Customer Reviews

The Edge Effect: Achieve Total Health and Longevity with the Balanced Brain Advantage

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The connection between personality and mood on the one side and neurotransmitters on the other side is a young subject.
This book is definitely worth owning and reading to get some basic popular orientation in the field, to play with the questionaire and to experiment with medication or alternative supplements to balance your own mood states. It is very readable.
- It is not an in-depth treatment, the last word on the subject or your essential reference tome.

Words of caution: it's important to remember that the health of other organ systems also impacts mood and personality. Not to mention life events! We are not just wandering brain chemistries ...
The supplements suggested are very high. I have effects with about 1/10 of the dosages recommended in the book, and at about 1/6 of recommended dose I start to get overdose symptoms - so get professional advice about dosage (and a general health overview if you don't already have one) if you decide to try the supplements.
The author also has a website and an organisation that sells supplements and is good about giving advice on email exchanges.

I can't believe there aren't more rave reviews here. I had to jump up and down when I realized that 10 years of discomfort, allergies, forgetfulness, and other annoying symptoms had a chance to finally be resolved.

Of course, one cannot make any medical claims. Its just a window into what could be an answer for you.

After taking the test (questionnaire in beginning of book), and reading about my Dominant type, Deficient type, and other personality/physical characteristics of the 4 neurotransmitters ... I put the book aside for a bit. I found just that knowledge had given me alot to ponder. Why do I procrastinate, why do I love to be creative... Is it good for my type to drink caffeine...? Well its alot of questions no one ever asked me, and it made me take a second look at what I do and when I feel sick.

I did quite poorly on the deficiency scale. My most severe defiencey being GABA, and hence I have had chronic hives, Irritable bowel, anxiety and other things. But could GABA have anything to do with it?? Well I have taken many credits in Neurology-- this never came up. I have been to Neurologists, Dermatologists, Allergy Specialists-- why has no one given me a GABA promoting drug (atleast)?? Guess there is a disconnect between wellness and typical medical protocols.

I followed the GABA promoting diet (Almonds, oranges, bananas, oats, whole wheat, broccoli, spinach, fish, eggs, and much more...). No drugs. It made a huge difference. I also drank an herbal tea (passion flower, valerian), that helps promote GABA. I decreased caffeine. I focus on what's good for my body to make and store enough GABA to keep my body relaxed. It made an impact-- big enough, that I finally feel my health can be great again.

Thank You Dr. Braverman!

The other reviewer is correct. You cannot get all the lab tests you want run by your MD. Its not considered necessary. You will have better luck with a Chiropractor, or just going on faith and following the diet to see how you feel.

The diets are not hard-- they might include alot of foods you crave since you need building blocks of that neurotransmitter most.

One thing that alot of health enthusiasts may be weary of, is his notes on aspartame containing the Dopamine promoting element phenylanaline... since fake sweeteners are typically considered toxic. I do not know what to say on this. I guess in certain situations your body can make use of it.

I still give the book 5 starts because the advice outweighs the drugs and artifical stuff. Many books I've reviewed showed me weak points in my health and toxins in my environment... but few have given the remedies to fix the problem. Check out this book!

This book is about achieving total health by balancing your brain chemistry, based on a quiz you take (in the book) to determine your dominant neurotransmitters. Once you take the quiz and find out which of the four major neurotransmitters is dominant, you can take supplements and eat foods that supposedly restore your brain's normal biochemistry (normal meaning how it was before you started having symptoms of disease).
The author says everyone is born with a dominant neurotransmitter that determines their health and their personality, and when this gets out of balance, signs of illness begin. He lists the supplements you should take and the foods you should eat to get back in balance again, and also recommends some exercises, both physicla and mental. At the end there is a section of exercises you can do to improve your memory.
In his private practice the author claims to have healed many people by simply balancing their brain chemistry, and this is a wonderful thought, but he doesn't say where you can find a doctor to work with who would be into this type of treatment. Most doctors would not agree to do some of the tests he recommends, and would not be open to his ideas. He claims you can do it on your own, but I am concerned that the high doses of some of the supplements may be harmful. On the other hand, I'm a bit of a risk taker and decided to start the supplement and diet program to see what will happen. If anyone else has tried this program, I'd like to know their results and whether they would recommend it. This book has a very interesting and believable theory, but I think is too new to be accepted by mainstream medicine, so you're pretty much on your own if you apply it.

I found this book easy to read even though I didn't choose to slog through it all. The diagnostic questionnaires are understandable and simple to use.

Like "A Reader," I thought Braverman was recommending a lot of pills and I've been trying to REDUCE my supplements. But I felt ill enough (and monied enough) to try his regimen. Within a week I felt more cheerful, alert, resilient, and relaxed--a remarkable combination of effects. I've been sleeping well and waking up refreshed. My knees and hips don't ache. It's pretty amazing.

