Interview with Dr. Duncan in Total Health Magazine

Lindsey Duncan, ND, CN - Leading West Coast nutritionist founder of the Home Nutrition Center in Santa Monica, Calif.

TH: It appears to us that more people in this country are searching for answers to their health concerns. Do you agree?
DUNCAN: Pain in the body, environmental concerns, and the effects of aging give us real reasons to search for answers. I learned from my own experience at a young age to seek these answers out for myself. I studied from books and magazines, learned from teachers, and that led to more questions. Actually, I will be a student for the rest of my life as I am placing 1,000 percent of my energy to helping people.

TH: What is the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist?
DUNCAN: Dietitians usually work in conjunction with a hospital, and they focus on the U.S. R.D.A. food pyramid groups. These food groups are an archaic philosophy of eating that originated about 50 years ago. They focus on these food groups, give you portion sizes, and say get your X amount of dairy, so many servings of meat, etc. They do not take into account allergic responses to food, Candida albicans [an infection-causing fungus], reactions to milk, to sugar, to food com-bining.
When I think of a dietitian, I think of the food pyramid, which is now changing and proving itself to be antiquated – they just changed it the other day. A nutritionist, on the other hand, is one who has been trained in natural nutrition – someone who understands food combining, who understands when a client is having allergic reactions to carbohydrates or to simple sugars or to starch, or has Candida albicans, or has too much Chi [life force] in their body, or has not enough Chi and is a cold body and needs some heat.

TH: But the dietitian might ask, “Don’t you believe in a balanced diet?”
DUNCAN: I absolutely believe in a balanced diet. In fact, .iot only do I believe in a balanced diet, but I believe in an individual diet. A good nutritionist understands from the cieepest level that you can't prescribe a blanket diet for the masses and be effective. Each person needs different foods for different reasons. We are all as different as we look, as individual as our fingerprints, and that uniqueness applies internally as well as externally. A balanced diet for a 350-pound Sumo wrestler whose heart is clogged up is not the same as a balanced diet for a 97-pound, anemic ballerina. The problem in this country is that we are not spending enough time with our patients. We are not taking into consider-ation the intense need to teach people what is right and what is wrong with their individual body.

TH: What is your main complaint about doctors’ care?
DUNCAN: Everybody who has a medical title is a teacher. It is cause for concern in ties country when a doctor doesn’t spend at least 15 minutes with every single patient to teach him or her how to eat right. We must learn to empower ourselves. If the doctor has only known you for three minutes, how can he or she know what’s wrong with your body? All the doctor knows at that point is a symptom, and all he or she can tell you about is a disease, or symptom condition. The doctor and patient must get to know each other. We as patients must get to know our disease or problem, learn what the doctor is really saying and why he or she came to that conclusion. Get two or three opinions – including alternative means to bring about a cure. Then work together with the doctor – find answers for ourselves and take part in our healing. If we don’t take part in our own healing, then shame on us because we’ll never heal. Again, the problem in this country is that many medical practitioners don't give enough time to the patient. The practi-tioner must be a great listener to understand each individual.

TH: Do you conduct lab tests in your Home Nutrition office?
DUNCAN: Yes. We conduct biochemical analysis of urine and saliva. I test PHs, which gives me the body’s potential hydrogen – too acid, too alkaline, etc. I test for conductivity, which is a salt meter; and I test for urine sugar with a refrac-tometer, which is a basic hospital instrument. I also test ammo-nia, nitrogen nitrates, and ammonia nitrates. The whole bio-chemical analysis tells me how the body is, or is not, processing the life-giving nutrients that are going into it. I also use iridology [examination of the iris of the eye as a diagnostic aid] as a tool by which to determine tissue integrity. Iridology can’t tell you whether a person has been shot in the leg or has had a broken wrist, despite popuiar claims to the contrary, but it can tell you whether the person has a strong or weak constitution, and it can indicate the four stages of a disease: acute, sub-acute, chronic and degenerative. I would say my consultations are based 20 percent upon biochemical analysis, 20 percent upon iridology, and 60 percent upon my knowledge, past experiences and instinct. Besides doing his homework and knowing his field, a great nutritionist has really got to be a great listener.

TH: Do you use one modality (therapeutic method) or many?
DUNCAN: I never forget the basics of health and I don't get tunnel vision. I study all the different modalities – no one way is the only way. We have a “round table” in Los Angeles where up to 30 doctors meet and share our experiences. Healing is a multi-faceted issue. We have to understand all aspects of health, including chiropractic, acupuncture, acupressure, colon cleansing, Chinese herbs. We have to be able to look at everything about a patient, quiz and listen, then look at the whole group of treatments. I may recommend herbs, acupuncture, vitamins, colonies – what-ever will facilitate a healing.

