John La Puma
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John J. La Puma is an Italian-American internist, chef, and
author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
.


Early life and education

La Puma was born in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
around 1960–1961, one of six children. His family relocated to
Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...
in 1967, where La Puma attended elementary school through San Marcos High School. He enrolled at the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
's
College of Creative Studies The College of Creative Studies is the smallest of the three undergraduate colleges at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and philosophy. Its small size, studen ...
and received a B.A. in Creative Studies, Biology in 1978. He earned his MD from Baylor College of Medicine in 1982. He trained in internal medicine at UCLA's West Los Angeles VA. He completed the first U.S. postgraduate fellowship for physicians in
clinical ethics Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict. T ...
and general internal medicine at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, became a Clinical Associate Professor there and founded the Lutheran General Center for Clinical Ethics, pioneering hospital clinical ethics consultation in the U.S. He later graduated (in Professional Cooking) from the
Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago (formerly known as ''The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago'') was founded in 1983, and closed in September 2017. The school was accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and was loca ...
, part of
Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (French for " The Blue Ribbon") is an international network of hospitality and culinary schools teaching French ''haute cuisine''. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The instituti ...
, received a Permaculture Design Certificate from Santa Barbara City College's program and a Professional Naturalist certificate from the University of California.


Career

La Puma taught in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
at
Kendall College Kendall College at National Louis University is a private college which is part of National Louis University (NLU) in Chicago, Illinois, specializing in culinary arts and hospitality management. Kendall is accredited by the Higher Learning Commi ...
as a professor of nutrition. While serving as a professor and practicing medicine, he also cooked with chef
Rick Bayless Rick Bayless (born November 23, 1953) is an American chef and restaurateur who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine with modern interpretations. He is widely known for his PBS series '' Mexico: One Plate at a Time''. Among his various acco ...
at
Frontera Grill Frontera Grill is a Mexican restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. It is owned by Rick Bayless. It opened on March 21, 1987, at 445 N. Clark Street in Chicago's River North neighborhood and was Bayless' first restaurant. In 2011, the ''Chicago Sun-Ti ...
and Topolobampo in Chicago weekly for four years. La Puma would later found CHEF Clinic, the Cooking, Healthy Eating and Fitness program to prevent and treat obesity, maintain weight loss and measurably promote wellness. He is co-founder o
ChefMDR
a health and media company, and founder o
CHEF ClinicR
GlutenFreeQuiz for
celiac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine, where individuals develop intolerance to gluten, present in foods such as wheat, rye and barl ...
screening an
Do You Need More Nature?
for
nature deficit disorder Nature-deficit disorder is the idea that human beings, especially children, are spending less time outdoors than they have in the past, and the belief that this change results in a wide range of behavioral problems. This disorder is not recognize ...
. The first physician to teach cooking and nutrition in a U.S. medical school, he has authored over 250 original publications, book chapters, abstracts and books. His research interests include weight control, nature deficit disorder, food as medicine, employee wellness, stress management and medical ethics. Hi
first book
for the general public, written with Dr. Michael Roizen, ''The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself Younger with What You Eat'' (April 2001) reached The
New York Times Bestseller List ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
. His cookbook is ''Cooking the RealAge Way'' (May 2003), co-authored with Dr. Roizen. Dr. La Puma contributed recipes to The New York Times Bestseller ''YOU: The Owner’s Manual'' (May 2005), co-authored by Drs. Roizen and Mehmet Oz. His ''ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine'' (April 2008) reached The
New York Times Bestseller List ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
in October 2008. In it, La Puma describes the new field of culinary medicine (the art of cooking integrated with the science of medicine), taught in 22 U.S. medical schools by 201

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26937315], and its application to 40 common health conditions. He next wrote ''Refuel: A 24 Day Eating Plan'' (January 2014) to help men learn how food works in their bodies and how to boost low testosterone without medication. He gav
TEDx
an
TEDMED
talks (in 2011 and 2014, respectively) on culinary medicine and in 2019 recorde
GreenRx
a mini docuseries on
nature therapy Nature therapy, sometimes referred to as ecotherapy, forest therapy, forest bathing, grounding, earthing, Shinrin-Yoku or Sami Lok, is a practice that describes a broad group of techniques or treatments to use nature to improve mental or physica ...
for anxiety, addiction and well-being. H
lectured at
Harvard University on ''The Scientific Basis for Nature as Medicine'' in 2019, and cites work on his organic regenerative farm as illustrative of the preventive and therapeutic potential of nature-based medicine, identifying nature experience as an essentia
prescription


Personal life

La Puma resides in
Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...
.


Television shows

*''A GreenRx with Dr John La Puma: Nature Heals'' on YouTube, 2019 *''Eat and Cook Healthy with Dr John La Puma!'' on PBS, a quarterly PBS Special, 2011-2014 *''ChefMD Shorts with Dr John La Puma!'' on
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
, national carriage, 2014-2017 *''What’s Cookin’ With ChefMD''? on
Lifetime Television Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...
's Health Corner Series, 2006-2010 *Guest appearances on The Dr. Oz Show, ''
The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...
'', ''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'', ''
The 700 Club ''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, con ...
'', 2008-


Published works

*''Refuel: A 24-Day Eating Plan to Shed Fat, Boost Testosterone, and Pump Up Strength and Stamina'', by John La Puma, 2014, *''ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine: A Food Lover's Road Map to Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Getting Really Healthy'' by John La Puma, Rebecca Powell Marx *''YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger'', by Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet Oz, 2005, (recipes) *''Cooking the RealAge Way: Turn Back Your Biological Clock with More Than 80 Delicious and Easy Recipes'' by Michael F. Roizen, John La Puma, 2003, *''The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself Younger with What You Eat'' by Michael F. Roizen, John La Puma, 2001, *''Managed Care Ethics: Essays on the Impact of Managed Care on Traditional Medical Ethics'' John La Puma, 1998, *''Ethics Consultation: A Practical Guide'' by John La Puma, David Schiedermayer, 1994, *Numerous contributions to ''The New England Journal of Medicine'', ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'', ''The Annals of Internal Medicine'', ''JillianMichaels.com'', ''Intent.com'', ''Guideposts'', ''Tribune Media Syndicate''


References


External links

* *
Cottage Health biography

WebMD biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Puma, John Living people American health and wellness writers American nutritionists Writers from Santa Barbara, California American chefs American male chefs University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Baylor College of Medicine alumni American male non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people) San Marcos High School (Santa Barbara, California) alumni