NHA Today Podcast

Better health doesn't require waiting for the perfect time or changing everything overnight. Sometimes it starts with one better choice today.

In this episode of the NHA Today Podcast, Dr. Stephan Esser talks with board-certified family and lifestyle medicine physician Dr. Jeffrey Pierce about the power of small, consistent changes and how much influence our everyday habits can have on our long-term health.

Drawing on more than 18 years of experience in family medicine, Dr. Pierce shares how his approach to patient care evolved beyond simply managing chronic disease with medications to helping people address its underlying causes through lifestyle.

The conversation takes a closer look at fatty liver disease, a condition Dr. Pierce says affects an estimated one in three American adults. He explains why fat can accumulate in the liver, how the condition is often discovered and four lifestyle approaches that may help improve it, including healthy weight loss, a low-fat whole food, plant-based diet, regular movement and certain approaches to meal timing and fasting.

Dr. Esser and Dr. Pierce also discuss the growing interest in testosterone replacement, what the research says about potential benefits and risks and why nutrition, exercise, sleep and overall metabolic health deserve attention before looking for a quick fix.

Finally, Dr. Pierce shares one of his own favorite prescriptions for health: gardening. For him, growing food brings together movement, nutritious food and time to slow down and reconnect.

The message throughout the conversation is refreshingly simple: don't wait for the perfect day. Start with what you can do today and build from there.

• What Dr. Pierce learned about health and nutrition from practicing medicine in the U.S. and abroad
• Why lifestyle can have such a powerful influence on chronic disease
• What fatty liver disease is and why it deserves more attention
• Four lifestyle approaches that may help improve fatty liver
• What to consider before pursuing testosterone replacement
• How sleep and other lifestyle factors can affect hormonal health
• Why small changes can be more sustainable than waiting to make one dramatic transformation
• How gardening can support physical, nutritional and emotional well-being

Book an appointment with Dr. Pierce through Lifestyle Telemedicine:
https://lifestyletelemedicine.com/find-your-doctor/jeffrey-pierce/

Follow Dr. Pierce on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/drjeffpierce/

Join the National Health Association:
https://membership.healthscience.org/join-membership?

Learn more about the NHA:
https://healthscience.org

Explore upcoming NHA events:
https://healthscience.org/events/

If this conversation inspired you, follow the NHA Today Podcast, leave a review and share this episode with someone who might be waiting for the "perfect" time to make a healthy change. Sometimes the best time to begin is simply today.

Plant-Based Travel: Safari Adventures, Incredible Food and the Trip of a Lifetime

Explore the world without leaving your healthy lifestyle behind. In this episode of NHA Today, Dr. Stephan Esser sits down with Wanda Huberman of the National Health Association and Brighde Reed of World Vegan Travel to explore the NHA’s upcoming whole-food, plant-based travel adventures.

From getting remarkably close to lions, elephants, hippos and giraffes on safari in Botswana to trekking to see mountain gorillas and chimpanzees in Rwanda, Wanda and Brighde share what makes these trips unforgettable. They also reveal what travelers can expect from the food, including abundant whole-food, plant-based, SOS-free meals, and why these small-group adventures can be a great option even for solo travelers.

Plus, hear what’s ahead for NHA Plant-Based Travel, including upcoming adventures in Botswana, Rwanda, France and Tuscany.

NHA Plant-Based Travel: https://www.healthscience.org/plant-based-travel/
Follow Dr. Esser on Instagram: @esserhealth
NHA Today on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nationalhealthassociation

What does it really take to create lasting health?

In this episode of the NHA Today Podcast, Dr. Stephan Esser sits down with longtime educator, researcher and lifestyle medicine pioneer Dr. Frank Sabatino for a thoughtful conversation about the principles that support lifelong health.

Together, they explore why lasting wellness is about far more than calories or willpower. Dr. Sabatino shares his compassionate approach to weight management, the importance of whole food, plant-based nutrition and how factors like sleep, stress, purpose, community and self-compassion all work together to influence our health.

Whether you're just beginning your health journey or looking to strengthen the habits you've already built, this conversation offers practical wisdom and timeless principles to help you create a healthier, more meaningful life.

• Why lasting health is about more than diet alone
• The difference between weight loss and true health
• How whole food, plant-based nutrition supports long-term wellness
• The role of stress, sleep and movement in healthy living
• Why community and purpose matter for lasting behavior change
• How self-compassion can transform your health journey
• Practical advice for building sustainable lifestyle habits

🌿 Balance for Life Florida Retreats with Dr. Frank Sabatino
https://HealthfulLivingOceanRetreat.com

🌿 Join the National Health Association
https://membership.healthscience.org/join-membership?

