Nutritionist in or near The Villages
 

Most doctors nowadays rarely talk to their patients about nutrition or lifestyle changes to treat chronic health issues, and instead are quick to prescribe meds to work as a “bandaid” to treat symptoms but not treat the underlying cause much of the time. The reasons for this are varied, but I have found many doctors lack the necessary knowledge and eduction in the area of nutrition.

Does anyone here have the name of a good and solid nutritionist, or doctor, that is highly trained and knowledgeable in the area of nutrition and first attempts to treat chronic issues such as inflammation with diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes, rather than being quick to prescribe meds to treat the issue?

Thanks in advance for any useful posts on this issue.

Contact Dr Joe Kasper. He is a Dr of nutrition and an exercise psychologist. 917-399-9754. He lives in the villages.

We met him at Science and tech meeting last week. Interesting fellow.

Doctors prescribe medications because they work. Talking to patients about nutrition and lifestyle doesn't work. If a patient wants to learn about nutrition, they can read a book.

Have you asked your primary for a nutritionist referral? Spouse’s nutritionist is from the VA so probably won’t help. She immediately had him write down everything that we ate, for 2 weeks. Then assigned calories and sugar to each.

It’s a wake up call at the end of each night on not just the intake, but empty calories. There wasn’t any shaming, but thoughtful hints on he could have eaten this instead of that. Her biggest tell was hidden and added sugar.

No drugs..not a strict diet but once realized just sugar intake alone, was part of downfall, things changed. Not only felt better within a month, but he lost 15 pounds.

Living in TV can be a downside to food intake. Restaurants mostly not healthy are abundant, and within minutes in your golf cart. Small changes can help, there are clubs in TV that may help get you started.

But do these meds treat the cause, or just manage the symptoms? I agree, that most patients don’t want to hear about lifestyle changes and won’t put forth the effort to change poor diets and lack of exercise. That is another reason why doctors don’t talk about lifestyle changes that could be beneficial in treating and possibly eliminating many health issues. It’s really a shame.

Good info - thanks. I agree, sugar intake is the cause of so many health issues. It really is a poison, and so addictive. Sugar is hidden in the majority of processed foods, and often with foreign sounding names in the list of ingredients. Even eating out is not safe, since most restaurants don’t make their own sauces, but buy them premade in bulk in jars and cans from Sysco, which contain a plethora of non-food and sugar-laden ingredients.

Don't know what your issues are but a lot of good information on YouTube. Be careful of any Dr selling products. Do your own research.

Best advice my wife and I had, and it made a big difference to our wellbeing, was to cut out all processed foods, and have nothing from a tin.
Plus fresh air and exercise
Been sticking to it for a long, long time now.
Worked well for both of us.

a plethora?

Have to look into what exactly comes from Sysco and how unhealthy it really is

I totally disagree. I was having throat tightening for quite a while, went to doctor and got diagnosed with acid reflux. Both GP and specialist wanted to put me on meds which I read have some adverse effects. I started keeping a journal of what I ate and drank and described how I felt afterward. After a few weeks I saw what aggravated my acid reflux, kept away from them and completely resolved my issue. After a year, I started to reintroduce the 'no-nos' in small amounts and have been symptom free in years.
I absolutely believe what we eat and drink is our medicine or enemy. It will always be my first line of defence whenever faced with disease. But I also am very grateful for all scientific medical advances for those issues beyond nutritional interventions, but I wish doctors had better understanding of how diets can be used to heal some issues. Alas, pretty sure the pharmaceutical sector is easier and more profitable, therefore most used.

Keto
 

The keto diet has a strong effect on inflammation. My experience has been very positive eliminate all forms of sugar and carbs you can. Had great lab results, reversed high A1C by
3 points in 90 days. good luck.

WOW-Doctors don't learn about nutrition beacause they would not have patients. Meds have many sise affects. If meds worked - why do patients REFILL the jar every month.

