When Science and Spirituality Take on Suffering

     A little over 5 years ago, as I sought to restart my life, I stumbled across ancestral health and the so called paleo diet. It was a rabbit hole that not only changed my life, but gave me life. In those 5 years I have read more blogs, listened to more podcasts, watched more videos and participated in more trainings that I can honestly count. If I were Popeye, this knowledge and exploration would be my spinach.

     I could have never imagined as a young medical student just trying himself to get well and find his purpose that I would one day be using the power of creation and faith, evolution and science to help my patients and myself remain well.

     As of today, I have been a medical doctor for just over a year. A resident physician with so much to learn. While I have MD after my name, you will not find MPH, PhD or any other acronym soup. On paper I am not a researcher. I have no special public health training and have not spent years in a research lab. I certainly have no money, no big grants behind my name and my mentors do not have the letters Dr. in front of their names.

     As a fourth year medical student I took the challenging task to design my own mindfulness program and research study, and with the help of a close friend and mentor pulled it off. I didn’t do it for recognition or because I had to. I did it because students needed help, needed self care, needed reflection, and I wished to show them and others how valuable it could be. While in the end the study was small, underpowered without “statistical significance” 8 people’s lives were positively changed and I now knew that I could do this.

     Fast forward a year and a half and I find myself leaping from the cliffs again.

     Having partnered with my close friends, some of the most authentic and beautiful people I know, Mickey Trescott and Angie Alt of Autoimmune Wellness, I am seeking to further explore the power of nutrition, health coaching and that indescribable drive to heal. As a team, we have come together to design a pilot research study, the first medical study of the nutrient dense elimination diet known as the autoimmune paleo diet for autoimmune thyroid disease or Hashimotos. In 2016 Angie and Mickey partnered with a clinician from Scripps, a major medical and research institution to study the effect of AIP on IBD. Needless to say what they showed was nothing short of remarkable. 12 of the 15 participants went its clinical remission after just 6 weeks of the nutritional intervention. Yes indeed, food is power.

     I am speaking to you today to ask for your help. As I mentioned before, I have no special training in research, I have no grant funding, I just have a couple friends as passionate as I to somehow conduct a research study to show just how powerful food and human connection can be. In order to pull this study off, to cover all the laboratory and research expenses we need close to $10,000. This grassroots research project is a testament to the power of human innovation and answering a need to do something much greater than yourself. I humbly and sincerely ask that you consider donating to help make this research study a reality.

     I have been accused before of having an agenda, for turning everything into some form of “natural medicine.” So to those people I say sure, I have an agenda. To relieve suffering and help those hurting find a path to sustainable health in all the ways that God and the mystery are showing me how.

​     Maybe it’s time you got a agenda too.

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