Dr. Tom Rifai's lifestyle medicine and health transformation expertise is rooted in a rare combination of training and practice in psychology, internal medicine, lifestyle medicine and clinical nutrition. He has a notable and strong family history of type 2 diabetes in both parents, a toxic, genetic form of cholesterol and has had the challenge of binge eating disorder, which brought him to the brink of death in 2007 and took his youngest brother’s life in 2017. Now, in recovery, he has gathered...
May 27, 2022•38 min•Ep. 169
Michelle Thompson, DO is a Lifestyle, Integrative, & Mind-Body Medicine Practitioner and Integrative Wellness & Culinary Medicine Maven. Born and raised in the Shenango Valley, Dr. Thompson has developed a Free Healthy Living Series, where she lectures and provides experiential opportunities to anyone in the community seeking knowledge in integrative modalities. Her programs are eligible to receive credit toward insurance deductible by showing the participant has "taken a healthy step." ...
May 20, 2022•36 min•Ep. 168
For nearly two decades, Padmaja Patel, MD, DipABLM, has been a practicing internist in Midland, TX. She currently serves as the Medical Director of the Lifestyle Medicine Center at Midland Health and has advocated for offering a variety of comprehensive lifestyle intervention programs under physician supervision. Dr. Patel serves on the Board of American College of Lifestyle Medicine and as Vice President of the Midland Quality Alliance, a clinically integrated network of physicians. She is a me...
May 09, 2022•34 min•Ep. 167
Dr. Will Bulsiewicz (or "Dr. B") is an award winning gastroenterologist, internationally recognized gut health expert and the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today , and Indie Bound -bestselling author of Fiber Fueled and The Fiber Fueled Cookbook . With a passion for plants and helping people, he sits on the Scientific Advisory Board and is the U.S. Medical Director of ZOE, has authored more than twenty articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, has given more than forty pr...
Apr 28, 2022•39 min•Ep. 166
Hansa Bhargava, MD, FAAP is Chief Medical Officer at Medscape Education. Her leadership includes an eye to innovation and cutting-edge topics in health care. She has practiced for over 10 years as a clinician and was previously Senior Medical Director At WebMD. She has extensive experience in producing digital content, collaborating in partnerships, and in thought leadership. Her previous position included working closely with the editorial, product, and news teams and developing digital apps. W...
Apr 22, 2022•33 min•Ep. 165
Brian Asbill, MD is originally from Columbia, SC. He graduated cum laude from Davidson College in 1990 with a BS (Biology major), and received the MD degree from the Medical University of SC (valedictorian) in 1994. Dr. Asbill completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine (and met his wife) at University of Virginia in 1997, completed his cardiology fellowship training at MUSC in 2001 and subsequently joined Asheville Cardiology Associates where he served as an invasive, non-interv...
Apr 14, 2022•32 min•Ep. 164
Danielle Dick, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology and Genetics. She is an internationally recognized and award-winning expert on genetic and environmental influences on human behavior. She has led and contributed to more than 20 grants from the National Institutes of Health, with grant funding totaling over 30 million dollars. She has more than 350 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of child development, addiction, mental health, genetics, and human behavior, and has won numerous national a...
Apr 08, 2022•37 min•Ep. 163
Tim Cunningham, RN, DrPH, FAAN is Co-Chief Well-Being Officer at Emory Healthcare and the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University. He holds a joint appointment as adjunct associate professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory Healthcare and serves as Vice President of Practice and Innovation for Emory Healthcare. He collaborates with interprofessional teams to support structural and systemic well-being support change for healthcare staff and professionals, univer...
Mar 31, 2022•37 min•Ep. 162
Dr. Cassandra L. Quave is Curator of the Herbarium and Associate Professor of Dermatology and Human Health at Emory University, where she leads anti-infective drug discovery research initiatives and teaches courses on medicinal plants, food, and health. She earned degrees in biology and anthropology (B.S.) from Emory University in 2000, and a Ph.D. in biology in 2008 from Florida International University under the direction of Dr. Brad Bennett. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in microbial...
Mar 24, 2022•35 min•Ep. 161
Dustin Harder is the host and creator of the original vegan travel culinary series The Vegan Roadie, and podcast Keep On Cookin'. Dustin currently works in culinary development with restaurants and non-profit organizations to implement plant-based recipes. He also works as a private chef and cooking instructor. Previously an actor in song and dance, Dustin gave up his tap shoes to study culinary arts at the Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC in 2014. He has since been featured in such publications...
