Quote

I've found that if I tell somebody 'Eat this and don't do that,' it's not only not helpful, it's counterproductive because even more than being healthy, we want to feel free and in control, and as soon as somebody tells us to do something, there's a tendency to do just the opposite.

Dean Ornish

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Dean Ornish
Age: 71
Born: 1953
Born: July 16
Nutritionist
Physician
Dallas
Texas
Dean Michael Ornish
Even
Healthy
Counterproductive
Something
Somebody
Tendency
Control
Tendencies
Free
Helpful
Tell
Opposite
Found
Tells
Feel
Opposites
Feels
Soon

More quotes by Dean Ornish

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I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol lowering drugs for the rest of their lives.
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The healing power of love and relationships has been documented in an increasing number of well-designed scientific studies involving hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world.
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Even more than feeling healthy, most people want to feel free and in control.
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Although scientists can often be as resistant to new ideas as anyone, the process of science ensures that, over time, good ideas and theories prevail.
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Whether you're six or sixty, if you go on a diet and lifestyle program and feel constrained, you're likely to go off it sooner or later. Offering a spectrum of choices is much more effective then, you feel free and empowered.
Dean Ornish
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I grew up in Texas, eating meat five times a day, and I liked meat. But I began being a vegetarian when I was 19 because I found that I felt better.
Dean Ornish
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Awareness-mindfulness-is the first step in healing. In Counterclockwise, Dr. Ellen Langer eloquently describes how becoming more aware of our beliefs and expectations allows us to powerfully transform our lives for the better. A pioneering, beautifully-written book.
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Because the biological mechanisms that affect our health and well-being are so dynamic, when people change their diet and lifestyle, they usually feel so much better, so quickly it reframes the reason for changing from fear of dying to joy of living. Also, the support that patients give each other is a powerful motivator.
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One of the reasons my father ... became a dentist was so he could always be home for dinner and spend weekends with his family. At one point he had thought about being a musician, but he said, I'm not going to do that because I'd be on the road all the time and I wouldn't be with my family.
Dean Ornish
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Meaning is malleable: take it out, you get nihilism and despair. Put it in, you get sacredness and something most special.
Dean Ornish
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Real power is not given to us or even created real power is realized. It comes from realizing an inner sense of peace, self-worth, and happiness.
Dean Ornish
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In general, losing weight is a good thing for those who are overweight, but it's important to lose weight in a way that enhances your health rather than one that may compromise it.
Dean Ornish
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With everything that you can imagine at our fingertips, many of the social interactions that help tie people together in a community have faded away. Are communities traditionally built on relationships, trust and familiarity a thing of the past?
Dean Ornish
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We all have an inner teacher, an inner guide, an inner voice that speaks very clearly but usually not very loudly. That information can be drowned out by the chatter of the mind and the pressure of day-to-day events. But if we quiet down the mind, we can begin to hear what we're not paying attention to. We can find out what's right for us.
Dean Ornish
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The need for love and intimacy is a fundamental human need, as primal as the need for food, water, and air.
Dean Ornish
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Think about it: Heart disease and diabetes, which account for more deaths in the U.S. and worldwide than everything else combined, are completely preventable by making comprehensive lifestyle changes. Without drugs or surgery.
Dean Ornish
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People who are lonely and depressed are three to 10 times more likely to get sick and die prematurely than those who have a strong sense of love and community. I don’t know any other single factor that affects our health - for better and for worse - to such a strong degree.
Dean Ornish
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The Internet has transformed many parts of our daily lives, touching everything from how we find information to how we go shopping, get directions, and even stay in touch with friends and family.
Dean Ornish
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Eating a vegetarian diet, walking (exercising) everyday, and meditating is considered radical. Allowing someone to slice your chest open and graft your leg veins in your heart is considered normal and conservative.
Dean Ornish
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When most people think about my work, they think about diet. To me, diet has always been the least interesting part of it.
Dean Ornish