Andrew Weil Interview (page: 7 / 7) Integrative Medicine	Print Interview

Are there new frontiers that you're interested in?

Andrew Weil: Well,

Based on the way that my career has gone, I would not rule out the possibility that five years from now I'll be doing something completely different. For the moment it is very exciting to be involved in this wave of possibility of changing medicine and bringing it back into balance with nature, of expanding scientific horizons and paradigms to take account of observations and phenomena that have been seen as being beyond the pale.
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Are there any things that you regret doing, or regret not having done yet?

Andrew Weil: I don't think it's useful to have regrets, frankly. I've done what I've done. I think that that was the right thing for me to do and here I am. I think I've made relatively good use of my talents and interests, and I will continue to try to do that.

When you took over the program at NIMH, was that just a bad fit?

Andrew Weil: Bad fit. This was 1969-'70. It was during a very difficult political year for the whole country. I was in a very sensitive area having to do with drug research. It was really not where I belonged and I was happy to be out of there.

You have a relatively new book. This gets you into the pop culture area. Is that an insulting way to put it?

Andrew Weil: I see myself working on two fronts simultaneously. One is within the profession, towards professional development training, and the other is with consumers. I feel comfortable in both of those worlds. However, I think maintaining a balance between them is delicate. There are a lot of physicians out there who are very popular with consumers, who have no credibility with the profession. I think I've been able to walk in both worlds, and I will continue to try to do that. I feel that both of those worlds are necessary, because without the consumer movement none of this would be happening.

It is consumer demand which is forcing change within the medical profession right now. And to have that go in a responsible direction is important. And I think that my voice is very much listened to as a source of information that's seen as being trustworthy, neutral. I'm not selling people things. I'm only selling information to the public. And I try to make that the best quality information that I can find.
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So I feel comfortable operating in both of those worlds. Just on a practical level, the Eight Weeks book was also written in response to demand, to people asking me to put all the practical information I had in one place. A lot of this is preventive, and I think that people who follow this kind of program, which is relatively easy to follow, are dramatically reducing their risks of a lot of the diseases that now consume a lot of the time of physicians, and a lot of our health care dollars.

Do people expect you to follow your own advice?

Andrew Weil: Yes, and I think that's a reasonable expectation. The kind of lifestyle information that I've put in Eight Weeks, that's my lifestyle. That's consistent with all of my earlier work. I've always drawn on my own experience, so I have experimented a lot with what works for me. I've tested that out on other people, and I've put that into the books.

Do you ever feel that it's okay to sneak something...

Andrew Weil: Absolutely. All things in moderation, including moderation. One of the challenges for me is that, having become a public personality as a result of books and television programs, and the fact also that I'm fairly recognizable, I have to be aware that whatever I'm doing, people are watching. If I'm in an airport eating a frozen yogurt, a lot of people are going to come and over and say, "Well, I guess it's all right to eat frozen yogurt."

Thank you for talking with us. It's been a great pleasure.

You're welcome.

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