10 Comments

1. 

   sandra ballardini on November 27, 2011 at 9:18 am

   Great podcast. Going to try that liquid B Complex.
   I also have a sugar craving right after a meal. It’s interesting because my husband goes right for the salty snack after dinner and I go for the sweet. I thought it was a hormonal thing but maybe not.

2. 

   Jim Karanas on November 27, 2011 at 11:06 am

   Great podcast Dr. J. It’s an honor to have you on our team. John, I can attest to the efficacy of liquid Vitamin B. I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.

   Jim

3. 

   Jody Dougherty on November 28, 2011 at 8:05 am

   I am “in” for the Vit B…Thank you for the great info as one who is primed in the evening!

4. 

   Vivienne Naylor on November 28, 2011 at 9:28 am

   Can I ask a question…..just waht does a “doctorate” in psychoactive nutrition mean?? Is this a qualification that’s backed up by an evidence-based, didactic curriculum……or something that we’ve gotten used to recognising from the likes of, say, Gary Null……i.e. Univ. USPS?

   I have to say that I’ve detected a definite lack of scientific rigour in many of these commonly touted aspects of “nutrition” and I don’t care to be in the position of presenting stuff to the paying customer that’s based on little more than anecdote and supposition.

   Vivienne

5. 

   Chuck Cali on November 28, 2011 at 11:41 am

   The definition was stated in the first minute.

   Can I ask a question… when someone refers to ‘evidence-based, didactic curriculum and lack of scientific rigor, does that person consider themselves to be qualified to comment? And if so is their ‘credential’ more credible than another?

   The rest of us are still fighting the ever present chocolate chips.

6. 

   Vivienne Naylor on November 28, 2011 at 12:33 pm

   You sure can ask Chuck….and I’ll answer as best I can.

   I understand what someone’s talking about if they refer to an easily distinguished and easily recognised degree from a “bricks and mortar” university.

   There are also well recognised and perfectly acceptable qualifications from “distance learning” facilities. Both of these veunues can lead to something that has a bit of stamina behind it as far as the general public and licensing and legislative bodies are concerned.

   If I ask about anything, it’s because I don’t know. So, if the question concerns what a *doctorate in psychoactive nutrition* actually means and whether it’s a genuine qualification like, say, being a registered dietician it has absolutely nothing to do with what I perceive to be the value of my own qualifications.

   Sometimes a question is just a question. If you can’t answer it…..no problemo.

   Vivienne

7. 

   Vivienne Naylor on November 28, 2011 at 12:41 pm

   In case you’re wondering some more here’s a skit from Dara O’ Briain

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDYba0m6ztE&feature=related

   I’m a dentist and not a “toothyologist”……skip to the 4 min. mark if you find him a bore.

8. 

   Joan Kent on November 28, 2011 at 9:16 pm

   I’d like to thank everyone for listening to my podcast and taking time to comment. Since my credentials appear to be in question, it would be appropriate for me to tell everyone a little more about them and me.

   I got my master’s degree from Oregon State University because I was living in Corvallis, Oregon at the time and OSU has an excellent PE department. My committee chair was Dr. Donald Campbell, recently deceased but then an internationally recognized authority in the field of exercise science. He was a fanatic about the writing of scientific papers, and told me that the final paper I wrote for his Physiology of Exercise class would make a good basis for my master’s thesis. I changed my plans and topic and applied appropriate rigor to the new thesis. A vigorous naysayer on my committee, who had been quite vocal in her dispute of my change, shut up completely once she read my thesis and heard me defend it. I mention this to establish that I’m not afraid of academic rigor.

   My doctorate was obtained by distance learning, which is anything but a degree by mail (“Univ. USPS”); (see below). I assembled my committee of seven from experts all over North America. The key players on the committee (and there were others, as well) included a nutritional biochemist, who was so demanding I spent months taking his name in vain; a brilliant doctor of nutrition, who convinced the committee to nominate me for a Circle of Scholars award for my groundbreaking literature review, which he regarded as a dissertation unto itself, above and beyond the research study; a woman with a Ph.D. in research design, who studiously reviewed every aspect of my doctoral study to prevent misinformed conclusions that might have resulted from poor study design; and a famous and well-respected researcher in the department of psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal. Her list of published journal articles and book chapters is 16 pages long, and she requested a copy of my full curriculum to show to the grad students at McGill because she thought they were slacking in comparison.

