OUR MISSION AND OBJECTIVE
Affordable Health Advice at the Root Cause
FrugalDoc (Lewis) continues the legacy of his esteemed mentors at Harvard Medical School. The patient was always their priority. They dedicated countless hours to their patients, even when not compensated for the majority of their sessions.
Crucially, with their superior understanding of human health and physiology compared to other doctors, they could resolve issues swiftly through straightforward interventions and seldom needed to spend thousands on tests.
About FrugalDoc and Colleagues
Dr. Trempe and McCully are my mentors, who are unique doctors. Dr. Trempe was an Ophthalmologist who, to this day, is the only one who viewed the eye as part of the whole body. Eye doctors COULD be the best diagnosticians if they were given the freedom to discuss how eye conditions are intimately intertwined with whole-body issues. Dr. McCully was a Harvard pathologist who spent much of his time studying disease mechanisms and pathways rather than using the ridiculous billing system that currently lists 73,000 diagnostic/billing codes.
Dr. Lewis has carried forward the teachings of these two medical giants and has evolved them to enhance his original learning. Dr. Lewis holds a PhD in Chemistry from MIT and postdoctoral degrees from the Harvard School of Public Health in Toxicology and Nutrition in the Public Interest. Importantly, he spent 15 years working under Trempe and McCully in research, education, and the clinic. He is the author of six books, including a textbook on the root causes of Alzheimer's that was published by Academic Press. He is well published, holds patents, and has developed a cancer drug using the novel "SPDT" approach.
He has developed several innovative concepts that simplify medicine, making it easier for patients to understand while reducing delivery costs. Some of these concepts are:
Optimal lab reference ranges. The standard-of-care reference ranges are consensus-based, population-based (unhealthy), and focused on acute disease measurement, but most disease (90%) is chronic, so the "signal" of the standard-of-care measurement "misses" this vital signal. Others claim to have "optimal" reference ranges, but they are NOT based on science. Dr. Lewis conducted a deep dive into the literature and developed appropriate reference ranges based on early all-cause mortality hazard ratios. He is the only one who can claim the reference ranges he developed are science and physiology derived using a standard, and most important endpoint - mortality risk. With this approach, he developed a scientifically valid overall health score.
You know you best. Labs and proper reference ranges are important. However, they most often only answer the question "what" is going on. Unless you perform the "right' tests - seldom done, the answer "what" does NOT tell you what to do to fix the situation. He created a digitized risk assessment with scoring. What a client/patient tells you about your health actually answers the key questions "how" and "why." These answers provide an immediate solution to clients' health problems. He rated each question/answer pair and created a scoring system. To date, he is arguably the only one who has published a paper showing that the risk score predicted the lab score and that improving the risk score improved the lab score. This concept is affirmed by the American Heart Association. Too bad their doctors do NOT use this concept when working with patients. Here is a link to that important AHA publication. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/JAHA.116.003741 The title is: Participant-Reported Health Status Predicts Cardiovascular and All-Cause Mortality Independent of Established and Nontraditional Biomarkers: Evidence From a Representative US Sample
Mechanisms and Pathways - Not insurance-based codes. Dr. Lewis articulates that 5 mechanisms and 5 pathways help explain almost every chronic condition or poor health status. What is easier for the layperson or doctor to understand, 10 core concepts of 73,000 codes? You can find more information on this at https://docfrugal.com/#mechanisms
The Hierarchy of Health. Do you take a lot of supplements? Have your doctors given you a bunch of interventions? Which ones are most impactful and which ones are least impactful? When you understand the 10 basic mechanisms and pathways of good or poor health, you are able to make smart decisions on which supplements, behaviors, or treatments will have the most long-term impact on your health.
The major driver of aging and declining health. Regular doctors and, sadly, even functional, natural, and integrative doctors do NOT understand the most basic concepts that drive aging, accelerated aging, and chronic disease. Fortunately, most who practice outside the standard of care provide beneficial rather than harmful suggestions and interventions. Dr. Lewis did a deep dive into the literature and disease mechanisms and pathways to articulate the REAL core process that drives aging, longevity, and chronic disease. Go to this blog for a full understanding.
However, at its simplest level, chronic disease, aging, and longevity are best described by this equation:
HEALTH = REPAIR PATHWAYS - (minus) DETERIORATION PATHWAYS.
If the value is > 0 (that is, your body can repair damage efficiently), you will live a long, healthy life.
If the value is < 0 (that is, damage is happening more quickly than its repair), you are in declining health and will suffer from chronic conditions before dying young.
Dr. Lewis has 4 core values as explained by his 3 very accomplished children.
He is passionate about health and believes everyone can achieve good health if they understand the basic concepts of health and are willing to put in the work, rather than "take the pill." He is committed to fulfilling his mentors' hopes of providing a positive impact on healthcare and the lives of individuals with whom he is fortunate to engage.
He is an avid, active athlete who tries to lead by example. He cycles, plays hockey, lifts weights, hikes, and gardens. Just the fact: his body fat composition is 5%, and he has a resting heart rate of 40 bpm. He doesn't accept aging as a necessary cause of decline (at least not to that extent). Instead, he helps his clients realize it is all about behavior and effort - no shortcuts.
He is curious. This is what his main mentor, Dr. Trempe, would say about himself when asked how he learned so much about health. He had many influencers in his life who taught him to question everything. His brother is 10 years his elder and taught him never to accept dogma, but to dig deep, peel the onion, and make up his own mind.
Lastly, he is working towards sustainability through gardening and other methods. Getting off the grid may not be possible, but he believes we all need to establish some level of independence from "influencers."
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