🌿 National Health Association
https://healthscience.org

🌿 Upcoming NHA Events
https://healthscience.org/events/

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the NHA Today Podcast, leave a review and share it with someone who is looking to build a healthier life through evidence-based lifestyle medicine.

Type 2 diabetes has become one of the most common chronic diseases in the world, but research continues to show that lifestyle can play a powerful role in preventing and even reversing the disease.

In this solo episode of the NHA Today Podcast, Dr. Stephan Esser explores the science behind insulin resistance and shares five evidence-based lifestyle strategies that have been shown to dramatically reduce diabetes risk and improve blood sugar control. You'll learn why excess body fat, inflammation, nutrition and physical activity all play critical roles in metabolic health, and how small daily changes can lead to meaningful long-term results.

🌿 Join the National Health Association: https://membership.healthscience.org/join-membership?
🌿 Learn More: https://healthscience.org
🌿 Upcoming Events: https://healthscience.org/events/

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the NHA Today Podcast, leave a review and share it with a friend or family member. Your support helps us continue bringing evidence-based education on nutrition, lifestyle medicine and true health to people around the world.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death, but what if we stopped waiting for symptoms and started preventing it decades earlier?

In this episode of the NHA Today Podcast, Dr. Stephan Esser sits down with renowned cardiologist Dr. Joel Kahn to explore how the future of heart disease prevention is shifting from reacting to illness to identifying risk early through advanced testing, lifestyle medicine and personalized care.

Dr. Kahn shares why a normal cholesterol panel doesn't always tell the whole story, the role of genetics and inflammation in heart disease, and why prevention begins long before a heart attack. He also discusses how nutrition, sleep, exercise and stress management work together to protect long-term heart health.

Whether you're looking to reduce your risk, better understand your heart health or simply stay healthy for years to come, this conversation offers practical, science-based insights you can start applying today.

• Why heart disease often develops silently for years before symptoms appear
• How advanced testing can identify risk long before a heart attack
• Why cholesterol is only one piece of the heart health puzzle
• The importance of inflammation, genetics and lipoprotein(a)
• How sleep quality impacts cardiovascular health
• The role of a whole food, plant-based lifestyle in preventing heart disease
• Why early prevention is one of the most powerful tools for lifelong heart health
• How modern medicine is helping personalize heart disease prevention

Guest: Dr. Joel Kahn
Host: Dr. Stephan Esser

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the NHA Today Podcast and share it with someone who wants to take a proactive approach to protecting their heart.

What happens when the worst moment of your health journey becomes the foundation of your life's purpose?

For Anthony Masiello, it started with a letter that told him his body was a bad bet. It ended with an organization helping thousands of people transform their health.

In this episode of NHA Today, Dr. Stephan Esser sits down with Anthony Masiello, founder of Lifestyle Telemedicine, former NIH and Novartis healthcare tech executive, and a man who lost 160 pounds over 20 months through lifestyle medicine alone, for one of the most inspiring personal transformation conversations the show has had.

Anthony's story is remarkable not just for the weight he lost but for who he became on the other side. From introvert to extrovert. From fear-driven to purpose-driven. From a data scientist who helped build systems that managed disease to a founder whose organization is helping thousands of people escape it altogether.

In this conversation you will learn:

• The moment a life insurance denial became the turning point that saved his life
• How he switched from trying to lose weight to trying to get health and why that changed everything
• How he lost 35 pounds in his first 8 weeks and 160 pounds over 20 months
• What G-BOMBS are and how they became the foundation of his recovery
• How his doctor took him off blood pressure medication before he finished losing the weight
• What it feels like to break through limitations you had accepted as permanent
• How health transformed his confidence, his identity, and his sense of purpose
• Why he stopped comparing himself to others and only compares himself to his worst
• What Lifestyle Telemedicine does and how it is making lifestyle medicine accessible
• Why every time someone searches for how to get healthy they are casting a vote for change

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ABOUT ANTHONY MASIELLO

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Anthony Masiello is the founder of Lifestyle Telemedicine, a healthcare organization making lifestyle medicine accessible nationwide through telemedicine. A former NIH human genome project researcher and Novartis Pharmaceuticals technology executive, Anthony lost 160 pounds through lifestyle medicine in 2006 after being denied a life insurance policy at 33. He has since run marathons, hiked mountains, and built an organization dedicated to helping others do the same.

