Ben Bocchicchio, PhD
Vincent (Ben) Bocchicchio has been at the forefront of health and wellness for nearly 50 years. As a clinician in the fields of fitness and health he has initiated and promoted behavioral interventions that have proven to be effective in the treatment and management of the degenerative diseases that plague our public health. Dr. Ben’s philosophy states that on the continuum of illness to wellness, our collective health plans should attempt to drive the needle towards wellness and away from illness through scientifically sound and safe applications of behavioural endeavors.
Dr. Ben has applied his extensive, recognized background and experience in diet and exercise as the basis of his intervention protocol. Initially (1974), he introduced slow resistance training to the exercise world in a successful attempt to provide safe, high intensity exercise to all populations. He was the first practitioner to include resistance training to phase II cardiac rehabilitation in 1982. It is now accepted, standard protocol. He pioneered high intensity exercise for high endurance athletes in the mid 1980’s.
Lastly, he introduced high intensity exercise for weight loss and management programs including the Opti Fast protocol used by the first popular bariatric physicians (Opti Fit). Furthermore, Dr. Ben has exposed the paucity of legitimate science supporting conventional medical and governmental practices in treating and managing the aforementioned health dilemmas. He contends that a singularly pharmaceutical oriented solution as currently applied has failed individually and on an international basis. Dr. Ben provides a simple history of the escalation of degenerative diseases (diabetes, obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, cancer etc.) that correlates, at an inordinate level, with behavioral changes in physical activity and dietary preferences. Lastly, Dr. Ben offers a simple, sound and scientifically based plan that incorporates a universally applicable system that directly addresses the alarming, current state of public health. Topics included are: diet, exercise, disease treatment and management options and cost analyses of these.
Dr. Ben Bocchicchio has published more than 200 articles and study reports in the fields of Fitness, Health and Exercise. His work includes his acclaimed book “15 Minutes to Fitness” and the sale of more than 300,000 SMaRT DVD’s in 31 countries. He is continuing work as an investigator and consultant to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, ASU and a number of academic and corporate health institutions.
To find Dr. Bocchicchio online, go to: Website, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter.
Brian Lenzkes, MD
Dr. Lenzkes is a USC trained, board-certified Internal Medicine doctor and has been in practice for 16 years but did not understand the implications of metabolic syndrome until only a few years ago. He has had a personal struggle with obesity since childhood and became officially pre-diabetic in February of 2017 despite his medical knowledge. Although Dr. Lenzkes was voted one of the “Top Doctors” in San Diego for 11 years, he still felt a void as many of my patients with chronic conditions continued to decline and require more medication. After attending LowCarbUSA ® in San Diego, his practice of medicine changed and he has taken control of his health. Dr. Lenzkes has been honored to be a guest on multiple podcasts and he has been a speaker on the Nutrition Network educational series for medical professionals. He is currently co-hosting the Low Carb MD podcast with Dr. Jason Fung, Dr. Tro Kalayjian, and Megan Ramos. He is also on the panel of advisers for the LowCarbUSA ® Clinical Guidelines for Medical Professionals and recorded an interview for the documentary; Big Fat Lie with Wide Eye Productions. Brian is the CEO of Low Carb MD San Diego. He believes that together we can do our part to reverse the healthcare crisis facing the world one life at a time. Dr. Lenzkes is excited about the journey ahead.
To find Dr. Lenzkes online, go to: Website, Facebook, Twitter.
Christopher Palmer, MD
Dr. Palmer received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine and completed his internship and psychiatry residency at Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. He is currently the director of the Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education at McLean Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Palmer’s clinical practice has focused on treatment-resistant cases for over 20 years, and he has always been looking for better treatments and treatment outcomes for his patients.
Dr. Palmer has been using the low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets in his practice for over 15 years now, mostly for weight loss, but has recently found an anti-psychotic and mood stabilizing effect from specific types of the ketogenic diet, so is pursuing clinical research in this area, speaking at national and international conferences on this topic, and consulting to patients from around the world. He has developed expertise in prescribing and motivating people to do the ketogenic diet and has served as a ketogenic diet consultant to those wishing to implement the ketogenic diet for conditions other than psychiatric conditions, such as weight loss, diabetes, epilepsy, and cancer.
