The UltraMind Solution: The Simple Way to Defeat Depression, Overcome Anxiety, and Sharpen Your Mind [Paperback]

MD Mark Hyman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 8, 2010

Is your brain broken?

We refer to our broken brains by many names—depression, anxiety, memory loss, brain fog, ADHD, autism, to name a few—and although we can’t see it, this silent epidemic affects more than 1 billion people worldwide.

If you can answer yes to any of the following, you may have a broken brain:

Are you depressed, feeling down, and don’t have the drive to do anything?

Do you find it next to impossible to focus or concentrate?

Do you get anxious, worried, or stressed-out frequently?

Does your mind feel foggy, unable to experience the world clearly?

All is not lost. In The UltraMind Solution, New York Times bestselling author Mark Hyman shows that to fix your broken brain, you must heal your body first. Dr. Hyman presents a simple six-week plan based on the emerging field of functional medicine to restore health and gain an UltraMind—one that’s highly focused, able to pay attention at will, has a strong memory, and leaves us feeling calm, confident, in control, and in good spirits.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dr. Hyman's brilliant new book shows us that the emotional resilience and mental clarity we all seek is within our grasp. You too can unleash the body's hidden ability to dramatically improve mood, memory, and thinking speed." -- Mehmet C. Oz, M.D., author of YOU: The Owner's Manual

"The UltraMind Solution is an amazing book that will help you today. It is packed with practical information to help you heal your body and enhance your brain." -- Daniel G. Amen, M.D., author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

"For the past thirty years, I've studied how comprehensive lifestyle change can prevent and reverse many chronic illnesses. Now, Dr. Hyman shows how to prevent and often reverse mood and brain disorders by addressing their underlying causes. Highly recommended." -- Dean Ornish, M.D., clinical professor of medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and author of Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease and The Spectrum

"If you suffer from anxiety, depression, memory loss, or attention problems, the help you need is right here -- in UltraMind. Mark Hyman's approach is right on the mark." -- Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of The Wisdom of Menopause

About the Author

Mark Hyman, M.D., is the editor in chief of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, the most prestigious journal in the field of integrative medicine. After ten years as co-medical director at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires, he is now in private practice in Lenox, Massachusetts. He is the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Ultraprevention. His websites are www.drhyman.com and www.ultrametabolism.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1 Reprint edition (June 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416549722
• ISBN-13: 978-1416549727
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.3 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (209 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

An internationally respected physician, researcher, educator, activist, and five-time New York Times best-selling author, including The Blood Sugar Solution (also a PBS special), The UltraMind Solution (also a PBS special), The UltraSimple Diet, UltraMetabolism, and UltraPrevention (winner of the Books for a Better Life Award), Dr. Hyman has dedicated his life and career to ensuring optimal health - UltraWellness - for all individuals. His new book and PBS special, The Blood Sugar Solution, will be released March 2012 to address the global epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular and other related diseases.
His revolutionary "secret" to achieving UltraWellness? Dr. Hyman is the world's leading pioneer and practitioner of a ground-breaking and emerging approach to medicine that treats our system, not our symptoms. This new health paradigm is a systems-based, patient-centered method (called Functional Medicine) to preventing and treating disease and promoting health that works on two intertwined platforms: identifying and addressing the underlying causes of disease instead of just managing and masking symptoms and employing emerging trends in science and medicine, and integrative medicine.
Dr. Hyman teaches that there are seven keys to achieving UltraWellness, centering on Optimizing Nutrition, Cooling Off Inflammation, Balancing Hormones, Optimizing Digestive Health, Enhancing Detoxification, Boosting Energy and Metabolism and Calming the Mind. By connecting these dots, he provides a way of get our bodies to work the way they were designed. We come to understand all the influences on our biology which are at the root of illness, and how our lifestyle and environment interact with our genes to create the imbalances or balances that are the real determinants of disease or poor health.
Practicing what he preaches, Dr. Hyman is the founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, where he directs a team of physicians, nutritionists and nurses who utilize this comprehensive, life-changing approach to health, involving diet and lifestyle modifications, in combination with nutritional and specialized testing, nutritional supplementation, and medications to address individual needs, from creating wellness to treating chronic, complex medical problems. The overarching goal is to bring about harmony of body, mind and soul while empowering us to take back our own health.

At its core, Dr. Hyman's transformative approach is centered on diet and lifestyle modifications. He maintains that our grocery store should be our drug store: "What is at the end of our fork," he declares, "is more essential and important than what it at the bottom of our pill bottles." And, "each meal is a chance to heal." In short, healthy food equals healthy relationships equals healthy world.

Innovative, empowering, a catalyst, advocate, the experts' expert, healer...Dr. Mark Hyman is re-defining health, re-defining disease, re-defining medicine so that we can feel as good as we've ever felt.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#14 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#24 in Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#14 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#24 in Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

365 of 382 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What Most Doctors (including ME) Were Never Taught March 9, 2009

By James John Hollandsworth, M.D. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

One of my guiding principles has always been: Never read a book that has the word "ultra" in the title.

However, interesting perspectives on diet & health intrigue me, & when I saw endorsements from such respected doctors as Dean Ornish, Christiane Northrup & Mehmet Oz, I decided to break my rule and plunge into The UltraMind Solution.

I'm glad I did, for this book is an engaging read that's full of cutting edge science & practical advice. Dr. Mark Hyman has been on a mission to do medicine & health differently since conventional medical thinking failed him in his own debilitating illness twelve years ago. He convincingly argues that maintaining the body's health is essential for the brain's well-being, and that many mental & psychological disorders can be rooted in physical, biochemical derangements in the body's health & metabolism.

