Lifestyle Medicine: Diet and Exercise

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. “Walking is man’s best medicine”. –Hippocrates

Many doctors follow a template for care that does not highlight lifestyle modification for prevention and alleviation or even reversal of some disease. Lifestyle modification typically includes diet change and that includes the program I use now: whole food-plant based. Click that link to see a basic description.

I found a board certification which trains medical professionals to highlight diet change as part prevention and treatment of some diseases: the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. The site has a medical professional database. Sadly, many parts of the country such as those with lower population density have no doctors with this certification. This is not to say that there aren’t many very good doctors with knowledge in the area that do not have this certification, but it can be aggravating to find one.

Know you have the power to choose a doctor who has a treatment program that suits your willingness to modify your diet and other lifestyle factors to aid in good health. Ask the right questions when calling for the first appointment.

Questions I typically ask: What’s insurance is accepted? What is the appointment cost? what are the payment methods? What is the process to become a new patient? An additional question can be: is the doctor familiar with lifestyle medicine and do they or are they willing to use it’s concepts in practice with certain patients?

It is my understanding that many doctors, even if they don’t specialize, are willing to lay out the situation to an individual, and respectfully allow that individual to make a decision based on choice of care. You may have such a doctor already. If so, excellent!