To find Dr. Palmer online, go to: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter.
Robert Cywes, MD, PhD
Dr. Cywes is Dual Board Certified in General Surgery and in Pediatric Surgery. He specializes in Pediatric and Adult obesity, diabetes and metabolic management including bariatric surgery. His focus is on helping people understand and treat the true cause of obesity and diabetes. He has been doing bariatric surgery for 19 years and has performed around 7000 surgeries. Despite this, Dr Cywes firmly believes that obesity and diabetes are not treated by surgery, however, surgery may be an invaluable tool along the journey of becoming carbohydrate-free.
His medical training began in Cape Town, South Africa where he received his medical degree from The University of Cape Town training with Prof Tim Noakes amongst others. In 1989, Dr. Cywes moved to North America and completed a year-long residency in pediatric surgery at Ohio State University’s Columbus Children’s Hospital before moving to Canada where he completed his general surgery residency and specialized in minimally invasive surgery at the University of Toronto. Dr. Cywes also earned a PhD in liver transplant immunology and the effect of glucose metabolism on vascular endothelium injury, working with Dr David Jenkins, the father of the Glycemic Index.
After completing his pediatric surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Dr. Cywes was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Paediatric and Fetal Surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee where he did hepatic stem cell research. During this time, Dr. Cywes became increasingly interested in adolescent obesity and the impact of carbohydrates on the liver and metabolic syndrome in young patients.Dr. Cywes’ research led to a comprehensive understanding of the toxicity of chronic excessive carbohydrate consumption as the primary cause of obesity and so-called obesity-related co-morbidities.
In the late 1990s Dr Cywes understood that the prevailing treatment of obesity using a Calories in, Calories out (CICO) model was erroneous, and he developed the Carbohydrate Insulin Model of Obesity and Diabetes (CIMOD). Using this model in combination with his understanding of the psychology of addiction, he developed a clinical program to treat obese adolescents using this approach. Dr. Cywes relocated to Jacksonville, Florida where he joined the Department of Pediatric Surgery at the Nemours Children’s Clinic and Wolfson Children’s Hospital. This led to a national meeting in Jacksonville where guidelines for adolescent obesity surgery were established.
In 2004, Dr. Cywes established Jacksonville Surgical Associates to continue his work in both adolescent and adult obesity treatment and surgery, and in 2013 opened a practice in West Palm Beach, Florida. He now works with a highly experienced team of professionals from a variety of medical sub-specialties to better care for obese patients. He has developed the practice into a nationally recognized Center of Excellence for obesity surgery. The practice uses a cognitive behavioral therapy approach that addresses carbohydrate addiction, along with bariatric surgery, to help patients manage the cause of their obesity long term.
Based on his extensive clinical research and observations, Dr. Cywes lectures internationally regarding the physiological impact of carbohydrate consumption as the primary cause of the current Chronic Non-Communicable Disease (CNCDs) epidemic. He also lectures on the behavioral aspects of carbohydrate addiction as the cause of obesity and obesity-related co-morbidities and the use of substance abuse methodology, rather than a diet and exercise approach, to the effective long term treatment of obesity.
Dr. Cywes is a member of ASMBS (American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) and is a member of the ASMBS Childhood Obesity Committee. He is also a member of APSA (American Pediatric Surgery Association). He has earned a Centers of Excellence designation by the Surgical Review Corporation. Dr. Cywes trains other surgeons to perform bariatric surgery as well as developing an aftercare model to help patients maintain weight loss. Dr. Cywes and his team are active in obesity research, including an ongoing Adolescent Bariatric Surgery trial. He has become one of the foremost authorities in the treatment and management of obesity in adolescents.
Dr. Cywes co-authored a book, Diabetes Unpacked outlining an effective approach to understanding and treating diabetes into remission. His vast experience in pediatric and general surgery serves him well in using bariatric surgery to treat obesity in both adults and children. Dr. Cywes maintains an active clinical practice in Palm Beach Gardens and in Jacksonville as well as being active on conveying the CIMOD message on social media and through his website.
To find Dr. Cywes online, go to: Website, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter.
