That's right, Dr. Mike really is a physician. Michael S. Fenster, M.D., F.A.C.C., FSCA&I, PEMBA; known to his audiences as "Dr. Mike," has combined his culinary talents with his medical expertise. The result is the Grassroots Gourmet™ approach to food and health: delicious food that fosters well-being through promoting metabolic health.

Dr. Mike is a Board Certified Interventional Cardiologist. He has taught students, interns, residents and fellows as well as having served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the North East Ohio University College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). In addition to addressing audiences from the lay public to peers at the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology meetings, among many others; he has participated in numerous clinical trials. He has published original cardiovascular research that has appeared in peer reviewed scientific and medical journals. As a result he has been asked participate on numerous medical advisory boards and participate in cardiovascular thought leader symposiums throughout the country. He recently graduated summa cum laude from Auburn University's Physician's Executive MBA program.

Dr. Mike's culinary career began before he ever attended medical school. Starting as a dishwasher, he worked his way up to executive chef. Never one to rest on his laurels, Dr. Mike later co-managed an award winning restaurant and went back to school. He received his culinary degree in gourmet cooking and catering from Ashworth University where he graduated with honors. He was their alumni of the year in 2013.

His deep seated love of food and keen medical awareness propelled him to combine these passions. The result is his unique Grassroots Gourmet™ approach to food; an approach that seeks to counter the inflammatory effects of the modern Western diet. Such a diet deadens our taste buds, robs our vitality and delivers us unto the disabilities and diseases of modern civilization: cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and a host of other illness.

Always engaging, often controversial but never dull, Dr. Mike is frequently asked to present live cooking demonstrations and lectures at gatherings around the globe. He has lectured at the national convention of The American Culinary Federation as well as their Field to Plate series in Europe and spoken at other prestigious events like the gathering of The Chicago Culinary Historians. He has given numerous radio and television interviews on health and food both nationally and internationally. He is medical and culinary consultant to The Josh Tolley Radio show, a nationally syndicated radio program where he often appears. He has been a regular on The Daily Buzz morning program as well as Daytime TV, entertaining and informing during cooking segments. He has written columns for numerous culinary magazines, websites, The Tampa Tribune and is a monthly contributor for Luxuria Lifestyles, an international lifestyle magazine. He has hosted his own local cable TV cooking show, "What's Cookin' with Doc," co-hosted "Cooking From the Heart" with Fitness Hall of Fame Instructor Forbes Riley and headlined the Florida Blueberry Festival where five live shows, "Just What the Doctor Ordered-Live From The Florida Blueberry Festival" were simulcast worldwide via web by The Health and Wellness Channel-Live stream

Dr. Mike has just finished the follow up to his first book, the culinary survival manual, "Eating Well, Living Better: The Grassroots Gourmet Guide to Good Health and Great Food." The anticipated follow-up, "The Fallacy of the Calorie: Myths, Misdirections and Machinations of The Modern Western Diet," is due to be released in 2014.