TH: How can the lay person learn whether he/she should take herbs?
DUNCAN: One of my main goals is to take the confusion out of the health industry. There is such an intense amount of confusion, and the more our industry grows, the more supplements are on the shelves, the more confusion there is going to be. The first step for the lay person should be to locate a well-trained practi-tioner. Then go to the health food store and/or library and pick up all the maga zines and books on herbs that you can find. Read and read some more. People must begin to take their own health seriously and take personal initiative in educating themselves. The most important section of a health food store or doctor’s office is the section with the books and maga-zines. Those are the vehicles through which vital information is conveyed and communicated.

TH: What role does the mind play in our health?
DUNCAN: The mind and the body are not separate, and anybody who thinks their mind can't affect their body has never realized what optimum health really is. Someone called in once when I was on a radio show in New York and said,“I don’t know if I buy into this ‘mind-body relationship.’ There’s no solid scientific data that really proves it.” I asked this gentleman,“Has anyone ever made you sick to your stomach? Did you get so upset, so angry, that you literally felt like you were going to throw up or had acid in your body?" He answered yes, to which I responded, "Then you tell me that the mind can't affect the body.” Impossible! If I had to name the single most important thing in health, I would say it's the mind – our thoughts. That doesn't mean you can say ”I have a great atti-tude” and then eat junk food. But you have to come to the realization that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind. It works both ways. You can take $300 worth of supple-ments a month, eat a perfect diet, drink purified water and exercise, but if you are going to bed with your stomach tight, if you’re fearful or sad or anxiety-ridden, your body can still be sick. For real health, you must do more than heal the body – you must heal the mind and detoxify the stress from your life as well.

TH: How would you start a client on the road to better health?
DUNCAN: You have to understand first that it is the cleansing of poisons and toxins, the removal of waste and stagnation out of the body that allows the body to begin to heal and regenerate. When you start a health program, you must first undo the previous years of abuse. You cannot put good food into a clogged body. Clean the body first, just like you clean your house or your car, then you get the right results.

TH: If you follow the right steps and maintain a healthy diet, how long does it take for the body to heal itself?
DUNCAN: Are we talking about a 96-year-old man that smoked for 35 years, a 36-year-old with a strong constitution, an overweight 18-year-old – it's all relative. Therefore, I can’t give you a specific answer to that question, but I can tell you that the average person, if he changes his diet in the way that is correct for him, will notice a change within 30 days. It will be a significant change – a change in mood, mind and memory. It will be a change in the way that person looks at life.

TH: If a person maintains a healthy diet, can he or she cut down on or elim-inate supplementation?
DUNCAN: Certainly not. I think every single person in this country should be on some form of natural dietary supplement.
U.S. Senate Document 286, published in the 1930s, states that our soils and top soils are over 80 percent nutrient defi-cient. At the turn of the century 100 grams of spinach had 157 mg of iron in it. In 1968 the same 100 grams of spinach had 27 mg of iron. In 1979 the same 100 grams of spinach had 12 mg of iron, and today it would have less than 2 mg of iron. When you add to that the pollu-tion, the chemicals, and the antibiotics and hormones in the animals we eat, it is no wonder that we have to fortify our-selves to survive. When someone tells me they eat a healthy diet and do not need supplements, I refer them to Senate Document No. 286.

TH: What do you see in the future of health care and nutrition?
DUNCAN: As the rates of diseases continue to rise, as our food chain con-tinues to be de-vitalized and we begin to eat an empty harvest, as we begin to become de-natured, eating more and craving the vital nutrients we lack, the health care issue in this country is only going to get worse. The other side of that is the huge revolution that's happening in health care: People are seeking out alternative practitioners, health food stores are popping up on every corner, and the inventory on the supplement aisles in mass market stores is doubling, tripling
and quadrupling. More books on health are coming out. As our food chain continues to deteri-orate, I see the awareness of natural health, supplementation and proper eat-ing increasing. I believe at the same rate we are building disease, we are also building consciousness and health in the country.

TH: You have a private practice in Santa Monica, Calif., and you have a well-received line of vitamins and sup-plements. You also travel a great deal, consulting with other practitioners in the field, doing radio and television interviews, and holding seminars. What’s in the future for Lindsey Duncan?
DUNCAN: I plan to continue traveling and using all my energy to help educate people. I’m spending more time discussing health with the First Lady. I also will be touring the country with seminars – Dallas, St. Louis, Puerto Rico, and Los Angeles are on my immediate itinerary.
Although I no longer accept new patients myself, I have three certified nutritionists and a full staff available at my Santa Monica clinic. I trained these people personally over the past several years, and they are fantastic. Despite the clinic's rapid growth, we try to keep the waiting period for nev clients relatively short – usually a week or two. As a practitioner, one of the biggest frustrations of my life is the awareness that there are so many people who need help, who are in pain and looking for good advice or guidance, and I can't possibly see them all. That's why I started training other nutritionists. I wanted to create a tool to get educational information out at no cost to the people who need it. As our food chain continues to be de-vitalized and we begin to eat an empty harvest, ... the health care issue in this country is only going to get worse.