Ignacio Cuaranta, MD
Dr. Ignacio Cuaranta is a board-certified clinical psychiatrist. He received his medical degree from Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina in 2009. In 2006 he assisted as an observer at Beaumont Weight Control Center. In 2015 he worked at a Psychiatric Center at ASM13, París, France and in 2017 he completed a week-long observation of the Intensive Dietary Management Program in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, with Dr. Jason Fung and Megan Ramos, where he learnt invaluable lessons for therapeutic fasting prescriptions.
Dr. Cuaranta has completed the first online LCHF physician training course by the Noakes foundation, in a dynamic search to gain a depth of knowledge for his private practice. He has also served as the head of the Mood Department at a Neuroscience Clinic since 2015. As a physician, the high rate of obese patients and metabolic disorders caused him to consider whether his practice was complete if it centered only on drugs as a therapy. He began seeing frequent patterns in the clinical manifestations of his patients that couldn’t be explained by the classical arguments in psychiatry for compulsive behavior, impulsive behavior, lack of energy, lethargy, mental fog, mood instability, poor concentration to name a few.
He challenged his preconceived notions about nutrition and started paying more attention to the effect of food on the human body, brain health, behavior as well as the impact obesity and other metabolic disorders have on quality of life, mental, physical and social health. His focus is on mental health optimization and weight loss as a path to health recovery. He operates from a private office where he deals with a wide array of psychiatric conditions and obesity related issues.
Dr. Cuaranta works with diet, movement, rest and stress, having quality of life in mind and aiming to increase metabolic flexibility and overall health. In practice, he aims to help his patients improve cognitive function, mood management, anxiety and stress-related issues assessing the potential association with food and behaviour towards eating (or not eating). He promotes low-carb, healthy-fat (LCHF) and ketogenic lifestyles as well as intermittent fasting protocols, in combination with pharmacotherapy when needed.
To find Dr. Cuaranta online, go to: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter.
Joan Ifland, PhD, MBA
Dr. Ifland has been creating breakthroughs in recovery of food addiction from 1999 with the publication of her first popular book, to 2018 with the publication of her textbook, Processed Food Addiction: Foundations, Assessment, and Recovery(CRC Press). The textbook is the first academic publication describing how to diagnose and treat processed food addiction, as well as establishing the scientific basis for the disease
Her current project is a breakthrough in recovery: the online Addiction Reset Community (ARC) founded in 2018 (patent pending). It is based on findings that processed food addiction can be severe. This finding shifted the field to more comprehensive abstinence and support protocols that also resolve isolation and mobility issues.
Dr. Ifland has created numerous innovative online resources for food addicts including The Facebook Groups, ‘Food Addiction Education and Food Addiction Education – The Food (2014). The website, Food Addiction Resources, www.foodaddictionresources.com, provides free evidence-based handouts (2104). The website, Food Addiction Books, www.foodaddictionbooks.com guides food addicts away from misguided deceptive literature to books with solid scientific foundations (2015). She founded the first online training in food addiction to make recovery easier in small, online groups, Food Addiction Reset, www.foodaddictionreset.com (2016). The Home Addiction Reset Program (HARP) is the first home-based online live video program to support people through the acute phase of withdrawal from processed foods (2018). She wrote the popular book, Dr. Ifland’s Meal Prep Manual, which is a breakthrough system to easily manage meals for recovery from food addiction (2018).
Dr. Ifland is the lead author of the first scholarly description of processed food addiction according to classic addiction diagnostic criteria and the first scholarly definition of addictive versus non-addictive foods, Refined Food Addiction: A Classic Substance Use Disorder (2007) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19223127. Dr. Ifland earned her PhD in addictive nutrition at Union Institute and University (2010). Her MBA was awarded by Stanford Business School(1978) and her BA in Economics and Political Science by Oberlin College (1974). Her early career was spent understanding corporate and government behaviors with two years as fiscal staff for the Joint Finance Committee of the Wisconsin Legislature (1974-76) and five years as corporate finance staff for a Fortune 200 holding company, the Continental Group (1978-1983). She currently resides in the Seattle area where she enjoys hiking, swimming, women’s business groups, and the arts.
To find Dr. Ifland online, go to: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter.
