The Berman Method
The Berman Method
Episode #182: Vegan Protein AND Special Announcement!
The corporate healthcare system operates on a disturbing principle: "A patient cured is a customer lost." This eye-opening statement forms the foundation of our latest deep dive into how insurance companies actively avoid covering treatments that work.
Dr. Jake shares his frustration with shockwave therapy – a treatment with substantial evidence-based research showing 83% effectiveness in healing tissues after just six treatments. Despite being used worldwide for its proven results, not a single U.S. insurance company will cover it. Meanwhile, these same companies happily reimburse for temporary relief methods that require ongoing treatment. The message becomes clear: curing patients isn't profitable in our current medical system.
The conversation shifts to comprehensive nutrition advice as Jenni Berman, PA-C tackles questions about protein sources for vegans, vegetarians, and everyone in between. She recommends incorporating 20-30% of daily protein from plant sources regardless of your dietary preferences. From edamame pasta with 25g of protein per serving to lupini flakes, PB2 powdered nut butter, and protein-fortified vegan yogurts, Jenny provides a master class in complete plant proteins that contain all essential amino acids.
Most fascinating is Jenni's approach to creating high-protein, nutrient-dense foods disguised as treats. By adding vegetables like cauliflower and protein powders to baked goods, she transforms ordinary desserts into nutritional powerhouses that kids devour without knowing they're eating healthy. The episode concludes with Jake challenging Jenny to record cooking videos demonstrating these techniques – with a deadline of May 1st for the first creation!
Ready to take control of your health despite a system that profits from ongoing treatment? Subscribe to The Berman Method for more truth bombs and practical solutions that treat problems, not just symptoms.
Check Us Out On Social Media -
Facebook: @bermanwellness , @physicaltherapynaples, @Berman Golf
Instagram: @berman_wellness, @bermanphysicaltherapy , @Berman Golf
Youtube: Berman Golf, Berman Physical Therapy
TikTok: Bermangolf, Bermanwellness
Email us -
drberman@bermanpt.com
jenni@bermanwellness.com
Check out our website -
www.bermanpt.com
www.bermanpt.com/wellness
www.bermangolf.com
This is the Berman Method podcast, featuring Dr Jake Berman and physician assistant Jenny Berman. We are here to treat problems and not symptoms. Disclaimer this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and not to treat anyone or to give medical advice. If you are interested in any information that we are giving and would like to use this for yourself, we recommend that you contact your primary care physician or reach out to us and ask us questions about yourself specifically.
Speaker 2:Enjoy here we go with the Berman Method podcast. Dr Jake Berman here with my co-hostesses.
Speaker 1:Jenny Berman, physician assistant Walker.
Speaker 2:Ryan Bermanator.
Speaker 1:Walker Ryan, here with us eating this morning while we're chatting.
Speaker 2:Look at him so cute he's getting so big.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I know Four months.
Speaker 2:Just flying by it is. I don't like how fast it's going.
Speaker 1:I know Four months, just flying by it is. I don't like how fast it's going.
Speaker 2:I do. I'm not a fan of this stage. Is that a surprise?
Speaker 1:Nope.
Speaker 2:Is any dad a fan of this stage?
Speaker 1:Of the infancy stage.
Speaker 2:Yes, are there any of you out there?
Speaker 1:Like why? Just because you don't like waking up in the middle of the night, or because they just sit and eat?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's not a good return on investment right now. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:You should enjoy every stage.
Speaker 2:I'm enjoying the smiling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he smiles a lot.
Speaker 2:He smiles a lot. Now he can't catch a ball, though. He can't wrestle or run or anything like that. So, it's not a good stage for dads.
Speaker 1:You kind of wrestle him in the bathtub.
Speaker 2:I do wrestle him in the bathtub.
Speaker 1:And he does not love that. But, every day that I watch you, I'm like what, I've got to toughen him up. I've got to toughen him up. I got to toughen him up. I'm like, oh my gosh, or make him absolutely hate the water. Okay, yeah, yep, yep, it's cute. His eyes are still very blue. We're still wondering if they're going to stay very blue. Yeah, all right, cool, happy blue. Yeah, all right, cool, happy Monday, yeah happy Monday.