In part one of the book he details the background: his personal story which led to his changed philosophy & practice of medicine. He is an advocate of what is termed functional medicine, a relatively new discipline which focuses on not the established "label the disease, give it a drug" approach but "find what's functionally wrong behind the patient's symptoms, then correct the body's metabolism back to optimum function."

The second part of the book contain the outline of his "Seven Keys to UltraWellness" (argh! there's that word again!). He covers optimizing nutrition, balancing hormones, reducing inflammation throughout the body, fixing digestive tract problems, enhancing the body's detoxification, boosting energy metabolism, & calming the mind itself. The third part of the book covers a six week plan to initiate many of these changes, while the fourth part goes into specifics for each of his seven key areas.

Ok, so what's the bottom line? There's a lot of intriguing information and sound advice in the 400+ pages, & I saw nothing that I absolutely disagreed with. Like any diet or health book, he has his own viewpoint & focus, & some of his strategies & recommendations will work better for some than others. This book was a major swing factor in my own decision to try a vegan gluten free caffeine free water only lifestyle, which was difficult but very beneficial for me in multiple areas. I can see this book being useful for two groups of people: First, people who are suffering from problems such as anxiety, depression, "brain fog", adhd, migraines or other brain related problems might find something helpful or even life-changing in his plan. Other people, like myself, who are interested in new approaches & optimum health will certainly find new concepts & tools that they can implement in their own healthy lifestyle. Either way, an excellent book to read.

382 of 408 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Restore your energy naturally December 18, 2008

By Sherril Stinnett

Format:Hardcover

I was privileged to be one of the participants who was chosen to undergo the Ultramind solution for six weeks prior to publication. Although it has only been 18 days since I started, the change in my energy level and my ability to concentrate is remarkable.
I have been suffering from intense fatigue and trouble concentrating for the last two years, and my physicians have been unable to find a medical diagnosis for my symptoms. Being a 46-year-old graduate student, wife, mother and employee, I have to be able to concentrate for long periods of time, especially in the evenings after work. Before the Ultramind solution, I could not concentrate or stay focused past the early morning. Without knowing exactly when it occurred, I now find that my energy has been restored enough so that I can work twelve hour shifts at the hospital without fatigue and still go home and study, while retaining what I read. As a side effect, I have lost close to ten pounds without ever going hungry.
Although it may sound totally impossible to remove all processed foods, sugar, dairy, trans fat, wheat and flour products as Dr. Hyman required from my diet, I have discovered that all of my prior sugar cravings have disappeared completely, even now during the hoiday season when cookies and candy abound. I snack on nuts and fruit and make sure I eat good proteins and plenty of fresh vegetables and I drink plenty of water.
In the beginning I thought I would never be able to make it six weeks, but three weeks have breezed by. I am definitely going to make the Ultramind Solution a way of life from now on. Dr. Hyman's principles are simple yet effective.

103 of 111 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How I got my focus back January 5, 2009

By Stephanie Fleck

Format:Hardcover

A little over a year ago I had my second child. I worked hard at eating healthy while I was at home for the first three months, and I was quite successful, but when I returned to work full time I felt to busy to continue my healthy lifestyle. For lunch I would eat packaged, frozen entrees or even worse go to our hospital cafeteria and have grilled cheese sandwich with french fries and a soda, this was happening three to four times a week. On my way home, I would stop by the store and pick up dinner that was already prepared or food that was pre-packaged so all I had to do was heat it up. This was no way to teach my kids healthy eating. I have a petite frame and was not overweight by any means but I could tell I was slowly getting thicker around the middle, in addition, I constantly felt tired, unfocused, and distracted. Every time I ate I felt sick, almost like a feeling of being hung-over but without drinking. I decided it was time to change how I, and my family, ate. I have heard of the healing power of food and I decided it was time to try the benefits of whole, unprocessed foods.

Upon starting this program, I decided I had to commit myself wholly. I began by doing all my grocery shopping in Sundays as well as cutting up all my fruits and vegetable so they were easily accessible. I also planned out my breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus in writing for the entire week and stuck to them. I will admit the first week was hard; giving up sugar and my biggest food obsession - soda. After the first week it became easier and easier. As the program continued, my mind felt clearer; I felt sharper at work. The fog that inhabited my brain was lifting and I started to realize that I had been going through daily motions without motivation or care for what I was doing; now I take on challenges because I enjoy thinking through the problems. I also began to feel more energized, more so than I had in a long time, I could finally make it through the entire day without complaining I was tired; I wake up at 4:30 in the morning to exercise before getting ready for work and I don't get to bed until my kids are finally asleep around 9:30 pm. I have the liveliness now to work, be a wife, and play with my kids every day.

There were definitely added benefits to following Dr. Hyman's six-week program. By eating food that was promoted in book and avoiding the foods that contribute to brain fog, inflammation, and, for me, the overall feeling of frustration, I lost body fat, my clothes fit much better, and I am down to my goal weight/size that I have been trying to achieve for years. When you eat whole, unprocessed foods, your weight is naturally controlled; no need to count calories. Additionally, within the first few weeks my skin looked brighter, I now feel comfortable leaving the house without make-up and my skin is much healthier. I feel Dr. Hyman's programs and books are well worth the time and commitment, I would recommend it to anyone who is trying to bring focus and clarity back into their life. You feel so good about yourself that I think it will be difficult to go back to old eating habits. I look forward to my future of a healthy body and brain, both inside and out.