Dre Lise Babin: An interview with a friend and president of the NBMS

A plant-based diet didn’t enter this doctor’s life through a dramatic diagnosis. It started with running, curiosity, and a single podcast recommendation that turned into a book, a fast experiment, and a surprise payoff: better recovery, less soreness, and more consistent training. From there, the conversation widens into something bigger than food, because nutrition is only one piece of lifestyle medicine and primary care is where these choices either become sustainable or fade under real life pressure.

We talk with Lise, a family physician, long-time medical educator, and now president of the New Brunswick Medical Society, about how plant-predominant eating can be practical without being extreme. We get into barriers people actually face like kids, holidays, restaurants, and the awkwardness of being “the one with the special diet.” We also ground the advice in evidence and reality: ultra-processed foods matter, benefits are dose-dependent, and telling people to “just be perfect” is not science or good counseling.

Then we shift to the exam room and the training program. How do you fit lifestyle medicine into a 20-minute visit? We explain why longitudinal care makes it possible, why a 3-minute targeted intervention can add up, and how the clinician mindset changes when you move from fixer to coach. We also speak plainly about physician burnout, the old badge-of-honor work culture, and why healthier doctors and healthier systems are inseparable, including the policy and advocacy role medical societies play in supporting care across the province.

If you care about lifestyle medicine, plant-based nutrition, preventive health, chronic disease reversal, primary care coaching, and physician wellness, you’ll get both honest stories and actionable takeaways. Subscribe, share this with someone who’s “plant-curious,” leave a review, and reply with your question: what’s the smallest change you could start this week?

Go check out my website for tons of free resources on how to transition towards a healthier diet and lifestyle.

You can download my free plant-based recipes eBook and a ton of other free resources by visiting  the Digital Downloads tab of my website at https://www.plantbaseddrjules.com/shop

Don't forget to check out my blog at https://www.plantbaseddrjules.com/blog 

You can also watch my educational videos on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMpkQRXb7G-StAotV0dmahQ

Check out my upcoming live events and free eCourse, where you'll learn more about how to create delicious plant-based recipes: https://www.plantbaseddrjules.com/

Go follow me on social media by visiting my Facebook page and Instagram accounts
https://www.facebook.com/plantbaseddrjules
https://www.instagram.com/plantbased_dr_jules/

Last but not least, the best way to show your support and to help me spread my message is to subscribe to my podcast and to leave a 5 star review on Apple and Spotify!
Thanks so much!

Peace, love, plants!
Dr. Jules 

Transcript

Season Three And Guest Welcome

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Yo black buddies. Welcome back to season three of the podcast. There's gonna be amazing. We'll be talking about all of the different pillars of lifestyle medicine, from nutrition to exercise to stress to sleep, and everything in between. Alright. Lise, I am very happy for you to be on my podcast. You're the first official guest ever on my podcast. So thank you. And this interview is very special for me. So for people that don't know Lise, we've known each other for 20 some years. I was your intern back in the day. Yes. But weirdly, we've probably never had like a full hour conversation about everything ever, right? So we chat a lot at work. So I want to talk about your journey because when I looked at your resume, it's quite impressive. You have a very wide background. You practice medicine, ER, you've delivered babies, you've had like your director at our clinic, and now you're president of the NBMS. So let's just kind of rewind, like rewind years ago.

Why She Chose Medicine And Teaching

SPEAKER_00 1:15

What kind of made you want to go into medicine and into teaching and kind of how how did that all start?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

All right. Well, um just to say I'm really happy to be here as well. I'm probably just as excited as you. Medicine, when when somebody asked me that, why I decided to go into medicine, I don't even remember not wanting to do that. So I can't, I can't identify like a specific time that I decided I'm I'm gonna be a physician. There's none in my family. And but but I was passionate about doing that, and and I became passionate about being a family physician once I started my my medical career. Teaching was different for me, and I know I know in your case you you loved teaching and you loved medicine, and and it was kind of a natural thing for you to go into teaching. For me, not at all. And and I think what kind of got me into it is, and it's funny to say because some of it is luck, like it just kind of happened that way. Like I I wasn't, I was finishing my residency. I wasn't necessarily planning on on working at the clinic where we had residents.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Because did you start? I started there, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

