I first introduced you to Dr. Thomas Cowan in the podcast episode released a few weeks ago entitled "How (& Why) To Eat More Vegetables, Why A Plant Is Like An Upside-Down Human, Little-Known Superfood Plants & More!"
In that episode, you learn how when Dr. Cowan was a 20-year-old Duke grad-student, bright, skeptical, and already disillusioned with industrial capitalism - he joined the Peace Corps in the mid-1970s for a two-year tour in Swaziland. There, he encountered the work of Rudolf Steiner and Weston A. Price - two men whose ideas would fascinate and challenge him for decades to come. Both drawn to the art of healing and repelled by the way medicine was―and continues to be―practiced in the United States, Cowan returned from Swaziland, went to medical school, and established a practice in New Hampshire and, later, San Francisco.
For years, as he raised his three children, suffered the setback of divorce, and struggled with what we didn't really talk much about in that previous podcast: a heart condition. He was intrigued by the work of Price and Steiner and, in particular, with Steiner’s provocative claim that the heart is not a pump. Determined to practice medicine in a way that promoted healing rather than compounded ailments, Cowan dedicated himself to understanding whether Steiner’s claim could possibly be true. And if Steiner was correct, what, then, is the heart? What is its true role in the human body?
In his new book "Human Heart, Cosmic Heart: A Doctor's Quest to Understand, Treat, and Prevent Cardiovascular Disease", which is a deeply personal, rigorous, and riveting account of his own struggle with heart disease, Dr. Cowan offers up a daring claim... ...not only was Steiner correct that the heart is not a pump, but our understanding of heart disease - with its origins in the blood vessels - is completely wrong. And this gross misunderstanding, with its attendant medications and risky surgeries, is the reason heart disease remains the most common cause of death worldwide.
In today's episode, Dr. Cowan presents a new way of understanding the body’s most central organ. He offers a new look at what it means to be human and how we can best care for ourselves―and one another. During our discussion, you'll discover:
-The strange root vegetable (which you probably haven't heard of) that Dr. Cowan had for breakfast before our interview...[7:56]
-Dr. Cowan's own heart struggles that caused him to have a heartbeat of over 200 beats per minute while playing basketball...[9:20]
-Why it is physically impossible for the heart to be able to pump blood through the body in the way that you (and your doctor) have learned...[13:25 & 15:25]
-How the way that blood flows through your body is actually quite similar to the way that water flows through a giant, tall tree...[28:45]
-What a "chestahedron" shape is, why is the exact shape of your heart, and how it creates a very unique vortex inside your chest....[40:35]
-How I personally structure my family's water in a way extremely similar to the way that the heart structures and "spirals" your blood...[42:30]
-Why most doctors don't know about this concept of the heart not being a pump...[45:50]
-Why coronary angiograms, bypass surgery and stents don't work...[54:00] -A strange Brazilian plant molecule called "Gstrophanthin" and why Dr. Cowan talks about it in the book...[66:50]
-How to use fats, oils, vitamin K, parasympathetic nervous system activators and compression therapy to drastically lower your risk of a heart attack...[70:15]
-The single biggest key to preventing heart disease...[76:20]
-And much more!
Resources from this episode: -Human Heart, Cosmic Heart: A Doctor's Quest to Understand, Treat, and Prevent Cardiovascular Disease -My interview on structured water "Is All Water The Same" with Dr. Gerald Pollack -The whole house structured water filter Ben uses to create a "vortex" for his drinking water -The NatureBeat heart rate variability system Ben uses every morning to measure his nervous system -The Strophansus extract / ouabain Dr. Cowan mentions -Organic emu oil -Vitamin D/K2 blend -The Normatec recovery compression boots that Ben wears
Do you have questions, comments or feedback for Dr. Cowan or I? Leave your thoughts at BenGreenfieldFitness.com and one of us will reply!
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