There is a need for a place for deeper conversations about central issues of our time that affect us all. Researching my last book, Food: What the Heck Should I Eat?, it became clear to me that we need to unpack the shifts and intersections of medicine, nutrition, food systems, health and food policy, and much more. The food system is at the root of our chronic disease epidemic, climate change, poverty, social injustice, environmental degradation, economic crises, and even challenges in education and national security. The old foundations of medicine are breaking down and a new model, a systems view or Functional Medicine, is emerging at the paradigm that has the potential to reverse the chronic disease epidemic. Food and the way we produce and consume it is the nexus of most of our world’s health, environmental, climate, economic, and even political crises. We can’t stay silent about these issues any longer. That’s why I created my new podcast, The Doctor’s Farmacy. Today I want to talk to you about this podcast and how it differs from the work I’ve done in the past. My previous podcast focused on taking health and wellness related questions from my readers. This podcast will still focus on health, wellness, and Functional Medicine, but we will be zooming out and focusing on how our health, the health of our planet, the state of the food industry, and food policy affect everyone on a personal and global level. My Motivation Behind This Podcast We are seeing an ever-increasing burden of chronic disease, primarily driven by our food and food system. This is perpetuated by agricultural, food, and health care policies that don’t support health. More and more people are also realizing that our current approach to disease is limited and seek to understand new approaches. I wanted to create a place for deep conversation about the critical issues of our time in the space of health and wellness, Functional Medicine, food and food systems, climate, social justice, and politics. These deep conversations are for those who want to improve their health, learn about breakthrough science from experts, who want to change food systems, improve policies, and become activists to help solve the world's problems with their fork and their voice and their votes. It is for the eater, voter, policy maker, farmer, doctor, health warrior, pretty much for everyone! What to Expect: A Familiar Perspective Around New Topics I will always be committed to telling the truth about what it takes to create health. I want to create lasting change and health for myself, my friends and family, my patients, and my readers. The Doctor’s Farmacy will continue to keep this foundation in mind, and what will be different is that the audience will get to hear from top experts in many different fields including nutrition, science, journalism, agriculture, activism, politics, and more. My expertise is in Functional Medicine and working with patients on their personal health challenges—and we will go deep into the radical shifts happening in medicine. We will also have a diverse array of experts who will illuminate ways we can create global change across health, food, environment, and policy. Many Insightful and Inspiring Guests This is the most exciting part of the podcast—the guests! So far we’ve interviewed Michael Moss who is the author of Salt, Sugar, Fat, and he exposes some of the shady practices of the food industry. We’ve also interviewed Nina Teicholz, author of The Big Fat Surprise who challenges conventional beliefs about nutrition and fat and what constitutes a healthy diet. These are just the first two episodes. I’m really excited for my readers to hear from Miriam Horn, an author and journalist, and she discusses true environmentalism and sustainable farming. We have Ryan Englehart, whose family created the iconic vegan restaurant chain, Cafe Gratitude, who realized that animals need to be part of the agricultural cycle and started a regenerative farm. We have also had Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary and head of Obama’s economic team discussing his initiative to create fiscal policies to change the food system through taxation. And we talked with Hawk Newsome, an activist and President of Black Lives Matter in New York about food injustice in poor and minority communities. Changing Medicine and Food Policy, One Podcast at a Time My hope is to inspire people to learn, grow, heal, and be inspired and transformed by the information they hear. I hope learning about Functional Medicine and the world of food and food systems will inspire people to get healthy and become active in changing our world for the better. My goal is to activate people to take back their health, and take back our food system and create a health and food revolution. I hope you’ll tune into this podcast! New episodes come out every Wednesday.