Alex Maverick’s Personal Statement from 2014:
Several years ago, Alex Maverick (the founder of Plant-Smart) wanted to open an eating clinic in his hometown. What he found is that low fat, oil-free, plant-based cheese (the kind you can eat in virtually unlimited quantities while reversing heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, & excessive weight) was unavailable for him to purchase at any store or thru any food service provider. Thus, immediately after completing his Masters degree in public health, he entered IU's graduate nutrition science program to learn how to develop cheeses that were consistent with the recommendations of his medical heroes (so that he could subsequently open his clinic.) After 14 months of experimentation, Cheezilla and Nachella were finally born. As a very accurate indicator of the thinking and value system that is the bedrock of Plant-Smart Foods, the following is the personal statement that Alex wrote in 2014 in his application to Indiana University to enter the MPH program:
My Purpose
The reason I am applying to matriculate into the Health Education program is because I am absolutely passionate about teaching people about the relationship between their diet and their health outcomes and helping people to more easily shift to a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle. Specifically, I want to open a clinic here in Indiana that is modeled after the work of Nathan Pritikin, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Dean Ornish, the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Joel Fuhrman , and Dr. Neal Barnard. All of the preceding luminaries teach their patients how and why to shift to a whole foods, plant-based diet (with only minute variations) and they all consistently effect dramatic improvements in their patient’s previously elevated weight, blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol readings. Consequently, in order to emulate those results locally, I want to open a non-medical eating clinic and help reduce some of the needless pain and suffering experienced by obese, artery-clogged, and diabetic Hoosiers.
My Background
I first became aware of the potent relationships between diet and health four years ago while reading The China Study. As I began to read similar books, I started to gradually shift my eating habits and I accidentally lost almost 50 pounds. I then started sharing the concepts with friends and had the wonderful privilege of having several of them tell me that what I had taught them had changed their life. A few months ago, after my cousin died of a first-time heart attack (which is a very needless and preventable event) I made the decision to open a clinic and make saving lives via health education my life obsession.
My Tentative Instructional Methodology
After aspiring clients first consult with their physicians about 1) starting a light exercise program 2) shifting their eating patterns to gradually lose weight (and any adjustments in medication dosages that weight loss might necessitate) and 3) obtain some initial tests (cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose, etc.) so that we have some baseline metrics- we will then begin the process of teaching them how to eat more healthfully. Because knowledge is the foundation of eating behavior modification, we will teach classes on the fundamentals of nutrition and the evidence-based relationships between diet and health. We will frequently hold cooking classes so that clients can learn how to easily make a wide variety of food that satisfy their different cravings. We will also focus heavily on helping clients to identify their triggers (when they are most likely to eat poorly) and create options in advance to supplant those unwanted behaviors. Furthermore, we will host field trips to grocery stores so that clients can learn how to shop and how to read and discern food labels. We will also meet and eat at various restaurants so clients can habituate to eating healthfully when they are away from home. Modeling AA, we will hold group meetings so that clients can share, learn, and encourage, each other. Additionally, clients will have journals to maintain and regular reading assignments and homework to submit. And throughout the program, clients can call day or night for immediate coaching. Undoubtedly, I will need to evolve the above rough curriculum and instructional design to better amplify client learning and I am hoping that some of what I learn in the Health Education program can facilitate and guide me in this process.
My Research Interests
I want to us to be very research-driven and regularly conduct interventional studies that compare the results we effectuate with conventional treatments (ie. statins, stints, bypass surgery, conventional diabetes management, bariatric surgery, etc.) And in order to evaluate our long-term efficacy, I want to track all former clients (ideally for the rest of their lives) on their rates of common cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular and autoimmune disease along with their general well-being. By continuously publishing our results we will hopefully garner national attention and become accepted, if not encouraged, by major insurance plans.
My Conclusion: I Need More Training
I know that in order to open an eating clinic that consistently helps clients to change their eating behaviors I need to voraciously absorb more knowledge. I am currently taking the online certificate program on plant-based nutrition from Cornell, however I know that I need to learn much, much more. My hope is that by joining the Master’s program I will become immersed in a world of concepts, tools, principles, and trends related to health education. I want to be stretched and for my assumptions and preconceptions to continuously be challenged. Also, I want to be exposed to ideas that I would not have explored absent the formal education. Indeed, I want to become an imminently qualified health educator- and I can think of no more elegant way to do it than by joining the Public Health Education program and being taught by some of the nation’s leading authorities in the field. Upon completing the Master’s program I expect to pursue the doctoral program to develop an even richer command of how to effect health-related behavioral change and to increase my precision and experience with research methods.
