Dr. Brian Lenzkes credits LowCarbUSA Conferences for helping transform his career.
Dr. Brian Lenzkes, MD, Founder and Host of the popular LowCarbMD and Life’s Best Medicine podcasts, and a respected figure in the world of metabolic health, will present at the upcoming 8th Annual San Diego Symposium for Metabolic Health, set to take place from August 17-20, 2023.
The symposium will feature a wide array of over 20 global expert speakers, all presenting on a multitude of topics that underscore the extensive evidence supporting carbohydrate reduction as a therapeutic intervention and many other lifestyle factors.
Dr. Lenzkes, an advocate for transforming the way we approach metabolic health, intends to discuss how key lifestyle components like stress, sleep, relationships, exercise, and nutrition intertwine to influence an individual’s metabolic health. He underscores the complex relationship between these factors, metabolic health, and their cyclical impacts.
Years ago, Dr. Lenzkes became painfully aware of a serious issue within his medical career. Despite being one of the “Top Doctors” in San Diego for 11 years, maintaining a private practice at Internal Medicine Associates, and garnering respect from patients and peers alike, he felt ensnared in what he described as a broken system.
Overwhelmed by incessant communication, family and work obligations, social stressors, sleep deprivation, and little free time, he felt like Sisyphus, forever pushing a giant boulder uphill. Furthermore, a prevailing sense of frustration was nurtured by an inability to effectively help a continuous influx of sick patients, and by the status quo’s approach of throwing pills at the problem.
“Our profession continues to see a constant influx of sick patients we are unable to cure,” he said. “The status quo is to throw pills at them and tell them to shape up. We grow frustrated as patients fail to improve. We become cynical.”
The San Diego Symposium for Metabolic Health in 2018 was a turning point for Dr. Lenzkes. That was where he fully discovered the potential of therapeutic carbohydrate reduction (TCR), the ketogenic diet, and intermittent fasting. The Symposium helped him gain an understanding of the deep-reaching impact of metabolic health beyond mere weight loss and into realms such as cardiovascular and mental health.
“The 2018 Symposium changed my career path,” recalled Dr.Lenzkes. “That conference affected me in so many ways. I was so impressed to see so many specialists from different areas who were using metabolic health to help reverse multiple diseases we treated. I started understanding that insulin resistance is causally related to so many of our major chronic health concerns. It became apparent that this goes so much deeper than weight loss. It’s about improving cardiovascular and mental health, and so much more.”
Dr. Lenzkes subsequently used TCR to sustainably lose 50 pounds and improve his own health and quality of life, and he left his financially secure job to open his own direct primary care metabolic health and medical weight loss practice in San Diego in 2020.
For the past four years, Dr. Lenzkes has co-hosted the popular Low Carb MD podcast with Dr. Tro Kalayjian, a board certified Obesity Medicine and Internal Medicine doctor based in New York. Low Carb MD podcast episodes have been downloaded nearly 10 million times. Dr. Lenzkes also launched the popular Life’s Best Medicine Podcast, which recently surpassed its 150th episode.
“I used to be unable to truly reach the individuals in front of me in my practice, despite the ‘Top Doctor’ accolades,” Dr. Lenzkes lamented. “Now, I’m able to reach tens of thousands of people every month through the podcasts, and through the changes I’ve made to the way I practice medicine.
Dr. Lenzkes recently expanded his practice to Arizona with plans to become licensed in 27 additional states, and he is not looking back.
“I was one of the top doctors in San Diego for 11 years, following standard medicine practices,” Dr. Lenzkes reflected. “Though I connected with patients on an emotional level, I was hardly making a significant impact on their metabolic health. I haven’t won any formal awards since changing the direction of my career, but then again, I’d much rather enjoy the rewards of helping my patients reclaim their health and enhance the quality of their life.”
Today, Dr. Lenzkes takes pride in the time he spends with each patient, coaching them toward healthier lifestyles, and witnessing their remarkable transformations. His enthusiasm is evident as he shares, “There’s no greater reward. Seeing a patient’s depression, anxiety, and stress subside, witnessing their enjoyment of life, marriage, and work—it’s incomparable.”
In his previous career, Dr. Lenzkes succumbed to the pressures of his profession—stressful 18-hour workdays and work-life imbalances. He recognized the toll it was taking on his well-being and his relationships.
“Now, I am able to spend as much time as I want with a patient, to truly be a human first,” he said. “In my current practice, the quality of care I offer, and the difference I make in people’s lives, is profoundly satisfying. Every time I look back, I feel an overwhelming sense of happiness.”
Advice for Practitioners
Reflecting on his own journey, Dr. Lenzkes offered his insights and advice for fellow practitioners seeking to incorporate lifestyle and metabolic health into their own practices. He emphasized the importance of networking and learning from others in the field, explaining how the vast body of knowledge and experience shared by different practitioners can be instrumental in broadening perspectives and improving patient care approaches.
Direct primary care with a focus on metabolic health allows practitioners to step outside the bureaucracy-riddled traditional system, he said, and by doing so, they can avoid the overwhelming aspects of insurance, coding, and other administrative tasks that often distract from patient care.
“I challenge practitioners to reflect on whether their current practice aligns with the aspirations that led them to medical school in the first place,” he said. “I urge them to ask themselves if they truly feel they are helping their patients or if they are merely checking boxes.”
His concern extends to the mental health of healthcare workers themselves, many of whom he says are suffering under the burdens of a system that he himself found intolerable. He urges practitioners to prioritize their wellbeing alongside their patients’, arguing that their capacity to assist others is directly affected by their own health.
8th Annual SMH – San Diego, August 17-20, 2023
Attendees of this year’s Symposium will have the opportunity to learn about the use of carbohydrate reduction in addressing, and even reversing, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver, PCOS, CVD, autoimmune conditions, epilepsy, TBI, Alzheimer’s, and other neurological pathologies, mental health conditions and much more.
This year’s conference will also include a very special session dedicated to presentations regarding the connection between cancer and metabolic disease, and will educate practitioners and laypersons about metabolic therapies that may improve outcomes in addition to traditional treatments, and how they may make them more effective, with less side effects.
For those interested in delving into the extensive evidence supporting carbohydrate reduction as a therapeutic intervention, and discovering ways to improve one’s metabolic health through lifestyle changes, the Symposium for Metabolic Health in San Diego is slated for August 17-20, 2023.
The SMHSD2023 is Open to the Public and technical enough for the healthcare professional and the scientist.
We encourage you to sign up for the livestream even if you can’t attend in person. The connections made even through the chat application, and the opportunity to watch inspiring, informative lectures from your own home or office, are incredibly valuable! We may even have a chance to squeeze in your online questions into the Q&A if time allows!
Plus, everyone registered, whether in person or livestream, gets access to replays for an unlimited time! So in case you miss anything live, you will have the ability to view and review at any time!
Save 10% on tickets, low-carb meals, and optional CME credits with code: July10 (discount expires after July 31).
