December 15, 2025
Hi Friends,
I had a really fun, drama-free week and didn’t see a single doctor! 🙌(Except for the 2 who were on my show — replay info is below.)
Charles was away all week at a meditation retreat in San Diego led by Dr. Joe Dispenza. He said they offered delicious vegan food at every meal, and hopefully he has finally reached a permanent state of enlightenment. 😂
While he was gone, I had a Girl’s Week.
For the first 5 days I had a lovely visit with Rebecca. She was my sous chef when I lived in Los Angeles and has lost over 200 pounds using the principles in my book The Secrets To Ultimate Weight Loss.
Rebecca is also one of the Success Coaches in my Chef AJ & Friends Community and will be presenting many of her success secrets on losing weight and keeping it off on Saturday, December 27th.
You can join here: https://community.chefaj.com
While she was here, we took lots of walks with Shiloh in this frozen tundra known as Northern California, watched sappy Christmas movies, and worked on a new recipe for low-fat cinnamon rolls.
We enjoyed them with my new favorite warm beverage, Faux-coa (pronounced Fo-co). It tastes just like cocoa but is perfect for people who can’t have caffeine, chocolate, or sugar. I’ll be demonstrating both new recipes in my community next month — you can sign up here!
Shiloh was kept outside all alone and mistreated the first year and a half of his life and, consequently, has severe separation anxiety and has been very leery of new people. But he warmed up to Rebecca in a record time of four hours!
While she was here I also had a visit from my friend and colleague, plant-based doctor and chef, Dr. Colin Zhu, who used to have a show on my channel. We had lunch at Pho Vegan (which sadly is closing next week and is the 7th vegan restaurant that has closed since I moved here four years ago 😢). We had an incredible oil-free meal of veggie pho, pad Thai, and a saucy eggplant dish. 🍆
After lunch we looked at some open houses in Sun City Lincoln Hills, where we are thinking of moving.
After Rebecca left, another dear friend, Cathy Fisher, came to visit.
We went to another wonderful vegan restaurant that is thankfully still open, Nectar Cafe, where we enjoyed a fabulous oil-free vegan meal. The eggnog cheesecake was to die for.
Yesterday, I hosted a meetup to celebrate the 102nd birthday of plant-based legend Dr. John Scharffenberg.
If you haven’t heard of him, watch this:
👉 https://www.youtube.com/live/qZXwha0Vug4
After all my company departed and all the festivities were over, I took some time for self-care and pampered myself with a one-hour foot massage.🦶💆♀️
On Thursday, Charles, Shiloh, and I will be taking a road trip to Santa Rosa where I’ll be celebrating the “12 Days of Christmas🎄” at the TrueNorth Health Center. I look forward to helping Dr. Goldhamer in the kitchen, giving presentations, and doing cooking demos.
You can watch all of my presentations — and those of all the other presenters — FREE, simply by creating an account using this link:
👉 https://www.healthpromoting.com/tnhtv
Health Update
Things are slowly moving along (💩🤣), but I am still experiencing some serious and painful pancreatic and GI issues as a result of Keytruda. I just hope they aren’t permanent.
I’ll be seeing Dr. Mark Pimentel at Cedars-Sinai this week. He is a very well-known gastroenterologist in Los Angeles who was my doctor when I lived there, and I am praying that he can provide me with some answers, some pain relief, and above all, some hope.
You probably already know this, but cancer really sucks.
For me, immersing myself in as many comedy classes as I can squeeze in weekly has been my saving grace. And the best part is, I enrolled many of my friends who are plant-based doctors and vegan influencers to join me!
I hope you have a week like I just did — filled with laughter, friendship, delicious plant food, and above all, FUN. Because if it ain’t fun, you’re not doing it right! 😂
Lots of Love 💜 (and less kale 🥬),
Chef AJ