Dr. Jodi Nishida – The Keto Prescription Clinic Founder
I am so excited to share my latest interview with Dr. Jodi Nishida, the founder of The Keto Prescription Clinic in Oahu, HI. Dr. Nishida has quite a story to tell and has run up against some challenging opposition due to her non-conventional, but highly successful practice. The keto space has so much to offer for our vast metabolically unhealthy population, and although it is a slow-churning wheel of progression, keto warriors like Dr. Nishida are leading the charge. ~Erika
I Heart Keto Mart (IHKM): What inspired you to become a ketogenic doctor/practitioner, and how long have you been practicing?
Dr. Jodi: I heard about keto from a colleague who is a pediatric neurologist at one of our local hospitals. A family member recently had a heart attack and he suggested I put him on keto. After doing some research, we started keto together, and my own autoimmune condition went into remission. After doing keto for a year, I realized that Hawaii needed an actual Keto Medical Clinic. I started my practice, The Keto Prescription, in 2019, became accredited through the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners in 2021, and have been open ever since. My partner is an interventional cardiologist and together we’ve formed Hawaii’s first cardiometabolic clinic.
IHKM: What do you think sets the ketogenic diet apart from other diets?
Dr. Jodi: Keto is very nutrient dense which makes it sustainable. When you give your body the basic things that it needs to function properly on a daily basis, not only does it heal, but you walk around thriving and full of energy as opposed to being exhausted and hungry.
IHKM: What challenges have you faced while following a ketogenic diet?
Dr. Jodi: I definitely still struggle with PMS cravings for chocolate 2 days a month. Having a square of 85% dark chocolate usually helps with that. I’ve been doing this so long that I’m able to moderate or avoid most temptations at parties and during the holiday season, but I know it’s something most of my patients struggle with. Interestingly, my challenges have been with other doctors who tell their patients not to do keto “because it’s dangerous” when in fact, it would probably save their life. That’s very frustrating for me.
IHKM: What is the response to practicing a ketogenic diet and recommending it to patients from your medical peers and the medical community?
Dr. Jodi: It’s been 80/20 disapproval/acceptance. I blame social media, to be honest. You have people posting their pork rinds and meals covered in processed cheese on Instagram and that’s what my colleagues see. I, too, would discourage eating that way. I’ve worked hard to coin the term “Clean Keto” because that’s what I teach. I personally loathe Dirty Keto or Lazy Keto because it has made it difficult for doctors like myself, who are actually accredited in metabolic health.
IHKM: What is the biggest hurdle you have had to overcome while recommending and/or practicing a ketogenic lifestyle within the medical community?
Dr. Jodi: Two doctors in Hawaii filed a formal complaint against me with the state of Hawaii and tried to get my practice shut down. They are “diet doctors” who put their patients on diet pills and diabetes injections for weight loss. They didn’t succeed, but that was a giant legal headache.
IHKM: Why do you think the medical community is slow to accept the health benefits of a ketogenic diet?
Dr. Jodi: 1. Social media. We need to get these people off social media who are posting about hot dogs and cheese or giant plates of pork rinds and bacon and calling it “keto.” 2. Western medicine is heavily influenced by Big Food and Big Pharma and it starts with their medical school curriculum and continues on through their medical practice and the messaging they get from their reps. It’s much quicker and easier to prescribe medications than to actually take time to teach patients something. My appointments are thirty minutes long and occur monthly for at least 6 months. It’s the only way I can teach everything.
IHKM: Can you provide a personal example of a successful case study and how the ketogenic diet helped the individual?
Dr. Jodi: I’ve seen improvement and often complete reversal of medical conditions from head to toe. See case studies below:
IHKM: What is something you have discovered during your time practicing the keto diet with patients that might not be common knowledge within the keto community?
Dr. Jodi: Food addiction is the #1 obstacle to success. People don’t realize how strong visual triggers are i.e. seeing characters eat ice cream during a Netflix show, Doritos commercials during a football game, and there are so many others to name. The Nutrition Network and the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners both do a terrific job of giving us lots of food addiction training. Every doctor in the world needs to not only do this for themselves but for all their patients as well.
IHKM: Do you have any research you would like to share or can you share your “go-to” research sources when debating the benefits of keto?
Dr. Jodi: The smhp.org website has tons of great resources listed; however, over the last 6 years, I’ve learned not to debate the benefits of keto. I’ve treated over 2500 patients now and am able to “show” what it’s done for many people in Hawaii. From June – December last year, I followed 160 diabetes patients. During that short period of time, we were able to reverse diabetes in 23 patients, improve A1c values in 50 patients, and the other 87 are due for labs this month or next month with their Primary Care Practitioner and we’ll see how they’re doing. This represents a huge benefit to the patients and huge cost savings to the healthcare system.
IHKM: Do you have any books, articles or products we can share with our viewers?
Dr. Jodi: For beginners, I recommend Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore. I feel it does an excellent job of explaining why and how to do keto in layman’s terms. I always recommend that patients become acquainted with local ranches in their area that offer grass-fed grass-finished beef, chickens that feed on grubs, pigs that are fed properly, and of course who offer organ meat.
Connect with Dr. Jodi Nishida
Ph: (808) 888-0005
Fx: (808) 439-8451
https://www.theketoprescription.com/
