through better food.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
She may have saved her husband\u2019s life through it. I\u2019ve been following Brandie for quite some time, but only recently did I fully understand from where her passion emanates.
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![\"BrandieSchwartz\"](\"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/BrandieSchwartz1-150x150.jpg\")
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Her story serves as an outstanding example of what can be accomplished through self-education and small practices<\/strong> that have life-changing impact. It is so compelling to me because she personifies what I try to empower people to do through better food and cooking methods, and she\u2019s accomplished it to incredible results.<\/p>\n I wanted her to share her experience with you, which I\u2019ve condensed into this interview:<\/strong><\/p>\n We went to organic locally\u2010grown fruits and vegetables. When we ate meats, they would be from grass feed cows, and free\u2010range pigs and chickens. These meats provide proteins that are devoid of the hormones and antibiotics that are forced into non\u2010free\u2010range meats.<\/p>\n Our dairy came straight from the farmer. We ate free\u2010range eggs, and lots of them! I could feel his doctors cringe as we told them he was eating at least two eggs a day with nitrate\u2010free bacon. We drank raw milk, complete with all the fat that those wonderful cows give us. We ate raw cheese. The nutritionists and doctors were going to have coronaries of their own when they heard the direction we were taking.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brandie Schwartz has made powerful changes in her lifethrough better food. She may have saved her husband\u2019s life through it. I\u2019ve been following Brandie for quite some time, but only recently did I fully understand from where her passion emanates. Her story serves as an outstanding example of what can be accomplished through self-education and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[44],"tags":[220],"yst_prominent_words":[515,516,508,510,518,520,519,522,527,526,525,511,517,521,513,524,514,509,523,512],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18704"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Chef](\"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/818cSmall-150x150.jpg\")
Chef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cI know you\u2019ve been on a difficult journey, and before we share all the details, what did you take away from the experience?\u201d<\/p>\nBrandie: <\/strong>\u201cLet food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.\u201d It\u2019s a quote associated with Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine. I say before you reach for a pill or get a needle, try to eat your medicine. You can eat one\u2019s self to life!\u201d<\/p>\nChef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cAre you against Doctors and Western Medicine then?\u201d
\nBrandie:<\/strong> \u201cNo. Western medicine has a very valid place in the process of maintaining health. In particular, modern western medicine is remarkable in its diagnostic capabilities. It is this very strength that led me down the path of holistic health.\u201d<\/p>\nChef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cYour path started with your husband\u2019s health, right?\u201d
\nBrandie:<\/strong> \u201cIn 2008, my husband was getting a head\u2010to\u2010toe physical to determine his eligibility for a job. Again, this is a major strength of modern Western medicine. The tests he undertook included echocardiograms, blood sugar urinalysis, and many more.<\/p>\n![\"BearSchwartz1\"](\"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/BearSchwartz11-150x150.jpg\")
A couple of the tests came back with results that were a bit disconcerting. His A1C, a test that measures a three\u2010month running average of one\u2019s blood sugar, was dangerously high, measuring at 8.7. Ultimately, the diagnosis came back that he was a Type II Diabetic and suffering from chronic Kidney Disease. It was a matter of time before his kidneys would stop functioning all together. My mission was clear. I had to find a way to heal my husband.\u201d<\/p>\nChef Todd: <\/strong>\u201cWhat did the doctors say?\u201d
\nBrandie:<\/strong> \u201cThey prescribed 12 different medications, and we received counseling from dialysis nutritionists. The diet that they encouraged my husband to eat was atrocious. Diet soda, white bread, and a host of other processed foods were not only allowed, but encouraged! This didn\u2019t make sense to me and I was going to use all my education and research to the fight we had before us.\u201d<\/p>\nChef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cWhat is your education?\u201d
