The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) is the medical professional society providing quality education and certification to those dedicated to clinical and worksite practice of lifestyle medicine as the foundation of a transformed and sustainable health care system.
We connect health care professionals to the training they need to:
A world wherein lifestyle medicine is the foundation of health and all health care
Advancing evidenced-based lifestyle medicine to treat, reverse, and prevent non-communicable, chronic disease
ACLM is comprised of members who are passionate about the urgent need to transform health and health care. Our organization addresses the need for quality, evidence-based education and certification in the clinical practice of lifestyle medicine.
Through the development and promotion of educational events, tools, resources and campaigns designed to further the cause of lifestyle medicine, ACLM supports its members in their practices and in their collective desire to domestically and globally promote lifestyle medicine as the first treatment option for chronic disease, as opposed to a first option of treating symptoms and consequences with expensive, ever-increasing quantities of pills and procedures. ACLM members are united in their desire to identifying and eradicating the root cause of chronic disease.
Lifestyle medicine is a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Lifestyle medicine certified clinicians are trained to apply evidence-based, whole-person, prescriptive lifestyle change to treat and, when used intensively, often reverse such conditions. Applying the six pillars of lifestyle medicine—a whole food, plant-predominant eating pattern, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances and positive social connections—also provides effective prevention for these conditions.
American College of Lifestyle Medicine Announces Dietary Lifestyle… (prweb.com)
“For the treatment, reversal and prevention of lifestyle-related chronic disease, the ACLM recommends an eating plan based predominantly on a variety of minimally processed vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.”
“ACLM acknowledges that the leading cause of chronic disease and the leading cause of so many of our most pressing global sustainability issues is one and the same: our Western pattern diet. Shifting to a whole food, plant-predominant dietary lifestyle is optimal in order to protect human health and fight disease; this dietary lifestyle pattern is also what is best for the planet, enabling us to preserve our precious natural resources, rein in greenhouse gas emissions, and feed what soon will be over nine billion people on the face of the earth.”
“Chronic disease clinical guidelines for multiple conditions, including overweight and obesity, promote lifestyle interventions as a first treatment. Patients’ best interests call for a compassionate, evidence-based approach addressing the six lifestyle pillars, as defined by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), to achieve a goal of health restoration. These pillars include 1.) regular physical activity, 2.) whole-food, plant-predominant nutrition, 3.) restorative sleep, 4.) stress management, 5.) positive social connection, and 6.) avoidance of risky substances; also acknowledging each individual’s lived environment and genetic predisposition, as many people live in a home or societal environment that promotes and exacerbates weight gain.
While adequately dosed lifestyle interventions may unilaterally achieve success, obesity is a complex, multifactorial disease wherein patients may require approaches beyond lifestyle alone. However, lifestyle interventions are too often not adequately “dosed” for success. Lifestyle medicine clinicians are trained to prescribe a therapeutic dose of all six pillars. Evidence supports the efficacy of these interventions in addressing the underlying causes of disease, including gut dysbiosis, endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and chronic inflammation.
A comprehensive lifestyle medicine approach prevents and treats many other co-morbidities associated with overweight and obesity, including, but not limited to, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and arthritis, and a lifestyle medicine approach can also reduce the risk of many types of cancer. Lifestyle medicine must become the foundation of comprehensive treatment, with or without surgery and/or medications as adjunctive therapies. ACLM stands ready to be a resource to help clinicians and patients in treatment of adult and pediatric overweight and obesity.”
The founders of ACLM, back in 2004, were ahead of their time.
What was seen previously as outside the scope of mainstream medicine is now widely viewed as the future of healthcare, as we shift from a fee-for-service to a value and outcome-based system of healthcare delivery.
ACLM has a rapidly expanding membership base across the United States and around the globe. The value of lifestyle medicine is becoming recognized by all aspects of medical practice, with ACLM members representing the broad diversity of the medical profession and related fields that comprise effective practice models. Members include primary care physicians, specialists, researchers, professors, students, public spokespersons, hospital administrators, nutritionists, health coaches, public health professionals, and many others.
As an independent medical professional association representing the diverse interests of all our members in the provision of lifestyle medicine education, practice support and advocacy, ACLM is not responsible to any religious, political or industry interest.
As the nation’s only medical professional association representing the interdisciplinary field of lifestyle medicine, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine represents a galvanized force for change; members are united in their dedication to identifying and eradicating the root causes of chronic disease, with the clinical outcome goal of health restoration. ACLM closes the gap in evidence-based education in lifestyle medicine across the spectrum of pre- and post-professional training. Along with the training and support of its members in their individual practices, ACLM advocates lifestyle medicine as the first and optimal whole-person treatment option for all people, mitigating much of the non-communicable, chronic disease epidemic.
Find your place within our network of certified clinicians.
Earn 39 CME/CE credit Live or On Demand for up to 60 days.
Every Fall, ACLM hosts the premier continuing education event focused on lifestyle medicine – the therapeutic dose of proper nutrition, regular physical activity, social connection, restorative sleep, stress management, and avoidance of risky substances.