In 2020, board-certified medical doctor Dr. Brooke Goldner shared her testimony with the USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Made up of nationally recognized nutrition and medical researchers, academics, and practitioners, the Advisory Committee updates the Dietary Guidelines for Americans every five years.
Dr. Goldner’s message to the Advisory Committee was simple: Protect and promote global public health without the pressure of following various disease-causing diets.
At age 14, Dr. Goldner began experiencing migraines, joint pain, and swelling. Next came a butterfly-shaped rash on her face. Finally, at 16 years old, she was diagnosed with Lupus and her doctor told her she had Stage 4 kidney failure. She was prescribed many daily medications and went through two years of chemotherapy to fight Lupus.
Harnessing the power of reversing her autoimmune disease by adopting a plant-based diet, Dr. Goldner has been symptom-free for over 16 years. Today, she advocates for using food as medicine.
“What I teach is optimal nutrition for disease-reversal. My hyper-nourishment protocol is the most potent anti-inflammatory nutrition protocol because everything you’re eating is coming from foods that stimulate the anti-inflammatory immune system and cellular repair.” Dr. Goldner says.
For anyone who comes across Dr. Goldner’s Instagram account or in your research, find her best-selling books on Amazon, it might be overwhelming due to the wealth of information she shares. Here are her top three tips on where to begin:
“Leave whatever you’re doing with your doctor the same. Sometimes people get so excited about changing their lifestyle that they want to dump all the things that are actually helping them or keeping them alive. I don’t want anyone to feel that they have to choose between optimizing their nutrition and lifestyle and whatever medicines or treatments they’ve been taking.”
“The second thing I really find helpful for people, without being overwhelming, is to start by adding what you’re missing. With hyper-nourishment, it’s a protocol designed to deliver the nutrients one needs to stimulate cellular repair and an anti-inflammatory, immune system.”
“ [My husband and I] figured out that the simplest way to hyper-nourish is with green smoothies. if you shove those ingredients into a blender, blend it, and put a straw in it, you can get the nourishment you need to heal without having to be a chef, which I am definitely not, or have any kind of stress. The highest level of nutrition comes from cruciferous vegetables – the dark leafy greens like kale, spinach, and chard. Then, add flax or chia seeds for Omega-3 and adequate water intake. Most people are too dehydrated to heal; it’s an important aspect of nutrition that most people don’t talk about.”
Taking steps to recovery doesn’t mean you have to learn and understand every aspect of your diagnosis or even have thousands of recipes.
“Go to smoothieshred.com – a free site my husband created to give free support to the public – pick a smoothie recipe that sounds good to you, blend it, drink more water, and start learning,” Dr. Goldner says. “Give yourself time to incorporate all the other aspects of it.”
Dr. Brooke Goldner is the author of three best-selling books, Goodbye Lupus, Goodbye Autoimmune Disease, and Green Smoothie Recipes to Kick-Start Your Health & Healing. She has been featured on Click2Houston, CW39 Houston, Fox26Houston, Houston Chronicle, Plant Based News, HuffPost, The Today Show, Shape, PopSugar, and numerous other publications and podcasts. Her website is GoodbyeLupus.com.