Totally agree with you and I appreciate your perspective.

I have a couple of my own experiences where I took matters into my own hands and made lifestyle changes rather than listening to my doctor.

Mediterranean diet is a well balanced anti inflammatory diet. Easy to find details online. There is also info online regarding healthy exercise practices.

As for myself, I still go by the old 4 food groups mentality and tend towards leaner meats and whole grains. My GI doc said I have the colon of an 18yo and I’m in my 60’s. Inflammation starts in the colon so a healthy one is essential.

Personally i avoid any mentality that excludes carbs, protein or fat as these are all essential for overall health. Carbs get a bad rap cause many eat the simple carbs. Complex carbs are healthy, nutritious and essential as are healthy fats. Keto diet is excludes healthy carbs and adds unhealthy fats. My brother in law is on that diet and even adds butter to his coffee. Yuck!

Many swear by the keto diet cause eliminating the sugars is what’s helping them. But eliminating the healthy carbs and eating a large portion of fats many of which are unhealthy fats does damage.

The Mediterranean diet is the solution. It does not include simple sugars and is well balanced including all food groups. It’s worth checking out.

I would revise the post to say "Dr's, many of them may talk lifestyle changes, patients mostly do not listen." Look around at the pregnant men!

I had great luck with a nutritionist who worked off my personal bloodwork. I simply steer clear of processed foods, and anything with vegetable oils, sugar, fructose, and flour. My glucose went from 100 to 80, cholesterol under 200 (Dr wanted me on statins and I said no way). I’m on zero meds and back down to my college weight. All my pain problems from inflammation are gone with help of good daily exercises and walking. Drugs are pushed to doctors by pharma and they all make money to keep us sick with symptoms.

My wife works for Sysco so I feel the need to defend them a little. Sysco doesn't make anything and just distributes product. From the raw ingredients to pre-made items of different quality and cost. It would be better to check with the restaurant to see how they prepare their food than to check with the plethora of products that Sysco sells.

I don't disagree that diet is important. But medical doctors need to ration their time with patients to achieve the best result. You don't need to see a medical doctor to get nutrition information. Do you really think that a Type 2 diabetic, who is 60 pounds overweight, doesn't already know that they should lose weight?

You may benefit more from an app such as Fooducate
 

You can get the same benefits - if not more - from using a calorie counting app such as Fooducate for a week or two. You can simply scan the bar code of any food item nutritional information. It allows you to track your calories, macros, and workouts, plus get motivated. Works on common restaurant menus too. With this app, I have been able to make “better bad choices” every day and lost over 17 pounds in less than 2 years.

Noom
 

I highly recommend downloading the app “Noom”. It is put together by a group of nutritionist for guiding you on better nutrition and lifestyle, based on your age, weight, and any chronic conditions. You are given 5 minutes daily of educational information that builds over time to change you to follow healthier habits. You enter into the app everything you eat and drink daily through their extensive database. They have most name brand foods in their database. They provide you a weekly menu with recipes if you want to use it and tell you how you need to consume X% of your nutrition from “green group”, X% “yellow group”, and X% from “orange group” based on your issues. It tracks your daily steps through a smart watch or Fitbit, logs your weight daily through a smart scale, tracks glucose if you track it, sleep tracking of REM, Core, and deep sleep if you have a smart watch, daily heart rate and blood oxygen of you have a smart watch (Apple). It really zeros in on your trending of lifestyle and helps you build a better healthy lifestyle through education.

YES Keto has made all the difference for us! Been working for over 2 1/2 hrs now!
 

Hope we are able to find a club for reversing health issues with diet! Keto has reversed many issues for us, including diabetes!