Speaker 2:We are David going against Goliath, Goliath being the corporate medical system, big pharma, health insurance companies. Speaking of health insurance companies, here is a black and white example of how they do not have your best interests in mind. Now remember this statement right here A patient cured is a customer lost. So there's a reason why there's no cures. With any pharmaceutical medication out there in the world, there's no cures. They are all treating symptoms which have a side effect which requires another pharmaceutical to treat that side effect side effects which requires another pharmaceutical to treat that side effect. Because if you cure somebody, you've lost a customer.
Speaker 2:Now here's a perfect example shockwave. We've mentioned shockwave here a few times over the past year. It is the only modality I've ever purchased in my whole entire life, because I am generally very anti-modality, because modalities in general are anecdotal at best. I mean, in the TENS unit you put the little pads on you and you get shocked. Or the little electricity, yeah, it feels good temporarily. Ultrasound was beat to death 20 years ago. I can't imagine why any physical therapy clinic in this world would still be using ultrasound, because there is zero evidence saying that it actually works, other than Medicare just continues to reimburse for it for some reason. So modalities in general are horrible in my opinion. They're not going to get you results. They'll treat your symptoms but they won't get you lasting relief because they're not treating the problem until I found shockwave.
Speaker 2:Shockwave is a radio frequency. It's the same exact technology they've been using for over 100 years to break up kidney stones. They just figured out a way to harness that frequency with different heads on the applicator to now target soft tissues. The applicator to now target soft tissues. And there's actual evidence, research, evidence-based research, showing that it works. It actually works. After six treatments, in 83% of the cases the tissue is completely healed. Like this is legitimate research showing that it works.
Speaker 2:Now here's the kicker. This is the reason why I'm going on this rant. There is not a single case health insurance company in this country that will reimburse for Shockwave. Not a single one. Not Medicare, Blue Cross, Aetna, you name it. None of them will reimburse for Shockwave because it's not deemed. Don't hold me to this, I'm just going to throw something out there. I think it's a Class A, it's deemed a Class B or something like that. It's not deemed the right medical equipment. This is worldwide. They're using Shockwave internationally because of the proven results and there's not a single health insurance company in this country that will reimburse for it. Because it actually works, it actually has a cure and remember, a patient cured is a customer loss.
Speaker 1:Right. So just like nutrition-based therapy, it works to improve their metabolic dysfunction and their prediabetes and their high cholesterol. So we're not going to cover nutrition-based services.
Speaker 2:Yeah, are you freaking? Kidding me Right? The reason why you need a statin for your cholesterol is because your nutrition is shit.
Speaker 1:Wait. So going back to the shockwave, are things like the TENS units covered by insurance?
Speaker 2:Yes, the bullshit TENS unit that you can go to CVS and buy one that's reimbursed.
Speaker 1:Got it and it does nothing Right. What about massage?
Speaker 2:It depends on the insurance company and the way that you code it, if you code it strategically enough as therapeutic intervention or manual therapy, or don't hold me to this. I haven't been in insurance for over 10 years so I'm sure it's changed in that timeframe. But I do know that if you code it appropriately, you can get reimbursed for using your hands.
Speaker 1:But not shockwave.
Speaker 2:Not shockwave.
Speaker 1:Which is a therapeutic device that is efficient and effective.
Speaker 2:There's zero, it's non-invasive, there's zero side effects and it works. The research proves that it works. It's not anecdotal. So, anyways, let me get off my soapbox and let's go back. Let's pick up where we were with Instagram questions.
Speaker 1:We've got two questions, one for you, one for me today. Let's start with you. By the way, we love the questions coming in, so Instagram questions, facebook questions, email us questions, youtube us questions. However, you can get the questions to us. We love answering them. We love speaking directly to you.
