I am so thrilled to announce that I have joined Plant Based TeleHealth. Patients are able to book lifestyle medicine appointments with me here. I am boarded in family medicine and lifestyle medicine and am thrilled to assist you in your journey to better health.
Cooking Sweet Potato Dahl with Chef AJ
Learn how to make Sweet Potato Dahl in the Instant Pot!
What is Lifestyle Medicine?
Talking with Chuck Carroll of the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)
How to Achieve your Weight Loss Goals in 2021 | Dr. Niki Davis Interview with Chef AJ
I always have so much fun talking with Chef AJ. Enjoy!
Dr Niki Davis LIVE with PCRM
Dr Niki Davis was LIVE on The Exam Room Podcast with Chuck Carroll and Neal Bernard, MD with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Watch below!
Food Demo with Chef AJ
Watch my husband, son, and me make spiralized hash browns and a kid friendly berry smoothie! Always fun talking with Chef AJ! Check out my store for links to many of the kitchen items we used during the demo.
Chatting with Chef AJ
I had the lovely opportunity to chat with Chef AJ over Zoom while I was interning at True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, CA. We met at Spokane VegFest in 2018 when we were both speakers there. She wrote The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss, a fantastic book. Check out the videos below!
True North Health Center Internship
For the next few weeks I’ll be interning at True North Health Center. True North was founded in 1984 and is now one of the largest water-only fasting centers in the world. The staff includes medical doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors, naturopaths, psychologists, research scientists, and other health professionals. And this month I get to be one of them!
I’m learning all about how to safely and appropriately medically supervise water-only fasts and other derivatives including juice fasts. But not everyone stops eating when they get here. I for one am enjoying the 100% whole food plant based SOFAS free food. No added Sugar, Oil, Flour, or Salt. And no Alcohol, drugs or coffee (eek!) on the premises. Some patients simply come to eat healthy food and learn how to make changes for when they go home. There are excellent speakers here every day including Doug Lisle, PhD who spoke today! He is one of the authors of The Pleasure Trap (his co-author is one of the founders of True North, Alan Goldhamer, D.C.) It’s a book I highly recommend to all my patients which discusses why eating healthy is so difficult and how to best set yourself up for success.
I’ve only been here 5 days and I am already feeling lighter and more energetic. I still have a lot to learn but I’m enjoying every minute (and every bite).
Working With The Man Himself, Dr. John McDougall
In the summer of 2016 I was chugging through my final year of medical school at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. I had entered medical school in 2013, knowing that I would eventually want a medical practice that focused on plant based nutrition. However, until I worked with Dr. John McDougall during one of his 10 day live-in programs in Santa Rosa, California, I didn’t know exactly what my future practice would look like.
It was amazing to see him speak but even better was to see him with patients. We saw the chronic disease gamut; hypertension, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, and more. People desperate for change, desperate to get well.
I was already on the plant based bandwagon before heading to Santa Rosa. I was well aware of the benefit to our earth and to animals. I also knew that eating plant based meant a healthier body and more active, healthy life. But the really amazing thing was - I got to see it with my own eyes! I saw most of the 40-ish patients lose weight on a starch-centered whole food plant based diet without calorie counting or portion control. I saw several patients with diabetes reduce their insulin dose or remove diabetic medications all together. I saw patients with hypertension reduce or eliminate blood pressure medications. Several patients with crippling arthritis had improvement in their pain. And the kicker? My own LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) dropped by 20 points in 10 days.
For once, I was able to see patients with chronic disease GET WELL. And the best part? They were not suffering! They were not hungry. They were not begging for bacon or burgers. In fact, they loved the food. The buffet was served three times a day and I know I wasn’t the only one going back for seconds (and sometimes thirds…). In addition, there was a snack room for in-between meals or late night munchies. All the yummy guilt free food you could eat. Although I had been eating plant based prior to the program, I wasn’t completely free of “vegan junk food” and added oils in my diet. After 10 days of eating this way, I felt amazing.
Fast forward to 2020. I’ve graduated from medical school and am in my final year of residency in family medicine. Before graduating, I’ll be headed back to Santa Rosa, California. Only this time I’ll be working at the True North Health Center to learn more about plant based nutrition and fasting from other movers and shakers in the plant based movement.