Tired of feeling tired? US-based doctor Frank Lipman says he can help.
An expert in holistic medicine and founder of New York’s Eleven Eleven Wellness Centre, he believes that, by using a unique mix of Western and complementary techniques, exhaustion is curable in the same way as headaches, joint pain and digestive problems.
The key, he says, is to focus on the underlying causes. So convinced that his approach is the right one, he has written a book on the subject. Titled Spent: End Exhaustion and Feel Great Again, it identifies the main factors that exacerbate exhaustion: poor diet, lack of exercise or even over-exercising, filling our bedrooms with electronic equipment and being out of touch with our bodies’ natural rhythms.
The book has earned acclaim from actress Gwyneth Paltrow and designer Donna Karan, who called it “a bible”.
Mr Lipman, 54, tells People: “All my clients are famous to me. But I do treat a lot of interesting people. Hey, it is New York.”
He argues that Western doctors have no idea how to cure people who do not have a disease and cannot take a drug. “The only drugs we have to help exhaustion are sugar and caffeine, and they are not cures. It’s like sending someone to an electrician when they need a plumber.” Born in South Africa, Mr Lipman ran away from apartheid in 1984 to settle in New York. “My way of thinking came from being in a family which didn’t accept the political status quo. And now I don’t accept the status quo with Western medicine.”
He started medical training but quickly became disillusioned and set up his own clinic. He says: “I go back to South Africa every year. I work for two non-profit organisations, promoting nutrition in the country. We have set up organic vegetable gardens to feed people at HIV clinics.”