\nBrandie:<\/strong> \u201cMost of my life has been dedicated to the health and care of others. As a teenager, I volunteered at the local hospital in my hometown, Odessa, Texas. I pursued a nursing career and eventually earned a Registered Nurse\u2019s license and a Bachelor\u2019s Degree in Nursing. For over 16 years, I watched a cornucopia of humanity pass through the hospital doors. I specialized in wound care and ostomy. I noticed that patients who maintained a healthy diet healed quicker and more thoroughly than their counterparts that did not have comparably healthy diets. This fascinated me. My interest in holistic medicine began to captivate me.\u201d<\/p>\nChef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cYou were not a stranger to healthcare and research, how did you use your past knowledge and experience to help your husband?\u201d<\/p>\nBrandie: <\/strong>\u201cSlowly, with more and more research, the answers came to me. Simply put, eating real whole food was the answer. This revelation beckoned me to learn more. As a result, I attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and started Eat Your Medicine<\/a>. My husband would be my first client. The results of our hard work would determine the course our future would take.\u201d<\/p>\nChef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cYou\u2019ve told me your husband was a big man, around 400 pounds with high cholesterol and other health issues. How do you change the diet of a hungry guy like that?\u201d<\/p>\nBrandie:<\/strong> \u201cThe first thing I did was to eliminate processed foods. If I couldn\u2019t pronounce every ingredient in my food, it didn\u2019t go in my pantry. Gluten was eliminated. My studies showed me that it is a tremendous inflammatory. Sugar as we know it was gone. Instead, we went with coconut sugar, honey, molasses, and other natural sweeteners. On the rare occasions when I made pancakes for him, we used pure maple syrup. I could hear the head of his endocrinologist explode as I watched my husband enjoy this wonderful treat.<\/p>\nChef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cDid the doctors allow you to do this?\u201d
\nBrandie:<\/strong> \u201cWe were doing it regardless. Our first dreaded meeting with a nutritionist was made at the dialysis center. She ran through a list of FDA mandated dietary guidelines and suggestions. As she spoke, I politely replied, \u201dNo. We will not be doing that.\u201d She became more and more infuriated and frustrated with me until she finally snorted, \u201dWell, I guess we\u2019ll see when that lab work gets in!\u201d Yes we would. We had one month before the next lab report. We were going to make the most of the time before us.<\/p>\nChef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cSo you had a month to test your theory, with your husband\u2019s health lying in the balance?\u201d<\/p>\nBrandie:<\/strong> \u201cDuring that month, we followed the prescribed plan. Eat real food. That was what this was going to be all about. We ate organic locally\u2010grown fruits and vegetables, organic free\u2010range meats, natural sugars, whole grains, and supplements. One of the supplements added was Tumeric, a powerful anti inflammatory. Cinnamon, a wonderful tool in naturally lowering blood sugar, was also added. Probiotics and digestive enzymes were additionally added. And, when we washed down our meals, it was with cool, clear water.<\/p>\nChef Todd: <\/strong>\u201cAnd your next lab report said\u2026\u201d
\nBrandie:<\/strong> \u201cFirst, we lowered his prescription drug intake from twelve drugs to three. His lab work was drawn and the day to meet with our doctor and nutritionist was at hand. The news was remarkable. His blood sugar had gone from 8.7 to 6.3. It was now just above the normal range of 6.0. The argument of not being able to eat something wholesome and sweet was now mute.<\/p>\n![\"BearSchwartz3\"](\"https:\/\/webcookingclasses.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/BearSchwartz3-150x150.jpg\")
His cholesterol had gone from a total of 202 to 155. Bacon, eggs, and whole dairy products are not the villain they have been made out to be. It was with no small amount of joy that I received the nutritionist\u2019s comment, \u201dWell, I guess I can\u2019t tell you<\/em> anything.\u201d That\u2019s right! I\u2019ll be eating real food!<\/p>\nChef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cHas he maintained these results?\u201d
\nBrandie:<\/strong> \u201cMy husband used to say that after eating a rib\u2010eye, the thing he likes most for dessert is another rib\u2010eye. However, when he began to change his eating habits, something quite interesting happened. He started feeling full\u2026.and while eating less food! You see, what was happening was that my husband was eating more nutrient\u2010dense foods. As that started to take hold in his body, his brain started to realize that the body was getting what it needed. As the body was getting what it needed, the brain told the body it was okay to stop eating. As a result, my husband started to drop weight, more than 100 pounds, and he wasn\u2019t really trying very hard at all.\u201d<\/p>\nChef Todd: <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to help change someone\u2019s life. When I started filming cooking method videos on YouTube, the tremendous response I got made me want to do even more, and reach more people. What has come from this experience for YOU?\u201d<\/p>\nBrandie: <\/strong> \u201cOur success in managing my husband\u2019s disease has been the catalyst for me to get the message of health through whole foods out to the community. I continue to coach and counsel others in their wellness journeys. Their maladies may be different. But, the treatment is essentially the same. Eat whole foods in their original state. Eat your medicine. Eat yourself to life! And, if you need any help, feel free to contact me through my Facebook page<\/a>. Look for me on Twitter, too!<\/p>\nChef Todd:<\/strong> \u201cThank you very much for sharing such an incredible food-related success story with me and all my followers.\u201d<\/p>\nDiscover how to use the freshest ingredients
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