Monday, December 17, 2018 11:23:03 PM
Doctor Sells His Practice in New York, Buys Organic Farm & Begins Treating Patients Himself
https://tinyurl.com/y9mpozhe
Deaths from correctly taken prescription drugs number above 100,000 every year, which is just one of the main reasons why the popularity of natural medicine has surged lately.
But even as Americans’ attitudes about medicine have begun to change and realign with the classic Hippocrates mantra of “First, Do No Harm…” our doctors haven’t quite gotten the message.
The classic “pills, surgery and vaccines” method that most doctors utilize first and foremost hasn’t changed a whole lot, but some individual doctors have adjusted and begun putting more stock in natural methods again.
One particular doctor on the east coast has done the previously unthinkable: he’s spending less time in his New York office and more time reconnecting with the roots of what it means to be healthy.
After taking care of some of Hudson County’s sickest residents for 25 years, internist Ronald Weiss says he’s figured out how to make people healthy — and it’s not by writing prescriptions or ordering surgery.
Weiss would rather recommend a daily dose of what’s growing on his 348-acre, 18th-century farm. And next week, this city doctor will get that opportunity when he launches New Jersey’s first farm-based practice, rooted in the philosophy that the right food — fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, beans and seeds — is medicine.
Fruits and vegetables contain nutrients that prevent inflammation, which is believed to be cause of many chronic diseases.
“Plant-based whole foods are the most powerful disease-modifying tools available to practitioners — more powerful than any drugs or surgeries.”
“I am not saying if you fall down and break your ankle, I can fix it by putting a salve of mugwort on it. You need someone to fix your fracture,” Weiss said. “I am talking about treating and preventing chronic disease — the heart attacks, the strokes, the cardiovascular disease, the cancers … the illnesses that are taking our economy and our nation down.”
Weiss said he so believes in this reinvention of his medical career, he cashed in all of his assets — even selling his practice, at which he still sees patients three days a week — to buy the farm. In June, he launched Ethos Health, a community-supported agriculture project.
His two farmers have produced fresh vegetables, fruit and herbs for 90 families, who pay a membership fee and volunteer their time picking potatoes and weeding. It’s a collaboration that encourages people to take a keener interest in their diets, which is where health care should start, he said.
“Human health is directly related to the health of the environment, the production of food and how it is grown,” said Weiss, who earned an undergraduate degree in botany at Rutgers College of Arts in Science in Newark. “I see this farm as an opportunity for me to take everything I’ve done all my life, all the biology and chemistry of plants I have studied, and link them to the human biological system.”
Weiss acknowledged that his philosophy is not shared by many of his peers.
He was thrilled when Kim A. Williams, president-elect of the American College of Cardiology, published an essay last month advocating his patients eat a plant-based diet. Williams described how becoming a vegan reduced his cholesterol levels after a low-fat diet had failed.
Some doctors, however, criticized Williams’ essay, saying a diet eschewing all meat, fish, eggs or dairy products is still experimental, according to published reports.
Nutrition science has long been a moving target for a confused public, hungry for answers on how to eat healthier. In March, the British journal Annals of Internal Medicine added to the mystery after reviewing 72 studies and concluding there was “no significant evidence that saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease.”
The American Heart Association recommends a diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry and nuts.
The plant-based diet is also a hard sell for some patients. For the doubters, Weiss tells them about 90-year-old Angelina Rotella of West New York, who came to his office on the night before Christmas Eve, in a wheelchair with congestive heart failure.
“I asked her, ‘Do you want me to call 911 and admit you to Palisades General? Or will you let me feed you sweet potatoes and kale?’ Amazingly enough, with the help of her daughter, she chose this,” Weiss said. “She doesn’t have diabetes anymore and chronic heart failure. She is cooking, sewing and walking around town. I’m not saying it’s easy, but she seized the opportunity and she is transformed.”
Angie Rotella-Suarez, who lives upstairs from her mother, said she faithfully prepared her meals, strictly adhering to Weiss’ diet of grains (such as whole-grain brown rice and sweet potatoes), steamed greens (including kale and spinach), fruit (a big serving of wild organic blueberries is a must) and water.
The results have been “more than a miracle,” Rotella-Suarez said in a telephone interview. Within two weeks, her mother stopped taking her blood pressure medication.
“Eight months later, she is down 40 pounds. My mother is out of the wheelchair. My mother does the dishes again,” Rotella-Suarez said, starting to cry. “She hasn’t done the dishes in seven years, easy.”
The recovery was so swift, Rotella-Suarez and her sister both adopted the vegan diet and each lost 40 pounds; they are no longer pre-diabetic.
“It sounds like a hoax, but Dr. Weiss is absolutely thorough. He is the best of what the medical profession has to offer,” she said. “He is not living in a make-believe world.”
“Food is Medicine,” a lecture by Weiss, drew about 60 people to the Brookside Community Center in Mendham. Questions ranged from “How do you feel about vaccines?” (“I have two little children, and we have given them every single vaccine around”) to “Which are better for you? Raw or cooked vegetables?” (Both are good, but studies say celery and carrots are better cooked.)
Beth Niehoff of Mendham, a married mother of four, admitted the idea of changing everyone’s diet daunted her.
“What if you someone does this 80 percent?” she asked.
“Well, then you will have 20 percent of issues, which is fine. I work with people who say, ‘I don’t want to go that far,’ ” Gala said.
