15-Day Whole-Food Plant-Based Jumpstart

Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute (RLMI) was formed in 2015 with the goal of transforming health, and the health care system, from the grass roots up, by offering people the knowledge, skills, and support they need to adopt a whole-food plant-based diet and other healthy lifestyle changes. RLMI is an organization with a national reach. Its programs have benefited thousands of people all over the country and even internationally. RLMI has many partners, including Plant Based TeleHealth, with doctors licensed in 50 states; and IHA, a health care system in Michigan with 700 physicians serving 500,000 patients. Locally in Rochester, NY, RLMI’s founder, Ted Barnett, MD, works closely with Susan Friedman, MD, MPH and Kerry Graff, MD, who head up the Lifestyle Medicine programs at Highland Hospital and Rochester Regional Health. The centerpiece of RLMI’s offerings is its 15-Day Whole-Food Plant-Based Jumpstart. In two weeks, most participants see dramatic improvements in health metrics as well as in the way they feel—with those who need it most typically seeing the most improvement. Given monthly, Jumpstart has reached more than 1500 people. The program is supported by peer-reviewed published studies and certification by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Jumpstart does an end run around a health care system that offers endless pills and procedures, but rarely offers people the help they need to take charge of their own health. The 15-Day Jumpstart also scores a win for social justice and planetary health: plant-based diet results in less human and animal suffering, reduced global warming, and greater protection for our fragile planet. RLMI has an array of other offerings that educate and support people in plant-based diet and lifestyle change, including free lifestyle lectures. RLMI also offers free continuing education courses for doctors and other clinicians everywhere. Each clinician has thousands of patients who may become plant-based eaters and advocates—putting RLMI’s potential reach into the hundreds of thousands. A donation to RLMI will reverse someone’s chronic disease; save human and animal lives; and put our planet on a sustainable path. Thank you for supporting RLMI!

We focus on: Health, The Environment

Where we are: Monroe