This weekend my husband and I attended the Food=Medicine Conference at Emory University in Atlanta with 400+ other attendees. This article is a review of each speaker, their presentation title, and the key messages that were delivered. If you heed the advice of these doctors, dietitians, researchers, and nutritionists you will improve and extend your life.
What was most delightful was listening to 15 presenters talk about true health care, restoration & preservation who actually looked healthy! They were trim, vivacious, funny, articulate, and sincere.
(Speaker stage images are courtesy of my friend Leslie Haas who helps lead the wildly successful Eat Smarter, Live Longer Club in the Sun City community of Okatie, SC where there are 500 paying members learning how to extend and improve their lives with diet.)
1. Dr. Kim Williams – Diet & Cardiovascular Disease: What is the Evidence?
The President of the American College of Cardiology probably knows something about heart health. It is this: eat a low fat, whole food, plant-based diet like he does.
2. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn – Nutritional Reversal of Cardiovascular Disease: Fact or Fiction?
The author of Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease probably knows something about heart health too. He does. It’s this: eat a no/low fat, whole food, plant-based diet with no added oils, sugar, or salt like he does.
3. Brenda Davis, RD – Protein, Calcium and Other Great Mysteries of Plant-Based Diets & An Examination of The Paleo Diet
Brenda is my new favorite resource for nutritional guidance. I would sign up for her newsletter, follow her on social media, and watch as many YouTube recordings of her talks. Brenda, in all her vast research into macro-nutrients, minerals, vitamins, and other micro-nutrients, probably knows something about life extension. She does and it’s this: eat a low fat, whole food, plant-based diet like she does.
4. John Pierre – The Pillars of Health
Because of John’s reminder of the dangers of sitting for extended lengths of time, I stood in the back of the room nearly the entire conference and as I type this sentence I am standing at my standing desk. Because of the way the body traps lymph in the sitting position, it is detrimental to health, immunity, and longevity to sit for extended periods of time.
John became very aware of the suffering of animals at a young age and because of this, as an educated nutrition and fitness consultant, he has figured out how to eat and exercise for human health while not causing animal suffering and death. His approach is this: a low fat, whole food, plant based diet with regular exercise and doing kind deeds like he does.
5. Dr. Thomas Campbell – Practicing Nutrition as Modern Medicine
The son of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, co-author of The China Study, and brother of Nelson Campbell who produced the PlantPure Nation film, Thomas knows a thing or two about health and longevity. It is this: eat a low fat, whole food, plant-based diet like he does.
6. Dr. Michael Greger – Preventing and Treating Our Leading Causes of Death with Food
Quite possibly the world’s funniest science researcher, Michael delivers volumes of scientific research in succinct, understandable portions. With his extensive exposure to medical research, you’d think he’d know a thing or two about preserving a healthful life. He does and it is this: eat a low fat, whole food, plant-based diet like he does.
7. Dr. Richard Oppenlander – Food Choices & Sustainability
There is probably no one else on the planet who has distilled as much environmental research as it pertains to human food choices as Richard has. Featured in the film Cowspiracy, much of the data used to promote the film’s message was provided by Richard. He probably knows the best way for each of us to eat to keep our carbon footprint as small as possible. He advises: eat a vegan diet like he does.
8. Chef AJ – The Secrets of Ultimate Weight Loss – Eating to the Left of the Red Line
AJ is an expert on weight loss having lost a significant amount of weight herself. Her key is to eat abundantly the foods which are low in caloric density meaning high in volume per calorie so vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes like she does.
She makes me want to get an Instant Pot (sitting on the table in the photo) which is a contemporary pressure cooker/crock pot hybrid that cuts cooking times in halves or thirds. Potatoes, rice, vegetables, beans, and soups are ready in a fraction of the time and more nutrients are retained from shorter cooking times and steam retention. If you’re interested too, you can enter the code “ESLL” for $50 off.
9. Dr. Terry Mason – A Heart Attack Has Nothing To Do With the Heart (Initially)
Terry, who was featured in the breakthrough film Forks Over Knives, expertly explained how vascular disease (clogged and damaged arteries and veins) anywhere in the body indicates vascular disease everywhere in the body. If you have heart disease, erectile dysfunction, or certain types of dementia due to clogged or damaged blood vessels impeding blood flow, then you probably are in stages of vascular disease in other areas. To prevent and reverse this, Terry advises a low fat, whole food, plant-based diet like he eats.
10. Rich Roll – Life Transformation Through Plant-Based Nutrition
An athlete who has ranked in ultra-endurance performance events as a former alcoholic and now vegan probably knows a thing or two about conditioning the body on plants. Also an early producer of the film Cowspiracy, Rich understands the impacts food choices have on Earth which is why he promotes a vegan diet like he eats.