And I just got a call saying one of the doctors was going back to do another residency. Would you like to take on the practice? And and well, sure, why not? And then I kind of fell in love with with the teaching part of it. First teaching residence, and then then when the Centre Famation opened, yeah, yeah. I I taught a lot of of like the pre uh under the undergrad stuff.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

I think we gave like much of the same courses, lifestyle and and the chronology, and yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Okay, so so and that's that's kind of how I I got into that. So and and director of the teaching program, that again kind of just the timing of it. Like I I felt I was ready for that. I had been involved in teaching for a long time. We had great mentors that that had led the way, and and I know that we're gonna be there to support me by by stepping into that position. And then I got involved with the NBMS when they started with the Family Medicine New Brunswick, the collaborative care clinics, and then the new remuneration models and all that. And I was director then, and I thought, wow, what a great way to practice family medicine. And I wanted to be involved from the start and in the development of that and to know how it was gonna work and try to bring it to our clinic. It didn't quite work out then, but it's working out now. But then from there, moved on to the the the board of the NBMS and and yeah, now president.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Well, you're the the perfect proof that medicine can be practiced outside of like the four walls of a clinic, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

That's kind of what we're doing right now. We're advocating and educating people and hopefully encouraging other doctors to kind of think outside the box where they can influence population health, way beyond the walls of that clinic. Yeah. You were my boss, I was your intern. I think that being surrounded by people kind of on that same vibe, on that same path, can absolutely have an impact on one's trajectory. And obviously, I I loved doing my training with you and Dr. La Madre, and I manifested interest of wanting to teach and supervise interns very, very soon. Yeah. So we've been working together for 20 years. At some point, we had a conversation. I don't know if you remember, we were uh probably in front of the wall, like the water cooler, and we started just talking about lifestyle and exercise, and I think we kind of just fell on nutrition.

Discovering Plant-Based Nutrition Through Running

SPEAKER_00 4:53

And I discovered that day that you were an advocate for like a plant-predominant diet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

And you were as well.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

I am a yeah. And we didn't have a lot of people. My podcast is the Dr. Dr. Jules plant-based podcast. It's funny because we didn't know that about each other until that conversation, and that led us on a weird journey of talking about lifestyle medicine, and we'll go back to lifestyle medicine and how it we can integrate it into family practice after. But I just want to know kind of what's that journey for you? How did you discover plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine? Because you're kind of the one who's who who were was there first. You kind of did it first, and I kind of followed suit after that.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Yeah. So it's kind of a weird journey for me. I I I've been, well, I've been a runner for 25 years, and I've trained for half marathons, I've I've trained for for marathons, and it it's kind of a fluke, because I was on Pinterest one day and I fell on this thing like podcasts, like good podcast for for runners to listen while you're running, right? And I I fell on this podcast that we both we we both follow, uh, the ritual podcast. And he was a runner, well, he was an endurance athlete, and and he was he was plant-based. And he had written a book, and I read the book. And then I'm like that. Yeah, finding ultra. I'm like that. When I get into something, there must be a book about it somewhere, and I'll read the book. And and I found that really interesting how in his case, becoming plant-based helped a lot in like his recovery and training. And before, like when I I used to do long runs on on Sundays and on Mondays, I was a wreck. And then I'd I'd be able to do my run on Tuesday and then the rest of the week, but then it was it would all start. So like the harder runs were harder for me to recuperate from. So I thought, well, why not give it a try, right? So I transitioned quite fast. I gave up, I gave up meat like overnight, and not not long after I gave up dairy. And the one thing that that really impacted the like my journey is is the fact that I my my recuperation was like unreal. Like that I could go for another run the next day and and be fine. So so with the training, it it was really it made a big difference. And just overall, like just feeling feeling better.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Like well, you introduced that podcast to me, and I still l I listened to it driving here this morning. The latest podcast is about breath work and breathing. So it's super interesting. And I second that. I think that with the first benefits that I saw within a few months of transitioning was absolutely recovery after workouts, right? Not being as sore, being able to push harder for longer. And it just makes sense. I mean, exercise is highly inflammatory. So if you have a diet that's kind of filled with anti-inflammatory compounds, it's just gonna kind of douse that fire quicker. What what what was you're probably intense like me in a in a way where you say that you just kind of made that decision and you transitioned.

