Grow Your Health
Welcome To The Fresh Physician
We at The Fresh Physician are here to guide you on your journey to a healthier life.
The Fresh Physician provides information and resources to
Inform you and put you back in charge of your health
Your Fresh Start To Healthy Living
Whether you have general or specific health goals, you can improve your health by choosing scientifically-proven health-smart foods; preparing simple, delicious, healthful meals for you and your family; and even trying your hand at growing fresh foods for optimal nutrition and flavor.
The Fresh Physician is a place for support and encouragement. A place to feel well in both body and mind.
This is a place to Grow Your Health!
The Fresh Physician is not a place for perfection or guilty feelings. Rather, this is a place that will help you
Take positive steps every day toward improving your health.
Our bodies and minds are ready for a change. People have tried all kinds of eating programs and plans that have failed to deliver on their promises of a healthier life. We need a fresh start, a way of getting back to healthful living.
Start Your New Health Journey Today
You are in the perfect place to reclaim your healthy life. No matter what your past experiences with food, no matter what health issues you or your loved ones are currently facing,
You are perfectly equipped to begin this new journey toward health right now!
And don’t worry – It will not be difficult.
And it will taste delicious!
As you reconnect your body, mind, and self with the healthy bounty that comes from the earth,
It will feel like coming home.
So Let’s Begin!
Healthy Eating
What Are The Benefits Of Healthy Eating
The answer is simple – improved health!
You don’t have to look far to see the damage that the industrialization of food and poor food choices (based on the emphasis on convenience and speed) has wrought on the health of our nation and on people across the globe. Obesity. Heart disease. Cancer. Diabetes. High blood pressure. Autoimmune diseases.
Food that used to come from the garden and fresh from the neighborhood farm now comes from factories across the country or world, often in such an altered state that the original food source is hardly recognizable. We have become reliant on these “constructed” foods to feed our bodies rather than on what we were meant to eat: real, fresh, natural foods.
We all intuitively understand that the healthiest diet incorporates as many natural whole foods as possible, with the greatest benefits achieved by eating of fruits and vegetables. Sadly, as our diet has “Westernized,” Americans now eat fewer & fewer plant-based foods and more & more animal products, convenience foods, and fast-food.
Tragically, the unintended consequence of our Western diet is a dramatically worsened quality of life for ourselves and our families: poor dietary choices directly relate to the development of 10 of the top 15 major diseases affecting Americans today, including: obesity; diabetes; high blood pressure (hypertension); high blood cholesterol levels; and the two leading causes of death, heart disease and cancer.
So even though this is where we find ourselves and our society today, you can make the conscious decision to reclaim your health starting now, by feeding your body beautiful, delicious, nutritious foods! Whole plant foods contain an enormous variety of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and other phytonutrients that work together to provide you and your family all of the nutrition that your bodies need to not only reduce your risk of diseases, but potentially reverse current health problems, allowing you to be the healthiest version of yourself.
Eating should be a joy – not something to be limited, portioned, or feared.
The Fresh Physician eating plan is an approach to nourishing your body for life by consciously choosing to include healthful, delicious, nutrient-rich plant-based foods in your diet as often as you can.
Cooking
What Are The Benefits Of Cooking Your Own Food?
Again, the answer is improved health!
When you prepare your own food, at home, in your own kitchen, you reclaim control over what is going into your body. The components of today’s Western diet that are so harmful to your health are high fat, high cholesterol, high protein, high sugar, excess salt, and increased consumption of processed and fast-foods.
Did you know that fast food items have 100 times more salt (sodium) than similar foods prepared at home? But when you prepare your own meals, you can ensure that the freshest, healthiest ingredients go into your dishes while the unhealthful, processed foods stay out.
And you may think that you don’t have time to prepare your own meals. Granted, healthful food preparation requires a limited time and attention commitment, but what could be more important than your health and the health of your loved ones? Americans watch on average 3½ hours of television per night. How about pulling out 30 to 45 minutes of this time to create beautiful, delicious, healthful home-cooked meals.
You can and should make healthy cooking a priority, as if your life depends on it – because it does!
Once you start growing some of your own food, you will not want to stop!
Growing
What Are The Benefits Of Growing Some Of Your Own Food?
And again, the answer is improved health!
Much of the food that you buy at the grocery store has already traveled long distances and frequently has been stored for long periods of time. For example, apples may have been in refrigeration for a year before they even arrive at the grocery store! This means that your grocery store’s “fresh foods” have lost a significant amount of healthy nutrients before they ever reach you (not to mention the excess consumption of gas and electricity and creation of waste and pollution resulting from storage and transport). And certain highly nutritious foods are extremely prone to nutritional losses – such as greens and herbs. Also, in addition to lower nutritional value, this increased time from farm to table rapidly robs foods of their natural sweetness and flavor. It’s no wonder many people dislike the taste of vegetables – they’ve likely never experienced the texture and taste of a delicious, freshly-picked vegetable!
But here’s the good news: many of the healthiest vegetables are actually very easy to grow at home! The Fresh Physician is excited to help you try your hand at growing some of your own food. In addition to being rewarded with significant nutritional benefits, you will not believe how much better produce tastes when it is truly fresh!
Also, when you grow your own food, you will reap the psychological benefits of reconnecting with the soil and earth. The Fresh Physician truly believes that once you start growing some of your own food you will not want to stop.
About Laura Varich, M.D
Founder and
Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician
Hi! I am Dr. Varich and I am so excited to bring research-proven information and advice to you. If you are looking to improve your health and quality of life, you have come to the right place!
When in recent years, I began to notice that even children in our society are becoming victims of poor diet and lifestyle choices, and that these changes will affect their quality of life and lifespan, I was inspired to learn all that I could about how to reverse this trend.
Along the way, I have read through thousands of research papers and been inspired by so many of the leaders in nutrition and lifestyle medicine including Dr. David Katz, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. Neal Barnard and so many others. They have been working tirelessly against the tide to show us all the best way forward. And let me tell you, the research bears-out that there is hope and light at the end of the tunnel for improved health for us all. And the solution is simple (and delicious) and will positively impact your health and the health of the planet.
This all seems to be too good to be true, you say? I can assure you that it is not! And I was so inspired that I knew that this was my life’s goal: to take-up the torch and get this amazing, life-changing information out to our schools, workplaces and communities.
I have had my own battles with weight and autoimmune disease and have many family members and friends with devastating diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer. And I know that because these diseases are so prevalent in our society, you may be suffering with or know many people with the same conditions.
So, I am glad that you are here. If you are here, you likely have worries and concerns of your own about your health or the health of someone dear to you. And I built this site to provide life-changing information to you.
I am a wife and mother of two grown daughters. I have had a lifelong love of growing, cooking, and eating fresh, healthy food – raising my daughters under the mantra “Let’s health you up!” (Sometimes met with eye-rolling, as you can probably imagine.) And given my life-long interest in health and nutrition as well as the medical background to delve through the scientific research, I couldn’t be more excited to share understandable, impactful dietary information with you – information that you can use and apply immediately.
I am excited to share with schools, families and communities how simple and enjoyable selecting, preparing, eating, and even growing beautiful plant-based foods is.
I am excited to be your guide on your journey to health!
Dr. Varich is a Diplomate of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine and International Board of Lifestyle Medicine.
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Fresh Physician is excited to provide you with research-proven information to keep you informed and inspired on your journey to your happiest and healthiest life.
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