MD Help

Need the advice of a medical doctor who “gets it” about food?

Looking for doctors in your own area? You should check out vegdocs.com and plantbaseddocs.com.

Many people who are striving to take charge of their health with a whole food, plant-based diet will occasionally need the counsel of a medical doctor. They may need guidance when it comes to adjusting/eliminating their medications or they may need help with things like food allergies, digestive issues, cancer screening, autoimmune disorders and a host of other medical issues.

Unfortunately, the medical doctors of today didn’t learn much, if anything, about nutrition in medical school and are not aware that up to 80% of our costs of health care are driven by our food choices. Since the majority of doctors still believe that you “need” to eat some animal protein to be healthy, they will not be able to properly counsel you as you make the shift to a whole foods, plant-based diet.

Good News! Plant-based “savvy” medical & naturopathic doctors now offering telephone consultations.

I know most of the professionals on this page and am satisfied that they will provide excellent advice when it comes to your diet and any medical issues that you may have. Simply call the phone number listed to schedule an initial 20-minute or longer appointment.

The first four doctors listed are located in Arizona, California, New York, and Massachusetts—and will gladly schedule telephone consultations, regardless of where you may reside in the world. When you speak with the receptionist, you will need to provide a credit card for payment—around $100 for up to one half hour. Rates may vary, so please confirm with the receptionist when you call. Also, please be sure to tell them that J. Morris Hicks sent you.

Medicine is not healthcare — Food is healthcare. Medicine is sickcare — Let’s all get this straight for a change. — Anonymous

Ted Crawford, D.O. (Arizona)

• Phone for appointment: 520-896-2092
• Physical Address: 12816 N Meadview Way, Oro Valley, Az. 85755
• Email address: tedc@drherbivore.com
• Website at www.drherbivore.com

Dr. Crawford is a board certified family practice physician who is the Associate Medical Director for Sun Life Family Health Center in Arizona.

Dr. Crawford was born, raised, and educated in Iowa having graduated from medical school at the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in Des Moines. He did his post graduate training in the U.S. Air Force and moved to Arizona in 1988.

After adopting a whole-foods, plant-based lifestyle and experiencing the many positive benefits on his own health, he began promoting and advocating this way of eating to his patients. He has given several presentations at Tucson’s Healthy You Network conferences and often brings patients of his along to share their testimonials.

He and his wife Barbee are also CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program) facilitators and conduct classes to businesses and individuals on whole foods, plant-based living. CHIP has been in existence for over 25 years and is a whole food, plant-based wellness program with over 20 peer-reviewed research articles published on its success. Check it out at www.CHIPHealth.com. After scrolling through the other doctors on this page, take a few minutes and listen to Dr. Crawford tell his story.

Michael Klaper, M.D. (California)

• Phone for appointment: 520-896-2092
• Physical Address: True North Health Center, 1551 Pacific Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95404
• Email address: mail@doctorklaper.com
• Website at True North Health Center

Dr. Michael Klaper graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. He served his medical internship at Vancouver General Hospital in British Columbia, Canada and undertook additional training in surgery, anesthesiology, orthopedics and obstetrics at the University of California Hospitals in San Francisco.

As Dr. Klaper’s medical career progressed, he began to realize that many of the diseases his patients brought to his office were made worse, or actually caused, by the high-fat, overly processed Standard American Diet (SAD). As such, he believes strongly that proper nutrition and a balanced lifestyle are essential for health and, in many cases, make the difference between healing an illness and merely treating the symptoms.

In addition to his work at True North and his own private practice, Dr. Klaper is also on the staff of the McDougall Health Center; also in Santa Rosa.

My blog about Dr. Klaper. A no-nonsense medical doctor—that simply heals people

Marne O’Shae, M.D. (New York)

• Phone for appointment: 607-273-5551
• Physical Address: 402 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
• Email address: wellness402@gmail.com
• Website at MarneOshae.com

Dr. O’Shae seeks to integrate evidence based medicine from both the allopathic fields and the many diverse alternative therapies now available, to provide comprehensive care to patients from birth to end of life.

