What is Lifestyle Medicine?

When you visit your physician with a medical issue, there are essentially three things we can offer you:

  1. A medication
  2. A surgery or medical procedure
  3. Lifestyle medicine

So, what does lifestyle medicine mean? Simply stated, it’s what you do and what you don’t do in a day, a month, a year … for your lifetime.

The 5 Pillars of Life Style Medicine

Lifestyle medicine is a group of choices, habits, and behaviours centered around these five core pillars:

Doctor You

Lifestyle medicine is not a specific diet, exercise program or rigid routine. Lifestyle medicine is simply how you live your life.

Lifestyle medicine encompasses things such as:

  • when you go to bed
  • what you eat and drink
  • how you move your body
  • how you relate to yourself and your loved ones
  • how you cope with stress and manage your feelings

Being aware and being conscious of your habits is the beginning of discovering a lifestyle that suits you. There is no one way or “right way.” Lifestyle medicine is an art and science. The art is in finding YOUR way. As you learn about yourself, it becomes a lifelong journey to discover what works best for you and your body because one size DOES NOT fit all!

There is no one diet that guarantees you longevity and good health into your 90s or 100s. There are many protective factors which can increase your quality of life, and your health span. Your lifestyle is a vehicle to bring you optimal health and harmony with yourself and your relationships.

Read my blog post about diet and longevity, Eat This, Not That.