Whole Body Healing with

Dr Gemma Newman

Holistic Health

Plant based nutrition

Because true wellbeing lies within us all

Sponsored by MAD Ideas

Dr Gemma Newman has worked in medicine for 15 years and is the Senior Partner at a family medical practice where she has worked for 10 years. She studied at the University of Wales College of Medicine and has worked in many specialities as a doctor including elderly care, endocrinology, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, general surgery, urology, vascular surgery, rehabilitation medicine and General Practice.

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I heard this comment from @petercroneofficial on the @drchatterjee #feelbetterlivemore pod episode 82 and it was a beautiful pin drop moment in my mind. I get that with soul truths. Do you? The kind of truth that brings me so much clarity that the lens through which I see the world becomes that little bit more clear and bright. Who needs rose tinted glasses when the world can look so beautiful without them? Seeing it and loving it for all its flaws and imperfections. And seeing each other for who we really are - rather than through the warped perspectives of past experiences, projections and pain.
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We are all souls in search of meaning. How can we remember to love what is - and who is - unconditionally? Connection with our deepest self reminds us of our true nature. Connecting with breath. Nourishing our bodies. Exercise. Sleep. Meditation. Laughing. Journaling. Understanding we are one with the natural world. Feeling truly seen by another. These are all tools I use to remind me that I am loved, and help me to give love. .
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It is a basic human need to feel loved and loveable - and it’s a basic human need to give love too. I will remember this the next time someone annoys me and I will ask myself why. What does this person represent to me that is stopping me from loving them fully? .
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Let’s remember that beliefs - although important as a framework through which to navigate this word - may also hold us back. Notice when a belief that has kept you safe - for perhaps your whole life - may actually separate you from who your highest soul knows you to be. Separates you from others. Maybe even separates you from ultimate happiness.

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Mental health issues have always been a part of the human condition. But it seems to me that more and more of us are suffering from feelings of disconnection, dissatisfaction and lack of meaning. This podcast interview addresses all this and much more! We talk about the mental health benefits of nutritional change, but also address other aspects of optimal mental health and we share top tips on how we can all feel better than we currently do. I really hope it resonates with you. .

@drbenjaminalter @alter.health .
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#mental #mentalhealthawareness #holistichealth #holistichealing #holistichealer #nutrition #wfpb #wellbeing #wellness #realfood #eatplants #pbhpuk

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What would it take for you to change your life?
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He came in and slumped down in the consultation room chair looking worried. He knew he had diabetes, but he had experienced chest pain too. He has a young son at home and he needs to stay well to care for him. Could it have been a heart attack? Unfortunately yes, it was. Most diabetic patients die of heart disease, to which they are more susceptible than the general population. He was one of the lucky ones as he was sat opposite me to tell me his story.
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After the third episode of chest pain, he went to the hospital and he was diagnosed with a myocardial infarction, given a bucket load of medications and sent home to live his life as a cardiac patient. When he saw me he knew he wanted something to change. He did not want this future. We talked about what he did want for his life, and we discussed whole foods plant based diets. He did some research, looked at some simple meal swaps and decided to give it a try.
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What did he have to lose? Well, 6kg as it turned out. And he lost something else. His risk factors for a further heart attack. At 62 he was able to reduce his HBA1c (average blood sugar) from 97 to 59 (and counting) and drop his cholesterol from 5.2 to 2.7 (despite halving his statin dose) and reduced his insulin needs by half. He was also able to come off his blood pressure medications. And what has he gained? Dramatically improved diabetes, no chest pain and a second chance to see his son growing up. What would you choose? Now you know the benefits, would you choose a different way of life before your first heart attack? .
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To find out more about the benefits of plant-based nutrition for diabetes care, please do check out the diabetes module I created for the plant-based nutrition course run by the @uniwinchester You can also click on the link in my bio to go to my website where there are many talks to help guide you, as well as books, tips and a link to an online diabetes reversal program. @masteringdiabetes .
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Today I also saw a 78-year-old man who used a plant-based diet to reduce his HbA1c from 83 to 52mmol/mol. He was over the moon and so was I! What a day!