Real-Life Barriers And Simple Tips

SPEAKER_00 7:58

What were barriers along the way? How do you navigate that in real life with family at Christmas and on vacations? And any tips for kind of people who are contemplating because most people who listen to this podcast are kind of plank curious. Some of them are farther along the spectrum, but I mean most people are interested in plant-based diets.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

So, for one, I don't think I I'm as intense as you. I will have the occasional, I will have the occasional milk chocolate. And and I'm okay with that. I agree. And that's that's the angle I I take with my patients. Like it I I see it as a spectrum, like you you can be a carnivore or you can be a hundred percent plant-based. And and if you if you head towards eating more plants, that's gonna make you healthier. So I that's what I I advocate with my patients. Like just just eat more plants. Just add something. And it it crowds out the the the that the other stuff. So for me, it it wasn't very hard. I I had I I love to cook. I I I love to discover new recipes. So and and I have like I don't know how many plant-based uh recipe books. Yeah. And so so and I love discovering new things and trying new things. So so it that part wasn't hard for me. The family was a little bit more difficult at first. My kids are older now, but in the beginning, when I became plant-based, they were they were young enough that I had to make their meals. So so for a while there, and I'm not gonna impose this on on anybody. They were young enough that I was making their meals, but they were old enough to decide what they wanted to eat. So so I I was for a while there making two meals just to make sure that they were they were they were eating properly. Husband took a little bit of longer to to go plant base, but now he's he's he's kind of jumped on board. Jumped on board, yeah. With some exceptions, but he's he's got a pretty good diet. And and fan like extended family can make it hard. And I've told everybody, don't I'm not expecting you to make anything special for me if you're inviting me for supper or whatever, because I want them to invite me, even though we did the same, yeah. But I uh every time I show up somewhere, I'll have some kind of a meal that I I love to share with others as well so that they can have a taste.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Yeah, that's so cool. I've had the same, I mean, my kids are 1113, so there's that like a social pressure towards like different types of foods. They eat like we eat when they're at home, they eat like everyone else eats when they're out of the home. So I agree that that's kind of always tricky to navigate. Well, that's so cool. I didn't know about the the whole recovery part, and I and I agree fully with you that I tell my patients you don't need to run marathons to be fit and healthy, uh, and you don't need to be 100% plant-based. It's about focusing on what you're adding to your plate. Like you said, it'll crowd out the less healthy foods. And I mean, we need to be scientific about it, right? The benefits are there in a dose-dependent way. Statistically, about 60% of daily calories are coming from ultra-processed foods, 30% are coming from animal products, 5 to 10% are coming from whole plants. So that 5 to 10%, anything more, is beneficial, right? It doesn't need to be 100%. And for a lot of people, going full plant-based will actually cause like a lot of friction with their lives. And unfortunately, when you kind of go online, piece our patients, they have very contradictory information and everything is in extremes and polarized. So it's kind of actually not useful at all to have that extreme view when it comes to nutrition, because that's not being scientific, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Yeah, yeah, and and I think with with with our patients, I think the important thing is, yeah, eat more plants, so so more vegetables, more fruits. Take out some of the animal food, but the the ultra-processed food is is one of the biggest things as well. So so by by eating more whole grains, whole fruit, whole vegetables, and and crowding out that ultra-processed, that is that is gonna be huge in their health. And they're gonna see a difference.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

We kind of got well, the Canadian government did a huge favor in 2019 when they kind of revabbed the food guide. So they updated their food guidelines where half of the plate is fruits and veggies, 25% is whole grains, 25% is a protein food group. So they basically said a plant-predominant pattern where you're minimizing ultra-processed foods and animal products. And if you're adding high-protein foods, try to emphasize and focus on getting more kind of plant protein. Yep. So in your life, you've not died from protein deficiency while running marathons and never. Never. Never felt sick from it either.

