaging.

"About 10 years ago, I wrote a book called Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. It's based on the imaging work that we've done," Dr. Amen says.

"We can actually see the damage in your brain done by a wide variety of things. But on what I call a brain-smart program, you can literally improve the function of your brain, which is happening through neuroplasticity. Your brain can actually look and feel younger, or look and feel more repaired. Very few people know that."

SPECT Imaging - An Invaluable New Tool for Psychiatry

That the human brain has a tremendous amount of 'plasticity' was demonstrated in one of Dr. Amen's studies on active and former NFL players. Football players may have been hit in the head upward of 10,000-20,000 times in their lifetime, and this results in a significant amount of brain damage for many. On Dr. Amen's program, 80 percent of them showed significant improvement, including boosting function and blood flow to the prefrontal cortex.

"We've had this rash of NFL suicides, which just breaks my heart, because what they don't know is that there is help available to them," Dr. Amen says.

Brain SPECT imaging is different from the anatomical MRI or CT scans. SPECT measures blood flow and activity patterns.  It looks at how the brain works.  It's similar to positron emission tomography (PET) scans, which looks at glucose metabolism. When using SPECT imaging, physicians look for three things:

1. Areas of your brain that work well
2. Areas of your brain that are low in activity, and
3. Areas of your brain that are high in activity

The job then becomes balancing the different areas of your brain.  The Amen Clinics have performed over 74,000 scans on people from 90 different countries. Dr. Amen estimates they have more experience with this technology than anyone else in the world.

"It's very exciting," Dr. Amen says. "I often say psychiatrists are the only medical doctors that never look at the organ they treat. And when you never look at it, you miss brain trauma, you miss seizure activity, and you miss toxicity...

I'm a classically trained psychiatrist... I was taught to use psychotherapy and medications, and that's pretty much it.  Some of the medications I was taught to use like Xanax, Ativan, or Valium for anxiety disorders, when I first started ordering SPECT scans, I saw that they made the brain look like [it had been exposed to] alcohol, and that they were really toxic to brain function. That horrified me, and it was the imaging work that led me to look for natural ways to decrease anxiety."

... When we make a diagnosis, for example of depression, it's a symptom. It shouldn't be a diagnosis. Making the diagnosis of depression, I tell people, is like making the diagnosis of chest pain. And doctors don't give people the diagnosis of chest pain, because it doesn't tell you what's causing it, and it doesn't tell you what to do it for. Depression is the same way.

If you don't get any physiological data on their brain, how would you target [the treatment] to their brain? It becomes – what's happening in psychiatry today – guesswork and multiple shots in the dark. I just argue with my colleagues that that's just not smart. We can do better."

Common Causes of Depression and Anxiety

Dr. Amen's work shows that most cases of depression and anxiety are really symptoms of underlying brain dysfunction. For example, depression can arise if brain activity is too low in your frontal lobes. This inactivity means you cannot inhibit your negative feelings. Depression can also be a symptom of heightened or excessive activity in your frontal lobes, as this leads to an inability to stop thinking the bad thoughts in your head.

A traumatic brain injury can also result in symptoms of depression. In fact, according to Dr. Amen, this is very common.

Other brain-related factors include toxic exposures, and/or a combination of poor lifestyle habits such as a poor diet and lack of exercise. Dr. Amen's treatments to optimize brain function focus on the four-pronged approach of diet, exercise, nutritional supplements, and correcting negative thought patterns.

How Brain Toxicity Alters Your Behavior

One of the major benefits of SPECT imaging is the ability to identify damage caused by toxic exposures. Dr. Amen explains just how significant such findings can be for the proper treatment:

"I had a patient recently who is diagnosed with ADD. He saw the best ADD doctor in the country. He made the diagnosis basically after 10 minutes of listening to his story. When we scanned him, he had a totally toxic-looking brain. Of course, you have ADD symptoms if you know there's damage to the front part of your brain. It turned out he had arsenic poisoning. He needed a detoxification program, not more Adderall."

He also describes a much more personal case where SPECT imaging turned out to be a veritable lifesaver. Four years into his SPECT imaging work, his sister-in-law called him about her then nine-year-old son, Andrew. The boy had attacked a little girl on the baseball field that day for no particular reason.

