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Take back ownership of your healthcare journey

Find out how evidence-based lifestyle changes can treat, reverse and prevent disease, support healing,
and empower you on your health journey 

Lifestyle medicine serves as the foundation of health and supports you and your doctor in addressing the root causes of disease. With goals of restoring your health and reducing medications, lifestyle medicine offers hope, healing and lasting health improvements for clinicians and patients.

What is lifestyle medicine?

Lifestyle medicine is a medical specialty that focuses on addressing the root causes of chronic diseases, like type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle medicine is delivered by licensed healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, dietitians, health coaches and other professionals who are trained and board-certified to help you take meaningful steps toward healing.

During your appointment, your provider will help you identify how to make behavior changes through the six interconnected pillars: optimal nutrition, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, connectedness, and risky substance avoidance.

Optimal Nutrition

Eat more whole foods and focus on minimally processed, plant-predominant, nutrient-dense meals and snacks.

physical activity

Move every day and incorporate strength, flexibility, and aerobic activities into your routine.

stress management

Develop healthy coping skills to meet the ever-changing demands of life and bolster resilience.

Restorative sleep

Create the right conditions to get 7-9 hours of quality sleep every night to allow the body to reset and recover.

connectedness

Foster supportive relationships and build connections that bring meaning and purpose to life.

Risky Substance Avoidance

Avoid behaviors that include the consumption of or exposure to harmful substances

Why lifestyle medicine matters for patients

Positive Side Effects

Whether you’re facing daunting challenges like diabetes, or generally trying to live a healthier life, engaging in lifestyle medicine provides only positive side effects. It contributes to your overall well-being and sets you up to better respond to treatment now, while potentially avoiding unnecessary treatment in the future.

Enhances all treatments

Patients who integrate lifestyle medicine into their treatment see impressive results, including reductions in weight, blood pressure and cholesterol as well as improvements in blood sugar.

Long-Lasting Results

The habits created by using lifestyle medicine last far longer than any clinic visit. By following LM concepts, you are making yourself better with every healthy meal, restful night’s sleep, or moment of exercise. The cumulative effect of healthy daily habits is a powerful tool for lifelong wellness.

Featured story

ACLM Story Project

Putting Diabetes Into Remission

In this inspiring story, Dr. Mahima Gulati, a certified endocrinologist specializing in lifestyle medicine, highlights the transformative power of lifestyle changes in treating type 2 diabetes. She emphasizes the significance of lifestyle medicine as a discipline and the profound impact it can have on individuals with diabetes. 

Read now

How to talk with your provider about lifestyle medicine

Even if your current provider isn’t board certified in lifestyle medicine yet, they can still support incorporating lifestyle medicine principles into your care.

As a patient, you have the right to understand how lifestyle factors support disease treatment and prevention. To move the conversation forward in a constructive way, here are some questions you can ask your provider to explore how lifestyle medicine may help you in your health journey.

1

Are there lifestyle changes I can make to reduce or eliminate the need for medication?

2

Can we explore a treatment plan that includes nutrition, physical activity, and stress management?

3

How can I track progress on my lifestyle goals alongside my medical treatment?

4

What changes can I make to my home, work, or social environment to better support the health goals I’m working toward?

5

Do you know of any providers nearby who are certified in lifestyle medicine?

Find a lifestyle medicine certified clinician

Lifestyle medicine is a medical specialty that is certified and recognized. To receive the best treatment, ACLM recommends that you find a practitioner that has gone through formal training. There are thousands of certified doctors around the United States.

Clinician Directory

How to get started

Free Food as Medicine Jumpstart Guide

Get practical tips on what to eat, how to plan meals, and easy steps to make healthy eating a lifelong habit for you and your family.

Download the Guide

Lifestyle Medicine in Action

Chronic Disease

“Your results are normal!” The story of how one woman with diabetes and chronic fatigue restored her health

Learn More
Cancer

How a commitment to lifestyle changes helped one woman face cancer

Learn More
Lifestyle Medicine Overview

Curbing childhood obesity one family habit at a time

Learn More
Diabetes

Addressing diabetes among Hispanic Americans

Learn More
smiling hispanic family
Clinical & Community Integration

Communities besieged by chronic diseases need lifestyle medicine. Meet a doctor determined to deliver it there.

Learn More
Cancer

A doctor discovered she was genetically predisposed to cancer. Now she inspires others to believe genes don’t equal destiny.

Learn More