Dr. Li Interviews Akil Palanisamy, MD: Ayurveda Meets Functional Medicine

The Middle Way in Medicine and Healing: Where East Meets West, Ancestral Meets Novel

When Dr. Akil Palanisamy faced a debilitating illness during medical school, he was prescribed bone broth. The Ayurvedic practitioner working with him at the time knew he was a vegetarian who had renounced meat a few years earlier. But she saw bone broth as necessary to nourish his depleted body and rebalance his energy. Torn and in desperation, he turned to the story of the Buddha, who had embraced the "Middle Way" -- living by neither indulgence nor deprivation -- after an extreme form of asceticism had left the Buddha weak and near death. Dr. Akil reached a similar turning point. He started with bone broth, and later experimented with meat again. A family medicine doctor, author, and educator at the forefront of the food-as-medicine movement for the past 20 years, Dr. Akil is referred to "a unique triple threat in the field," combining expertise in functional medicine, Ayurveda, and the Paleo diet and ancestral lifestyles.

With this breadth and depth of knowledge, Dr. Akil has treated thousands of people living with chronic diseases and conducts clinical research studies. He serves as the Department Chair for Integrative Medicine at the Sutter Health Institute for Health and Healing (IHH) and as IHH Physician Director for Community Education. Dr. Akil has also served as a consultant with the Medical Board of California for many years.

A widely known speaker and educator, he is the author of two books, The Paleovedic Diet: A Complete Program to Burn Fat, Increase Energy, and Reverse Disease -- a customized Paleo diet that incorporates spices, specific fruits and vegetables, intermittent fasting, and an Ayurvedic lifestyle -- and most recently, The Tiger Protocol: An Integrative 5-Step Program to Treat and Heal Your Autoimmunity.