Learning How To Live A Healthy Lifestyle Is Now A Medical Treatment

Dr. Ted Barnett teaches people the health benefits of eating an oil-free whole-food-plant-based vegan diet in the CHIP Program. (Photo: Michael Israel)

Dr. Ted Barnett, a radiologist, teaches people the health benefits of eating non-processed vegan foods. He is the founder of Rochester Lifestyle Medicine and operates the Complete Health Improvement (CHIP) Program. The CHIP program teaches patients with chronic medical conditions how eating an oil-free whole-food plant-based vegan diet and living an active lifestyle can help them prevent relapses and can even reverse some of their health problems. Some of the many conditions that the CHIP program address includes coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. Following the CHIP program before a health problem has occurred is much more of an ideal solution than using the CHIP program to treat a serious health issue that has already occurred.

Dr. Ted Barnett talks about how to sign up for the CHIP program. (Video: Michael Israel)

This February, Rochester Lifestyle Medicine is offering two programs for people hoping to improve their health with a plant-based diet. One of the programs is an eighteen-week program called the CHIP program. The other program is a six-week lecture series about the health benefits of going vegan. The Chip program will take place at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) and will include a six-month membership in the health club that is operated by the JCC. The six-week lecture series will take place at Highland Hospital and will include speakers and videos about the benefits of eating non-processed vegan foods.

The six-week lecture series and the CHIP program both encourage people to adopt a whole-food plant-based diet. The CHIP program includes medical consultations while the six-week lecture series just teaches about eating whole-food-plant-based vegan foods. People who have a medical condition that they want help with would get more help with the CHIP Program. People who want to go vegan for environmental or political reasons and not for medical reasons would benefit from taking the six-week lecture series to learn how to eliminate animal products from their diet and how to cook vegan foods that taste delicious. Kitchen Verde, a local caterer that prepares oil-free whole-food-plant-based vegan dishes that taste delicious, caters many events that are run by Rochester Lifestyle Medicine. Offering good tasting vegan foods lets people who want to start eating vegan foods know that they don’t have to give up food that tastes good to start eating heart healthy foods.

To promote a vegan lifestyle, the Rochester Area Vegan Society (RAVS) which has been directed by Ted and Carol Barnett for over 20 years, hosts a monthly vegan potluck dinner in Rochester. People who are not members of RAVS are free to attend the dinners as long as they bring a vegan dish to pass and a three-dollar fee to help support the costs of renting the space where RAVS meets. After the potluck dinner, a lecturer usually discusses issues surrounding food choices and how they affect human health, the environment, and the animals.

For more about the lecture series, click here. For more about CHIP, click here.