Student of the Month - Dr. Lulu Shimek

Student Profile: Dr. Lulu Shimek

Travel was a routine part of her life when Dr. Lulu Shimek was a child, and for a time she imagined becoming an airline stewardess so she could explore the world. Fortunately for her many patients, students, and clients, Dr. Lulu chose a different path that led her to become a naturopathic physician here in Asheville. Like many explorers, the path she followed included a number of side journeys, all of which shared a pursuit of health and wellness. Four years ago she founded the Epione Clinic for Integrated Healing.

Self-described as “a person who likes to stay busy,” Lulu currently is co-authoring a book about how a healthy lifestyle can activate your DNA; producing a series of podcasts about eating and preparing healthy foods; teaching classes on how to elevate your physical and emotional wellness; developing and marketing a line of botanical medicinals; serving as botanical medical director of Veterans Healing Farms in Hendersonville where her mother, Sarah Hayes, is also a volunteer.

Dr. Lulu credits her mother for launching her tripod of passions: yoga, healthy eating, and cooking. One childhood memory she cherishes is of standing at the stove on a stool. “My doll was helping me cook and she burned her arm. My mother and I quickly created a cloth bandage and sewed her right up. So I think this is where the passion for food and medicine first began.”

Lulu also had a passion for art, which resulted in her attending The University of Georgia in Athens where she studied Interior Design. However, she decided that the world of healing foods was in fact the art she wanted to pursue. She moved to New York and worked as a pastry chef before realizing that NYC was not for her. She explained: “I moved to California where I lived and worked as a whole foods chef at the Expanding Light Retreat Center. I rekindled my passion for yoga there and became a Hatha yoga teacher.”

She then moved to San Francisco and started her own whole foods catering company. In addition, she ran a vegan wholesale bakery and sold her goods around the Bay Area. After a couple of years, she and her husband Dave, whom she met in the Redwoods of California, moved to Bend, Oregon, where she practiced and taught massage therapy. Lulu acknowledged, “I’ve always been a super serious student, and I realized I wanted to help my patients at a new level.” She earned a certificate in Aromatherapy and a Master of Science Degree in Herbal Medicine. And she had more to learn: “I had heard about Bastyr University, in Seattle, Washington, and when I looked up the Naturopathic Doctoral program there, I knew it was for me!”

After finishing the five-year program, she and Dave moved to Asheville in 2015. “We chose Asheville because of its natural beauty and its history as a center of healing. Also, there were not a lot of doctors practicing this type of medicine and I wanted to contribute to the community in this way.”

Lulu ran her own medical practice for a year before launching Epione, where several other accomplished practitioners offer a variety of wellness modalities. The name of the clinic derives from the Ancient Greek “Ēpiónē, meaning, “soothing.” Epione was the goddess of soothing of pain, and her name actually means soothing. She was the wife of Asclepius and mother of Panacea, the goddess of medicine, and Hygieia, the goddess of health.

“As a naturopathic physician, my goal is to empower my patients to think of me as their personal detective finding out the root cause of the ‘dis-ease’ by utilizing natural therapies and the body’s own natural ability to heal itself,” Dr. Lulu explained. “As we work together, my patients acquire the tools to know how to care for themselves.”

Intentional movement is one of the three practices Lulu advocates for reducing stress, a major cause of illness. The other two practices are eliminating sugar (eating a whole foods diet) and meditation. She explained: “The four foundations of health are moving your energy, eating nutritious food, drinking lots of water, and getting enough sleep.”

Yoga is an important part of Dr. Lulu's self-care: “I value yoga, especially the Iyengar style, for its ability to get me out of my head and into my body,” she mused. “One of my favorite poses is Garudasana—Eagle’s Pose. It requires balance so it’s grounding; or, if I’m not grounded, it pretty quickly brings my attention back to my need to get balanced.” Another de-stressor for Lulu is being in nature; she and Dave make sure to spend time together hiking. She also admits to loving a good 5-K road race if it’s “fun.”
Lulu still loves to travel to teach and participate in workshops. And thanks to our “connected” world, she offers sessions on-line to patients who live at a distance, which means she can travel while sitting at her computer in Asheville.

With a sunny smile Lulu jokes that if there hadn’t been a height requirement for flight attendants all those years ago, her life trajectory might have flown her in an altogether different direction! You can check out her current destination at http://epioneintegratedclinic.com.

To sample Lulu’s passion for healthy food, here’s her recipe for one of her favorite snacks…kale chips. Enjoy!

Nacho-chz Kale Chips

• 1 cup red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup cashews or almonds (soaked and with skins removed)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2–4 tablespoons water, as needed
• 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼–½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper (optional)
• 6 cups bite-size pieces of kale, tightly packed (about 1 bunch)

Place the red bell peppers in a blender, and then add the remaining ingredients, except for the kale. Blend, using only enough water to process into a thick cream. In a large mixing bowl, toss the pepper mixture with the kale, coating it evenly. Spread kale onto two 14-inch square Excalibur Dehydrator trays, and dry at 104 degrees F for 8–10 hours. You can also cook in your oven on the lowest possible setting and check every 10 minutes until crispy.

To learn more about Lulu’s practice you can go to her website here: http://epioneintegratedclinic.com/