Seamus Mullen - Real food heals: eat to feel younger + stronger every day

In my practice as an integrative doctor, every day I meet and treat those who are unwell, from mildly so to very, very sick. When I met Seamus, he was firmly in the latter campthe physical definition of what some might call a hot mess. Professionally though, he was at the top of the New York chef food chain, cooking and running two successful restaurants, despite being profoundly unwell.

Though just in his thirties, he was struggling with the older persons disease of rheumatoid arthritis. He was in constant pain and drugged to the gills. He was carrying about fifty pounds of extra weight. He looked and felt awful and had been in this state for more than a decade. Worse, he wasnt getting well despite following all the recommended treatment protocols to the letter. After years of treatment, pain pills, anti-inflammatory drugs, and several near-death scares, Seamus had had enough. He knew there had to be another way. He had to get well, he just didnt quite know how that was going to happen.

When Seamus found his way to my office and shared his story, there was pain written all over his face. But it was his indomitable spirit that made the biggest impression on me. I knew that inside this very sick guy was a well one. We just had to find him.

In that first meeting, I remember telling Seamus that together we were going to make him feel better. How much better, I couldnt say, but we would do everything possible to push him toward wellness. We werent going to mask the symptoms or dull the pain with more drugs, we were going to jump-start the healing process with one of the most powerful wellness-makers I know, the best medicine of allfood. The challenge? Seamus would need to change his relationship with it, top to bottom and forever. A tall order for some people, but not Seamus. Hed come to the end of the line (or was it the start?)and he was ready to change everything. Seamus was all in.

As a chef, Seamus loved food and was surrounded by it, literally up to his elbows in it every day. Though he was in the business of nourishing others, he hadnt focused on nourishing himself. Like most people, and particularly sick people who are busy trying to just survive the day, Seamus hadnt given much thought to what food could actually do for him. Food had the power to be a healing, health-promoting pill on his plate, one whose side effects for him would include less pain, less inflammation and, ultimately, wellness. There were foods that could heal and sustain him, that would change the course of his life. It was up to me to guide him, and up to Seamus to take the ball and run with itand run with it he did!

Fueled by his love of food and desire to be the strongest, healthiest guy we both believed he could be, Seamus took the food as medicine idea further than any patient Ive ever worked with. What started with a mission to heal Seamuss gutthat critical, initial first step I take with many of my patientsblossomed into a healing journey and, ultimately, a total health transformation. To guide and mentor Seamus through this turnaround has been an honor and a joy, not to mention the genesis of one of the great health bromances of the decade! To see this challenging, personal, and ultimately triumphal journey come to life on the pages of this book is a gift that he is uniquely qualified to givehe has lived every inch of it and he is giving to others the tools they need to create their own health journeys through deliciously prepared, healthy, whole foods. Its a bonus neither of us could have imagined way in those early days.

The advantage in working with Seamus was that he was not only highly motivated to get well but also remarkably well positioned to do so. As an accomplished, award-winning chef, he possessed the exact skill set needed to treat his gut, once he had a healing-foods road map. Over the course of nine months, I saw Seamus nearly every weekoften twice a weekand we tweaked his treatment and tweaked his diet. Within a few months, there was dramatic improvement. Within a year, he was off all his medications and free of any of the symptoms of his disease.