April 6, 2016

Who?

Peter Druian, Phd

I am Peter Druian, working a psychology practice for many years, I know something about health behavior in general.

I’ve seen benefits personally and in others. My practice was psychotherapy, but I saw people who switched to WFPB feeling better from it.

Because of that I have felt compelled to get more training in this lifestyle and to read the research myself. I started this company to share this knowledge during a limited time I am taking leave from my practice.

How did you get into this? It started when Kristen kept getting sick. We had been in a relationship for a couple years. She was a lifelong asthmatic, and had a year with seven lung infections, repeated ER visits, weight gain from Prednisone, and then finally a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis. Something had to change.

A friend told us to watch Forks Over Knives. Although I was a little skeptical at first, there was a lot of science pointing us to this new direction. So we dove into it.

Since that time she has had no recurrence of asthma or arthritis and she lost all her weight gain.

I lost 30 pounds, and my blood pressure dropped to where I no longer needed medications and my cholesterol dropped below 150.

Her excess weight came off even without exercise because a terrible accidental ankle break kept her off her feet for months. There is nothing like personal experience to make for a believer.

Trained as a scientist I have to add quickly: personal experience is not sound evidence.

But as it turns out, there is consistent, very convincing sound evidence.

As a psychologist, I had some limitations on how much I could help people with eating when also addressing big emotional matters. But I decided that am old enough now to do what I want. So since I want to help people transition to better eating, I’m making something different than a psychology practice by creating The Way To Your Health  and I hope you will let me help you.

peter druian WFPB parchment paper

What do you know? I have been a psychologist for a long time (BA, 1968, University of Chicago, PhD, 1975, Yale University) first working as a professor and researcher, and since 1986 doing psychotherapy for people with problems of anxiety and depression.

I have read and gotten training in the relationship between food and mood, and the relationship between food and health in general. And I have been fortunate to be able to develop connections with physicians and researchers working in nutrition and health.

I have spent most of my professional life working to help people have better lives and am very familiar with the kind of obstacles people face in making any change. I also have always been interested in cooking and revere good science.

 

peter druian making piecrust WFPB

What are you like to work with? Just like in my psychology work, you can’t really know what the person is like whom you chose to see until you actually work with them, but I will tell you what I can.

The people I treated over the years would probably agree that my concern was their well-being, not profit, or following some impersonal, treatment protocol, and that I am honest about what I don’t know as well as what I do. I want you to have information and have me help you in a way that makes sense to both of us.

Why trust you? There are innumerable approaches to nutrition out there. Contradictory opinions between professionals abound; and some people have profit interests affecting their position.

The internet is rife with insistent, even angry, assertions about what is right or wrong or good or terrible. Each claims research to justify their own position and to refute the others.

On a day to day basis, it is hard to know what is a good way to be eating, because all we perceive is how something tastes. We can’t perceive how foods may affect our health over years. That is where good research comes in. So who knows the truth?

I am not the expert, nor do I have 50 years research experience in nutrition nor have I been treating physical diseases all my life. I’m not here to fight for WFPB.

However, if you find the evidence regarding whole food plant based eating persuasive–and I can recount to you what some of it is and in this site I am showing you where to go to learn more–what I can do is help you to eat this way.

The reason I may be believable is that I come to this unbiased, and I remain committed to good science and not to dogma or products. I happen to be a reasonably educated guy and I have to say, the research is persuasive to me and the food tastes really good.

peter druian teaching wfpb

Why should I pay you to help me? Maybe you shouldn’t. In the Resources section I will give you names of cookbooks and videos and websites which can give you all the information anyone needs. You can do this without me. And if you look on the web you can find the names of many who have credentials to offer professional services and you can try them and not me.

But, then again, maybe you should see me–if you liked the answers I just gave you and the information I’m giving you on this site, and if you want to work with someone who listens and treats you with respect. I can help you change the way you eat. Some guidance and ongoing support from me makes it a lot easier for you and more likely that you will be successful.