Lifestyle Medicine In Busy Family Practice

SPEAKER_00 12:55

And plant predominant nutrition is one of the six pillars of lifestyle medicine. Lifestyle medicine is a medical specialty that's been around for over 20 years. A whole bunch of doctors where we work have not now done the board review course. How do you integrate lifestyle medicine in your daily practice? Is that something you talk to patients about? And just kind of how do you fit these like recommendations in a 20-minute appointment where we need to manage like medical conditions that are active, and sometimes like prevention, chronic disease management always falls like on the back burner.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Yeah, so so it is a big challenge, but the advantage that we do have in family medicine is the longitudinal care. So these patients we're seeing on a regular basis. We don't have to attack every aspect of lifestyle medicine at every appointment. So so you you can pick and choose, and which one do you take do you think is gonna have the biggest impact on the patient? And which one is is the more accessible as well? Because I mean I saw a patient y yesterday that that she she categorically told me, don't talk to me about my cigarettes. So obviously I'm not gonna go there that day. So so but but she was willing to talk about her her diet. So we went there that day. So so it is a challenge because we we don't have a lot of time, but I think you you just have to be strategic about how you go about doing it.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah, and and a lot of studies show that even three to four minute interventions, when they're tailored to where your patient wants to intervene, they can accumulate over time, right? And can make like real sustainable change. So I totally agree with that. Obviously, lifestyle medicine is one of my big passions. I've been advocating for that for a long time. How do you see lifestyle medicine as a whole being integrated into like not only medical recommendations, but also like we're working at a teaching clinic into like the future curriculums of future interns? Is that something you think we should prioritize? Is that something that you think that the time is now?

SPEAKER_02 15:04

I I think we've come a long way from when we were in medical school, me especially. You're you're you're you're a bit younger, but even what we when we were teaching at the undergrad level and we were teaching lifestyle, and that was like, oh my god, such a big deal, because we had never had that when in our in our teaching. So so already there was that. I think integrating lifestyle medicine in our family medicine residency program is huge. When I was program director, they had started that program at University Laval with their family medicine teaching program. And and when I saw that, I thought, oh my god, we we we we have to bring that here. Then COVID.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah, then COVID.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Then COVID happened, and and that was kind of put on the the the back burner. So I was I was so happy that you were gonna like you you've built this interest in this and that it's it's it's it's happening, it's gonna happen next year with with our residents. And and I think it is important. And it I I don't think we're looking to have family medicines, family physicians that are only doing lifestyle medicine. It has to be integrated in everything else that we do. And I've had a big interest in it as well, and and I've done I've done a coach or part of a coaching, wellness coaching uh certificate. I integrate that, I try to integrate it in in my everyday practice because I think it is essential. And we we can't treat patients if we're not treating the lifestyle, if we're not talking about lifestyle. It's the it it's it's it's like all of our chronic diseases.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

The vast majority of visits at the primary care physician's office are chronic disease related, which are directly related to the daily choices we make every single day, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Yeah, and even those that aren't directly related are influenced by lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Oh, I cleaned it.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

So so it's always important.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Yeah. The way you eat influence influences the way you sleep, which influences the probability that you're gonna work out the next day or move your body, and if you work out, you sleep better, and everything influences everything, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

In family medicine, we have a very special relationship with our patients, right? We've I've been a doctor for 20 years, you've been for a few years more. But moral of the stories, we maybe don't have that much time at every single appointment, but we have that follow-up, right? Yeah. So I think that just recognizing that like we're we feel competent in a kind of expert role where we a patient comes in with a pain, we diagnose them, we treat them, they get better, we feel better, they feel better, everyone's happy, right? Whereas lifestyle medicine is that that changing towards a coach approach, where the language of change always kind of bleeds into your recommendations, and it doesn't need to be we're gonna talk about changing something. It's just having a culture of change where your patients know right off the bat that if they talk about blood pressure, about cholesterol, or about diabetes, you're always gonna have that recommendation that maybe there are things that we can do to possibly avoid medications. Yes. But I agree that some people have this polarized view where it doesn't need to be one or the other. Lifestyle medicine can absolutely be integrated and must be, I think must be integrated into modern medical care. But that takes time to convince people. We're lucky. I mean, we're 18 doctors, I think 14 signed up for the board certification course, six people got board certified, and there are gonna be nine of us who are teaching. And I just want to make sure that you know that we've had a conversation years past about the sparkle in your eye when you went to your first American College of Lifestyle Medicine conference. You spoke that that was on my radar for years. So just that conversation definitely had a huge impact on why I decided to go that route. Now, do you have any tips on just people who want to try to transition towards a plant-predominant diet? Kind of tips for the general public or people that are curious or even tips for doctors that are that want to try to include some kind of lifestyle medicine practice in their in their life.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