Speaker 1:So one question that I had we had talked about just two weeks ago about the differences in some proteins like collagen. How much collagen should we be using as a protein source throughout the day? Another question that I got was about vegan protein sources. So obviously, we know there's great protein in animal-based protein protein and animal-based protein. So chicken ground turkey pork tenderloin rather than pork chops, just because it's a leaner source of protein. Eggs, if you're not a vegan or vegetarian. Greek yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese there's all sorts of different options of animal-based proteins that are out there, but I had a question about vegan protein and how much of our daily intake should be from vegan sources of protein.
Speaker 1:Certainly, in our practice, we have vegans. We have individuals who are 100% vegan and will not consume any animal-based options, including eggs right, because egg does come from is an animal-based protein source as well, in addition to dairy products like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese animal-based protein source as well, in addition to dairy products like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese. So if you're totally vegan, you don't consume anything that comes from an animal. We have our pescatarians, which won't eat anything coming from an animal except for fish, so still will not do the yogurts or the cottage cheeses. And then we have our vegetarians, which don't eat animal-based proteins in regards to things like meat, but they will consume dairy-based products. So we work a lot with these individuals on finding ways to get adequate protein, depending on what your choice of food product is or how you want to quote unquote label yourself.
Speaker 1:When it comes to food choices, if you're not a vegan or vegetarian, I still support rotating through vegan and vegetarian options throughout your day and maybe having 20 to 30% of your protein intake come from vegan sources, which is totally acceptable. If you are a vegan, we just have to make sure you're getting enough complete sources of proteins, because things like quinoa or lentils, which do have protein, or your beans, do have protein, but they are not a complete source of protein. So that's going to be. The important part, if you are a vegan and or vegetarian, is that we're finding complete sources, meaning they contain all the essential amino acids. So, in regards to some options for vegan protein, which we had one last night, we had a vegan protein last night.
Speaker 2:We did. Yeah, you tricked me.
Speaker 1:The edamame pasta, jenny, that's a vegan source of protein.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought you were gonna say that shrimp was not real shrimp.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, gracious no we got the best of the best key west pink shrimp from pop pop right next door thank you pop, pop but no.
Speaker 1:So last night we had some edamame pasta, which is a vegan source of protein. It has about 23 to 25 grams of protein per serving, depending on the brand that you're using. So edamame pasta is a soy-based protein option, but it is totally vegan. So last night we had that with some Key West pink shrimp and I did a homemade vegan Alfredo sauce actually, which was very good, and then threw some extra vegetables in there, so added fiber and that was a good source of protein.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was actually delicious.
Speaker 1:It was, and you could use the edamame pasta without added animal-based protein, like we added shrimp, but you don't have to Just add some extra vegetables to it and a nice sauce of your choice and it's an adequate source of protein. There's also lulu pasta or lupin bean pasta. Lupin bean actually comes from the grain family, so it is not a soy base, which is nice, because we also have some clients who don't choose to do soy, so any of the lupin bean products. So lupini flakes are a great source of protein to add to your oatmeal in the morning, or I'll use lupin flour to coat as kind of like a breading, which is a great source of protein. They make the lulupasta, which is really awesome and tastes delicious and it comes in all different sorts of types of pasta, like elbows and penne and rotini. They even make a lulupasta orzo, so you can make some really fun dishes out of this lupin flour or lupin bean.
Speaker 1:You, of course, could just do regular edamame, so shelled edamame or edamame in the pods is a great protein snack that you could use. We like the PB2. So PB2 is a powdered peanut butter that you can reconstitute into a high protein, lower fat peanut butter without any hydrogenated oils in it PB2,. The brand also makes a cashew and an almond option, so if you're sensitive to peanut, you could use the cashew or almond powder and reconstitute, which is very high in protein and low in fat compared to regular peanut butter, almond butter or cashew butter, which has a lot of fat in it.
Speaker 2:Holy cow.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:Were you taking notes, the listener? Was the listener taking notes?
