Pathways to Healing

MD Chef Tweaks Recipes to Support Health

by Elaine Zablocki

Erica Leazenby, MD, practiced within a large hospital system in Indianapolis for 18 years and then decided to explore other ways of practicing medicine. “I felt burned out from the systematic routine, seeing four to six patients an hour,” she recalls. “I prescribed medications but was frustrated after seeing that my patients weren’t necessarily feeling better.” Eventually she resigned from practice and traveled throughout the United States, attending various CME courses and conferences, looking for inspiration and ways to develop a different business model for medical practice.

During this transitional period, she attended the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) introductory course. “This was a complete paradigm shift for me, and it really resonated,”she says. “I learned you could identify and address some of the root causes of illness. I knew I had found my new medical career.”

For example, in her earlier training she looked at rheumatoid arthritis primarily as a joint disorder, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis primarily as a thyroid illness. In contrast, functional medicine looks at the underlying autoimmune problems. Functional medicine considers lifestyle, diet, stresses, exposures to various toxins – all the underlying causes that may lead to a specific symptom. “I learned that really sitting down with the patient, taking a detailed history, considering all the various factors that affect this particular patient, is an essential first step in the healing process,” Leazenby says.

MD Goes to Cooking School

Leazenby completed her initial coursework at IFM during 2015. Over the next couple of years, she continued studying with them, eventually completing the seven required courses for IFM certification. During this transitional period, she also spent six months at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Culinary and Healing Arts in Manhattan. This sophisticated culinary training institute offers a solid grounding in traditional skills, combined with an unusual focus on the healing qualities of foods. “We had to learn our basic knife skills and so on. At the same time this school is based on 80% plant-based foods,” she says. “I chose this school because I realized the key to health and longevity lies in eating a whole-foods, mostly plant-based diet. I wanted to learn a range of cooking methods so plant-based food tastes delicious.”

The culinary training emphasized ways to make food tasty without relying on salt and unhealthy fats. “I learned how to cook any vegetable so it is flavorful and nutritious. In addition, we learned how to adapt older recipes,” she says. “In this age we see many food sensitivities, so we need to adapt foods for people with very specific needs.”

New Form of Practice, Plus Cooking Classes

After developing so many new skills, Leazenby decided to explore a new form of healthcare. She calls her new practice “Relish Health.” Her website states, “we believe food is medicine. The lifestyle choices that you make, especially related to diet, can dramatically affect your risk and expression of illness. You are unique and have individual dietary needs. Relish Health combines the joy and art of cooking with the science of food, nutrition and medicine.”

In her new practice, Leazenby sees patients three days a week. An initial consultation usually takes 90 minutes, with 45 minute follow-ups. Because her practice is limited, she doesn’t need support staff. She doesn’t take insurance. She sends people home with a specialized receipt, a super bill, that patients can submit to their insurance for reimbursement. “It was a difficult decision, whether or not to accept insurance,” she says. “I realized if I wanted to spend this amount of time with my patients, I had to follow a different system.”

Since she schedules three days of office-based practice, she has time to offer cooking classes and demonstrations in a wide variety of settings. “I find these cooking classes bring me the greatest joy,” she reflects. “They are my tool to prevent future burnout.”

Her cooking classes and workshops take place in many different settings. At a local hospital she may do a cooking demonstration with 30 to 50 people in the audience. She may do a smaller hands-on cooking class in a church basement or in someone’s home. She’s even been able to incorporate cooking demonstrations into resident training and continuing medical education lectures.

Often her practical culinary workshops are organized around a particular theme. For example, a recent class focused on brain health, the connections between food and mood, and particular foods and recipes that support brain health. Another useful topic is blood sugar management and the glycemic index. “This topic is so useful for people who may have high blood sugar or polycystic ovarian syndrome or just get woozy in the afternoon because they had a high glycemic lunch,” she says. “We all benefit when we understand how the foods we eat can sustain energy, balance blood sugars, and reduce inflammation.”

Leazenby notes that some people with specific health conditions may need a specialized diet in response to that condition. “The diets I typically prescribe include the elimination diet, FODMAP diet, and ketogenic diet. Sometimes I may suggest a balanced Mediterranean diet when the main focus is blood sugar and hypertension management,” she says. “The key thing is to put the whole picture together, to perceive the main underlying issues, and then address those issues.”

Some people who attend her cooking classes have later become patients, in order to focus more closely on their own health concerns. We asked Leazenby whether any recent cases demonstrate the special benefits of a thorough intake interview at the start of the diagnostic process. She recalls one person who was supposed to have rheumatoid arthritis. After doing a thorough history and work-up, Leazenby discovered that she actually had ulcerative colitis and that was probably the cause of her joint pain. This led to a more appropriate treatment plan.

In another case, a person had many digestive problems and had tried multiple therapies without relief. Leazenby asked when the pain had started, which brought up memories of deeply emotional family issues. “With my previous training I don’t know whether I would have asked that sort of question,” Leazenby says. “Now I take the time for a thorough discussion of all possible factors, and often that does lead to more effective treatments.”

As a practitioner, Leazenby emphasizes that so many different elements support core wellness. Food, exercise, sleep, stress, relationships, love. “They are all important. My own particular passion is food, so that’s where I focus my educational efforts. I offer cooking classes and demonstrations because I really want to increase literacy about nutrition in my own community. But of course all aspects are important. In my office-based practice we do address all these related issues.”

Resources

Relish Health Website

https://www.relishhealthmd.com/

Relish Health Cooking Classes, Demonstrations

https://www.relishhealthmd.com/events/

The Institute for Functional Medicine

https://www.ifm.org/

Institute for Functional Medicine Certification Program

Certification Program

Natural Gourmet Institute for Culinary and Healing Arts

https://naturalgourmetinstitute.com/

Elaine Zablocki is the former editor of CHRF News Files.