A Vegan MD?? I met one!

[Graciebeliever]

I have a yearly physical because I drive a School Bus (Fantastic job I love it!)
anyway I go through the same thing every year. Weight, blood pressure etc.. This year I was able to have the same young female Doctor I had last year.
We went through the talk about my weight and she told me she was amazed at how much better I looked this year :) I grinned and didn't want to say anything thinking that she would attack my Raw Choice so I just smiled.

Something about her though just made me open my big Raw fruit eating mouth and I asked her "what do you think about eating a Raw Vegan Diet?".
I swear she almost had tears in her eyes!! She told me that she is the ONLY doctor that she knows that has chosen a Vegan lifestyle and has since she began college. She went on to say how it has been so hard because she is not allowed to tell patients about the advantages of Vegan or even vegetarian eating. She says sometimes she tries to slip it in by suggesting that they try more fruits and veggies. It is like talking to a brick wall she said.

When I explained what I was doing and the positive things so far that have happened she just burst with joy.. No kidding! She asked me questions and I told her!! 33 Days 100% raw and she was so delighted.

She told me to call her anytime and how wonderful it was to talk to someone about something that has meant so much to her. Her Dh is a meat eater and all of her nurses and staff try every day to get her to eat all the things she doesn't want to. How hard that must be :(

So Cheers for Wendi the Vegan MD! maybe she will will someday be able to take her skills and such into the Raw Vegan realm. Goodness knows we could ALL use someone in our Raw Journey that also understands how that applies to our physical wellbeing.

Everyday is a filled with new step in the journey. SO glad be riding along with you guys.

[Denise Nicole]

It's so wonderful, you were able to meet her. I bet it was a blessing for her to meet you as well. :)

[Coriander74]

That is absolutely soooo cool :) I'm so glad for you.

[jjonak]

That's great! Where are you located? If you were in northern California, I'd switch to her. I've never had a doctor like that before.

[Veganforlife]

That is very cool! But, isn't it a shame that doctors aren't "allowed" to discuss this? Although, why couldn't doctors discuss this, if they really truly believe in this? You know? Patient confidentiality? But I guess it makes sense because doctors and pharmaceutical companies are in cahoots and it all boils down to money. If more folks became Vegan/Raw Vegan, there wouldn't be that need to first, go to a doctor and second get any drugs...so I guess it's all part of the insane plan.
Soylent Green - I fear it's not too far away...

[levamssg]

I had no idea that doctors weren't allowed to discuss raw/vegan food choices. My doctor is raw vegan. She holds classes at the local Wild Oats store every other month - does food prep, and talks about the medical advantages of eating raw!! It is Sooooo cool!

[spicyfull]

Isn't it wonderful how the right people are always around us. we just have to search them out...............

[misslinda]

Excellent and glad you had that experience............I mean how many conventional MD's say "Call me anytime???????" Wow, this is awesome :)

[dreamrawalwz]

That is very cool! But, isn't it a shame that doctors aren't "allowed" to discuss this? Although, why couldn't doctors discuss this, if they really truly believe in this? You know? Patient confidentiality? But I guess it makes sense because doctors and pharmaceutical companies are in cahoots and it all boils down to money. If more folks became Vegan/Raw Vegan, there wouldn't be that need to first, go to a doctor and second get any drugs...so I guess it's all part of the insane plan.
Soylent Green - I fear it's not too far away...

I was going to say something similar. Very sad isn't it??

[Shona]

I have never heard of doctors not being allowed to tell patients about vegetarian/vegan diets ... if that were true, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Dean Ornish, and Dr. Neal Barnard, among others, would have been put out of business years ago. John McDougall has been treating lifestyle diseases with a low-fat vegan diet for as far back as I can remember [and I've been around for a looooong time ... lol]. And isn't Gabriel Cousins, who is a huge raw foods advocate, an MD? I think I read that somewhere.

