Five Questions With: David Lieberman

David Lieberman is a medical student at Brown University’s Warren Alpert School of Medicine who recently helped co-found a joint Brown-Johnson & Wales program that teaches both medical students and culinary students how to cook nutritious food. Prior to his medical studies at Brown, Lieberman hosted a Food Network television program called “Good Deal with Dave Lieberman.”

PBN: Doctors having hands-on healthy cooking information seems invaluable. But how will that information be conveyed to patients?
LIEBERMAN:
In theory, patients already know they should eat more vegetables and cut down on sugar and processed/refined foods. But the devil is in the details – many patients simply don’t know how to realistically make this work in their own lives. Money, time, know-how, personal tastes and cultural considerations are all incredibly important factors. Doctors need to listen to their patients so they understand the forces that shape their patients’ dietary choices and be able to explain how healthy food and home-cooking can fit in.

PBN: Did you grow up in a family that cooked healthy meals, and if so how has that guided you in your pursuit of both medicine and healthful cooking?
LIEBERMAN:
Growing up, my dad was a stay-at-home dad so he was the cook in the house. He always made dinner from scratch and went out of his way to make it wholesome. Vegetables and whole grains were a part of every meal and I think that has shaped my understanding and expectations of food in general.

PBN: Is it fair to say that doctors and chefs working together is a more holistic approach than either traditional medicine or traditional cuisine?
LIEBERMAN:
Traditional medicine revolves around treating disease once there are signs and/or symptoms. But today, it is obvious that a preventive approach to health is critically important. Preventive medicine is, by its nature, holistic and I actually think one of its goals needs to be reacquainting folks with traditional cuisines. Almost all traditional cuisines contain the elements of a healthy diet and require you to make food at home and that’s really what matters.

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PBN: With one foot in medicine and another in cuisine, have you figured out what your ideal career path will be? Would you like to be able to live out your dreams in both on a daily basis?
LIEBERMAN:
I haven’t figured out a definite path for myself yet but, yes, I went to medical school with the hope that I could help change the scary trajectory of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in this country. These are the epidemics of our time and they are basically all rooted in diet. Cooking and public service have always been the driving forces in my life and medicine is a very meaningful place to combine them.

PBN: Have you ever had your own doctor teach you anything about cooking? Why do you think that experience has been so rare until now?
LIEBERMAN:
I’ve gotten a couple of really good restaurant recommendations but that probably doesn’t count. Physicians are trained to base their recommendations to patients in strong, unequivocal scientific evidence. When it comes to how food effects the body’s metabolism AND overall chemistry, scientific understanding has been lacking. Fortunately this is changing and my hope is that, by the time I retire, doctors will not only understand the effects of healthy foods on the body from a physiologic perspective, but they will also know how to prepare them.

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