22: Dr. Dawn Mussallem - Thriving with breast cancer in the Lifestyle & Integrative Medicine Center at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville

Meet the AMAZING Dr. Dawn Mussallem! You’ll be smiling as you feel the energy, joy, and passion in her voice. Dr. Mussallem runs and directs the Lifestyle & Integrative Medicine department in Mayo Clinic Jacksonville’s Breast Center. You will be enthralled by both her personal story of healing and how she brings that wisdom into her practice working with women in (and after) breast cancer treatment. 

Dr. Mussallem’s own health and personal struggles couldn’t stop this smart cookie from living a life of passion and purpose! From beating stage 4 cancer during med school, to having a miracle baby, losing her husband suddenly, to living 18 years with heart failure, a near death experience, and finally (and gratefully) having a heart transplant on February 5, 2021. One year later she ran a marathon too! She has her plant based diet and healthy lifestyle to thank, for sure. 

She adores each and every patient, using evidence based medicine to support and encourage adoption of health promoting practices not only during cancer treatment, but after as well. She even got patients IN TREATMENT, to run with her!

This episode is chock FULL of life changing info. So grab a pen! We discussed the best nutrition for women with breast cancer, the nuts and bolts of transitioning to a whole food plant based diet, toxic exposures, soy, water, protein, fiber, fasting, the gut microbiome, stress, importance of moving your body, benefits of coffee, and ultimately gaining control over your disease. 

 Here are some resources we mention:
The China Study
T. Colin Campbell’s Center for Nutrition Studies - 

• https://nutritionstudies.org/whole-food-plant-based-diet-guide (scroll to bottom to sign up for the mini-course)

Dr. Dean Ornish’s website https://www.ornish.com - UnDo It! book is available there as well as my store on Bookshop.org (see below)

FILMS:
Platwise
https://www.ardmoreinstituteofhealth.org/news/now-showing-plantwise-an-inspirational-film-that-offers-hope-for-better-health
Forks Over Knives
https://www.forksoverknives.com/the-film 

BOOKS & COOKBOOKS:
Find these at https://bookshop.org/shop/vitaltransformationsllc.com (if you buy here I get a little bonus, but so do brick and mortar book sellers)
UnDo It! 
The China Study 
4000 Weeks
Fiber Fueled & Fiber Fueled Cookbook
Be A Plant Based Woman Warrior Cookbook

PODCAST:
Lisa Miller, PhD on The Rich Roll Podcast - ​​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuBDmIRThtk

Anything else you want to hear about? Let me know! Send me DM on social. I genuinely want to provide (and translate) all kinds of great info for you.

You can find me:
www.vitaltransformationsllc.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/VitalTransformationsLLC
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/vital_transformations_llc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susiespell

Do you have high blood pressure? If so, grab my FREEBIE - how to accurately take your BP at home.

As always, thanks to Lemon Music Studio for intro and outro music.