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MENTAL HEALTH and FOOD
Carving this pumpkin gave me an excuse to roast some pumpkin seeds, a great source of tryptophan. Have you ever done this? It’s DELICIOUS! We use this amino acid to make serotonin, a ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter that has many functions apart from modulating our mood. Hear me talk about serotonin and much more at VegFest, Olympia London this weekend. 🎃
Interestingly, having high tryptophan foods in a high protein diet doesn’t seem to correlate with better mood though. Why? This is thought to be because of the other amino acids in high protein foods crowding out the transporter protein that tryptophan needs in order to gain access to the brain. This study shows a high carb breakfast seems to increase the bioavailability of tryptophan as well as tyrosine which is a dopamine precursor. And this study was a RCT following 106 overweight or obese participants for a year. They had the same weight loss with high carb or low carb diets, but the low fat diet participants had less anxiety and depression and overall better mood state.
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The field of ‘psychobiotics’ is really opening up, as researchers are beginning to understand the gut-brain-microbiome axis how it affects our well-being.
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In a study published recently in Nature, researchers found that two groups of bacteria - Coprococcus and Dialister, were reduced in people with depression. And they saw a positive correlation between quality of life and the ability of gut microbes to synthesize a breakdown product of the neurotransmitter dopamine. The results are some of the strongest yet to show that a person’s microbiota can influence their mental health. The challenge now is to find how these microbe-derived molecules can interact with the central nervous system to alter a person’s behaviour or risk of disease. 🎃
There are so many things that affect our sense of wellbeing, and good nutrition can be a segway into other lifestyle changes that will help us feel more whole and healthy. But a healthy dose of high fibre AND high tryptophan pumpkin seeds are a great Halloween bonus. 🎃
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#pumpkin #pumpkinseeds #tryptophan #serotonin #mentalhealth #psychobiotics #psychiatry #mood #lowmood #wfpb

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NEW BLOG POST!
I’d love to share with you a health blog I wrote recently for @inspiredmedics . It is aimed at practitioners who see vegan patients. 💚
I have quite a few amazing health professionals following this page. Some of them may be understandably uncertain about offering dietary advice to a vegan, it’s a polarised world out there! What we advise people on nutrition can get complicated when we consider concepts such as dietary dogmatism, industry influence, innate bias and cognitive dissonance. Our opinions are so tied up in personal experience and preference, and even as clinicians our views of the evidence base will inevitably start from a pre-formed idea of what seems correct to us. 💚
I am a firm believer in helping people come to a lifestyle that suits their own needs and preferences. Although I perceive that we have a species specific pattern of eating which benefits our overall health, I can also see that this does require individualisation based on health conditions, allergies, genetic variants, gut integrity, microbial diversity and underlying psychological and social factors. 💚
With the rise of vegan lifestyles, many health care practitioners will see patients who are coming to them to discuss diet, health and more. Doctors risk alienating their vegan patients if they offer dietary advice that does not align with the patient’s beliefs and preferences. Telling a patient to start eating meat and dairy to get protein and calcium has the potential to cause distress for an ethical vegan or vegetarian - as well as being erroneous advice. 💚
This blog is aimed at helping doctors to navigate a more plant based world! It is aimed at medics who have never researched the idea of veganism or plant-based diets and feel a bit uncertain about how to help someone who has already chosen a vegan lifestyle. and it helps explain the difference. 💚
I really hope it’s helpful, and if you are curious to learn more about wholefood plant-based diets, do feel free to check out my website which is linked in the bio!
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#planetaryhealthdiet #vegan #vegetarian #veganuary #plantbased #plantfocus #nutrition #wholefoods #wholefoodsplantbased #aclm #bslm #pcrm #eatlancet

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This weekend was VegMed, an international plant based nutrition conference held in the UK for the very first time. Hosted by @proveg.uk and @plantbasedhealthprofessionals and endorsed for CPD by @britsoclm it was truly electrifying. Talks by UK, US, Welsh, Spanish, Irish and Canadian speakers with a truly international audience too. It felt tremendous to be able to share the stage with trailblazers of nutrition whose work I have admired for so long, as well as sharing the stage with good friends of whom I feel tremendously proud. We are all working hard to share and inspire with the latest in research and resources. This is why the quote above from @devongutdoctor ‘s talk felt so poignant to me. Because every day these doctors, researchers, dieticians and chefs have worked tirelessly to help people prevent and in some cases even reverse their chronic diseases. As Dr Klaper so emotively commented, it is a dereliction of duty for healthcare providers not to share this information, once we know how impactful it can be. Dietician @brendadavisrd commented, ‘We know enough. We truly know enough to suggest a whole foods plant based diet as the first line treatment choice for so many chronic diseases.’ How poignant that @extinctionrebellion protests were also taking place here in London this weekend. People are beginning to understand that keeping the world’s ecosystems in balance are crucial if we are to survive as a species. Sustainable plant focussed diets are hitting the main stream. The EAT Lancet Commission’s Planetary Health Diet (created by one of the world’s most respected nutritional researchers Prof Walter Willet) and the @bda_dietitians ‘One Blue Dot Campaign’ show that a plant focussed diet is the optimal way for us to show respect for the earth’s resources with our plate. To have the opportunity to share research on healthy diet patterns which show benefits for human health as well as compassion for the planet’s ecosystems was just an incredible treat. Let’s all do the best we can, for ourselves and each other, with kindness and compassion. Each step towards health and happiness is worth taking. As Einstein said, it is our sacred human responsibility.

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