"I was horrified, and said, "What else is going on with Andrew?" She said, "Danny, he's different. He's mean. He's surly. I went into his room today, and I found two pictures he had drawn. One, he was hanging from a tree. The other one, he was shooting other children." I've been doing imaging long enough to go, "You need to bring him to see me." What we found was he had a cyst the size of a golf ball occupying the space of his left temporal lobe. It's an area we've subsequently really tagged to violent behavior. When they took out the cyst, his behavior went back to normal.

Still, sometimes when I tell the story, I'll cry, because I think about all the people we're throwing away like Andrew as "bad," when in fact, they may be sick. 

Optimizing the brains of people who struggle, suffer, or even do bad things is not popular. But it's the right thing to do. If someone has problems with aggression, let's scan them and see if they've not had a brain injury. We actually uncovered 20 different brain cysts over the past 2 decades.  I had a case last year of a teenage boy who wanted to cut his mother up into little pieces. He had a cyst the size of a tennis ball occupying the space of his left temporal and frontal lobe.  We need to look at what we do before we start changing people's brains. It's logical... but the profession is very slow to change. I always argue that there's no downside to looking." 

How Brain Dysfunction Can Cause Psychiatric Disorders

In his work, Dr. Amen has identified seven types of anxiety and depressions, six types of ADD, five types of overeaters, and six types of addicts. As an example, he reviews some common types of overeaters and the recommended treatment for them:

• Compulsive overeaters, people who just can't stop thinking about food.
Here the front part of their brain works too hard. According to Dr. Amen, that is typically related to a deficit in the neurotransmitter serotonin. When serotonin levels go low (serotonin is, in large part, inhibitory to your brain), your brain starts to over-fire. To address this, Dr. Amen recommends intervention that boosts serotonin. While this can be done using one of the SSRI's – Prozac, Paxils, Zoloft, Lexapros, and Celexa - you can also boost your serotonin levels naturally, using 5-HTP, L-tryptophan, St. John's Wort, or saffron.

"There are multiple studies now with saffron, showing it has equal efficacy to antidepressants, and there are virtually no side effects to taking higher doses of saffron," Dr. Amen says. "A compulsive person leads us to a serotonin intervention. Exercise is also a serotonin intervention. It boosts serotonin in your brain. Head to head comparisons of exercise to Zoloft [show] they're equally effective at 12 weeks, but in 10 months exercise beats the socks off Zoloft."

• Impulsive overeaters. Here, SPECT scans usually show low activity in the prefrontal cortex, indicating they cannot inhibit their behavior. They don't really think about food all the time, but as soon as they smell it, they feel the urge to eat.  Low prefrontal cortex activity is generally associated with poor impulse control. It's also associated with attention-deficit disorder (ADD).

"Please don't put them on a serotonin drug or a serotonin intervention, because you'll lower their prefrontal cortex more and ultimately make them more impulsive," Dr. Amen warns. "That's why you have the research that came out in the early 90s about Prozac making you kill your mother. Well, in fact, it can disinhibit people, because of what it's doing in your brain. In impulsive people, we want to raise dopamine."

You can raise dopamine with drugs like Phentermine, an appetite suppressant, or Ritalin, Adderall, or similar stimulants. But you can also do it with green tea and with L-tyrosine. "We've actually seen Rhodiola do something very similar in the brain," Dr. Amen says.

Using Food as Medicine

Certain foods also raise serotonin, such as simple carbohydrates. This is another explanation for why you can become addicted to sugar, wheat, and pasta. According to Dr. Amen, carbohydrate foods such as sweet potato, brown rice, and oatmeal will also raise serotonin, but not in the same powerful way that will get you addicted, so clearly these are better options.

"A high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet is very good for impulsive people, because it helps them focus," Dr. Amen says."But it's a disaster for our compulsive people, because they start to focus on the things that upset them."

Another dietary factor of great importance is probiotics, ideally in the form of traditionally fermented foods. According to Dr. Amen, as much as 95 percent of the serotonin in your body is produced in your gut, so strategies designed to optimize gut production of serotonin could certainly go a long way toward optimizing your mental health. I've become truly passionate about teaching people to massively increase the amount of fermented foods they're eating - specifically fermented vegetables, as these are some of the most palatable fermented foods for most people - to replenish the beneficial bacteria that produce serotonin.

Dr. Amen agrees:

"I've really been thinking a lot about gut health. Your gut is really the second brain. They're totally interconnected... If you have a leaky gut or an overgrowth of poor gut bacteria, you are not producing serotonin and the other neurotransmitters that you need to stay healthy.