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LINKS AND RESOURCES

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Full episode and show notes:

NHA Today on YouTube

Subscribe

Lifestyle Telemedicine: https://lifestyletelemedicine.com

Lifestyle Telemedicine on Instagram

Anthony Masiello on LinkedIn

Follow Dr. Esser on Instagram

On January 2nd, 2018, Christa Barfield read an email from her boss, sent back a resignation reply, and gave three weeks notice. Three weeks later she was on a plane to Martinique, alone, for the first time out of the country - turning 30 and looking for what came next. What she found was a family of Black farmers running a CSA. She had never farmed before. She has not stopped since.

In this episode of NHA Today, Dr. Stephan Esser sits down with Christa Barfield, founder of Farmer Jawn, a 128-acre regenerative organic farm operation across three Pennsylvania counties, that has grown from 10 CSA families to a 100-person waitlist, two retail farm stores, and a new food-is-medicine corner store concept launching in the most medically underserved neighborhood in Philadelphia.

Christa's work sits at the intersection of food access, food equity, health, and community. Her slogan: agriculture is the culture. Her mission: make the small farmer the center of the health system. Her next project: Corner Jawn.

In this conversation you will learn:

• The moment Christa quit her healthcare job, booked a solo trip to Martinique, and found farming
• What a CSA is and why the model works for urban food access
• What sustainability actually means and why it cannot exist without profitability
• Why Christa calls agriculture a communal sport and how community fills her back up
• The Corner Jawn concept: a food-is-medicine corner store in a Philadelphia food desert
• Why she charters a school bus every Saturday to bring city residents to her farm
• The ancestral connection she feels putting her hands in soil as a Black farmer
• What the Farmer Jawn formula is and why she is bringing it to the NHA Conference
• How to grow food even if all you have is a glass of water and some scallions

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LINKS AND RESOURCES

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Full episode and show notes:

NHA Today on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgXfvjZj34HbsD3-47eEC2kjBWeIvNhHl

Subscribe: https://www.healthscience.org/podcast/

NHA Conference recordings (catch Christa's talk): https://checkout.healthscience.org/2026-nha-conference

Farmer Jawn website: https://www.farmerjawn.co

Farmer Jawn on Instagram: @FarmerJawn_

Follow Dr. Esser on Instagram: @EsserHealth

In their mid-fifties, Jason and Deborah DeSalvo left suburban life behind, bought a 43-acre farm in New Jersey, and started growing their own food. They also went completely WFPB SOS-free. Neither of them had ever farmed before.

In this episode of NHA Today, Dr. Stephan Esser sits down with Jason DeSalvo, co-owner of Cold Brook Farm - a regenerative certified organic farm in Western New Jersey whose grains have been selected by culinary luminary Dan Barber and served at Michelin-starred restaurants. Jason shares what six years of regenerative farming has taught him about soil, food, health, and the surprising truth about grains.

Jason and Deborah will be presenting Whole Grains: Myths vs. Reality at the NHA Annual Conference, June 25 to 28, 2026 - a full hour deep dive into the science and the story behind the grain they grow.

In this conversation you will learn:

• What regenerative farming actually means and how Jason took dead soil to 11% organic material in six years
• Why healthy soil produces more nutritious food and why you can taste the difference
• The truth about grains: why ancient and heirloom varieties are nothing like modern wheat
• Why hulless oats from a small farm taste completely different from what is in the store
• How grains at 13 to 14% protein challenge the where-do-you-get-your-protein question
• How Jason and Deb went WFPB SOS-free in their mid-fifties -- and what changed
• 3 to 4 tips for growing your own food even if you only have an apartment balcony
• Why nature is the seventh pillar of lifestyle medicine

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ABOUT JASON DESALVO

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Jason DeSalvo and his wife Deborah run Cold Brook Farm, a regenerative certified organic farm in Western New Jersey. Their grains have been selected by Dan Barber and served at Michelin starred restaurants. They converted to a WFPB SOS-free lifestyle in 2022 under the care of Dr. Ron Weiss of Ethos Primary Care and now manage nearly 120 acres of organically grown grains. They will be speaking on Whole Grains: Myths vs. Reality at the NHA Annual Conference, June 25 to 28, 2026.

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LINKS AND RESOURCES

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Full episode and show notes:

NHA Today on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgXfvjZj34HbsD3-47eEC2kjBWeIvNhHl

Subscribe: https://www.healthscience.org/podcast/

NHA Annual Conference (June 25 to 28, 2026): https://checkout.healthscience.org/2026-nha-conference

Cold Brook Farm website: https://www.coldbrookfarmnj.com

Cold Brook Farm on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coldbrookfarm/

Follow Dr. Esser on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esserhealth/

At 420 pounds, Chuck Carroll could barely walk across the street. Today he is one of the most recognized plant-based advocates in the country and host of one of the most popular health podcasts in the world. This is how he got there.