Seems kind of strange that with all the information we now have about food as medicine that so many people in health care would still be in the dark. :confused:

[Graciebeliever]

I had no idea that doctors weren't allowed to discuss raw/vegan food choices. My doctor is raw vegan. She holds classes at the local Wild Oats store every other month - does food prep, and talks about the medical advantages of eating raw!! It is Sooooo cool!

I think that the choice doctors make to where and with whom they work for can be extremely restrictive unless they are independant which this Doc is not. Unfortunatly these very LARGE medical groups can say whatever it is they want! She has been a Doctor for 5 years and a Vegan for 15. Like any of us she will have to see the need to change. I can't imagine that if I were a Doctor that at this point I wouldn't be considering changing so that I had total freedom to be like the Doc that you have!!

I think I will try and keep in touch with her and try to encourage her. I mean Doctors ARE people too hehe

[veganman]

This doctor sounds wonderful - can we get her name and location?

[Graciebeliever]

She is in a managed health care system in Illinois. She doesn't see patients unless they are refered to her through that system, which is one reason that she has to abide by their rulings and follow their guidlines.

My Job is in that Medical group and that Is why I ended up seeing her.

I would LOVE to see her start her own practice so she could have total freedom but for whatever reason she is where she is and does what she does.

If she ever does that I will refer EVERYONE I know :)

[chilove]

That is so cool! I'm sure you were meant to meet! It would be wonderful to have a well known MD do things like lecture and write books and advocating the vegan raw food diet! (other than Dr Cousens, I mean) Keep on encouraging her! :-)

Take care,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com

[Graciebeliever]

Audrey, I just popped over to your site and some of the links wouldn't come up for me. I don't usually have problems but wanted to let you know in case. Your story page came up and what an inspiration!!

[gypsy]

i wonder if insurance plays a part in it too? when you participate in insurance plans there is another whole list of rules you have to stick with.

(this is my first post, will have to go over to intro's and do the intro thing :))

i am reading allissa's 'living on live food' now. it was recommended to me and middle daughter by her thyroid doctor. he is vegan and might be all raw or in transition right now, not sure. i never expected that he was into this. anyway, daughter hates taking meds and her thyroid is messed up along with adrenals and some other things. at our last visit 2 weeks ago, she went in alone and he talked to her about how so many people can cut out their meds by changing their diets and he really felt that if she moved into a more raw direction, and at the very least just increased her vegetables she would have a much better chance of healing her body. then i came in, he gave me the run-down of what he told her, pulled out two copies of allissa's book for us to flip through, handed daughter 'diet for a new america'. it was all enough to inspire me to try with the raw food again. (i already have the j. robbins book here and then ordered green for life and this living on live food) am keeping the books out on the shelf in hopes that when i'm not around daughter might do some reading. (she's 13 and doesn't really think it's cool to do what mom might want or suggest).

but anyway, from the dr. talking to her... she is eating 2 large romaine salads a day, and doing some other positive things for her health. by the way, he doesn't take insurance, and works from his home, and is an m.d., so he has alot of freedom in what he can talk about to his patients. :)

gypsy

[Graciebeliever]

i wonder if insurance plays a part in it too? when you participate in insurance plans there is another whole list of rules you have to stick with.

(this is my first post, will have to go over to intro's and do the intro thing :))

i am reading allissa's 'living on live food' now. it was recommended to me and middle daughter by her thyroid doctor. he is vegan and might be all raw or in transition right now, not sure. i never expected that he was into this. anyway, daughter hates taking meds and her thyroid is messed up along with adrenals and some other things. at our last visit 2 weeks ago, she went in alone and he talked to her about how so many people can cut out their meds by changing their diets and he really felt that if she moved into a more raw direction, and at the very least just increased her vegetables she would have a much better chance of healing her body. then i came in, he gave me the run-down of what he told her, pulled out two copies of allissa's book for us to flip through, handed daughter 'diet for a new america'. it was all enough to inspire me to try with the raw food again. (i already have the j. robbins book here and then ordered green for life and this living on live food) am keeping the books out on the shelf in hopes that when i'm not around daughter might do some reading. (she's 13 and doesn't really think it's cool to do what mom might want or suggest).