So I think with regards to the the plant-based diet, I think try what is it's what I tell my patients. Like tell yourself once a week you're gonna try some kind of plant-based recipe, and every week it's a new thing. Discover new foods, integrate it in your diet, make make note of what you liked. Go like even in in restaurants now. We we've talked about this often. Like it would at the at the start when we were plant-based, it was so hard to have like a good meal in a restaurant when you want when you're plant-based. Now a lot of the restaurants will have plant-based choices, and and and it's easy to give some something new a try. Like you've never tried tofu, try it at the restaurant if that's it makes it easier for you, and then discover new recipes to try it at home. So so so I think try try new things. When it comes to to exercise, I mean people think that if they they they start an exercise program, they have to go to the gym or they have to train for some kind of race or go for a walk. And and it and even I'd go further than that. It's not about the exercise, it's about the movement. So every chance you get during the day to walk for five minutes, do that. Take the stairs, park far away. I we we see this all the time, but it actually does make a difference when you do that consistently and you just look at your whole day and you've accumulated how many minutes of of walking or or or moving. So so moving is important.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

A lot of people they think that if you don't have 45 minutes to work out, they only have 20, that it's not worth it. But the the American College of Sports Medicine officially remove the minimum of 10 minute recommendation so that just to show that the data shows that any movement is beneficial, regardless if it's two minutes, four times a day, that will accumulate accumulate. Uh, we've seen like data on just being sedentary and sitting, that that increases all cause mortality. So things like sitting desk or just kind of walking around when you're talking on the phone, it doesn't need to be a strict routine in the gym. Yeah. And I really honestly also think that as healthcare providers, when you kind of walk to walk and talk to talk, that rubs off on your patients. I don't know if you've you have any success stories of patients that you've kind of coached or taken care of that have. Change your lifestyle and either improve, reduce medication, or even reverse some diseases?

SPEAKER_02 22:05

I absolutely. And I think a lot of them know that I'm plant-based. I don't necessarily I don't tell all my patients that that that I am. I will occasionally like if if they they've got more questions, I'll use some examples from my own life, so then I'll I'll share with them that I am. A lot of them know that I'm a runner, a lot of them know that I've done some races, and and it does influence what they're gonna do about their health. I think we are role models for for our patients, and and I think we have to be always conscious of that. And and not like nobody's perfect, so so I mean, but but yeah, and and I do have patients that have have have done have made changes in their in their lifestyle and have seen success and have improved their health. So yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

When I was doing my aboard certification course, one of the things that popped out was that there was this paragraph that said doctors should have a moral and ethical obligation to practice lifestyle medicine as a way of promoting that behavior for their patients, right? And obviously, I think that I mean, if you look at your resume, I mean, I was you've worked at the diabetes clinic, you've taught medicine, you've taught to students, to interns, you've had multiple roles in and out of the clinic. I think wellness and kind of a lifestyle prioritizing lifestyle wellness and good habits is part of kind of going building resilience and going through the stress that I think a doctor goes through. So I think is kind of we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to our patients to have healthy lifestyles, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Absolutely. And it goes further than just moving and and eating like a a healthy diet. I mean, sleep, you mentioned sleep, stress management, avoiding toxins and all that. Like the the the what we see in lifestyle medicine, but like even the the the everything around mental health, we didn't talk about that, but the the impact that a healthy lifestyle has on mental health is huge. Absolutely and there are studies that show that that exercising it helps with anxiety and it helps with depression. And and and there's a lot of studies ongoing about a healthy diet with regards to mental health as well. And and that's that's those studies are are and those that research is coming out, and it's gonna be interesting to see what's gonna come of that because it it does make a difference with mental health as well.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