My husband and I both enjoyed chatting with Rich at length.
11 & 12. Jane Esselstyn & Ann Esselstyn – Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Cooking Demo
Being married to (Ann) and growing up with (Jane) Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn surely has an impact on the way you cook and eat. This mother-daughter duo was the most delightful & humorous cooking demo I have ever seen. Son and brother Rip Esselstyn of Engine 2 fame was often mentioned. As you can imagine, every recipe was heart healthy and designed for longevity from the ingredients of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds with no added salt, oil, or sugar like they eat at home.
13. Lindsay Nixon “The Happy Herbivore” – Living Plant-Based in the Real World
Lindsay delivered sound, real-world advice for living as a vegan in a nonvegan world. I was surprised to learn that she can’t eat legumes, nuts, or seeds and her husband can’t eat wheat, corn, or soy. But even between their set of dietary restrictions, they both still thrive on a low fat, whole food, plant-based diet and eat A LOT of potatoes! Her cookbooks are wonderful. Lindsey also offers online meal planning to make this lifestyle as easy as possible. Check it out!
14. Dr. Alan Goldhamer – Escaping the Dietary Pleasure Trap
I’m really bummed that I missed most of Alan’s presentation because I was out of the room in the hall talking at length with Rich Roll and my husband. However what I did hear was riveting. The author of The Pleasure Trap: Mastering Hidden Forces That Undermines Health and Happiness, Alan understands how food addictions are created and how they are broken. The work he and his staff provide at TrueNorth Health Center focuses on the benefits of water fasting and the eating of a low-fat, whole food, plant-based diet like he does.
15. Dr. Baxter Montgomery – The Food Prescription Approach ot the Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease
Considering that heart disease is America’s #1 killer, here is one more expert who understands how food choices and lifestyle habits affect heart health. What amazes me is that Baxter and the other panel doctors related case studies where patients began healing their heart disease and other diseases in as little as 2 weeks on a committed and compliant low fat (in the case of heart disease: no fat) whole food, plant-based diet like he eats. The longer one eats this way, the greater the healing and benefits.
Conclusion
There is only one way to eat to heal, thrive, maximize life years, reduce carbon footprint, be medication-free, and not cause animals to suffer and be killed: a low fat, whole food, plant based vegan diet. The medical science demonstrates that this is the healthiest, safest, and most therapeutic human diet known to date.
Besides the densely informative presentations, the conference provided all meals which were cooked and prepared in accordance to the consensus of the doctors: fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds with no added sugar, oil, or salt. What a treat to eat abundantly from a buffet without having to analyze & scrutinize the contents! I look forward to the day when more restaurants will serve foods that support rather than destroy human health.
How can you learn to eat this way smartly & safely? Find a PlantPure Nation Pod in your area for education & support. Click the links throughout this post to access the experts, their books, films, articles, videos, and recipes. Get on the Food=Medicine email list (scroll down to the Contact Us form) and be the first to know when new conferences are offered. You will not want to miss this opportunity in the future!
Additional Resources
• Getting Started on a Low Fat, Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet
• My friend J Lanning (Jim) Smith wrote a blog post about his experience attending the same conference HERE
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Carla, what a great summary of a conference of such great importance. Sitting at my desk (but not for too long) I got a birds eye view and much added confirmation of my own dietary habits. The cartoons were hilarious. Now I will look further into Dr. Goldhamer’s ideas, (the ones you missed) because diet/pleasure is a subject I have much interest, of which I have a great deal of opinion. One small question: you mentioned that sitting too much traps lymph- how about reclining?- I spend much time reading in the reclined position, (never more than 15 minutes at a time) and wonder if that’s better than sitting upright. One more comment, if you dont mind- exercize- movement of all body parts and aerobics needs to be emphasised as equally important as diet, right? Don’t know if the conference emphasised this suficiently. Thanks so much for the summary. Well done and much appreciated!
Thank you Paul for taking the time to read & comment! A friend told me that Dr. Goldhamer’s book The Pleasure Trap is fascinating and a fantastic read. As far as reclining goes, I think that because your hip joint is extended (rather than flexed as in a seated position) and if your feet are at your heart level, it’s a much better & healthier position for the body than sitting. Bending at the hips and at the knees for long periods of time can stagnate flow. I find that even when I stand at my desk too long that fluid can collect and my legs get stiff. I must move around. Exercise if very important, but the doctors did point out that diet is most important with exercise secondly as no one can out-exercise a poor diet. Yet a great diet is incomplete without exercise.