In this episode of NHA Today, Dr. Stephan Esser sits down with Chuck Carroll, host of The Exam Room podcast for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, weight loss champion, and NHA conference moderator, for an honest, warm, and practical conversation about plant-based weight loss, breaking through plateaus, the engineered addictiveness of fast food, and what it actually takes to never give up on yourself.

Chuck's personal story is remarkable. He lost over 200 pounds through diet and lifestyle change, walked 5 miles every lunch break in any weather, and has not been through a fast food drive-through in 16 years. But this episode is less about the number on the scale and more about the mindset, the systems, and the community that make transformation stick.

In this conversation you will learn:

• The 3 tangible tips for getting unstuck on your weight loss journey

• Why the scale not moving does not mean you are not getting healthier

• How sugar, fat, and salt are engineered to be as addictive as crack cocaine

• Why Chuck believes 95% of people can see results without any additional intervention

• How to build movement into your workday so you do not have to drag yourself to the gym

• What to pack for travel so you never have to compromise your eating on the road

• Chuck's 4 reasons for staying plant-based -- and the one he never expected

• Why people who give you a hard time about eating plants will eventually come around

• What Chuck is bringing to the NHA Annual Conference as panel moderator this June

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ABOUT CHUCK CARROLL

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Chuck Carroll is the host of The Exam Room podcast for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and one of the most recognized plant-based advocates in the country. Known as the Weight Loss Champion, a name given to him by NFL players who witnessed his transformation, Chuck lost over 200 pounds through plant-based nutrition and has spent the years since helping others do the same. He will be moderating panels at the NHA Annual Conference, June 25 to 28, 2026.

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LINKS AND RESOURCES

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Full episode and show notes:

NHA Today on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgXfvjZj34HbsD3-47eEC2kjBWeIvNhHl

Subscribe: https://www.healthscience.org/podcast/

NHA Annual Conference (June 25 to 28, 2026): https://checkout.healthscience.org/2026-nha-conference

Chuck's website: https://chuckcarroll.com

Follow Dr. Esser on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esserhealth/

Most people use moderation as a reason to keep doing what they are doing. Dr. Columbus Batiste says that is exactly the mindset that can have lasting health implications.

In this episode of NHA Today, Dr. Stephan Esser sits down with Dr. Columbus Batiste, board-certified interventional cardiologist, author, and co-founder of Healthy Heart Nation. Known as the Healthy Heart Doc, Dr. Batiste has spent his career doing what most cardiologists do not: asking patients not just what they eat, but what they eat for their health - and then building a plan around what they actually want.

His personal story is the backbone of this conversation. His father was health-conscious, ran a health food store, and juiced long before it was fashionable - but also loved sodas

and sweets in moderation. He died from the effects of diabetes. Reading Caldwell Esselstyn's chapter titled Moderation Kills changed the course of Dr. Batiste's career.

In this conversation you will learn:

• Why moderation is a justification we only apply to things we know we should not be doing

• The three most heart-protective food groups and why they work at the cellular level

• How to talk to patients (or yourself) about food in a way that actually creates change

• The SELFISH acronym: seven pillars of heart health from spirituality to humor

• Why 80% of health outcomes happen outside the doctor's office

• The role of stress, presence, and relationships in cardiovascular disease

• Dr. Batiste's take on AI in medicine and what an elderly patient said that stopped him cold

• What he is bringing to the NHA Annual Conference this June

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ABOUT DR. COLUMBUS BATISTE

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Columbus Batiste, MD is a board-certified interventional cardiologist, co-founder of Healthy Heart Nation, and author of Selfish: A Cardiologist's Guide to Curing a Stressed and Broken Heart. He is the Regional Chief of Cardiology for Southern California Permanente Medical Group and a celebrity media contributor featured in documentaries, articles, and podcasts worldwide. He will be speaking at the NHA Annual Conference, June 25 to 28, 2026.

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LINKS AND RESOURCES

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Full episode and show notes:

Subscribe: https://www.healthscience.org/podcast/

NHA Annual Conference (June 25 to 28, 2026): https://checkout.healthscience.org/2026-nha-conference

Dr. Batiste's website: https://drbatiste.com

Follow Dr. Batiste on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthyheartdoc/

Dr. Batiste on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbatiste/

Book - Selfish: A Cardiologist's Guide: [add purchase link]

Follow Dr. Esser on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esserhealth/