 You know, a very challenging aspect of being in the field of what's called alternative medicine is that people are very susceptible to these gimmicks. Now there are gimmicks in conventional medicine, there are gimmicks in alternative medicine, there are gimmicks everywhere, but the most fundamental gimmick is really human psychology. Because it's human psychology that makes us predisposed to believing certain things. Now in this video I thought I would share what the evidence suggests is the number one cause of death, at least in America right now in history, and how this has a very, very important lesson for most of us. Hey guys, Dr. Alex Hine, author of the health book, Master of the Day, Doctor of Chinese Medicine. Now before we jump in, there's a link right below this video, if you'd like to contact me to reach out to me to become a patient of my private practice in Los Angeles, or virtually via telemedicine, there's some contact info below, as well as a free guide for you for daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine. So the last time I checked, you know when they have, you can look at this demographic and the statistical research on what people are dying from and the demographics that are dying and the most susceptible, but still last time I checked, the number one cause of death in America is heart disease, which research suggests probably mostly preventable, their diet and exercise and stress and having good sleep, and what does that mean? It means that the number one cause of death in America is probably actually food. So we tend to think that what causes people to die are poisons and accidents and harmful side effects, but the most common cause of death in America realistically is probably food and everything that we consume on our body is on the spectrum of health and disease. The most obvious example is being medicines, right? There's that famous quote, the dose makes the poison. Well the dose makes the poison certainly when it comes to food as the best example of that principle. I mean if you're having arsenic and you're taking a deadly poison and you're consuming it or lead, a heavy metal, probably any amount is pretty toxic, but when we're talking about food, there's a certain amount of food that is good for you. And even good foods like avocados, if you're having 4,000 calories a day of avocados, you're probably going to have a problem with your health. So in a world where everyone is addicted to gimmicks, and at least in the alternative medicine space, colonics, crystals, various kinds of energy healing, shamanic journeys, plant medicines, all these substances, all these unique gimmicky things, the yoni eggs, I mean I live in Los Angeles so you can imagine the kind of things that I hear, but there are so many various methods of healing and there are so many various gimmicks that I think sometimes people forget that health and longevity is not complicated and it is pretty simple actually. So the number one cause of death is predictable. For most people, there are congenital causes of heart disease and aneurysms and strokes for example, but largely our choices is my point. And the point of that is that it's not so complicated. In a world where people are addicted to the silver bullet, I mean I have a whole chapter in Master of the Day about silver bullet thinking. You see this in the diet industry where people think that removing fats or removing carbs or removing protein is the answer. I mean there are popular diets based on all three of those. Pick which macro you're going to remove and that's the solution. But when you look at this kind of demographic research, when you look at like the blue zones for example, the people in Greece and in Italy and in Okinawa, Japan and in Costa Rica, you know generally a Mediterranean diet seems to work the best as the average middle line for most people and it has all the macronutrients, right? It has animal protein, it has fats and it has pretty high carb actually and at least the last time I checked in Italy and in Greece, they're consuming wine and coffee daily. So wine and coffee are often demonized as well as being things that cause illness, especially in alternative medicine. You look at all the diets and the cleanses and the detoxes. One of the things that is often removed is coffee and wine. But this idea of there's got to be a special silver bullet thing, the super foods, you know I'm going to throw goji berries and ginseng into every bowl of oatmeal I eat or I'm going to throw instead of regular salt, pink Himalayan sea salt. Ullala, whatever it is, there's this addiction to thinking that health and longevity is complicated and that it's just one thing. But health is not a mystery you guys. The point of me shooting this video is that what is the most common cause of death is the most frankly obvious cause of death. Not accidents, which are pretty high actually, but it's not accidents. It's not a rare cancer you get. It's not some rare birth defect. It's daily choices and daily choices are things that we can choose, but we have to do that consciously. And what is going to lead to longevity is changing simple, obvious daily choices. It's not going to be putting goji berries in your meal or even taking some low dose of Chinese herbs every day. Those aren't going to be the big factors that save your life and help you live a long life. You know as a quote in the Dauda Jing that the great way is easy but people prefer the side paths. And this is the perfect example. Everyone wants some special mystical herb or mystical technique or magical Qigong posture you can do or some chant they sing to live forever. When in reality, if you want to live a really good long life, eating good food, that's whole food, real food, getting regular exercise and getting good sleep and having a happy community-centered connected life will be the best things you ever do. And those have nothing to do with Chinese medicine or any kind of medicine for that matter whatsoever. So I thought I would shot this just so that I see so many people falling for gimmicks. Like they're getting these colonics, colon cleanses every single week instead of making better dietary choices, exercise and focusing on good sleep to minimize the stress response. And I think that the ease of something is positively correlated with the number of gimmicks. So because longevity is a lot of little difficult decisions that are easy, frankly simple, the amount of gimmicks is really, really high just like diet and fitness. So don't fall for the silver bullets. Longevity and wellness for most people is not complicated. It's just a matter of making those conscious daily rituals and mastering the day, right? You do that by choosing your daily rituals consciously. So that's all I got for today. Not about Chinese medicine, but it's really about living a long, healthy life. There is no gimmick and there's no secret. That's what I've got for today. Catch you guys next week.