Do you ever wish you could have a doctor who listens to you? A doctor who wants to help you get to the root of your symptoms? How about one who believes that living a healthy life is a real possibility in spite of what you’ve been told? We are so excited to introduce you to Dr. Joel Rosen, a doctor who believes in you! Although he comes from a traditional medical family, he respects the conventional and marries the concepts of alternative medicine, to view your health holistically. His vision is to help optimize the health and well-being of his patients and he continues to challenge the status quo in his approach to achieve optimal health. Read on to find out more about Dr. Rosen’s unique approach to achieve your best self.
Welcome, Dr. Rosen! Let’s dive right in and learn about your educational and professional background? How did you get started in this field?
I grew up in Toronto Canada and I’m from a traditional medical practicing family of doctors. My sister is a general physician. My mom is a nurse who would go into the schools and do the public health immunizations for kids. Two of my uncles are also doctors one being a surgeon and the other a dermatologist. Since I came from this medical model I was considered the black sheep because I didn’t want to get into traditional medicine my education was in exercise physiology.
I was very interested in health and exercise until I hurt my back and surgery was recommended. Well, this was unacceptable to me. I wanted to rehab it on my own. This is where I learned about chiropractics so I went back to school to become a chiropractor. Along with studying chiropractics, I earned my second degree in psychology as I went through chiropractic school. In the mix of it all, I re-injured my back again. By this time, I was burnt out, exhausted and very tired, I had lots of student debt as well as a set of twins. This is where I first understood the term adrenal fatigue or at least it was on my radar. I have to say this caught my attention and has become the primary purpose and mission for what I do today.
My experience led me to educate those who are exhausted and burnt out on the importance of adrenal health. Now that I am healthier, I’ve realized that it goes so much further than just the adrenals. I continue to take extra schooling studying functional medicine and nutrigenomics working towards a degree from Functional Medicine University. I would have to say that I chose a non-traditional path because I wanted a more holistic approach to health, rather than the traditionally trained, or philosophically based, ultra-traditional allopathic model, which meant getting flu shots and immunizations and running to the medicine cabinet, every time we were sick. I also believe my background in psychology is a benefit because with health it’s the mental, spiritual, physical and emotional that contribute to a healthy lifestyle.
Awesome! So what makes you so passionate about helping other people achieve their best health?
I love this question! I think it comes down to when my mother would take me to go visit my grandmother in a nursing home. My mother is the nurse and I believe you acquire many of the same skills and the background that your parents have. I think I was born to care! I remember going to visit my grandmother in the home, she had a roommate, another woman resident in her room who was Korean. This woman didn’t have anyone coming to visit her. I remember going over to her and talking to her, trying to communicate with her, and wanting to help make her day. As I recall, I was probably in my late teens or early 20s. My mother would comment that I was so nice to talk to her and then she would ask what made me want to talk to this lady. All I remember was I wanted to make her feel good but at the same time, I noticed it made me feel good too!
Kindness goes a long way!
Yes, it does! Sometimes it feels like a selfish reason, although it is completely unselfish to feel good helping other people, especially those who do not always have a voice. Many times people are not being listened to or are told they are making things up, or it’s all in their head. And when you’re not validated with what you’re feeling or taken seriously you are left to your own. I guess somehow I can relate to people in this position especially because I’ve been there, exhausted, tired and burnt out and looking for answers. Now that I’m in the health business I have the luxury of figuring it out. It has become my passion to help people get their life back. I don’t think there’s a monetary reward that will ever exceed the feeling of getting someone back to health.
I agree. I’ve often heard you refer to yourself as the “Adrenal Fatigue Recovery Ninja” Why?
This name came about because like with any discipline, for example, martial arts you require different degrees of knowledge which almost becomes Zen and the art of whatever it is that you do it. So that’s how I thought of it as a “Ninja” in terms of this. I knew if I wanted to create a name and a brand for myself and stop the drain on fatigue, I could be the “Recovery Ninja”. As research continues to evolve I’m realizing I may be underserving people by only saying “I’m the Adrenal Fatigue Recovery Ninja” because some people don’t even know what that is. A lot of people don’t even believe it’s real. And for legitimate purposes because of the way that peer-review journals define adrenal insufficiency plus there’s not much research on this topic. I get video comments all the time from people saying there’s no such thing as draining fatigue. Although my site is called “The Truth About Adrenal Fatigue” because it does, in fact, explain why adrenal fatigue is a bit of a lie because it goes much deeper than just the impact of adrenals. I understand this because, in the beginning, I thought, ok, so I have an adrenal fatigue issue and can’t handle stress but when I went and did the research I realized it’s so much more than that!
Wow! So much to learn! So in your opinion, if we could change one thing to improve our health what would that be?
I would probably say “unplug” don’t be plugged into everything that you see in the media. Turn your home Wi-Fi off at night and limit your phone time. You don’t have multiple windows open in your brain like you do on a computer and multitask. This is the way our brain is now being taught and we’re not really equipped for this. We need to breathe properly. That’s not expensive. That’s free. That doesn’t require the magic supplement or the magic test or the magic diet.
Great wisdom here! So who are your most respected mentors or colleagues, the people you admire most in your field?
The first and foremost for me was Dr. Hans Selye because I found out about him and his knowledge with the connection of stress and adrenals. I heard his name in the university and his research on the stress response theory using salvia. And like all pioneers they are ahead of their time in a lot of ways in terms of their predictions and their theories, however, our technology or science hasn’t caught up with their thought process. I learned he was ridiculed by his colleagues and I know what it’s like to be a second class citizen in the health care field as a chiropractor. Many chiropractors before me paid their dues and went through the ridicule especially the earlier pioneers that were sometimes put in jail out of the desire to not become super-rich but to make a difference in people’s lives even at the risk of being ostracized by their peers. As for the pioneers of today I respect, I’d have to say people like Dr. Ben Lynch and Dr. Bob Miller who study and educate on the functional genomic analysis and DNA software.
We are so thankful for the pioneers! So what pearls of wisdom do you give your children so that they might live their best life?
I have twins who will be 18 years old so I’ve encouraged being holistic. I think that eating at home, not on the go or out of the box and eating sophisticated type palates and foods to help set the foundation of your microbiome. I think the key is just a really foundational diet.
Good advice! Food is such a big issue today with kids! Speaking of advice, what’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Great question! Right off the bat, I would have to say from Dr. Ben Lynch as a mentor to me. I went to whatever conference he was doing when I would drive my kids to soccer games up and down the state. I would listen to every seminar over and over again. He has so much wisdom and knowledge in this field. The one thing I always remember from him was when he shared that one of his professors said to him that cancer is a verb and not a noun. I remember thinking that’s not just cancer, it’s adrenal fatigue, fibromyalgia, etc, whatever, you fill in the blank. This was eye-opening for me. I also gained lots of good nuggets from the late Dr. Bob Marshall who was way ahead of his time in research.
Such great insights Dr. Rosen! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat today and we look forward to more healthy nuggets from your research in the future! For more information on Dr. Joel Rosen visit his website, UTube channel or find him on Instagram