Mar 08, 2022•28 min•Ep. 160
Rollin McCraty, Ph.D. is Director of Research of the HeartMath Research Center at the HeartMath Institute. As a psycho-physiologist, Dr. McCraty’s research interests include the physiology of emotion, heart-brain communication and the global interconnectivity between people and the earth’s energetic systems. Findings from this research have been applied to the development of tools and technology to optimize individual and organizational health, performance, and quality of life. Dr. McCraty has a...
Mar 01, 2022•37 min•Ep. 159
Dr. Reddy is the director of interventional cardiology at the James A Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, FL. He completed his general and interventional cardiology fellowship training at Winthrop University Hospital in Long Island, NY. After practicing interventional cardiology for ten years, he changed his focus towards cardiovascular health promotion and disease prevention, using lifestyle and nutrition based strategies. He is a member of American College of Cardiology’s working group on nutrit...
Feb 19, 2022•35 min•Ep. 158
In this episode Laurence S. Sperling, M.D., FACC, FAHA, FACP, FASPC talks about prevention of heart disease. Dr. Sperling covers a range of topics related to cardiovascular disease and its prevention. What is preventive cardiology? How can we prevent heart disease in individuals and populations? What are the risk factors for heart disease? Dr. Sperling discusses the opportunities in healthcare as it relates to cardiovascular health, and why this topic is especially relevant in the time of the pa...
Feb 11, 2022•37 min•Ep. 157
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.D. from Western Reserve University. In 1956, pulling the No. 6 oar as a member of the victorious United States rowing team, he was awarded a gold medal at the Olympic Games. He was trained as a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and at St. George’s Hospital in London. In 1968, as an Army surgeon in Vietnam, he was awarded the Bronze Star. Dr. Esselstyn has been associated with the Cleveland Clinic since 1968. During that t...
Feb 04, 2022•40 min•Ep. 156
John La Puma, MD, FACP is the New York Times best selling author of seven books, translated into 10 languages, with over a million copies sold. Co-founder of ChefMD, a consumer-health media company, he is considered the founder of culinary medicine, now taught in 40% of U.S. medical schools and worldwide. He is also Founder of EcoMedicine.org , a nature-based approach to optimal well-being and optimal aging. Dr. La Puma has lectured on nature therapy and culinary medicine at Harvard University, ...
Jan 28, 2022•38 min•Ep. 155
Sean Hashmi, MD, MS, FASN, is a practicing Nephrologist and Obesity Medicine specialist in southern California. He is a sought-after speaker on topics ranging from health, nutrition, fitness, and wellness. Currently, Dr. Hashmi serves as the Regional Director for Clinical Nutrition and Weight Management at a large healthcare ogranziation in Southern California. Driven by his lifelong commitment to be of service to others, Dr. Hashmi provides evidence-based health, nutrition, and wellness researc...
Jan 20, 2022•33 min•Ep. 154
Rollin McCraty, Ph.D. is Director of Research of the HeartMath Research Center at the HeartMath Institute. As a psycho-physiologist, Dr. McCraty’s research interests include the physiology of emotion, heart-brain communication and the global interconnectivity between people and the earth’s energetic systems. Findings from this research have been applied to the development of tools and technology to optimize individual and organizational health, performance, and quality of life. Dr. McCraty has a...
Jan 15, 2022•37 min•Ep. 153
Liana Lianov, MD, MPH, FACLM, FACPM, DipABLM is the President of Global Positive Health Institute. As an innovative global leader in lifestyle medicine, Liana Lianov, MD, MPH, FACLM, FACPM, DipABLM has advanced the movement for integrating positive psychology into health care. She led the development of the original lifestyle medicine core competencies for physicians and health professionals, which have recently been expanded to include positive psychology-based knowledge and skills. She serves ...
Jan 06, 2022•30 min•Ep. 152
In this episode we interview Cath Lee, Lar Lee and Matt Crane - founders of Semaine Health, "a health and wellness company that takes women’s pain seriously". Cath and Lar, twin sisters, describe their personal journey with endometriosis and years of period pain. Together with Matt (Lar's husband), they started experimenting with trying natural plant-based ingredients, vitamins and supplements, to help alleviate pain, decrease inflammation, improve digestion and mood, while also doing research o...
Dec 10, 2021•35 min•Ep. 151
Jacob Mirsky, MD, MA is a primary care physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital Revere HealthCare Center and a consultation physician at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine. Dr. Mirsky attended medical school at the University of California San Francisco and completed residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston as part of the Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates primary care track. In addition to his primary care practice, he leads virtual gro...
