I had conventional medical training, attending Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, traditional osteopathic internship in Cleveland, Ohio, and internal medicine residency in Knoxville, Tennessee. After completing residency, I joined the United States Air Force as an internist and then a flight surgeon. During that time, I actually had the audacity to tell my diabetic patients not to eat “too much” fruit for fear their blood sugars would increase. Thankfully none ever asked how much “too much” was, as I was simply parroting what I’d been taught, and had no idea!   Flash forward 7 years of fast-paced living, and some pesky balance symptoms turned out to be cancer. I spent about 18 months recovering, and during that time, an important change in my career trajectory occurred. Several physician friends and I all stumbled on what turned out to be the field of lifestyle medicine at roughly the same time, exchanging information and tips we’d found, food hacks, ways to improve sleep, books to read, documentaries to watch. It was exhilarating – how did not a single one of us learn about this in medical school? We could finally advise our patients on how to stop or even reverse things we thought were incurable and irreversible, like diabetes and heart disease! It was unbelievably refreshing to treat the root causes of disease (hint: it’s not a deficiency of medications!) rather than mopping up its aftereffects.    Lifestyle medicine is not for everyone. Change is hard. But if you want to break free from the medical mill and avoid the prescribing cascade, lifestyle medicine might just be for you too! And I promise, I will never tell you to eat less fruit now!

Dr. Drozek practices the new specialty of Lifestyle Medicine at Marietta Memorial Health System in southeastern Ohio.  He graduated from Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, completed a residency in General Surgery, and is certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery and the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.  For his teaching, research and other activities focused on lifestyle medicine, he was named a Fellow of The American College of Lifestyle Medicine. 

My name is Edelita Jamis. I am a board-certified Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine physician. I am a self-practicing healthy lifestyle changer. I help patients improve their quality of life and decreased the need to take prescription medications by adopting sustainable healthy lifestyle habits and eating a whole food plant-based diet.  I also help organizations develop chronic disease reversal programs that will ultimately reduce health-care insurance premiums of their employees.    

Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA is a double board certified family medicine and lifestyle medicine physician, who has been utilizing food as medicine since 2012. She is Co-founder of Plant Based TeleHealth, (http://plantbasedtelehealth.com) the first plant based lifestyle medicine practice covering the United States. Previously, she created a new medical model combining the power of nutrient-dense foods and intensive clinical psychological therapy to treat not only food addiction but also chronic disease. As the Managing Editor for the Plantrician Project’s International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention, she works closely with the journal’s Editor in Chief, Dr. Kim Williams. The journal is focused on bringing plant-based research to the forefront of modern medicine and to the general public. She is also co-founder of Healthy Human Revolution, whose mission is to provide resources that will empower individuals with the knowledge, tools, and mindset to successfully adopt and sustain a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) diet.
In Colorado, when Laurie convinced a large hospital to create a lifestyle medicine program centered around a WFPB diet, the program showed resounding success. At another hospital, she conducted a one-month study of 26 employees on a WFPB diet. All employees were fed from the hospital’s kitchen, and each individual experienced improved health. She has spoken at the Golden VegFest in Colorado, the International Plant-based Nutrition Healthcare Conference, and other venues teaching about the value of the WFPB diet.
Laurie received her dual degrees (MD and MBA) from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine and TTU School of Business. She was awarded the Texas Tech University School of Medicine Gold Headed Cane Award, a symbol for excellence in the art of medicine and the care of patients. She wrote seven books while in medical school, six of which were in a series called “Visual Mnemonics.” These books used cartoons to help people memorize vast amounts of information—a system that helped her personally when she was a mom attending medical school. As a United States Air Force veteran, she served in the Middle East and South America. She is also a wife, mom of three grown children, host of the Healthy Human Revolution podcast, author, speaker, and avid runner.