Several years ago, Alex Maverick (the founder of Plant-Smart) wanted to open an eating clinic in his hometown. What he found is that low fat, oil-free, plant-based cheese (the kind you can eat in virtually unlimited quantities while reversing heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, & excessive weight) was unavailable for him to purchase at any store or thru any food service provider. Thus, immediately after completing his Masters degree in public health, he entered IU's graduate nutrition science program to learn how to develop cheeses that were consistent with the recommendations of his medical heroes (so that he could subsequently open his clinic.) After 14 months of experimentation, Cheezilla and Nachella were finally born. As a very accurate indicator of the thinking and value system that is the bedrock of Plant-Smart Foods, the following is the personal statement that Alex wrote in 2014 in his application to Indiana University to enter the MPH program:
My Purpose
The reason I am applying to matriculate into the Health Education program is because I am absolutely passionate about teaching people about the relationship between their diet and their health outcomes and helping people to more easily shift to a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle. Specifically, I want to open a clinic here in Indiana that is modeled after the work of Nathan Pritikin, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Dean Ornish, the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Joel Fuhrman , and Dr. Neal Barnard. All of the preceding luminaries teach their patients how and why to shift to a whole foods, plant-based diet (with only minute variations) and they all consistently effect dramatic improvements in their patient’s previously elevated weight, blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol readings. Consequently, in order to emulate those results locally, I want to open a non-medical eating clinic and help reduce some of the needless pain and suffering experienced by obese, artery-clogged, and diabetic Hoosiers.
My Background
I first became aware of the potent relationships between diet and health four years ago while reading The China Study. As I began to read similar books, I started to gradually shift my eating habits and I accidentally lost almost 50 pounds. I then started sharing the concepts with friends and had the wonderful privilege of having several of them tell me that what I had taught them had changed their life. A few months ago, after my cousin died of a first-time heart attack (which is a very needless and preventable event) I made the decision to open a clinic and make saving lives via health education my life obsession.
My Tentative Instructional Methodology
After aspiring clients first consult with their physicians about 1) starting a light exercise program 2) shifting their eating patterns to gradually lose weight (and any adjustments in medication dosages that weight loss might necessitate) and 3) obtain some initial tests (cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose, etc.) so that we have some baseline metrics- we will then begin the process of teaching them how to eat more healthfully. Because knowledge is the foundation of eating behavior modification, we will teach classes on the fundamentals of nutrition and the evidence-based relationships between diet and health. We will frequently hold cooking classes so that clients can learn how to easily make a wide variety of food that satisfy their different cravings. We will also focus heavily on helping clients to identify their triggers (when they are most likely to eat poorly) and create options in advance to supplant those unwanted behaviors. Furthermore, we will host field trips to grocery stores so that clients can learn how to shop and how to read and discern food labels. We will also meet and eat at various restaurants so clients can habituate to eating healthfully when they are away from home. Modeling AA, we will hold group meetings so that clients can share, learn, and encourage, each other. Additionally, clients will have journals to maintain and regular reading assignments and homework to submit. And throughout the program, clients can call day or night for immediate coaching. Undoubtedly, I will need to evolve the above rough curriculum and instructional design to better amplify client learning and I am hoping that some of what I learn in the Health Education program can facilitate and guide me in this process.
My Research Interests
I want to us to be very research-driven and regularly conduct interventional studies that compare the results we effectuate with conventional treatments (ie. statins, stints, bypass surgery, conventional diabetes management, bariatric surgery, etc.) And in order to evaluate our long-term efficacy, I want to track all former clients (ideally for the rest of their lives) on their rates of common cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular and autoimmune disease along with their general well-being. By continuously publishing our results we will hopefully garner national attention and become accepted, if not encouraged, by major insurance plans.
My Conclusion: I Need More Training
I know that in order to open an eating clinic that consistently helps clients to change their eating behaviors I need to voraciously absorb more knowledge. I am currently taking the online certificate program on plant-based nutrition from Cornell, however I know that I need to learn much, much more. My hope is that by joining the Master’s program I will become immersed in a world of concepts, tools, principles, and trends related to health education. I want to be stretched and for my assumptions and preconceptions to continuously be challenged. Also, I want to be exposed to ideas that I would not have explored absent the formal education. Indeed, I want to become an imminently qualified health educator- and I can think of no more elegant way to do it than by joining the Public Health Education program and being taught by some of the nation’s leading authorities in the field. Upon completing the Master’s program I expect to pursue the doctoral program to develop an even richer command of how to effect health-related behavioral change and to increase my precision and experience with research methods.