:a040::a040:

There are several documentaries on Netflix and Prime that will give you a quick education on nutrition. They all lead back to plant based diets. In “Poisoned” there are some case studies that show what can happen to our health in just a few weeks once we stop eating the foods that greedy food manufacturers push on us. Even some organic foods aren’t safe. It didn’t take me long to start making big changes in our diets. I don’t even know if a nutritionist really understands the danger in our food. If it doesn’t kill us it is making us sick. I’m diabetic, I have celiac disease, high blood pressure, some arthritis and a few other more minor issues. We are both cancer survivors. I spend a lot of time planning menus and reading labels due to being gluten-free. I’m appalled at the junk that is in our food. It is estimated that 75%-85% of the food in our supermarkets is not fit to eat. Watch “What The Health” on Netflix to see how the big food corporations control what goes on store shelves. See how the charities we support, like the American Heart Association, Susan G Komen and so many others turn a blind eye to publicizing dietary changes that could help patients make positive changes in the foods they eat. After watching this program I will never donate another dime to one of these charities. They would rather take money from the lobbyists than see any of us healthy. Good nutrition is that which takes us back to simpler times when our food was healthy, not contaminated by chemicals, artificial colorings, growth hormones, antibiotics and more. Most of the illnesses we are being treated for are caused by our body's’ reaction to “invaders”. (Autoimmune) We get crippled, have all kinds of digestive and breathing problems, become overweight, the list is long. I knew I didn’t need a nutritionist. I just needed a really good understanding of the garbage food we are being fed. Unfortunately doctors receive little to no training in nutrition and, even if they did the food manufacturers and producers are making sure we never hear about how unhealthy their food is. And I warn you, these programs are hard to watch. But, either we watch and learn or we are going to keep on paying by being sick, having heart attacks, cancer, illness that could be prevented in many cases.

Nutrition knowledge is very complex & must be tailored to your own unique needs. I also have suffered for years from throat issues & acid reflux. I’ve tried taking prescription drugs then dr switched me to OTC ones. I tried eliminating all the commonly-blamed offensive foods like spicy foods, fatty foods, tomatoes… but it turns out mine is triggered by BREAD. The great news is I can offset the effects by eating a small amount of homegrown pea shoots (steamed in the micro for a few seconds.) Eating Pea shoots work better for me than any of the other efforts did.Pea shoots contain a rather hard-to-get unique digestive enzyme, DAO. Pea shoots are super easy to grow in a Ball canning jar with a well-vented lid for good drainage (no soil). Rinse thoroughly a few times every day then drain upside-down. Pea shoots (sprouts) are a unique taste which I’ve grown to like but I love their quieting effect on my body! I like a drop of olive oil & balsamic salad dressing on 3-4 tbsp. them steamed in microwave for 20-30 seconds to kill any bacteria but short enough so they remain crunchy. You could add them to a salad, stir fry or sandwich. ORGANIC Pea seeds (any variety you like) are available at Whole Foods, Amazon & others. i grow black-eyed peas & they are good. Next time i may try organic Sugar Snap pea seeds. I got my (2) Ball canning jars from Walmart. Amazon also sells sets of jars, lids, stand (for inverted drainage). Hope this helps someone else too.
I was at the end of my rope & decided why not try pea shoots? Seems like a no-risk solution & it worked! :) no more meds needed & no need to eliminate foods I love..

Read the book, Gut Check, by Dr. Steven Gundry MD, which brings up to date his several previous books. That is the best info there is on nutrition; ie, what to eat/not eat, and why. His books also discuss other environmental influences and lifestyle choices that also affect our health. His books are for the truly committed to following science; or they will change people to being truly committed to that.

Sounds interesting Stu. Are there any takeaways from the talk that you will try to incoporate into your life?

Dr. John Podlaski, located on 466 near Morse Blvd.. He is licensed in Florida to practice nutrition and natural drugless healthcare. He has a website and also gives monthly talks in the libraries.