She grew up in a suburb of Buffalo. Attended SUNY Buffalo undergraduate. Graduated from Upstate Medical University. Residency in Burlington Vermont in Family Medicine. Moved to Ithaca in 2003 to open a private practice.

I have spoken at length with Dr. O’Shae and feel very comfortable in referring her to my readers. She knows Dr. T. Colin Campbell and his family personally and is also recommended on Colin’s foundation website at www.tcolincampbell.org

Mona Sigal, M.D. (Massachusetts)

• Physical Address: Nutrition & Lifestyle Medicine Center, 2 Bourbon Street, Suite LL105, Peabody, MA 01960
• Plant-Based Docs page

  As a Board-certified emergency physician and former Chief of Emergency Services at North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Massachusetts, she “has seen it all.” Founded Nourish Health with Food For Life, after deciding to switch careers 5 years ago. As she says, primarily what she has seen is that almost ALL diseases can be attributed to nutrition and lifestyle.

Dr. Sigal holds certificates in plant-based nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Foundation at Cornell University and from the Wellness Forum Institute. Currently, she is studying towards a Masters in Public Health in Nutrition at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In her own words:

Unfortunately, nothing in my medical education has ever prepared me for this – or any of my colleagues for that matter. Everything I learned, I had to discover for myself. And the more I learned, the more astonished I became: the information is all out there. The scientific data is all out there, and growing every day. And yet: both the public at large as well as the health care providers remain uneducated and uninformed. I am deeply committed to change that.

I have met with Dr. Sigal and spoken with her many times. In addition to her own private practice, she is an instructor for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Naturopathic Doctor — Connie Sanchez, N.D. (California)

• Phone for appointment: 720-206-4440
• Physical Address: San Francisco Bay Area
• Email address: drconniend@aol.com
• Website at vegannd.com

Dr. Connie Sanchez, N.D. is a 2001 graduate of the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. Her expertise is in ‘teaching people how to create and maintain optimal health by living in harmony with the natural world.’  She states “I work with all types of people, from those who are already healthy and are seeking ways to optimize and maintain their health to those suffering from a long-term illness, trying to work their way out of the chronic web of dis-ease.”

She has interned with Dr. John McDougall and with the doctors at True North Health Center in Santa Rosa. She is also a spokesperson for PCRM and a former cooking instructor for The Cancer Project. Dr. Sanchez has been a vegetarian/vegan for over 30 years and a strict vegan for the past few years. She teaches patients that a whole food vegan diet is not only the best diet for human health but is also essential for the health of all species on this earth and for the planet. Dr. Sanchez devotes much of her spare time as an onshore volunteer for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and The Marine Mammal Center. 

In her new book, Vegan Medicine: A Prescription for Health for You and the Planet, to be released in July 2013, she addresses this topic.  In addition to specializing in vegan nutrition, lifestyle medicine, fitness, and fasting—she works with people with thyroid disorders, hormone imbalances, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The following five books and one DVD can be purchased on Amazon for a grand total of less than $60—and will enable you to understand the overwhelming challenges we face—along with the single most-powerful solution of all.

Six-Pack from Hicks—for health, hope & harmony on planet Earth

1. Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
2. A life changer for millions, including James Cameron. Forks Over Knives DVD 
3. An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell; the primary book that influenced Bill Clinton to adopt a whole food, plant-based diet.
4. What have we done to our planet? Full Planet, Empty Plates by Lester Brown
5. A horrifying wake-up call for leaders. TEN BILLION by Dr. Stephen Emmott
6. Food choices are the primary cause of our environmental problems, yet our world leaders, scientists & experts are Comfortably Unaware, by Richard Oppenlander.

Why should we be eating mostly plants? The “big picture” in 4 minutes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Survey. It takes 2 or 3 minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

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