Florida

  I am a Board-Certified Holistic Health Practitioner and Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.I assist individuals and corporate teams in achieving their optimal health through healthy lifestyle choices regarding nutrition, exercise, spirituality, relationships, and careers. I am a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and hold a Certificate from the Cornell University Plant-Based Nutrition Program. I have also completed CEU and Certification Programs for Health Counseling through Purchase College. I hold accreditation from The American Association of Drugless Practitioners and am a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. I have a global private concierge health coaching practice and am the organizer of a whole foods plant-based community group in Naples, Florida, called the Naples Green Scene. I am also an accomplished top competing Triathlete and consider my best achievement to be qualifying and completing the IRONMAN World Championship Triathlon in Hawaii.

Timaree is a plant-based registered dietitian nutritionist, certified exercise physiologist with a master’s degree in public health and over 20 years of experience as a college nutrition professor. While she has worked with thousands of people of all ages, from many different cultures, to achieve and surpass their health-related goals, (improving their blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar levels, digestion, and energy, losing weight and reducing/eliminating the need for medications), she also “walks the talk” in her own daily actions that support holistic wellness. You can find her eating nourishing plant-based whole food (that loves her back), moving her body every day in ways that keep her strong and feeling energized, staying hydrated and prioritizing physical and mental self-care. 
 
Timaree pours her heart into working with a select number of private coaching clients and leading the fun and engaging Foodie Bar Way of Life community. She is PBNSG’s dietitian and a chef contributor, conducts local and virtual events, corporate wellness work, serves on the Plant-Based Prevention of Disease Executive Board, and has contributed to several cookbooks and her OWN cookbook (The Foodie Bar Way). Timaree’s had the honor of speaking across the nation, writing for newspapers and online media outlets and being featured in many TV segments and web appearances (California Bountiful TV, Studio40, Chef AJ Show, Nutmeg Notebook, etc.) She also has experience working as a dietitian in a variety of practice settings ranging from the acute care hospital and ambulatory clinics, to community nutrition and performing medical nutrition therapy for renal patients. 
 
“I get very passionate about combining fun and practicality, offering strategies and inspiration for finding pleasure in preparing and enjoying nourishing meals and taking very good care of ourselves!”

Monica Aggarwal, MD, is an adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the University of Florida Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. She received her medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and subsequently went on to complete a residency in internal medicine at Tufts-New England Medical Center. She then completed a cardiology fellowship at the University of Maryland and later continued her training at the University of Arizona where she participated in an integrative medicine fellowship.
 
Dr. Aggarwal’s own path to understanding the impact of nutrition in illness started soon after the birth of her third child, when she developed an advanced form of rheumatoid arthritis. She was placed on medications that gave her severe side effects. It was only through learning about the microbiome (gut), its impact on the immune system and the role of nutrition in affecting the gut, was she able to truly heal. Determined to change the face of medicine, Monica left private practice and returned to academics in order to pursue research on the role of diet and to create an integrative cardiology practice focused on nutrition and lifestyle.
 
Dr. Aggarwal served as the Director of Integrative Cardiology and Prevention at the University of Florida for 4 ½ years. There, she focused on promoting food as the foundation of healing and for its medicinal value. In her clinic, she emphasizes plant-based nutrition and often performs multiple mind-body techniques with her patients, including yoga and meditation. At University of Florida, she was also the Director of Medical Education for Cardiology, where she directed education for medical residents and cardiology fellows, with a focus on prevention, nutrition, and lifestyle. In the hospital, she has multiple initiatives including developing a 100% plant-based menu for cardiac and vascular patients.
 
Dr. Aggarwal gives talks around the community and the country. She was named a “Next Generation Innovator” by Cardiology Today. She is often featured in Veg News, Naked Magazine and has been featured in forksoverknives.com. She conducts research on nutrition education in medical institutions and on how a plant-based diet impacts cardiovascular disease. She has published in major medical journals such as Journal of American College of Cardiology and American Journal of Medicine.
 
Board certified in cardiology, echocardiography, nuclear cardiology and advanced lipidology, she is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), where she is a member of the nutrition council working on nutrition policies for the nation. Dr. Aggarwal specializes in preventative management of heart disease with lifestyle techniques in conjunction with medications. She is the author of the book “Body on Fire: How Inflammation Triggers Chronic Illness and the Tools We Have to Fight It,” which outlines prescriptions to help guide people to better health.
 
She has instituted a new plant-based menu at the University of Florida/Shands Hospital which is receiving national attention along with new discharge education that empowers patients to heal their bodies with their lifestyles. She was recently named Florida’s Cardiovascular Researcher of the year which provided her with a grant to conduct the important research needed on nutrition.
 
She currently sees patients in Orlando, Florida and via telehealth as part of Wholistic Cardiology and conducts research at the University of Florida.
 Website: Drmonicaaggarwal.com
Facebook: drmonicaaggarwal
Twitter: @drmaggarwal
Instagram: drmonicaaggarwal
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I’m a family medicine physician in St. Petersburg, Florida.  I have been fully plant-based since September 2018.  I have a passion for lifestyle medicine and specifically, evidence-based nutrition.  I value spending time with patients, empowering long-term change, building relationships with them, and providing evidence-based care.  I wholeheartedly believe that a plant-based diet is the solution to the majority of preventable diseases.  It has been so rewarding to take patients off of medications because they have reversed their chronic conditions through a whole food plant-based diet and I look forward to many years of the same. 

