Dr. Michael Mindrum, MD

He practices general internal medicine with a focus on diabetes, obesity related medical complications, and cardiovascular disease. He is the medical director of the Valley Regional Hospital diabetes centre in Kentville, Nova Scotia.

Dr. Mindrum has in depth experience managing acute complications of metabolic diseases in the inpatient and critical care setting. This experience has led to an appreciation of the suffering these diseases impart on individuals and their families.

Recognizing the powerful impact lifestyle has in improving these conditions, he is motivated to focus the next phase of his career on prevention. His major interests are in metabolism, obesity, type 2 diabetes, meditation, behavioural change, and therapeutic nutrition.

Dr. Mindrum is passionate about helping patients optimize their metabolic health with a “lifestyle first” approach, reducing medications when possible, and optimizing others in order to help patients achieve their goals. He supports patients in various nutritional strategies including carbohydrate restriction.

He founded Valley Metabolic Health in Nova Scotia in order to integrate “lifestyle first” approaches with best medical practice.

Dr. Mindrum has offered numerous academic talks on diabetes and therapeutic nutrition for Dalhousie University and his local medical community. He has been active in teaching residents and received several teaching awards over the years.

While passionate in his desire to assist others with lifestyle change, he feels it is also critically important to be dispassionate when reviewing the evidence. He aspires to be aware of cognitive bias, remain open and knowledgeable of the evidence to support various nutritional strategies, and respectful of differing points of view.

He feels it is important that the emerging field of therapeutic nutrition refrain from overstating claims, remain grounded in the biology of obesity and its complications, respectful of patient’s values and preferences, and integrated with emerging approaches to support behavioural change.

Dr. Mindrum is pleased to be invited to Diet Doctor’s medical review board for the purpose of providing critical appraisal and feedback in order to help generate more accurate and thoughtful material for its members.

Dr. Mindrum graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine and completed his residency training in internal medicine at the University of Hawaii, The University of Vermont, and Dalhousie University in Canada.

Dr. Mindrum is also on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Medically reviewed evidence-based guides

Healthy weight loss: A how-to guide

How to lower triglycerides

Can a keto diet treat brain cancer?

How to normalize your blood pressure

Potential conflicts of interest

Dr. Mindrum aspires to eat a whole food liberal low-carbohydrate diet although is flexible in his approach to eating.

He is the founder and medical director of Valley Metabolic Health which supports patients with lifestyle changes and medical optimization in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Dr. Mindrum is on an expert advisory committee for Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition, a non-for-profit focused on research, training, and supporting the use of therapeutic nutrition in clinical practice. He is involved in research projects with the IPTN.

Dr. Mindrum does consultant work for Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical company.

He has a contract agreement with Diet Doctor to review guides for clinical accuracy and appropriate interpretation of the evidence. He receives payment for his reviews. He otherwise holds no financial interest in the company.