but anyway, from the dr. talking to her... she is eating 2 large romaine salads a day, and doing some other positive things for her health. by the way, he doesn't take insurance, and works from his home, and is an m.d., so he has alot of freedom in what he can talk about to his patients. :)

gypsy


Gypsy!
Welcome to you and your daughter :)

How wonderful for you to have found him!!
Yes, you see, he is independant and obviously he enjoys steering people to a path that he feels is best. Isn't that was being a doctor is all about??

There is so much to learn here and other places too but I have found that this is were I come to find answers, smile, laugh, cry, think and well it's home for me during my New Raw Journey.

I can't even tell you how happy that I am that after all my years (45) that my health is naturally improving to a point I never thought possible.

I am sure that both you and your daughter will find things here that will help you to find some answers to your health concerns although I have found infinatly more than that :)

So.. Welcome and look forward to hearing from you with questions and comments!
Stay, read read read, and Enjoy!

[Linda1970]

Wow, Gypsy, that is so exciting! I got sooooo excited for you while reading this thread. Hope I can meet a raw vegan MD too. :)

[veganman]

Gypsy -

your doctor sounds great! Where is he located?

[gypsy]

thanks for the warm welcome, gracie. i'm excited to do alot of reading and be inspired and stay motivated and really kick alot of my health problems too. i'm 44 with 5 kids and a boatload of stuff, physical and otherwise to deal with.

the doctor is in olney, maryland. it's a long trek for us to go to appointments but he does phone consults for inbetween issues. he listens, he is kind, very patient. he has kids too which for me, i really appreciate. i found him on mary shomon's thyroid site where she recommends doctors who other people have had good results with. i called around and he seemed like a good fit and so far so good.

my youngest son has defective enamel on all his baby teeth. he had two surgeries to get many pulled and some crowned. his adult teeth are coming in weak but at least the enamel isn't flaking off. anyway, i told his dentist i was reading so much about teeth improvement especially in children that i wanted to try some things before the first surgery. well.... i couldn't get him to take the herbal horsetail/calcium tincture of dr. christopher's..... and i couldn't convince my h to allow us to try some kind of raw food trial even if only for a limited amount of time to just heal son's teeth (i even read sergei's chapter from raw family several times out loud at the dinner table in hopes of inspiring h to do this as a trial. alot of my kids were willing to do try this at the house so that the 2 year old would have a chance, but h said it was all lies. sigh. so i did get him to agree to go see this nutritional person who specialized in dentist stuff, was recommended by a wholistic dentist i know.... for some reason i thot she was into vegan stuff and healing the body that way.... but what happened was we paid $200 plus dollars for h to fume and smirk while i got reamed out for thinking i could cure my kid's teeth without meat. and how no vegan society every existed for more than 100 years - anthropological fact, she said. she sent me home with a list of meat recipes. (need a smiley here for pulling my hair out!!) what i did find through trial and error was that when my son ate yogurt on a daily basis it cut back on the rate of decay majorly. so bought him organic yogurt. now he is 8, and loves dark lettuces too, yay!! since reading 'green for life' i've been telling him eating these greens has helped others and may make a big difference for him too. so he is happily complying :)

anyway, that was kinda off the subject....but on the 'physician' subject, just the disappointing physician subject..... :p

oh.... may we all find good doctors, or maybe at least educate the ones we have.

[smasty]

That's an awesome story. It is amazing the roadblocks we can run into, and how refreshing it is to find someone in a field like that embracing the lifestyle. Someone that you can work directly with...and not just "read their book"...you know?

[luckitri]

Would it be possible to have a resource page of raw doctors that people could look up for their area?

I have heard that many doctors are stuck paying off the high cost of their education and they can't afford to become independant - they are just as victimized by the way our medical system is set up as we are. Then there are the other ones......