Ep. 25 | Dr. Robert Graham, MD: Food and Society - How Doctors can be Changemakers

The Healthy Peaceful Podcast

Join me as I interview Dr. Robert Graham from NYC. Dr. Rob is the founder of FRESH MED [https://www.freshmednyc.com/], an integrative health and wellness center. The FRESH model of healthcare combines the best of conventional medicine with complimentary therapies. Dr. Rob envisions a new paradign for healthcare, one that adheres to the principles of F.R.E.S.H: food, relaxation, exercise, sleep, happiness.
Throughout his 15-year medical career, he has advocated for "food as medicine." We've all heard about the dearth of nutrition education in medical schools, but Dr. Rob took it one step further, he enrolled in the Natural Gourmet Institute's professional chef's training program . When he realized that doctors who "lived wellness" were more likely to impart that lifestyle to patients, he started teaching them culinary skills. Dr. Rob goes beyond the precept, "Practice what you preach!"
Dr. Rob's journey is not linear, but all of the component parts are important to the paradigm he's currently developing. His undergraduate anthropology degree afforded him the opportunity to study processes of cultural change and social transformation. No doubt, this is a catalyst for the work that awaits him as one of the key changemakers, moving us in the direction of personal and planetary health. In addition to his medical degree, he received a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University. The link is clear: there is no personal health without public health, unless we were to subscribe to a myopic view that it is not our responsibility to make life richer for future generations.
We also touched upon his 2015 TEDx Talk titled, "Fare Wellness: Back to our Roots." Dr. Rob emphasized the importance of being rooted in wellness on all levels: the traditions of our anscestors and the realization that "the fare" we digest contributes to or depletes our health. I asked him how his views have evolved over the last six years and he shares his current projects and upcoming plans. He is currently working with a food company, developing personalized meals that are reimbursable by insurance - designed to target our most pressing chronic conditions - which are mostly lifestyle-based.
I asked him to comment on some of my favorite quotes by anthropologist, Margaret Mead:
--"Success is measured by contribution. Yes, I agree. I also think it is important for each of us to really look at our personal self-care routines. We don't have the capacity to give without adequate self-care. "
--"I agree. We can't rely on governments or institutions to implement change. We have to willing to 'become the change' and hope we have a few good men and women following us. If we are willing, we can create momentum."
--"What I demand for other, I demand for myself. Yes, I live the F.R.E.S.H. prescription. How can I expect my patients to do what I am unwilling to do?"
--"We are continually faced with great opportunities which are brilliantly disguised as unsolveable problems." "Yes, the current medical model seems to be unsolveable: prescribe a pill for an ill and chronic disease continues to escalate. There is an opportunity for change; there have to a few who are willing to work at a policy level."
--"If the future is to remain open and free, we need people who can tolerate the unknown, who will not need the support of completely worked-out systems or traditional blueprints from the past." "Yes, everything is accelerating and we h

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Noreen