   The reason I decided to get my degree by distance learning had to do with the state of the field of nutrition at the time (1995-1999). Registered dieticians, for example, worshipped at the altar of the Food Pyramid and were adamant that there was no such thing as addiction to foods. My clinical, as well as personal, experience had convinced me that food addictions were real, and I wanted to find the scientific backing for that theory. (By the way, recently graduated RDs are now learning that food addictions are exactly like any other addiction, so I was ahead of my time.) The fact that I was designing the curriculum myself did not make things easy, but actually made them difficult.

   The process involved preliminary research for each course in the form of a proposed bibliography. At Lane Medical Library at Stanford, I’d find the journal articles, copy all of them, and go home with 500 pages or more of reading. That reading led in new directions and to a revised bibliography, and back to Stanford I’d go. This process was repeated four to five times or more for each course. The bibliographies were greatly expanded by the time the course was done. The type of help I received from my committee included suggestions (or demands) to include specific researchers whose work they considered definitive in the area in question.

   All seven committee members hacked into my research with pick-axes. I was never offended at their comments or suggestions, but grateful for the rigorous attention to detail. By the way, the committee held several meetings in person — everyone flying in from wherever he or she was located. In fact, we had more meetings than the three I had with my master’s committee at a “brick-and-mortar” university. In addition, my committee advisor lived in the California bay area, as do I, and he and I met whenever necessary.

   As for the research itself, my dissertation bibliography is 26 pages long (yes, single-spaced). The combined bibliographies for my coursework total far, far more pages than that, and maybe one day I’ll have the time to count those pages.

   As for this B-complex thing, the demanding nutritional biochemist absolutely insisted that I include a section in my lit review on the relationship of specific B vitamins to specific neurochemicals. Once again, I took his name in vain when I started that section, but have never regretted doing that research.

   Having said all of this, I’d like to end on a completely different note. Feel free to skewer my credentials and/or me if you like. However, a lot of people who suffered with addictive responses to foods — sugar being the primary example — have been able to change their lives, alleviate depression, lose weight, gain control of their eating in a way that makes them feel better about themselves, and regain health from a variety of illnesses because of the work I’ve done with them. Even if someone doesn’t like my degree or the way I worked my tail off to get it — at a time when no one understood the neurochemical aspects of foods or believed in food addictions — I remain OK with the help I’ve given my clients.

9. 

   Jim Karanas on November 29, 2011 at 7:01 am

   Thanks Doc. Joan and I have been friends and colleagues for over 3 decades. I remember starting in the industry with her many years ago. I was a subject in her Masters study at OSU and even recall our discussion when she decided to go for her Doctorate. The path she paved to establish herself as a leading industry Nutritionist with expertise in food addiction was meticulous. She did this in the face of an industry that, at the time, would not even admit that food addictions were real. It is indeed an honor and great benefit to have her on my team at ICG/LIVESTRONG.

10. 

    Vivienne Naylor on November 29, 2011 at 8:57 am

    Dr. Kent……I think you misunderstood my initial question. I’m not quite as “closeminded” as folk in the “official” camp are portrayed a being. None of us know everything and a good many of us don’t even know enough to realise that.

    However, from my perspective, there’s something of an imperative when it comes to offering up information to the general public that could be interpreted as “professional advice”. For me (as a dentist) that imperative comes with a potential price tag of lawsuits/loss of my licence to practise/criminal prosecution etc., for misinformation. I know that there are other areas where this level of accountability doesn’t extend……but old habits die hard.

    I’m not trying to diminish the work and effort that you put into your doctorate but, since you also have a recognised/recognisable degree from an accredited institution, I’m pretty sure you understand my concerns…..

    I’m going through a heck of a hard time right now because the professional licensing dept. of Massachusetts education department doesn’t want to grant me a dental license. I don’t have a burr up my bum about it…..I’ve already decided that I’m a “retiree” from that aspect of my life.

    Notwithstanding, it does concentrate the mind a bit when it comes to reading and thinking about “fuzzy” areas of healthcare such as “nutritional advice”. I could write a personal promotion letter twice as long as the answer you’ve given here……and the folk who determine whether or not I can legitimately earn an income in my field would piddle all over it.

    I apologise……but I’m not yet convinced that your opinions, impressions and anecdotes add up to worthwhile data that I’d want to pass on to the general public as *cast iron* information. There’s no reason for you to be concerned about that in a personal sense, of course……but the reason why I subscribe to a forum such as this is to get information that’s valuable for me in the way that I value it.

    Vivienne

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