Nov 15, 2021•35 min•Ep. 150
David Prologo, MD is a Christian, a Husband, a Father, and a Fighter. He is a dual board-certified interventional radiologist and obesity medicine specialist. Dr. Prologo has spent more than twenty years specifically analyzing the phenomenon of diet attrition—why do diets always fail? More importantly, when they do fail , why do we blame the patients for that failure? That journey led Dr. Prologo to perform first in human advanced interventional procedures to manage obesity, diabetes, and other ...
Nov 05, 2021•30 min•Ep. 149
Kristi Artz, MD, diplABLM, is a practicing board certified Emergency Medicine specialist since 2006, ABLM certified diplomat 2018 and Lifestyle Medicine specialist 2021. She serves as Medical Director of Lifestyle Medicine at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI. She is an Advisory Board member for Health Meets Food and is a Certified Culinary Medicine specialist since 2017. She is the physician lead for Spectrum Health’s Culinary Medicine program. Dr. Artz led the strategic development and imple...
Oct 29, 2021•32 min•Ep. 148
TJ Waterfall is a registered sports nutritionist specialising in plant-based nutrition. TJ has a first-class Master's degree in clinical and public health nutrition from University College London (currently in the top 10 universities in the world) and has since worked with many world-class elite athletes, including several UK Olympians. TJ recently authored a book published by Penguin, The Plant-Based Power Plan , to make lots of the evidence-based strategies, advice and tips he uses with his cl...
Oct 08, 2021•35 min•Ep. 147
William Hsu, MD is the Chief Medical Officer at L-Nutra - a company that is leading the science of Longevity Through Nutrition. To date, L-Nutra had numerous scientific breakthroughs, attracted over $36 million in funding and carried out 14 clinical trials. One of their key discoveries was unlocking the benefits of periodic fasting (fasting for more than two days). Their research showed that periodic fasting induces a special stress leading to cellular rejuvenation – a powerful mechanism for slo...
Oct 01, 2021•33 min•Ep. 146
Jennifer Maynard spent over twenty years in the field of Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, where she focused mainly in Oncology, Ophthalmology and Hematology, working to try to make a change for the better in human health. She left her career as a Pharma Executive to pursue her passion for “Food as Medicine,” as she believes that only by addressing what we put on our plates can we begin to truly combat chronic illness. In this pursuit she founded Greater Greens, a regenerative farming operation...
Sep 23, 2021•32 min•Ep. 145
Amy Hanus leads Full Plate Living, a foundation-funded FREE online nutrition resource for people who want doable small-steps that lead to big health outcomes. As the Program Director for the Ardmore Institute of Health foundation, Amy loves being able to share the power of fiber foods and how eating a plant predominant diet can transform our health. She helped develop Full Plate Living’s lifestyle medicine nutrition approach, which shows you how to eat full plates of healthy, delicious food with...
Sep 03, 2021•29 min•Ep. 144
Dr. Liana Lianov is the Founder and President of Global Positive Health Institute , assisting physicians and health professionals to leverage the science of positive psychology and lifestyle medicine to achieve flourishing in themselves and their patients. She is an International leader in Lifestyle Medicine and positive psychology, leading the movement to promote the science of positive psychology and health in health care; president of the Positive Health and Wellbeing Division of the Internat...
Aug 26, 2021•36 min•Ep. 143
Bob Gold is one of the world’s leading behavioral technologists with more than 20 years applied research and development in the behavioral and cognitive science of human motivation, activation and resiliency; with a specialty in the design of clinical care plans and digital therapeutics that integrate pyscho-social factors and determinants into physical care plans for chronic and complex population health management. Bob focuses his energy on recrafting clinical care plans and medication therapi...
Aug 23, 2021•38 min•Ep. 142
David Hanscom is an orthopedic spine surgeon whose practice focused on patients with failed back surgeries. He quit his practice in Seattle, WA to present his insights into solving chronic pain, which evolved from with his own battle with it. The second edition of his book is, Back in Control: A Surgeon’s Roadmap Out of Chronic Pain. His website, www.backincontrol.com presents an action plan and his most recent program, “The DOC Journey” guides patients more clearly through the complexities of s...
Aug 13, 2021•30 min•Ep. 141
Dr. Anurag Sahu is an adult cardiologist at Emory University Hospital. He is an Associate Professor of Cardiology and an Associate Professor of Radiology at the Emory School of Medicine. His areas of expertise include adult congenital heart disease, advanced cardiac imaging, and cardiac intensive care. He developed the cardiac intensive care service line at Emory University Hospital, leads the high-risk cardiac pregnancy program, is the director of the cardiac MRI/CT fellowship program, and serv...
Aug 05, 2021•32 min•Ep. 140