I mean, we prioritize healthy patients, but I also know that you need to have healthy doctors, right? And we need to promote that health and wellness culture, that mindset in our future doctors. So I think that that's where we have a very privileged position of a lot of the Francophone doctors will come right through our doors. Yeah. So we need to be role models, not just to our patients, but to our future students. And we're in a chronic disease epidemic. I think that the the since the pandemic, we've really noticed that our focus went from infectious diseases to chronic diseases. And I think the I really think the population is kind of asking for it as well. I mean, I think that our healthcare system is strained. Yeah, we need to find another way. And I said about a year ago at a meeting with all of our doctors if we don't do it, who will, right? We train the vast majority of Francophone doctors, so if the family medicine unit doesn't shift to try to integrate lifestyle medicine into our teaching, it's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

It's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

It's not, they're not. I mean, some may do it themselves, but what I've noticed is that that new generation, I've been approached by half a dozen interns that are like, we're on board. Your lifestyle medicine program that starts in July, we're on board. We're gonna uh to register and we're gonna be champions and we're gonna promote that and see how we can integrate it right off the bat. So I think that instead of having 20 years experience and then transitioning into uh lifestyle medicine integration, having it right like right off the bat in your your training will probably change the way doctors practice. And I think that one doctor can change a few patients. Yeah, but if you can change a lot of doctors, that may have ripple effect.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

And and I think that the new generation of doctors is gonna be better equipped to to do or to practice this type of medicine.

Doctor Wellness And Burnout Culture

SPEAKER_02 26:53

I remember when I was studying medicine, like all we did was study. And went we went to our classes, we went home, we studied, we went back to our classes, we were on call, we it it was all we had. And and when we started practicing, it was the same thing. Like you would work how many hours a week? 80 hours a week. That wasn't healthy. No, no, no, no. So there was no way you could set a good example with your patients or with your students. But now I find that the new, like the this, the the new curriculum with with our our program with the University Chabrou, like the it is important for for for our our students to have uh balance in their life. It's not always gonna be perfect. And and I remember at one point I I had given a speech to one of a group of students, and it was about professionalism. And I I it chosen to talk about how how important it was for them to keep balance in their life, that it wasn't all about studying, and that it was like there was something, there was a life outside of medicine that you needed to pay attention to so that your life in medicine would be a happy life. And when I gave that speech, I remember I was at a particularly good time in my life where I felt I had balance in my life, like every things were going well. And I think I've got this. Not long after it went to hell. And and well, just just just well, there was there was COVID at one point, and like life does become unbalanced.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Yeah, curve balls.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

And and there's nothing you can do about that. And and I think attitude when that happens is primordial. I I mean you have to just accept, okay, this is the way it is for right now. How do I get through this? And and then at some point you get to a better place. But life is is like that. But you have to be you have to have some kind of resilience to be able to get through the hard stuff.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

And you can practice that and build that resilience, right? Yeah, yeah. I remember you were taking me back to 2012, 2014 when I was probably the first one to complain that our new interns are always lazy and they're they don't they complain about working 90 hours per week. I mean, that was so toxic, right? And I remember being that doctor uh between 2012 and 2014. I was clocking in 60 to 70 hour weeks like that was a good week. And I remember one of I remember this specific conversation with my wife where I'm like, hey, Mel, I worked 96 hours this week like it was a badge of honor. Like I was, like I was I was proud, something to be proud of. I should get a medal. I'm a doctor who sacrifices his own mental health and physical health and sleep and so that other patients can thrive. And then I had we had our second child, the Cassie, and at that point I was working 60, 70 hours per week, teaching La Fosse Multidisciplinar, the multidisciplinary unit to students. I was still training and working out because that's something I always prioritized. But I remember it was like 10 or 11 p.m. And I was like, I I think I'm burned out. I think I'm going through a burnout. And I mean, we we joked about calling it a burn-in because we never took time off. No. I mean, and in 2014, that's when I hit a wall and I and I and I realized that that culture is probably doing doctors more harm than I mean, how can you take care of other people when you're and I remember I mean, I remember seeing patients and behaving like I think that I'm sicker than you right now.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