In the last seven or eight years, my last couple of books have been about the connection between physical health and emotional health, and how people can use food as medicine.

If you look at the spices that have specific brain-optimization qualities –for example, saffron and your mood; cinnamon, it's a natural aphrodisiac that also helps to balance blood sugar and helps people focus; and oregano and rosemary that have been shown to boost blood flow to the brain – really what you eat is either helping your brain function better or it's hurting it."

How to Decelerate the Aging Process in Your Brain

Dr. Amen's book Use Your Brain to Change Your Age is based on his lectures over the last 15 years. In it, he discusses a study done with 8,000 people. What he found was that over time, the blood flow to your brain decreases.

"It's sort of like how your skin falls off your face as you age. The same process is happening in the brain. You can – with your behavior – accelerate the aging process, or you can decelerate it.

... We can actually prove you can improve your brain through the imaging work that we do. There's a whole chapter in the book about reclaiming your brain. Say you've been bad to your brain. You've been overweight. You've drank too much. You didn't exercise. You're one of our NFL players, and you've been hit in the head multiple times. If you adopt a brain-smart program... you can slow or even in many cases reverse the aging process in your brain."

He describes his brain-smart program as six words:

• Brain Envy:"You have to care about your brain, because it controls everything you do: how you think, feel, and act, and how you get along with other people," Dr. Amen says.
• Avoid Bad: "You need to avoid anything that hurts your brain – drugs obviously, brain injuries, obesity, but also sleep apnea. Anything that damages blood vessels damages the brain. Same for hypertension, cardiovascular disease, negative thinking, untreated depression, the standard American diet, and alcohol."
• Do Good: This includes optimizing your diet, getting physical- and mental exercise, along with taking helpful supplements. It also includes learning to think in more positive ways.

A couple of years ago, Dr. Amen wrote a home study course for anxiety and depression. When they tested it on participants around the country, a significant percentage of them reported losing 20-30 pounds without trying.

"That got me very excited, because what I realized is with a better brain, you get a better body," he says. "Because ultimately, your health is driven by all of the decisions that you've made in your life, and those decisions come directly from the health of your brain."

More Information

You can learn more about the work at the Amen Clinics at www.amenclinics.com.  The clinics performed brain SPECT imaging in the context of a full clinical evaluation.  They also provide a wide variety of treatment options.  The online community, The Amen Solution at Home was developed by Dr. Amen to be a sophisticated coaching program to help people optimize their brains and bodies. 

It starts with a neuropsychological assessment tool, which, in about 35-minutes, will test your memory, reaction time, focus, level of stress, and mood. Based on how you score, it gives you personalized games to strengthen your weak areas.  It also has brain healthy recipes, relaxation exercises, and teaches participants how to eliminate negative thinking patterns. 

"It's one of the tools that our NFL players used," he says. "We're very excited, because as we saw their scores go up, the blood flow to their brain improved.

Working out your brain in a regular way is important... The important thing is to learn something that you don't know anything about. Because if I just kept learning about vitamin D, for example, that would be useful, but it's really not stretching my brain. So I learn about gardening, I learn about cooking, I learn a new language, I go to a new place, or learn a new way to move my body, which I think is incredibly important. But the orthodoxy in my profession is pretty rigid. And I'm saddened by it, because it needs to change. Now it became a mission for me."

While getting a SPECT scan can be expensive, it may save you tons of money in the long run. According to a recent study by Dr. Amen and his colleagues, getting a SPECT scan will change what your doctor does 79 percent of the time.

"He'll give you a different diagnosis or a different treatment plan based on what the scans add to the clinical evaluation,"Dr. Amen explains.

"We have a new outcome study that we're publishing on 500 consecutive patients that came to the Amen Clinics who were complicated. After six months, 85 percent showed significant improvements in their quality of life. We are very excited about our work. And we have been teaching our colleagues about it for decades. We're not trying to be proprietary with it at all. There's a whole group in Vancouver that does it based on my work and a whole group in Toronto, Florida, Texas, and Chicago.

But it's horrifying what's happening overall in psychiatry. I would be very cautious about seeing a psychiatrist that is not gathering data on your brain before he or she puts you on multiple medications."

You can also pick up any of Dr. Amen's books, to learn more:

• Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
• Change Your Brain, Change Your Body
• Use Your Brain to Change Your Age
• Unleash the Power of the Female Brain is his latest book, which will be released in February 2013