Why I Created a Retreat to Change Your Health Destiny

When I began my nutritional medicine practice in New Jersey more than 27 years ago, I focused on patients who suffered from diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune diseases and many other conditions that are rooted in poor dietary practices. With my lifelong passion for nutritional excellence and research, I created the Nutritarian diet.  I examined every factor that enhances human lifespan and put it all together including a full portfolio of anti-cancer foods to maximize our opportunity to live to be 100 years old.

With the miraculous results I achieved reversing diseases with this protocol, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops—"it is possible to reverse and completely recover from your chronic diseases.” And today, that’s not simply my opinion – it’s there in the scientific studies. So I did the modern-day version of shouting from the rooftops: I started writing books. In 2003, Eat to Live (Little Brown) became a New York Times bestseller and then 5 other bestselling books followed. I’m proud that my work enhanced the interest in the healing power of plant-based nutrition and improved many thousands of lives.

However, throughout the years, I have found that many people struggled with stress, food cravings, and food addictions that derailed their road to recovery. In September 2018, I opened the Eat to Live Retreat in San Diego, California, and welcomed guests to stay for 4 to 12 weeks, or even longer. While there, guests who struggle with obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other conditions are totally immersed in the Nutritarian diet. I personally supervise their medical care, and my expert team provides counseling, support – and incredibly delicious Nutritarian food and recipes.

In the short time my retreat has been open, I’ve fielded many questions that have come up, time and again. Here are some of them.

Why did you open your Eat To Live Retreat after 27 years in the office-based practice of lifestyle medicine? 

I have been blessed with the most rewarding career – I have the privilege of helping people who want to recover their health via nutritional excellence. For decades, it has been my dream to have a place like the Eat to Live Retreat, where I can almost guarantee a person’s success and their future commitment to healthful eating.

Is it hard to get people to “buy into” the idea that nutrition can heal them?

Most people expect “a pill for every ill.” But those who come to me, by and large, have already been on that merry-go-round, they’ve tried and failed at fad diets – and they realize it was all futile. So now they want to get well, once and for all. And they know – maybe instinctively, as well as intellectually – that this is the way to do it. They have finally realized that their diet, and their relationship to food, is the biggest factor in determining their health destiny.

What surprises you about the standard approach to medical care?

What really surprises me is that so many people are content to stay on diabetic meds, blood pressure medications and statins, which are dangerous, and don’t treat the underlying cause of their conditions –which is their poor diet. Many falsely believe that drugs can protect them against heart attacks.

They remain overweight and sickly – with a high risk of cancer and dementia. By emphasizing drugs, their care encourages their dangerous diet, making their overall health worse, and their lifespan shorter, and they are given no opportunity for recovery.

What’s the most important thing you want people to know?

Nutritional excellence enables miraculous recoveries.

Why are the outcomes at the ETL Retreat better than just telling people to do it on their own?

Some people with serious medical conditions – obesity, type 2 diabetes, angina, high blood pressure, and other life-threatening illnesses – need to change their diet immediately in order to save their lives. But many are unable to make the needed changes on their own, due to their powerful food addictions and negative home environment. 

Why is an immersive experience like the ETL Retreat important?

Similar to drug addiction, some people need more support than just a few lectures, or reading a book or having a medical visit. Now I have a place where I can help even these difficult cases, as it takes a significant time period of abstinence from their addictive triggers to resolve that powerful drive to unhealthfully overeat. At the ETL Retreat, my staff and I provide the knowledge, cooking skills, and psychological coaching to enable overweight and sick people to be able to make these changes and actually prefer to live this way when they leave. 

What sets the Eat to Live Retreat apart from other facilities?

What makes coming here so unique is how people change not just physically but emotionally and intellectually after their stay.  Some even come in depressed and angry they are here, but they learn to love eating this way and leave with a completely different attitude about themselves and their future. So many report their mental fog lifted and they are happier and can now think clearly.

What sort of activities do guests enjoy during their stay?

There are cooking classes and demonstrations, even in our organic garden with super soil. They get interactive lectures from me, of course, but also from staff, and they can watch nutritional videos on the big screen. The group psychotherapy sessions are important, and the regenerative neuromuscular therapy is critical for many of our guests. Video classes from my Nutritarian Education Institute (NEI) are available to play on the big screen in our media room. We have a well-equipped gym, and have exercise classes, yoga, and Zumba. We also have meditation, swimming and will soon have water aerobics and a sand volleyball court. The hiking and biking in the adjoining natural parklands is fantastic too.  We have weekly group excursions, including trips to the beach.  And of course, guests have free time to work or play on the internet, lounge by the pool, relax in the whirlpool, read, or simply walk around and enjoy the beauty of this unique property and surrounding area.

Can you tell us about some overweight people that have come there and their outcomes?

I have many stories of people resolving diabetes, very advanced heart disease (unstable angina) and losing lots of weight, but the real story is what happens when they go home. One patient who illustrates the value of the ETL Retreat’s approach is Nicole, who lost 50 pounds during her stay at the retreat, but then lost 150 pounds over the next 11 months for a total yearly loss of 200 pounds. She is still excited and committed to this program.  The excitement in these achievements and camaraderie radiate among the guests here.

So if you could sum up the benefits of the ETL Retreat in one sentence?

A stay at the Eat To Live Retreat will help you do more than lose weight – it will change who you are forever and give you a new health destiny. Find out more here or contact us at (949) 432-6295 or info@ETLretreat.com.