How Culinary Medicine is Vital to Transforming Health and Outcomes

2022-09-23

“I really need to understand how food is impacting the Krebs cycle and methylation and all that. So that's where culinary medicine can get a little bit more scientific versus just looking at it from a macro point of view,” explains Shefaly Ravula, PA-C. Shefaly spent 20 years as a board certified physician’s assistant and then shifted over into the functional medicine world. After her father, who seemed outwardly healthy, suffered a heart attack, Shefaly realized she needed to learn a lot more about nutrition and the impact on cardiovascular health. Now, she has her own telehealth practice, Precision Metabolic Health, where she uses culinary medicine to improve her patients’ digestive and metabolic health. She also launched the Food Is Medicine Academy which is available to the public and provides educational resources about culinary medicine.

Having an understanding of the way nutrition impacts the body can help influence dramatic changes in a patient’s overall health and wellness. Nutrition has a large impact on the Krebs cycle and methylation. It impacts metabolic processes, our gastrointestinal health and cardiovascular health, yet often it is neglected in Western medicine. Ancient cultures used to view food as medicine and in other parts of the world it is still viewed that way, but in the Western world we have moved away from that. However, food still can be medicine and can be integrated together with Western medicine to create better health outcomes.

Culinary medicine is a scientific way of looking at how food and overall nutrition impact the processes in the body. Although culinary medicine is not a replacement for traditional medicine, it can improve health and wellness outcomes when combined with Western medicine. Tune into this week’s episode of The Catalyst to learn more about how nutrition plays a role in metabolic function, cardiovascular health, digestive health, and virtually every aspect of our bodies.

Quotes

• “I really need to understand how food is impacting the Krebs cycle and methylation and all that. So that's where culinary medicine can get a little bit more scientific versus just looking at it from a macro point of view.” (8:21-8:34 | Shefaly)

• “It's not just protein, carbs, fats, fiber that I'm looking at. It's a much deeper level. And so my Food Is Medicine Academy gets into the science piece of it a little bit more than just going to maybe a regular dietitian and saying, ‘help me lose weight’.” (8:35-8:53 | Shefaly)

• “I love data, data drives behavior change big time.” (17:46-17:49 | Shefaly)

• “If we at least shift the mindset, I think that they start thinking that way and realizing the importance of how much time it takes to do self work.” (23:08-23:20 | Shefaly)

• “I think food is medicine, and it can heal you and be a source of vitality, and energy, and vigor and health to some degree. However, it's not going to be the end all be all. You still need western medicine in some cases.” (31:33-31:55 | Shefaly)

Links

Connect with Shefaly Ravula:

Websites: https://precisionmetabolichealth.com/ and also https://course.shefskitchen.com/

Twitter : @precisionmetab and @shefskitchen;

Instagram @precisionmetabolichealth and @shefskitchen

Linked-In: Precision Metabolic Health

FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/culinarymed and also https://www.facebook.com/precisionmetabolic/

Connect with Lara:

Website: https://drlarasalyer.com

Instagram: @drlarasalyer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer

Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/