John Fries, MD

Bio

Thank you for choosing me as your physician. I have practiced for 25 years in a solo practitioner office in Healdsburg, California prior to coming to Kaiser Permanente. At Kaiser Permanente I enjoy the advantages of a large, integrated healthcare system, including opportunities for medical education and a wide variety of collegial interactions.

I am a graduate of the residency program in family practice, run by UC San Francisco in Sonoma County. Prior to that I attended UC Davis medical school, UC Santa Barbara and UC Los Angeles.

My Medical Specialty

My specialty interests and affiliations within my field:

My special medical interests include dermatology problems, particularly skin cancer.

My viewpoints include "A look is worth a thousand words." I favor personalized exercise programs that help minimize the use of chronic pain medications. I am exercise-oriented and recommend balanced programs for all ages. While it can be difficult to categorize a doctor's style, I invite each patient to participate in their own care decisions, but I do not hesitate to offer my perspective from over 30 years of clinical experience.

Interests

I suppose healthy eating is in my blood. My mother's stepfather was a farmer in Minnesota. We used to kill chickens in the morning, pluck them in the afternoon, and eat them for dinner with corn and string beans picked that day. My dad's mother had a large garden in downtown Minneapolis. Every year I remember helping her pick from it: fresh corn, string beans, tomatoes, spinach, chard, kohlrabi, potatoes, raspberries, onions, kale and asparagus.

My dad raised rabbits, chickens and squab when he was younger, so we always had fresh vegetables and, poultry until I was seven and we moved to Southern California where our house lot size was not large enough for a garden.

Once you taste fresh vegetables and meats, it's hard to go back. I had a small garden in college with both a lemon and an avocado tree. In medical school at Davis, garden plots were common on the agriculture campus, so we had a big community garden for our med school class and shared fresh produce. This community system works well today for people who do not have enough land. Rivers Bend in Healdsburg does a nice job with this.

For the last thirty years I have lived in the same house and I grow fresh and unprocessed produce, just what I recommend that my patients eat. I grow tomatoes and an entire salsa garden. I have an herb garden close to the kitchen so even if it is raining I can run out and get some chives. I cultivate shallots, berries, olives, apples, pears, pineapple guavas, lemons, limes, and other favorite veggies. I have fresh olive oil every year from my own olives. To control rodents, I put up an owl box. After about one year a barn owl, bigger than Harry Potter's, started living there and eating gophers, etc. I started making balsamic vinegar about three years ago, and but still have two years to go before my first finished product. In the winter I plant a nitrogen fixing cover crop to replace what the plants use in the summer. For me, it is easier than composting.

Not everyone has the time or inclination to grow their own produce, but I advise my patients to enter the food chain in the freshest place possible and to avoid synthetic, processed and chemically-preserved foods. Whenever possible select the fresher choice. Cook from scratch; it does not have to be complicated. Farmers markets are good. Roadside stands can be helpful. Match your food consumption to your periods of activity - less before bed, more at midday.

Eating more fresh veggies and less processed fats and carbohydrates can have dramatic lowering effects on blood fats (reducing cholesterol etc.) and can reverse the blood sugar changes of Type 2 diabetes. Changing to a more healthy diet can actually "cure" Type 2 diabetes for many or minimize the need for medications for others.

Hobby Photos & Links:

Part of my garden

Dr. Fries with his favorite guitar

A barn owl took up residence in my owlhouse

Balsamic vinegar casks

Family & Friends

People in my life:

I have been married for 29 years and have a 24-year-old daughter.

My children and people I care about:

My daughter attends graduate school in San Francisco, and my wife has been a critical care nurse for over 28 years.

I was raised with dogs; this is a photo of my current dog, Sarah, and me hiking at lake Sonoma.

Pet Photos:

Sarah, and me hiking at lake Sonoma.

Travel

Favorite place in the world:

I enjoy traveling with my family, and vacationing at Lake Tahoe has always been one of our favorites.

Trip Photos:

Relaxing at Lake Tahoe