Weiss conceded it’s not easy convincing people to graze for their health in a fast-food world. Once a year, he confessed, he looks forward to eating a hot pastrami sandwich.
https://tinyurl.com/y9mpozhe
Deaths from correctly taken prescription drugs number above 100,000 every year, which is just one of the main reasons why the popularity of natural medicine has surged lately.
But even as Americans’ attitudes about medicine have begun to change and realign with the classic Hippocrates mantra of “First, Do No Harm…” our doctors haven’t quite gotten the message.
The classic “pills, surgery and vaccines” method that most doctors utilize first and foremost hasn’t changed a whole lot, but some individual doctors have adjusted and begun putting more stock in natural methods again.
One particular doctor on the east coast has done the previously unthinkable: he’s spending less time in his New York office and more time reconnecting with the roots of what it means to be healthy.
After taking care of some of Hudson County’s sickest residents for 25 years, internist Ronald Weiss says he’s figured out how to make people healthy — and it’s not by writing prescriptions or ordering surgery.
Weiss would rather recommend a daily dose of what’s growing on his 348-acre, 18th-century farm. And next week, this city doctor will get that opportunity when he launches New Jersey’s first farm-based practice, rooted in the philosophy that the right food — fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, beans and seeds — is medicine.
Fruits and vegetables contain nutrients that prevent inflammation, which is believed to be cause of many chronic diseases.
“Plant-based whole foods are the most powerful disease-modifying tools available to practitioners — more powerful than any drugs or surgeries.”
“I am not saying if you fall down and break your ankle, I can fix it by putting a salve of mugwort on it. You need someone to fix your fracture,” Weiss said. “I am talking about treating and preventing chronic disease — the heart attacks, the strokes, the cardiovascular disease, the cancers … the illnesses that are taking our economy and our nation down.”
Weiss said he so believes in this reinvention of his medical career, he cashed in all of his assets — even selling his practice, at which he still sees patients three days a week — to buy the farm. In June, he launched Ethos Health, a community-supported agriculture project.
His two farmers have produced fresh vegetables, fruit and herbs for 90 families, who pay a membership fee and volunteer their time picking potatoes and weeding. It’s a collaboration that encourages people to take a keener interest in their diets, which is where health care should start, he said.
“Human health is directly related to the health of the environment, the production of food and how it is grown,” said Weiss, who earned an undergraduate degree in botany at Rutgers College of Arts in Science in Newark. “I see this farm as an opportunity for me to take everything I’ve done all my life, all the biology and chemistry of plants I have studied, and link them to the human biological system.”
Weiss acknowledged that his philosophy is not shared by many of his peers.
He was thrilled when Kim A. Williams, president-elect of the American College of Cardiology, published an essay last month advocating his patients eat a plant-based diet. Williams described how becoming a vegan reduced his cholesterol levels after a low-fat diet had failed.
Some doctors, however, criticized Williams’ essay, saying a diet eschewing all meat, fish, eggs or dairy products is still experimental, according to published reports.
Nutrition science has long been a moving target for a confused public, hungry for answers on how to eat healthier. In March, the British journal Annals of Internal Medicine added to the mystery after reviewing 72 studies and concluding there was “no significant evidence that saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease.”
The American Heart Association recommends a diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry and nuts.
The plant-based diet is also a hard sell for some patients. For the doubters, Weiss tells them about 90-year-old Angelina Rotella of West New York, who came to his office on the night before Christmas Eve, in a wheelchair with congestive heart failure.
“I asked her, ‘Do you want me to call 911 and admit you to Palisades General? Or will you let me feed you sweet potatoes and kale?’ Amazingly enough, with the help of her daughter, she chose this,” Weiss said. “She doesn’t have diabetes anymore and chronic heart failure. She is cooking, sewing and walking around town. I’m not saying it’s easy, but she seized the opportunity and she is transformed.”
Angie Rotella-Suarez, who lives upstairs from her mother, said she faithfully prepared her meals, strictly adhering to Weiss’ diet of grains (such as whole-grain brown rice and sweet potatoes), steamed greens (including kale and spinach), fruit (a big serving of wild organic blueberries is a must) and water.
The results have been “more than a miracle,” Rotella-Suarez said in a telephone interview. Within two weeks, her mother stopped taking her blood pressure medication.
“Eight months later, she is down 40 pounds. My mother is out of the wheelchair. My mother does the dishes again,” Rotella-Suarez said, starting to cry. “She hasn’t done the dishes in seven years, easy.”
The recovery was so swift, Rotella-Suarez and her sister both adopted the vegan diet and each lost 40 pounds; they are no longer pre-diabetic.
“It sounds like a hoax, but Dr. Weiss is absolutely thorough. He is the best of what the medical profession has to offer,” she said. “He is not living in a make-believe world.”
“Food is Medicine,” a lecture by Weiss, drew about 60 people to the Brookside Community Center in Mendham. Questions ranged from “How do you feel about vaccines?” (“I have two little children, and we have given them every single vaccine around”) to “Which are better for you? Raw or cooked vegetables?” (Both are good, but studies say celery and carrots are better cooked.)
Beth Niehoff of Mendham, a married mother of four, admitted the idea of changing everyone’s diet daunted her.
“What if you someone does this 80 percent?” she asked.
“Well, then you will have 20 percent of issues, which is fine. I work with people who say, ‘I don’t want to go that far,’ ” Gala said.
Weiss conceded it’s not easy convincing people to graze for their health in a fast-food world. Once a year, he confessed, he looks forward to eating a hot pastrami sandwich.
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