My name is Blake Shusterman, MD, and I am a nephrologist (kidney doctor) practicing in Greenville, SC at Carolina Nephrology. Some people call me Dr. Blake for short.
I love food. I love eating it, making it, sharing it and eating it again as leftovers. In my family, many of our daily decisions revolve around food. We plan day trips, vacations and nightly excursions around what foods we wish to experience. We spend lots of time—sometimes too much time according to my wife–identifying which restaurants we want to go to and what things we need to buy at the grocery store to prepare our meals. To my family food is not only sacred but also downright fun. To me it is a beautiful blend of art and science.
During my years of practice, I have come to realize that many of my patients and their families live equally food-focused lives. So, I understand the furious looks I get from my patients when I tell them to give up their favorite foods.
Many of you may be in that same position, hearing similar pleas from your doctor advising you to stop eating your favorite foods because they are damaging to your kidneys, making your diabetes more difficult to control or preventing you from losing weight.
Thus was born The Cooking Doc. Can you imagine having your doctor right next to you in the kitchen, telling you what delicious foods you need to try? Well, that’s me. I won’t tell you what tasty foods you need to give up, instead I’ll help you find creative ways to use new ingredients and together we’ll make them taste amazing. (Check out this summer squash soup with white wine and leeks)
We will have special guests, outings to your favorite restaurants and entertaining cooking videos featuring fresh and healthy ingredients, all cooked up by a doctor.
During our training as doctors,we don’t receive a lot of education on nutrition and diet, and so this often translates into specialists that can give generic advice like, “eat a healthier diet,” “eat less food” or “eat a low sodium diet” but can’t tell patients exactly how to make this happen. I am hopeful that I can inspire a new generations of doctors that know how to provide recipes, cooking lessons and practical advice to their patients.
Join me and let’s #ChangeYourBuds!