I wish I'd had access to this information when I was struggling with clinical depression several years ago. It might have helped me avoid taking some or all of the pharmaceuticals that kept me afloat.

While this approach may not be everyone's cup of tea, the book is certainly worth reading. If you've read far enough to get to this/my review, I'd suggest that you read it: The Universe may be trying to tell you something...

I read this book with great interest as I am always looking for better health. What confused me about the book is the following: if I followed all the regimens discussed in this book, it appears that I would be taking more pills than I care to....in addition to the vitamins I take. And will one of these pills (nutrients) offset another one....in other words, could they be counter-productive. He also suggests using a sugar substitute which, by all accounts, is a toxin. Why would he suggest that you use Splenda or Aspartame if it has been found to be a cancer-causing agent? Because of this alone, I become suspect of other suggestions.

He makes certain protocols seem so easy, but yet you would have to keep on top of the effects of these protocols every week or so to make sure they are working. It just seems way too complicated....maybe I am not willing to be on top of my game in the neurotransmitter arena.

Some of the information was very interesting, but the lack of references left me baffled. Is it a self-reference? I had read numerous books on the subject, and authors usually leave references even though they had thousands of experiences with patients, it just makes you more reliable. It is also very useful and interesting to know about the "says who?" and where can you find more information, etc. For educational purposes... Or are we supposed to go to him?

He also borrows some elements of Carl Jung's and Isabel Myers-Briggs' typological approach for personality types for his Braverman Nature Assessment which is okay. But the personality types and the correlation with particular brain imbalances need some references as I know plenty of exceptions.

But the one reason I can't recommend this book, is because he actually recommends aspartame for people with dopamine deficiency and that is extremely ignorant and dangerous. He actually says its safe! That just boggled my mind. He and other readers of this book will benefit from reading "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by Russell L. Blaylock.

Your book has helped solve the ongoing health problems I have suffered for years. I read the book and identified my nature, followed the recommendations and my illness has improved tremendously. I am now able to enjoy my life without the nagging pains I used to have. It is truly amazing all the other doctors I have been to over the years haven't caught on--The Brain does control the Body's Health. I am on my way to good health. Great Book.

I absolutely never write reviews on Amazon - but my upset over this book has urged me to write this one. I tried reading this book with an open mind - I have some background in biology and chemistry, and was intrigued by the idea of taking a different approach to common illness. I've also read other alternative medicine articles and journals and subscribe to the idea that everything in your body is interconnected and has to be balanced.

What I read in this book was pure tripe. Although the author starts out with a reasonable description of brain chemistry, it quickly devolves into used-car salesman type salesmanship, lauding his PATH medical centers as a place where many people have come and completely changed their health for the better using his system. But it is obvious from his writing, that his main goal is to sell you his services, and convince you that modern medicine isn't treating you correctly. And amazingly, once he describes what is wrong with his patients, he says simply 'I was able to fix his/her problem using my system and a combination of medications'......so he really prescribed no changes at all, other than diet, exercise, and 'environment'....in addition to real medication? Isn't that just common sense these days? The entire first half of the book read like a sales pitch, and a cheap one at that.

It's difficult to describe just how cheap and flimsy his writing and reasoning is in this book. So I'll simply tell you what, for me, was the last nail in the coffin. At one point he lists the 'symptoms' of reduced brain voltage, relating to a deficiency in one brain chemical. One of those 'symptoms' was HIV, a contracted virus which he confusedly refers to as a symptom of brain imbalance. It was after reading that list that I literally threw the book in the trash can next to me. I was outraged he would write such a blatantly false statement about a controversial and horrible disease. I highly suggest that if you are a reasonable and intelligent person, you'll not only not buy this book, but convince anyone else not to either. It scares me that this author is considered a doctor.

I found the assessments for our nature and deficiencies very helpful and will definately instigate some changes based on a few supplements and lifestyle changes. However, his extremely low fat diet, looks like less than 5%, is exactly the type that led me to be out of balance and very sick to begin with. There are very few doctors in this day and age that recommend fat levels that low and with good reason. Your brain is 2% of body mass, yet contains 25% of the cholesterol in our body. Go ahead and take out all the fat from your diet, and take some statins, you will be depressed, immuno-suppressed and weak in no time. So not a winner of a book, there are other books to help assess yourself and brain chemistry.

This book along with my Doctor saved my life! My total cholesterol was 293 and it is now at 152. My triglyceride level went from 625 down to 230 and is still improving. The quiz section in this book is right on. It fit myself and my sister to a "T". If you are serious about feeling younger and improving your all around health this is the book.Check out the "Younger You" book also.