Presentation to focus on how individuals with different eating patterns — including vegans and carnivores — can live together in harmony
This past week we caught up with Dr. Tony Hampton, MD, and spoke with him about the topic of his presentation at the 8th Annual Symposium for Metabolic Health to be held in San Diego.
Dr. Hampton told us he will be speaking about how individuals with different eating patterns — including vegans and carnivores — can live together in harmony.
“It seems like once we settle on a certain dietary pattern, we tend to see the world only through that lens,” said Dr. Hampton, “and if somebody questions or challenges that dietary pattern, we take it personally.”
“I think it’s important that we understand that there’s many things that can make a person healthy, and we need to be able to honor that and acknowledge my way is not the only way.”
Dr. Hampton has personal experience with a wide range of eating patterns, ranging from vegan and vegetarian to low carb and, more recently, carnivore.
“I started maybe 11 years ago as a vegetarian, but at times I was vegan,” said Dr. Hampton. “That way of eating did improve how I felt compared to how I was eating previously, but I often felt bloated and gassy, and I wasn’t able to get rid of the irritable bowel.”
He then transitioned to a low-carb diet for about five years, and then moved to a ketogenic diet of fewer than 30 grams of carbs per day. “More recently, in the last year, I’m more in the carnivore space,” he said, “although there are some plants that I am able to tolerate. But the past couple of weeks, I don’t think I ate any plants. This seems to be how I feel my best. I’m continuing to evolve and learn more, and I may add a few things back over time, but this is kind of where I’ve landed.”
Dr. Hampton believes that practitioners should be equipped to help patients succeed, regardless of which eating pattern they follow.
“During the presentation, I hope to share that there is a path for clinicians to move forward in a way that doesn’t take them away from their own particular beliefs, but says to patients, ‘I’m here to support you no matter what your journey is’.”
Dr. Hampton said that the common link between most successful diets is the elimination of highly processed foods. “Any diet that moves towards a whole foods diet, for most people will lead to them being more healthy,” he said.
“We don’t want to live in a world where we tell people, it’s got to be this way. It’s only one way to do it. So I do believe that both a plant based or animal based dietary pattern can get you to where you need to go. And individuals need to decide what’s best for them.”
Dr. Hampton said practitioners with vegetarian or vegan patients should be able to provide information about any supplementation required to prevent nutritional deficiencies.
“I have found anecdotally in my clinic that people with animal-based diets do really well,” he said. “And I find that taking people off medications is a normal thing, and getting a patient with type 1 diabetes into a normal a1C range is not unusual anymore. In the past that never happened. Lifestyle medicine has been a game changer, and I just meet people where they are.”
When asked about the value of attending a Symposium in person, Dr. Hampton was extremely enthusiastic. “There’s something magical about these conferences,” he said. “They provide an amazing opportunity to be around like-minded individuals and to be in a place of inspiration and motivation. There’s so much information available for the clinician or researcher, and for anyone who’s trying to learn more about metabolic health.”
About Dr. Tony Hampton, MD
Dr. Hampton is a board-certified family and obesity specialist with a masters degree in nutrition and functional medicine. Dr. Hampton is passionate about removing barriers to health and equipping patients and his colleagues with the education and resources they need for success. As the medical director of the Advocate Operating System, he collaborated with clinicians and staff on programs to address social determinants of health among at-risk patient populations. Programs like the Healthy Living program, educating patients about lifestyle helping them set realistic and attainable goals, the Food Farmacy at Advocate Trinity, and South Suburban Hospitals to increase access to fresh, healthy food for patients in partnership with the Chicago Food Depository and planning to support Advocate Health’s Smart Farm growing food to support the Food Farmacy.
He also is works with patients in small groups enrolled in the diabetes prevention program (D.P.P.) and COPD programs and is currently leading the Medical Group Management Committee South Region Primary Care Lead, Chair-Elect of the Advocate Health Midwest Governing Council, and Medical Directors for Advocate’s Mobile Health Team and FoodSmart. He’s authored the book: Fix Your Diet, Fix Your Diabetes, is an active blogger on social media, creates educational videos on YouTube, and has a podcast entitled: Protecting Your N.E.S.T. with Dr. Tony Hampton.
Dr. Hampton serves as chairman of The Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners’ (The SMHP) Outreach Committee, which was formed to ensure The SMHP message is delivered to all who can benefit, regardless of race, ethnicity. The Outreach Committee also supports research into metabolic risk and the response to lifestyle interventions based on ethnicity and other factors, and seeks to disseminate information to practitioners as well as those primarily interested in improving their metabolic health.
8TH ANNUAL SMH – SAN DIEGO, AUG. 17-20, 2023
Attendees of this year’s Symposium will have the opportunity to learn about the use of carbohydrate reduction in addressing, and even reversing, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver, PCOS, CVD, epilepsy, TBI, Alzheimer’s, neurological pathologies, mental health conditions and much more.
This year’s conference will also include a very special session dedicated to presentations regarding the connection between cancer and metabolic disease, and will educate practitioners and laypersons about metabolic therapies that may improve outcomes in addition to traditional treatments, and how they may make them more effective, with less side effects.
For those looking to learn more about the overwhelming evidence supporting carbohydrate reduction as a therapeutic intervention, and how to improve one’s metabolic health through lifestyle changes, the Symposium for Metabolic Health in San Diego will be held August 17-20, 2023.
We encourage you to sign up for the livestream even if you can’t make it in person, the connections made even on the chat application, and watching the inspiring, informative lectures from your own home or office is extremely valuable! We’ll even do our best to squeeze in a few of your live questions where and when possible!
Plus, everyone registered, whether in person or livestream, gets access to replays for an unlimited time! So in case you miss anything live, you will have the ability to view and review at any time!
Save 15% on tickets, low-carb meals, and optional CME credits with code: Summer Savings (discount expires after June 30).
