Nine months ago I stayed at True North Health Cent...

Nine months ago I stayed at True North Health Center for about a week and it truly was a life changing experience. I loved the education , that is the evidence based education that I got their. One of the reasons I had been turned off by the vegan diet was all the B.S. that went along with it. It was so refreshing to get a quality education by medical personal that left all the weird stuff out of it.
The staff was the best and I met amazing people from all over the world. A lot of the people their were facing extremely challenging medical issues and were so impressive and courageous!
It is a very "simple place" yet heals far more than money can buy. Extremely reasonably priced! The only downside to the place is that the building is old and need lots of TLC.
The food looks beautiful, but the reality is (and there is no getting around it) it takes time to get use to it. My first meal I thought "what the hell is this, I can't eat like this". I have to say I did not really accumulate until 4 months into it.
Part of my review is not only about my experience there, but also the significance it played in how it changed my life.
Before True North health center I was relatively healthy. I wasn't over weight , I was free of the typical chronic american diseases and had pretty impressive # in terms of cholesterol and such. I am also an endurance athlete. Compared to most westerners I ate a very healthy, low fat diet. but I loved my ice cream and sea food.
I was; however, miserable with aches and pains ( shoulders , knees and hips) and I was only 49 years old. I have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis and I had to switch gears entirely with my sports and gave up running very, very reluctantly. A few months before I came to True North I was diagnosed with systemic lupus. To this day I am not buying into my exact diagnosis; but I am certain it was auto-immune in nature. I do also have asthma and have taken medicine since childhood for it.
The types of medications that were recommended to me were not ones I wanted to mess with so off to the internet I went. I wasn't heavily pursuing anything alternative, I really ended up at True North on a whim. I was going to the coast to camp the following week and thought, why not. I was fairly local anyways and pain is a motivator.
I eat completely different now. I hate to cook! I mean I HATE to cook and I now have a kitchen that is stocked with a vitamix, pressure cookers, spiralizer and all sorts of cool gadgets that make life easier. Every three weeks or so I have a major cooking day where I make huge batches of food and freeze them so that I have little prep and cooking to do during the work week. Did I mention I have to cook!
I feel great. Very minimal aches and pains. A "foggy brain" that I did not know I had , lifted. I have gotten a bit leaner , which every athlete loves. I take no meds for my so called lupus , and I take a lot less asthma meds then I ever did. Rarely touch the tylenols and such. I have decided to go back to having coffee in the am and occasional alcohol, so I don't follow the recommended life style to a "T". No coffee, sugar, artificial sweeteners, salt or oils is even allowed on the premises.

oK, So it's not magic. Part of my little dreamy self thought , maybe I will be able to run long distance again. The truth is, try that I may I can only run short distances and only a couple of times a week or my hip pain comes back. Oh well, I have a beautiful new bike!
This may sound more like a testimonial of my post experience as opposed to a review of the place. But, in my opinion, when reviewing something like this it's true worth is in what it produces when you leave the place.
Thank you so much for all the little hero's at True North.
Thank you , Dr. GoldHammer and your great staff. Special thanks to Dr. Klapper., (I would have married him in another life- what a great man for humanity).
And a special thanks to all the great cooking demo teachers!!!
Forever grateful!
Patricia