Doctor Méndez is a double board certified gastroenterologist and internist. She specializes in digestive disorders, which include liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and nutrition based-disorders, such as obesity and constipation. Her approach to patients and their diseases is holistic and comprehensive; her goal is not just to treat the symptoms, but to get to the root cause of an ailment and provide lasting relief. All her methods are evidence-based and she is a proponent of lifestyle changes first to promote wellness. Dr. Méndez attended Harvard University, where she obtained a B.A. in Latin American Studies, with a minor in pre-medicine. From there, she began her medical training at the ACGME accredited Universidad Central del Caribe in Puerto Rico, completed her Residency in Internal Medicine at University of Miami/ Jackson Memorial Hospital, and her Fellowship in Gastroenterology at Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans. She has also trained in Epidemiology through Florida International University, and in Plant-Based Nutrition through Cornell University. She was awarded a visiting fellowship at the Mayo Clinic through the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation where she received special training in inflammatory bowel diseases. She has also helped lead multiple fund-raising walks to raise awareness for Crohn’s and Colitis in the Miami area. She was awarded Physician Champion at the Takes Steps Walk 2019 for the GastroHealth Team.

I am a Doctor of Oriental Medicine in Clearwater, Florida. Initially trained in acupressure, then in massage therapy, I finally ended up with a Master’s degree in Oriental Medicine in 2004 from the East West College of Natural Medicine in Sarasota. My approach combines acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and high quality nutritional supplements, if needed, with a whole-foods, plant-based nutrition recommendation. I also utilize massage therapy and cupping therapy for musculo-skeletal pain conditions. In practice since 2004, I see many women for endometriosis and fertility related health conditions, as well as cancer patients who are currently undergoing conventional cancer treatments, or who have recently completed their treatments. Of course, plant-based nutrition is a top recommendation for all of my patients, especially those with any sort of chronic and/or degenerative health condition. 

Dr. Sosa is double board-certified in Family Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine. He attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as an undergraduate, and the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine. He completed 3 years of general surgery residency at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Pontiac, MI, and 2 years of Family Medicine residency at Providence Hospital in Southfield, MI. He became board certified in Lifestyle Medicine by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in it’s inaugural certification year of 2017. Dr. Sosa is a vegan himself, and the owner of Botaniq Health, a boutique Direct Primary Care Lifestyle Medicine clinic focused on health, longevity optimization, and aesthetics. 

At his practice, West Orange Nephrology LLC, Dr. Awosika specializes in Nephrology, Hypertension, and Chronic Kidney Disease with an emphasis on preventive care. For over a decade, he has encouraged a lifestyle approach that empowers patients to get better sooner and stay healthier longer, limiting the use of medications.
Dr. Awosika is passionate about providing guidance and support for his patients in embracing a healthy lifestyle, including transitioning to a plant-based diet. His Nephrology practice focuses on disease prevention and reversal through optimal nutrition, exercise, sleep, mindset and loving relationships. To this end, his practice includes a wellness initiative and coaching protocol to empower patients in moving toward their very best health outcomes using his Pillars of Health.

Dr Deb Duro is a Program Director for Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutritrion and Medical Director of Florida Intestinal Rehabilitation Support and Treatment “FIRST” Program at the Salah Foundation Children Hospital at Broward Health in Fort Lauderdale, US. Dr Duro is a former trainee from Boston Children Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital both affiliated with Harvard Medical School. She is specialized in Nutrition Support and Home Parenteral Nutrition and Intestinal Rehabilitation in Children suffering from Short Bowel Syndrome and Intestinal Failure. She also created a Blenderized Gastrostomy (GT) Feeding Clinic with a multidicisplinary approach using Plantbased recipes for children over 1 year of age. She received her Plantbased Nutrition certification from Cornell University in 2020. She is also a passionate chef and create an @chefdrdebduro to help and educate her patients on healthy life style and whole food plantbased diet where she shares her own recipes.

I am a registered dietitian, American College of Lifestyle Medicine Practitioner and a Life/Weight Coach. I first learned about plant based medicine 19 years ago during my practicum at the Pritikin Longevity Center and have been passionate about the role food has in our health ever since, though I haven’t always been as spot on with my nutrition as I am today.
 
I can remember as a mom of young kids feeling mom-like and not in a good way. I was bursting out of my jeans. But worse than that, I felt too big for my skin. One day I noticed that my seatbelt was cutting into my stomach. That was a first. I remember thinking I’m a dietitian, I know better. I felt ashamed because I was preaching healthy eating, but I wasn’t always eating healthy. I was on the “one is never enough” plan and it showed on my body. I remember the phone call from my doctor’s office–bad labs. I thought, what am I doing? I know better. Then the shame fell away and I had a new feeling, conviction. I decided I was going to take care of myself and I started following my E.A.S.E. plan (which now I share with my clients).
E: eat greens
A: add fiber and color
S: subtract processed foods
E: exercise your mind and body
I felt healthier. No longer exhausted. I didn’t shove my words down with food anymore. I said what I was thinking instead of snacking. Now I weigh 102 lbs. My weight has stayed the same for over 10 years. Jeans slide on with no effort (except those double zeros!).  I no longer fear the seatbelt. Now I help others do the same.