Speaker 1:Let's see. So, of course, going through some other vegan options is chia seed, flaxseed and hemp seed. All of these have great quantities of protein. However, the portion size to get a complete dose of protein would be quite large, and then your fat content creeps up a little bit, but these are great added sources of protein. Your fat content creeps up a little bit, but these are great added sources of protein. So maybe you're adding them to your lupini flakes that you're using as quote unquote oatmeal and you're adding the chia or the flax or the hemp seeds to add some protein. That's a great option. Let's see. We have our pumpkin seeds. This is a great source of protein as well. I really like making granola with something called Soya Crisp S-O-Y-A. It is a soy-based protein, but they are little tiny balls. Essentially that I will typically cover with olive oil and a PB2 powder and some pumpkin seeds and I'll roast it and make our own little granola, which is really delicious and high protein and low carb, low sugar. The Siggy's plant-based yogurt. That's a staple in our house.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Our girls eat that quite often. That has coconut based yogurt, so it is totally vegan, but it also has some added pea protein. It also has probiotics in it, so that's a wonderful source of protein as well. There is a brand called Kite Hill that makes Greek style yogurt, which is an almond based as opposed to coconut based, which also has protein in it too. So tons of different protein options that you could use in addition to your vegetables throughout your day. We also utilize protein powder in our house. Some people don't love protein powder, but we definitely use it to make protein shakes and I add it to almost everything that I cook or bake for the girls.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're a magician making these things that look like treats, they look like cupcakes, they look like cookies, they look like brownies, but they're filled with cauliflower and broccoli and protein powder and it's like oh Stella, you don't know, you just consumed 10 grams of protein in that cookie.
Speaker 1:And five grams of fiber, Yep. So just this week I made like a cookie cake kind of, and added in mashed cauliflower, added in protein powder. Not all protein powders bake equally, so you certainly have to play around with it. I think the one I use the most often is collagen powder. So, whether it's the Primal Kitchen or the Bomar Nutrition Collagen Powder, but there's also pea protein powders that you could use which are totally vegan. You can use hemp protein powders which are totally vegan. You can use hemp protein powders which are totally vegan. If you're just a vegetarian, you could even use egg white protein powder, which some people tend to like. The egg white protein powder. They think it's a little bit more palatable than pea protein if you're just new to using plant-based alternatives. So lots of different sources where you can definitely reach your protein goals being a vegan or vegetarian. But if you are an individual that does eat animal-based protein, it's always great to rotate through vegan options as well.
Speaker 2:So you just rambled off a huge book worth of valuable information, and I know this world, I understand your language and I live in it every day, and I was still struggling to keep up.
Speaker 2:So I think one thing that the listener you could do is you could simply take this podcast and upload it to a transcribing system and you can transcribe this podcast so that you can have an entire list of what Jenny just rattled off. But here's the big thing that I didn't tell Jenny I was going to do on this episode. I'm going to blindside her and make everybody out there in the world hold her accountable, because we've been talking about this for well over a year. I am going to hold Jenny accountable to recording a video of her making these delicious alternatives highly nutritious, protein-filled alternatives and uploading it to YouTube so that you can actually see what it looks like when Jenny is composing one of these cakes. That looks like it should be so horrible and not nutritious at all, but it has cauliflower and broccoli and full of fiber and protein powder and it's like you know what. This cake is not that bad.
Speaker 1:Not that bad. Not that bad, it's delicious Nutritionally. Oh nutrition-wise.
Speaker 2:It was ridiculously delicious, like last night. I I ate a little tiny piece like a two by two, two inch by two inch square, and I ate it and I'm going, oh my gosh, that was ridiculous, I'm gonna eat the rest of this cake. And I said, are you sure this is healthy? You're like yeah, there's really not that many carbs in it, full of fiber. I'm like, okay, I'm about to go hard in the paint I actually I'll.
Speaker 1:I'll figure out the macros of the cake today so I can post it, and I'll post it on social media. So look out for my chocolate chip cookie cake with the macros. But there's not going to be a video making it, but maybe I'll try it again with a video. How am I going to?