Lots of good info to consider here - it’s great to see so many committed to healthy eating. I’m on keto right now to drop a few pounds. Plan to rigidly adhere to it for about a month or two. In a short time, some of my inflammation has already been reduced - I’m anxious to get my next set of numbers from blood work - my goal is to get off ALL meds within the next 6 months. After goal weight is reached I’m still going to be ultra mindful of carbs, and will still keep sugars, bad oils, processed and junk food out of my diet, but may introduce elements of Mediterranean Diet into diet occasionally (whole wheat pasta, potatoes, more fruit), but still no bread or desserts, but will still keep a keen eye on keeping carb count low.

This guy is a quack but he makes alot of money.
Dr. Gundry’s The Plant Paradox Is Wrong

If he was right then I would be dead by now. Pro tip: don't eat raw beans.

Whether online or in person nutritionist can be awesome or very wrong. I highly recommend nutritionafacts.org and Goodbye Lupus by Brooke Goldner, M.D. - YouTube.

Dr Greger has been on PBS several times. If you have an medical issue you can type it in and you will find a video or article based upon credible peered reviewed research.

Dr Goldner has helped many thousands reverse auto immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Is there a keto guru out there that can claim the same results?

Keto deprives you of some of the most important nutrients and long term it will destroy your kidneys.

Is Losing Weight Worth Losing Your Kidney: Keto Diet Resulting in Renal Failure - PMC

Basics
 

And a biochemistry book would be a good one to start with. So much of what I see coming from "nutritionists" would suggest that they don't remember what they've learned about biochem - even the basics about proteins, carbs, and fats. Avoid sugar - 90% of the valuable advice in the area of nutrition. :-)

If you think that about Doctors, maybe you need to find another Doctor

Look into Dr Livingood, yes his real name. He has a Facebook group that renews every month. Just about to start the new one, Crew#60, as in 60th month. There is so much support from other Crew members, and there is even a group in The Villages that get together to share recipes and for support. I do not know how to connect with them though . Dr Livingood has several very good videos on YouTube you could start with to see if interested. His "life style" changes has gotten many off meds and healthy lifestyle to lose weight. I am currently only on his Facebook Crew, but he has other choices of Lifetime memberships, lifetime, yearly, or monthly. He has a book "Food Made Simple"...short read but eye opening. You can get the book free with just paying the shipping. Good luck!!

Watch this documentry on Netlflx - Forks Over Knives. Go to this page also.

Free McDougall Program - Dr. McDougall

There is actually a Plant Based Group in the Villages that meet once a month. I only rent there but went and it is very informative if interested.

I have followed a plant based diet for 17 years and have no inflammation or arthritis. Energy is off the charts. I'm soon to be 70.

Doctors prescribe medication because they’re incentivized to do so. My opinion, doctors do not look at total overall situation, just the ailment at hand.

He also a physical trainer. We are considering working with him for my wife and at his evaluation of my wife you get a copy of his book on nutrition.

Another useful app is "My Fitness Pal". It tracks your meals, calories and other categories such as sugar, protein etc. Very educational. Dr Gabe Mirkin lives in tv and publishes a free email newsletter on health and nutrition. He promotes plant based diet.

You are correct. There are very few Dr. Esselstyn's out there.
Dr. Esselstyn's Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Program | Make yourself heart attack proof

Almost 90% of older adults regularly take at least 1 prescription drug, almost 80% regularly take at least 2 prescription drugs, and 36% regularly take at least 5 different prescription drugs. When over-the-counter and dietary supplements are included, these rates are even higher.
Aging and Medications - Aging and Medications - Merck Manual Consumer Version

Sounds good. Good luck to your wife & the training.

Sugar (especially fructose) and plant-based oils are the real poisons that damage cells to the mitochondria level. Cellular insulin resistance (with inflammation) is the base cause of almost all modern disease. Eat just beef, shrimp, sardines, salt and water and you will start feeling better in just a week. You will actually feel the cellular inflammation subside and you will become calmer.

Most people "live to eat" and not "eat to live". Doctors know this so they don't harp on diet and just prescribe medicine.