I had that experience too, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you're like working with a fever and you're giving papers uh for time off to people that have colds, and it was just like uh kind of at some point we need to we also need to look ourselves in the mirror, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:51

I think most of us have hit that wall at some point. I hit the wall during during the the pandemic. I uh with with the teaching program and and my patients and everything. I I I that's when I decided that I was gonna finish my mandate and not continue, because I I I had hit that wall and I needed to prioritize my health at that time. And and I still had that responsibility to my patients, and and I and I always do, and and that's why we don't take time off.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

I mean, we we do feel like what's gonna happen to our patients if we're not there. I we do have a great team where we work at our clinic and we do we do help each other out. But you don't want to put pressure on your colleagues, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Exactly. That's part of the culture. We've come a long way. We've added like physician stress management courses to our interns. We're not having a full pillar of stress management, like a full month's worth of courses for our interns to kind of deal with physician-related stress. We're hoping to change that, kind of change that that mindset that people have that you need to work hard and being a doctor is you can be proud that you worked uh two 24-hour shifts and not slept. Yes. And that brings me to to in and I'm gonna transition to French in one little second.

What The Medical Society Actually Does

SPEAKER_00 32:11

So, what I'd like we're talking about patient health, talking about making sure is that doctors are healthy, and health can exist on three different levels. We can have the individual level, we can have the community level, our clinics, our our help like the one we work in together, or even at a policy level. So we'll pass on France. We have the santy of the individual, we have the santy of the medicine. We accept that malgré on a bonus, we are in a system, we feel the author. L'Association médicale canadience recently an article passed 9 million on the paperwork. I think it's 20 million, it's 9 million doctors full-time that's what we're gonna have to liberate if we redirect. I think the New Brunswick Medical Society, the Association Medical Brunswick, that you present is for the santy of citoyen, but also for the santy of medicine. I'm gonna tell a bit of what many people what is your mission, what is your role, and what many people are advocating, to push for a sort of frankly a loaded question, okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

Because the objectives of the society medical objectives to South I've impliqued a nice society medical, a nice consequence of administration, devenir president. I thought about system of santy. I think. The system is there for me back. It's like if I have a rayon X and I want to have a rayon X, it's not in the interest of patients. I have the impression that we are constantly in a battle to have what our patients have to be. They commence their career in a system of santy. I don't imagine that they will be in a system that will ameliorate. Because I don't know if they are in their career if it continues like it's the things that the society medical feels three objectives. They're sure they are to represent the medicine when it is to negotiate with the government. For me, for a system of sant on santy, it's a number sufficient of medicine, we're capable of recruiting, capable of retenues. On n'aime pas parler d'argent when they are médecin, but it's the reality of the chance. If we don't have to attire, il faut qu'ils soient payés aussi bien qu'ils areenent payés en Nouvelle-Écosse or.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

I think it's clear that when 10-15 answer, person is there for the argument. They are passionate about the game.

SPEAKER_02 36:34

Fait que c'est one of the things that the society medical feeling oriented via a system of santos on santy. Fait we have parallel of the santy of the medicine, the santy mentality, the santy physics. There are programs in the society to aid the medicine who are in difficulty. There are programs to jumbling their medicine with their medicine family, because we have family. Because it's medically to organise a bureau, embroidery, payroll, these affairs.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

These gens are self-employed, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

On a temps, on the défaut, it's a good idea. Fait que the society médicale has an equipped partout of the province to the bureau of medicine to aid with these choses that they aim more to be. So, it's a new part that the society medical. After that, there's the party advocacy or plaidoyer for the community, it's what I passed probably. I'm sure this committee a name of the society medical, because it's that will drive. Because it's that I think we can make a difference for the society of the people in North Brunswick. We will say, like, the diabetes, the nutrition, the activity physics. I'd say to church to implicate, for these shows. But it's the society that will make that our system of santé will continue to ameliorating.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

Okay.

