42 May 30 • 2019
jn

W

hat a difference a year 
makes. So says Dr. 
Deborah Charfoos of 
Bloomfield Hills. 
The OB/GYN and partner in 
Michigan Women’
s Health clinics in 
Farmington Hills and Clawson suf-
fered from arthritis, was pre-diabetic 
and generally felt lousy. 
“I had to give up delivering babies a 
year and a half ago because of arthri-
tis,” Charfoos said. 
Today, she’
s off her diabetes medi-
cine; her joints don’
t ache; her ulcer-
ative colitis is cleared up and so, too, 
has her skin. 
“I started to cut out all sugar and 
carbs from my diet … even fruit to 
bring down my sugar,” she explained, 
“I did extensive research, learning 
more about chemicals and pesticides 
in the personal care products we use 
and the food we eat and how that 
gives us such bad inflammation,” 
among other ailments.
Charfoos said many of her patients 
began to notice a change about a year 
ago. “They would comment, ‘
You look 
good … your skin is clearer … you’
re 
losing weight, what are you doing?’
” 
What she was doing was, in fact, 

working. So, she began to share. 
However, Charfoos doesn’
t preach. 
Rather, “if [my patients] ask, it starts 
a conversation,” she said.
Also about a year ago, Charfoos 
began reaching a wider audience 
with her Dr. Debbie’
s Wellness social 
media platform, where she offers 
advice about clean eating and elimi-
nating chemicals and additives found 
in many foods, and household and 
personal care products found in our 
kitchens and bathrooms. 
Charfoos’
 mission isn’
t limited to 
her office hours or her Facebook 
page. You’
ll find her living well 
and sharing advice about wellness 
throughout Metro Detroit, most-
ly through the Detroit to Nepal 
Foundation (D2N), whose mission is 
to improve the health and educational 
opportunities for children in some 
of Detroit’
s most devastated neigh-
borhoods, as well as those living in 
remote Himalayan villages in Nepal. 
Specifically, D2N’
s Detroit initiative 
is referred to as EVO Detroit with 
EVO standing for empowerment, 
vestment and ownership. It achieves 
its mission through several programs 
that Charfoos supports with her time 

and expertise. 
First, there’
s the commu-
nity radio station on which 
she hosts a live, biweekly 
show on Monday evenings 
where she interviews and 
debates doctors and other 
healthcare professionals. 
The station, WNCU 96.7 
FM, broadcasts in north 
Detroit, an area with low internet 
access. 
“Community radio is a powerful 
tool to disseminate education for the 
surrounding community, and it is an 
effective platform for advocacy,” she 
said. 
She also lets listeners know that 
women can receive free medical 
care at the nearby Say Detroit family 
health clinic. The clinic, located in 
Highland Park, is the second D2N 
program she supports, working there 
once a month. 
The third D2N program in which 
she participates is its Buckets of 
Rain Gardens, also in Highland Park 
(across the street from the Say clin-
ic). Those same patients are able to 
take advantage of all that the garden 
offers. Charfoos said all doctors at 

the clinic “write ‘
prescriptions’
 for 
vegetables available at the garden for 
these women. When their refills are 
out, they come back to the clinic for 
another free checkup and another free 
prescription.” 
Charfoos’
 family also benefits from 
her devotion to wellness. She and 
her husband have three sons: one is 
a dentist, the second is director of 
programming for a Detroit animal 
shelter and the youngest is a junior 
at University of Michigan’
s School of 
Engineering. “They all eat better now 
… they exercise more. It’
s a family 
affair,” she said.
Next up for Charfoos will be pod-
casts and blogging about wellness and 
her garden. Expect the harvest to get 
big play in the recipes she features on 
Facebook. ■

health

The Doctor Is In

Dr. Deborah Charfoos

ED NAKFOOR SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Dr. Deborah Charfoos spreads the word on clean eating.