Speaker 2:Are you whining?
Speaker 1:right now I'm whining about recording videos because usually, when I'm cooking, I have three kids trying to talk to me all at the same time. While Walker doesn't talk, he whines. Although four, let me count four.
Speaker 1:I have Jake trying to talk to me as a child, and then I have Stella and Vera talking to me, and then Walker whining and I'm doing 86 things at once and I'll bake a little bit and then play snack woman I was going to say a bad word but I decided not to. Snack woman passing out snacks and waters it's a lot.
Speaker 2:Let me figure out the production side. I will figure out the production side and we will set cameras up and we'll record the whole freaking afternoon and then we'll go back and we'll voice over it, we'll edit it, chop it up and we'll voice over it.
Speaker 1:Okay, y'all hear him, y'all hear it, it's coming coming soon because the audience wants to see it.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you, people are listening to this, going. There's no way I could possibly do that until they see you do it. Once somebody sees you do it, they're going to go. Oh wow, I can do that, but when you hear it over the podcast, it's like no way. That's way too complicated. I'm just going to go to True Food or Food and Thought or something, or Chipotle.
Speaker 1:I do have a cookbook out on Amazon Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Cookbook by Jenny Berman but we also have had a couple requests on a kid's cookbook, so maybe that's my next endeavor too.
Speaker 2:We're not doing a cookbook. Okay, all right, moving on to the next.
Speaker 1:Instagram question. No, we're not, because a cookbook. Okay, all right, moving on to the next instagram question no, we're not because we're already at 20 minutes.
Speaker 2:So this is the jenny episode. Right now we are not doing a cookbook, we're doing a cooking show featuring jbb, jenny bear burman and we're. It's gonna be fun what'd you call? It, the cooking show, yeah you had. Oh, I'm not saying it because I want to. I want to make sure that we can get the um the. Url. First I got I want to get the URL before I publicly announce what it's going to be.
Speaker 1:So, since we didn't get to the second Instagram question, which was a physical question, are we going to do it next week?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we might do it next week. I'm not. I don't really care about it right now. Right now, I'm too excited about holding you accountable to this thing that we've been talking about for over a year.
Speaker 1:Okay, what's the date?
Speaker 2:Let's have the first video uploaded in one month.
Speaker 1:One month.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:We don't even have cameras.
Speaker 2:We got oh my gosh one month, what?
Speaker 1:is the date. So let's say, uh, middle of april that's not a date april 20th okay, that's less than a month april, may, 1st may 1st, my birthday no may 1st. Your birthday is may 14?.
Speaker 2:No, May 1st. Your birthday is May 14th, so by May 1st Jenny will have her first video uploaded to her channel.
Speaker 1:You don't like that idea, Walker.
Speaker 2:Oh Walker.
Speaker 1:Is that too close?
Speaker 2:No, we can do that. We need to push it back a little bit. We can do it. We can do it.
Speaker 1:All right, walkerer, can you say ciao for now. Ciao, all right, fine good.
Speaker 2:Like, subscribe, share, email jenny, tell her that you're holding her accountable, text her, send her carrier pigeons, do all of the things to let her know that you are expecting this first video uploaded and live to YouTube by May 1st so that we can make this thing happen. I know you guys want to see it. She's like a magician, but it's so simple that even a caveman can do it. So like, subscribe, hold Jenny accountable and until next time. Hold Jenny accountable and until next time.
Speaker 1:Thank you for subscribing on your social media and podcast platforms to the Berman Method Dr Jake Berman with Berman Physical Therapy and Jenny Berman, physician Assistant, with Berman Health and Wellness. You can find more information on our website wwwbermanptcom for physical therapy, wwwbermanptcom forward slash wellness for the health and wellness. You can also find us on social media, facebook, instagram and on your podcast platform, so be sure to follow us, like us, subscribe to us and, if you would like any further information, definitely visit our website and reach out to us. You may also find our free reports on the websites as well, where you can download this free information for yourself. Have a great day.