Photo courtesy of Kate Brand
Mountain Brook nurse practitioner Kate Brand releases debut book, “The Transform 52 Plan,” Sept. 26, offering step-by-step lifestyle changes for sustainable health and chronic disease prevention.
Q: Please tell our readers about yourself.
A: I am originally from Georgia and first moved to Alabama in 1996 to attend the University of Alabama, where I received a Bachelor of Science in communication. About five years after graduation, I moved to Birmingham and decided to go back to school at UAB to get my Bachelor of Science in nursing and ultimately a Master of Science in nursing. My husband and I have three children and have now lived in Birmingham for over twenty years. We can often be spotted at the Pepper Place Market or walking the Jemison Trail.
Q: What inspired you to go into the medical field?
A: After I graduated from the University of Alabama, I took a job in public relations with Emory Hospitals in Atlanta. Through working with some of their top physicians on the amazing advances in medicine and research they were making at that time, I realized I was more interested in being on the clinical side of things. It took about two years, though, before I was ready to go back to school.
Q: What are the most rewarding aspects of working in the medical field for you?
A: The most rewarding part of working in healthcare for me is the relationships you form with people. Getting to know people — their struggles and their successes — gives purpose and meaning to life. It is especially rewarding when you can help them in some way to be the best version of themselves.
Q: What inspired you to write “Transform 52”?
A: Frustration over seeing so many of my patients continually decline in overall health despite following standard protocols and managing their chronic conditions is what drove me to do more research and ultimately write the book. It just seemed to me that more could be done — that we were overlooking the basics and how we even got here to begin with. In addition to that, unlike the skepticism that some people have, I found that many of my patients truly wanted to change, feel better, and were willing to do the work — they just didn’t know how.
Q: What kind of research helped you to develop the advice you provide in the book? What kind of changes have you seen in people who have practiced “Transform 52’s” suggestions?
A: When writing the book, I was most interested in research done in the last 10 years that showed a significant correlation between lifestyle changes and improved health metrics, as well as particular lifestyle habits that were strongly correlated with disease. These two types of research were my primary focus. The changes I have seen in those who have adopted the practices in my book have included everything from weight loss and reduced chronic inflammation to more energy and better digestion. However, these simple symptoms are all indicators of improvement in metabolic health and ultimately better overall health.
Q: What are some of the suggestions in “Transform 52”? Which of those do you feel are most beneficial?
A: The “Transform 52” Plan covers everything from reducing sugar and what that really means to what you eat and even the household products you keep in your home. The plan recommends removing gluten from your diet for a period of time and avoiding certain cooking oils. It even focuses on some sleep hygiene practices that everyone should be doing. However, the most beneficial step in the plan, in my opinion, is learning to cook in a way that works for you — and learning to enjoy cooking. I strongly believe that knowing how to prepare your own food in a way that will keep you doing it regularly is as critical for your health now as it was for people hundreds of years ago.
Q: What’s next for you? What are your short- and long-term goals?
A: I hope to release a cookbook in 2026 that is full of easy, healthy and delicious recipes. This goal of mine has been one of the most fun to work on, as my three teenagers have really gotten into rating each recipe I develop and telling me what it is lacking or if it is “ready for the cookbook.” I am also hoping to start a podcast soon that will be called “The Transform 52 Podcast.”