Advocacy Wins And Community Leadership

SPEAKER_00 39:28

So it's excellent.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

My role as president of the Association Medicare is a lot of parole. So, one that I'm content with that was passed during my presidency is the summit of the summer at St. Andrews the day. It's a theme almost, the habit of view, and the fact that we had success with this event, and that it was reading by noses. I was just here's a highlight.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

On may the past year, I was the host. I think it's that. See, the santy of the individual, the santy of the medicine, the santy of the community. What do you think about the medicine who will implicate? Because the medicine is pretty at the extent of the bureau. The manner that I am capable to agree is a nice individual, a nice community, educate my community to the media social, doing conferences in community. What do you think about impliquant? It's a genre of sales pitch for the gentleman who will push this plus load?

SPEAKER_02 41:37

I think it's part of what they are from médecins to have l'influence, to implice. But when I had jean, it was like I was implicated in the community. When I had a jean, it's implicated in the affairs that each other had.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

I'm not capable of the voyage. So it's very important for me to assure that person in the 8th day manage. So I decided that we're going to have a level of phone. Zara said Papa, Are you nervous? The example that I was doing is when you feel these shows difficult in your life, there's a child that is difficult. The example that I'm doing is my conjoint au champion du monde of the Ninja Warrior. I'm just fendu la face en avant comme a million personnes in an arena with design sur la television. I'm saying This meeting. Moi, ça m'a coûté un heure de mon temps. Il y a 260 personnes qui ont venu qui ont donné de l'argent, on a donné un chèque de 13 000 to the community. So je pense que cette passion-là pour aider la community, on fait juste la shifter at different projets à mesure qu'on change, qu'on evolue. Puis aussi, je suis sûr que si t'as couru un marathon, toi, que tu as courir à 5-15 kilomètres, it's difficult for toi. Just the main manner que t'as directrice of the program, T'as tellement différent chapeau that it feels presque like a natural to just all the presidency of the society medical. Because I think the medicine of mode of it does absolutely have a role in shifting the manner that our budget and our energy is prior to. Super, I'm very content.

Principles Of Family Medicine To Keep

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Um, have you anything that you would kind of enjoy from message to the community? Uh those final takeaways, final conseils for the medicine or patients?

SPEAKER_02 46:11

I think we have a lot of medicine of family because it's that we've got two. I think that we've been in the bad direction to have a system of santy, of so much primaires in particular, which will respond to the besides our community. The medicine of family I got the principles of the medicine family in tight. The College of Medicine Family Canada, right? The medicine of family we are clinicians competent. The medicine of family is community. It's part of the principles. It's of that we party depuis tantôt. The medicine family is a medicine family for a clientele defined. The relation of médecine and patients is central at all. Fait que I've just got these three principles on tight because I think how advancing the dossiers have a screenshot of my telephone of these three principles, because it's part of the discussions.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

The relation of medicine and patient is probably one of the efforts that I try the most important in these three piliers. Because the alliance therapeutic that you buy with your patient, there's a literature scientific that meant absolutely that it changes the outcomes. For having an alliance, for the patient could pose a question. I'm feeling like my doctor had the most intentions for me. I'm d'accord with you that I want to go to an X3 to have one. At the end of the journey, we navigues what we can to navigate the system with our patients. But I think it's low that it's a train that you're t'inspires and continue to kind of fuel your journey to aider the gentleman, aider the community, aider tes, aide for a meeting of the system of santy. J'ai pas de doute que ça fera partie of ta vie for to ta carrière.

SPEAKER_02 49:14

A cinquième principle is the collaboration. Because this would be essential. Alright, no clinique collaborative. It's sort of long enough that it's who we voulet, but less paste to find.

SPEAKER_00 49:51

One of the reasons I'm the medicine family at the UMF. For me, it's a role model for me. So I'll just say on the record. The community is chances to cherish my history with us.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

Everyone, go check out my website, plantbasedrjouels.com, to find free downloadable resources. And remember that you can find me on Facebook and Instagram at Dr. Jewels Cormier and on YouTube at PlantBased Doctor Jewels.