Living the Lifestyle I Prescribe for my Patients | Chef AJ LIVE! with Dr. Kim Scheuer

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite being a boarded and seasoned Family Medicine Physician for over 15 years, my discovery of true health began in about 2011 when I realized that I was just 1-year shy of my mother's age when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I wondered how I could prevent the same diagnosis in myself.

As an almost life-long vegetarian, I thought I ate better than so many of the people I knew. However, I was a processed/junk food and cheese addict who hated anything "green." I even proudly called myself a "milky way vegetarian." After discovering The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, it came as a shock to realize I ate unhealthfully and was risking my health.

Over the next month, I changed my diet and researched how diet and health were connected. I quickly dropped over 10 pounds without changing my daily activity. My cholesterol plummeted from what, as a physician, I had been taught was normal. Unexpectedly to me, although very common per the research, my energy level skyrocketed and my exercise tolerance had improved drastically.

I was amazed that the information I learned through The China Study, along with movies like Forks Over Knives, and other books like Eat For Health by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, had not been taught in medical school and wasn't standard of care. I was angry that I had spent most of my life struggling with weight and often failed at dieting, yet here I was eating way more than I had in the past, loving the food, and losing weight to the point of having to eat more to keep weight on. That had never been the case in my life before. Unlike my patients who were reaching menopause at the same time I was and who were struggling, I was feeling younger, thinner, and healthier than I had in my 20's. And all of this was without any medication.

This realization and lifestyle paradox prompted me to start questioning my medical practice. I started going to medical seminars for whole food plant-based medical providers, taking nutrition courses (which we were never taught in medical school), and got board-certified in Lifestyle Medicine. When I had the time to share this new knowledge with my patients in my traditional Family Medicine Practice, the results were astounding. Like me, they would get better from their chronic diseases, get off medications, and feel younger and healthier on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, my busy walk-in practice didn't allow me to spend the time I wanted with my patients, nor did it allow me to practice what I was preaching regarding lifestyle modification to be the healthiest I could be. This is why I decided to drastically change my life so I could "walk the talk" and live the lifestyle I prescribe to my patients.

Since beginning on this path, I no longer worry about getting breast cancer as my mom did, colon cancer that her mother had, Alzheimer's disease like my paternal grandmother, or any of the other health issues prevalent in my family. My arthritic knees do not hurt me the way they used to, even though I am even more active than before. I feel and look younger and healthier than I have in decades – AND I AM HAPPY! What a wonderful thing to have your health, feel great, and be able to share this quality of life with others.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME CODE:
00:00 Show and guest introduction
0:04:21 Lifestyle Medicine and Telehealth discussion / Q & A
0:10:14 Food addiction and plant-based diet discussion
0:17:57 Viewer and Chef AJ comments and Q & A
1:00:48 Final thoughts and show wrap

[sheripearlman]

Great conversation! You two sound like you really understand each other. Wonderful chemistry and a joy to listen to! 💕

[jgrysiak]

I admire Dr. Kim so much, she rebuilt herself from the ground up, just like Chef A.J. did, , learning how to eat all over again!

[angiebshouse]

My mother in law exercised regularly and died of lung cancer. She did change a lot about what she ate, but didn’t eliminate meat either. She did enough however to reverse her heart disease.

[mandym]

Had to replay this one as Dr Kim is fantastic! I love that she’s a vegan doctor who understands food addiction ❤️ Plus she’s an athlete - go Dr Kim 🙌

[purityandplants]

I went to my credit union a couple of days ago and the teller gave me an envelope half full of Hershey‘s chocolate miniatures in addition to my money 😩😂

[mikimike]

I've done the trash thing before.

[nazokashii]

Oh my, what a delight - it was truly wonderful getting to know Dr Scheuer :) so cool that she knows sign language too :D just so composed, knowledgable, and sweet! "You wanna live life while you're alive", amen to that <3 thank you both so so much <3
And, thank you to Dr Marbas for inventing "guru syndrome" - that really is such a perfect term, just as you said Chef AJ :)

[vc]

Chef AJ, how about doing something to help those of us who live in divided households. My husband refuses to give up his junk foods and, being older and from a conservative background, it’s my role to do the cooking, so I have to cook separate meals for him
which, as you can imagine, gets to be a serious drag. He won’t generally accept a PB meal with a piece of meat on the side but needs to be the dishes he likes, often including ‘real’ potato fries followed by a ‘real’ cake/cookie. I’ve heard a number of guest say there’re ways of coping with divided households - please, please give us some details and ‘how-to’s.

[reneeellerbroek]

What is the CHIP program that you were discussing?